With time running out to satisfy their taste for adventure and blood lust WW 1 pilots Gibson, Woody and Red take to the air and fight to the last minute before Armistice. The war over and out of a Woody (Bob Armstrong) followed by Gibson ( Richard Dix) and Red (Joel McCrea) gravitate to Hollywood to do what they do best, fly stunt planes. The work is dangerous but they are use to it. The danger increases tenfold when Von Furst (Erich Von Stroheim), a tyrannical director with a thirst for realism as well as a wife who once had the hots for Gibson attempts to pull off two for the price of one; get the shot and lose the wife's former lover. Woody in the, throes of alcoholism takes the fall however. With the war over and no more dogfights to involve itself in Squadron is no Wings but it does offer up some fine aerial acrobatics to go along with its swift and a touch incredulous pace. The trio of pilots do their macho posturing (including a bird throwing sequence) adequately enough while Beth Jordan and Mary Astor wait with anxious trepidation on the ground. But it is the opportunity to watch Von Stroheim go into directorial rant that in retrospect gives the Lost Squadron its bite.

The Lost Squadron concerns four men who are the last of a squadron of aviators from World War I, pilots Richard Dix, Robert Armstrong, and Joel McCrea and their orderly Hugh Herbert. The war is over now, but flying is what they know and love. They now make a living doing stunt flying for the movies, recreating some of the dangers they went through in the war for war films.That can be as dangerous if not more dangerous when you are working for a director like Erich Von Stroheim who wants his films to be the last word in realism. And things get real tense on the set when Von Stroheim discovers that his wife Mary Astor still has a thing for Dix.I won't go on any further except that but for Von Stroheim everyone behaves gallantly. It's what terribly dates this film. If it were done today the characters would be far more cynical and probably come up with a creative way to deal with their tyrannical director.Von Stroheim is the best thing about The Lost Squadron he pulls all the stops out in doing his terrible Teuton. If Von Stroheim was the man folks went to the movies in order to love to hate him, this film will send many into orgasms.

This is a gritty pre-code adventure/thriller that just happened to be on TV last week at 1.30 in the morning!! It has a similar theme to another film "Lucky Devils" made in 1933.Dorothy Jordan was a very pretty ingenue who was kept extremely busy until her retirement in 1933 when she married Merian C. Cooper. Apparently she was about to be cast in "Flying Down to Rio" (1933) as Honey Hale but backed out to go on her honeymoon. The role went to Ginger Rogers. Dorothy plays "Pest" Curwood, kid sister of Woody (Robert Armstrong) one of a group of friends who were flying aces during the war. This gritty film shows how shamefully returned soldiers were really treated. They return to find things have changed. "Red" (Joel McCrea) returns to find his place of employment in the middle of re-trenchments. The war has made "Red" restless and he chooses to travel rather than go back to his old job. Woody is also restless but finds while he was away "on important business in France" his former business partner has swindled the company. Gibby (Richard Dix) returns to find his ambitious girlfriend, Follette (Mary Astor) has left him for a richer man.Years later "Red", Gibby and Fritz (Hugh Herbert) down on their luck, find themselves in Hollywood, hoping to catch up with Woody. Woody is the chief aerial stunt man in "Sky Heroes" which is having it's Hollywood premiere. The star is none other than Follette, who is married to the director Von Furst (Erich Von Stroheim in another intense performance) - a "terrible fathead" according to Woody. He persuades his mates to go to work as aerial stuntmen. Von Furst is a tyrannical director who rules his crew and his wife with an iron fist!!! Follette believes Von Furst (because of his insane jealousy) will tamper with Gibby's plane. He actually puts acid on the control wires - but Woody is the one flying it, to pay back a favour Gibby did him, when he was too drunk to fly.From an action packed aviation adventure it turns into a tight psychological thriller. The last 10 minutes takes place at night in a disused hanger. Richard Dix is heroic and manly, Robert Armstrong gives another great character performance and Joel McCrea was an up and coming new talent. For all her top billing Mary Astor didn't have much to do.Recommended.

You should probably know that I love airplane films--particularly one with vintage planes. So, I have a bias towards this sort of film and some may NOT be excited in seeing the biplanes flying about during the movie (even though many are post-WWI planes when they are supposed to be WWI aircraft).Richard Dix, Robert Armstrong and Joel McCrea play three buddies who served in the Air Corps during the war. However, now that about a decade has passed, they are forced to make a living working stunt flying for a sadistic film director (Eric Von Stroheim). Eventually, just how evil the director is and the depths of his evil come to light and this leads to a dandy, though grisly, conclusion.Interestingly, of the three pilots, the least famous and important was McCrea, as he was not yet an established star. The other two (Dix and Armstrong) were big names, though only a short time later they were relegated to "has-been" status. All did a decent job and the film, though a bit tough to believe, was entertaining and was more than just a time-passer.