Dirigible (1931)

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Jack Holt (San Francisco), Ralph Graves (Ladies of Leisure), and Fay Wray (King Kong) star in this early ‘talkie’ from director Frank Capra (It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington). Holt and Graves play a dirigible (blimp) commander and Navy pilot, respectively, who set their sights on planting an American flag at the South Pole when a French explorer (Hobart Bosworth) offers to fund the expedition. The two men, longtime friends, are torn apart by — of course — a woman. In this case it’s Fay Wray as Graves’s wife, who threatens to leave him for Holt if he doesn’t stop flying and tend to her needs.

Dirigible is patterned after the Oscar-winning Wings and a number of other war-time love triangles, but distinguishes itself in the second half after Wray’s thankless character causes a rift between the two men. First Holt sets out to the South Pole in a dirigible that is ripped apart during a storm at sea. After he and his men are rescued, Graves loads up a plane and attempts the same dangerous journey. He and his crew succeed in reaching their destination, but Graves’s over-confidence ends up destroying their plane, leaving them stranded against the bitter cold and eventual starvation. The film’s final act sees Holt launching a heroic rescue mission, while Graves buries one teammate after the other, hoping against hope that he can get even one man across a thousand miles of frozen tundra to the nearest base.

If you can overlook the cloying, romantic subplot with Fay Wray’s character (I blame the writing, not Miss Wray), the relationship between the two men provides an emotional thrust to the storytelling and a dramatic resolution. Early aerial scenes are remarkable, especially when we see Graves ‘hook’ his plane to Holt’s dirigible. The storm at sea and some of the polar footage is achieved with impressive model photography. Holt and Graves give good performances, and Capra delivers some solid action-adventure sequences. The tension winds nicely once Graves and his team are stranded in the snow, leading to some unexpectedly brutal moments of death and sacrifice.

For a 1931 film, Dirigible is at least a few years ahead of its time in execution and overall entertainment value. It would take other studios and filmmakers longer than it took Capra to bring it all together so soon after the advent of sound. The film was the first from Columbia Pictures to premiere at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, a sign that the fledgling studio — with Capra’s help — was transforming from a B-grade factory to a respectable, A-list Hollywood Studio.