Chain Lightning

Plot synopsis:
Lt. Colonel Matt Brennan (Humphrey Bogart), discharged from the military, runs a civilian flying school, where he is reunited with an old US Army Air Force buddy, Major Hinkle (James Brown).
Brennan is offered a job at the Willis Aircraft Company as chief test pilot for an experimental high speed jet fighter known as the JA-3, designed by Carl Troxell (Richard Whorf). Troxell is also a link to Brennan's past, having known him in the war when Brennan was a bomber pilot. A flashback to B-17 missions over Germany reveal Brennan to be a top-notch pilot.
Another connection to his past is his former flame, Jo Holloway (Eleanor Parker), now Willis' secretary. In order to prove the capabilities of the new JA-3, capable of speeds up to 1,400 mph (2,300 km/h), Brennan convinces Willis that a record-breaking flight from Nome, Alaska to Washington D.C., via the North Pole, will impress the government. At the same time, Troxell tries to develop a safer version of the revolutionary aircraft, the JA-4, equipped with an escape pod, but dies during a test flight.
The earlier record flight is a success with Brennan earning a $30,000 paycheck, enough to marry Jo. Then he learns that Troxell has been killed. Despite his earlier reservations about the need for safety systems, Brennan takes another JA-4 out for the official government demonstrations, using the escape pod to prove that the new aircraft is safe. On landing, he falls into the arms of his beloved.

Tags: flashback

Review:
In 1950, jet planes were a relatively recent phenomenon and their emergence offered new possibilities for the long-defunct test-pilot genre of film In "Chain Lightning," Bogart is a World War H bomber pilot hired as a test-pilot who, after the death of his designer friend (Richard Whorf), successfully tries out a newly designed ejection cockpit However, there is as little value in a film in which a line like "JA-3 to Fort George.
I am fifty miles North of youooooops, I just passed you!" is fairly commonplace Eleanor Parker offers the only creative acting in the role of Raymond Massey's secretary and Bogart's love interest.
Humphrey Bogart NEVER took himself too seriously, and LOVED poking fun at any Hollywood types who DID.
Mentioning Errol Flynn in Bogie's presence would usually evoke a sneer.Bogie often said of himself "You're looking at a guy who's made MORE bad movies than anyone else in Hollywood"!Yeah, along with the great ones, Bogie made his share of howlers.
Which brings us to CHAIN LIGHTNING!In a lot of ways, this film's a REAL stinker, but it's a ton of fun just the same.
From an aviation technology standpoint, the film was 10 years ahead of it's time; the mythical JA-3 that Bogie flew had a level of performance that was totally unheard of at the time of the film's release...
Alaska to Washington DC nonstop via the North Pole, at almost Mach 2.At the same time, the film gives us an interesting glimpse into some of the engineering problems attendant to supersonic flight that were just being addressed in the period...
like the JA-4's escape pod.Some of the stuff presented was just plain WRONG, and the film makers KNEW it.
Like Bogie flying thru clouds of meteor dust at 70,000 feet.
the performances here are just plain FUN!Bogie LOVED playing parodies of "tough guys", and those that he viewed as phony heros, and his character Matt Brennan was a broad, overblown sendup of these guys.
the EASY way, or the HARD way?" Bogie growls at his boss, Raymond Massey, over a radio circuit.
Bogie's just BEAUTIFUL to watch with his delivery of a dozen trite clichés all through the film!As Bogie's buddy (and fellow scenery chewer) is James Brown, one of Hollywood's unsung hero character actors.
Brown was apparently a Warner's contract player who, along with another Bogie movie "Tough Guy" staple, Joe Sawyer, would later make their marks on television in in THE ADVENTURES OF RIN TIN TIN; Brown playing Lt.
"Rip" Masters, and Sawyer playing Sgt. O'Hara.Contrasting Bogie's private little joke of a performance was Richard Whorf's role as Carl Troxel, the earnest aeronautical engineer.
After World War II is over, bomber pilot Humphrey Bogart becomes a test pilot who flies the jet planes Raymond Massey's company builds.
I must say right up front that Humphrey Bogart is my favorite film actor of all time.That said, Chain Lightning won't be remembered as one of his best.
In "Chain Lightning," Bogart is a World War H bomber pilot hired as a test-pilot who, after the death of his designer friend (Richard Whorf), successfully tries out a newly designed ejection cockpit...His fans may be able to suspend all disbelief and take some interest in Bogey testing jet planes and romancing the company secretary.
Even so, Chain Lightning gives us the great Bogart one more time.Conclusion - This is not the best Humphrey Bogart movie ever.
From 1950, "Chain Lightning" stars Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Parker, Raymond Massey, Richard Whorf, and James Brown.
Brown played Lt. Rip Masters on Rin Tin Tin and I believe was my first crush.This is one of those films Bogart probably made to fulfill his contract obligations with Warners, the other one being "The Two Mrs. Carrolls," a scream of a film in which he's really terrible.
He's so rarely bad, and he's certainly not bad in this.Bogart plays Matt Brennan, a pilot, and in the beginning, he's testing a plane.
His girlfriend Joan (Eleanor Parker) rushes up and begs her boss (Raymond Massey) to order him down, as she's afraid for him.The story then goes into flashback, with Matt and Joan during World War II.
He leaves for the states first - they want to get married, but he is unable to find anyone who can give him permission.Once back in the states, after bouncing around for a bit, Matt is hired as a test pilot by Leland Willis (Raymond Massey) an aircraft manufacturer.There, he re-connects with Carl Troxell (Whorf) who is now dating Joan, Willis' secretary.
He felt the life that he could offer her wasn't good enough.Matt takes the new jet JA-4 on a hazardous flight, and that brings us back to the first scene.This is a pretty ordinary film, with Parker looking beautiful and Bogart acting tough - kind of Rick Blaine as a pilot.
I will take issue with what one person on this board said, that Massey was playing Howard Hughes and doing a bad job.
Massey was playing a Howard Hughes type, and he was fine.The aviation part of this film was ahead of its time for sure.
Eleanor Parker, another favorite of mine, gives a lovely performance and is absolutely beautiful..
Presently, test pilot Humphrey Bogart (as Matthew "Matt" Brennan) is on a dangerous flight, which worries pretty Eleanor Parker (as Joan "Jo" Holloway).
During World War II service, bomber pilot Bogart flies dangerous missions from England to Germany, helping the Allies win the war.
On the ground, he romances Parker, who serving as a nurse...After the war, Bogart is hired as chief test pilot for aircraft manufacturer Raymond Massey (as Leland Willis).
He re-encounters Parker, who is being romanced by designer Richard Whorf (as Carl Troxell).
Bogart eventually takes the jet plane "JA-4" on a dangerous flight, which leads us back to the opening scene.
Bogart looks inserted uncomfortably into the stock aviation footage and the romantic triangle never gets off the ground.**** Chain Lightning (2/18/50) Stuart Heisler ~ Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Parker, Raymond Massey, Richard Whorf.
Bogie's plane could fly up to 60,000 ft and top speed of about 1600 mph.
In the recent film The Aviator, one of the points of Howard Hughes's life that was gone into great detail was his post World War II airplane crash in Beverly Hills while testing a new model.
From what was shown in Leonardo DiCaprio's hauntingly accurate portrayal of Hughes, the casting of Raymond Massey in a paper thin version of the flamboyant aviator/businessman is pretty laughable.
I'm sure Howard must have seen Chain Lightning and didn't like it a bit.Jets were certainly a new phenomenon in those years and had the Germans developed them sooner and additionally had invested in aircraft carriers, the course of history would have been markedly and tragically different.
Humphrey Bogart is not bad as the Chuck Yeager like test pilot, in fact Yeager's historic flight breaking the sound barrier is referenced in the plot.
Richard Whorf is the earnest aircraft engineer who worries that Massey is sacrificing safety for flashy headlines.
Now one thing about Howard Hughes, he certainly did know how to make aerial films exciting.Fairly clichéd subplot about Bogart reuniting with war time love Eleanor Parker who is now Massey's secretary.
The movie aircraft is like the Bell X-1/X-2 rocket planes in that it has no air intakes (inlets) and therefore is not a jet.
This is one of my favorite aviation movies, even though it reflects Hollywood's dramatic idea of how aircraft are designed and developed rather than the actual process..
business conflict designing new jet planes.
A bizarre sort of routine action film that ANYONE could have starred in instead of Bogie..
"Chain Lightning" is one of the strangest Bogart films you can find.
Seeing a 50 year-old guy playing a WWII bomber pilot is patently ridiculous--especially since Humphrey Bogart looks all of 50 in the film.
He also looks a bit tired and lost--mostly because it's just not his sort of film and you wonder what the folks at Warner Brothers were thinking.
Not really--but it IS a badly miscast picture.The film begins in the present (1949) and then looks back at the flying career of Matt Brennan (Bogart).
He's soon recruited to fly experimental aircraft--something that Matt is SO perfect for that it would seem like the welfare of the entire free world depends on him.
But soon Matt's flying all sorts of craft and he's also reunited with his old flame, Jo (Eleanor Parker).
See the film.What follows is a fairly standard Warner Brothers movie--one that Alan Ladd would have done well with (as he was quite nice in "The McConnell Story") and which is modestly entertaining but nothing more.
Admittedly, I'm a technically oriented person by profession but what can you say about a film in which its raison d'etre is an experimental jet aircraft which is portrayed as a caricature rather than an actual airplane capable of flight?
Real jet aircraft from the 1950 era mostly had the air intake located directly in the nose giving the front end of the plane a bulbous shape.Note also that the aircraft is capable of flying at an altitude of 90,000 feet, impossible for any jet aircraft of its day, and maybe still impossible, and only achievable at the time by rocket-powered aircraft such as the experimental Bell X series then undergoing tests.
Finally, mention is made that this magical plane is capable of airspeeds up to 1,400 mph - clearly another impossible feat at the time.While I always enjoy Bogey and certainly think highly of Eleanor Parker, the technical absurdities, the silly dialogue between pilot and ground during flights, and the false heroics lent a cartoonish quality to the film which took away from my usual enjoyment of Bogart's work.I often think that the producers of films such as these have considerable contempt for the movie-going public when they put out this kind of inaccurate work..
This was an interesting film, especially to those with a keen interest on the early development of Jet technology.
Julie Bishop was good as the girl of Bogarts interests and a few tense moments in the air and on the ground hold your interest to the end..
This is a super film about Action, Adventure, Drama, what the Genre tells us but also one of love.Bogart takes the lead here as a Pilot who served in world war two, being a good pilot and one that took risks.
During the war he met and fell in Love with 'Jo' played by the lovely Eleanor Parker.
That love was short lived as Matt (Bogart) is sent back to the USA after the war and things all move along nicely until he is offered a job on the recommendation of a pal named Carl (Richard Whorf).
The job is one of a test pilot testing the new Generation plane, a Jet and the risks are high.Well his old love Jo is back on the scene and very much in the sights of Carl's Gun and this becomes a love battle for him and Matt.
Carl is part way into designing a new escape capsule for the jets and wants Matt to stall a long distant trip in the mark 3.....everything goes wrong but for who?
i will leave you to see for yourself but i will say that it really was all for the girl.as usual a fabulous Performance from Bogart and the others on the cast list were pretty good, i find the classics from that era are always pretty sound as that really was their bread and butter, a shoddy performance meant no more work..
It's an Awkward attempt at Introducing Jet Aircraft and the Aviation Problems/Advantages the "New" Planes Presented.The Aircraft seen seem like Comic Book Versions, as do the Flight Sequences.
Bogart's Flight Suits are certainly Comical and He looks Hilarious and Appears to be Elsewhere in most of His Scenes.The Cast all Seem to be Clueless Ranting and Raving about This and That.
Flight Limitations, Records are Made to be Broken Speeches, and the Romantic elements are Hard to Take in this bit of Clunky Cinema.For Those that Think that The Return of Dr. X (1939) is Bogart's Worst Movie, Check this one out Before You Cast Your Vote.
Apparently it could get worse, I'm almost sorry I didn't see "The Big Sleep" before this, I would have died laughing."Chain Lightning" is another story about test pilots and new air plains, lot of air stunt footage, men talking men talk, sing war songs and the typical boy-loses-girl-boy-gets-girl-back routine.And I really wonder why Boggie made this movie - I thought he was a Hollywood royalty and commended top salary?
With some minor plot revisions, "Chain Lightning" would just about qualify as a remake of Humphrey Bogart's 1936 film, "China Clipper".
In both stories, Bogey's character is a former military pilot who takes on a civilian job as a test pilot for demanding bosses.
Raymond Massey portrays the owner of the Willis Aircraft Company, a role performed in the earlier film by Pat O'Brien.
Both men are hard driving, ruthless individuals who put work and success above having a personal life, whose ambition test the people around them, including the Bogey character.
The minor difference might be in the romantic interest for Bogart; in 'Clipper' there was none, here he's on again, off again with Jo Holloway (Eleanor Parker) in a romance that tests one's patience throughout the film.I don't know when the device was first used, but in this movie, the opening scene serves as the introduction to a flashback narrative that winds up back at the same point later in the film.
Bogey's conflicted character is in it for the money right up to the point he hears his buddy's voice recorder message detailing how he lost his life in a failed test of a 'JA-4' experimental craft.
If it means hurtling back to Earth to be with his one true love Jo, all systems say go.I must say, I was a bit dismayed by Colonel Matt Brennan's (Bogart) post war job prospects.
When a novice crash lands his only plane, it's time to look for more meaningful possibilities.
The good old days swung both ways.Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey worked together once before in the 1943 war adventure "Action in the North Atlantic".
Interestingly, Bogey was top billed in both films, while Massey's character was his boss in both.
Sometimes things just work out that way.As mentioned earlier, the film doesn't elaborate on events portrayed when it comes to accuracy.
Perhaps the film makers couldn't decide between Bogey landing his girl the easy way or the hard way..
Matt Brennan, and his crew, are amazed when they spot a German plane that flies so fast, they consider it a rival that will challenge them in the air.
Alas, the idea of a new prototype of fighting plane ends just as WWII is over.Matt Brennan, in love with the lovely Jo Holloway, figures he wants to marry her.
After the war is over, Matt has to resort to start his own flying academy, a short lived attempt to make a go of his flying knowledge.Always at odds with Max Troxell, Matt is brought over to the Willis manufacturing company, where a new plane with brand new technology is being developed by Max and other friends from his Air Force days.
Matt, an experienced pilot is engaged to put the plane through different tests.
He feels he can fly it in record time, while Max is working in a detachable cockpit that will be separated from the jet in case of trouble.
Matt surprises when he does the feat in record time."Chain Lightning" directed by Stuart Heisler, is almost a documentary, that chronicles the advent of technology that revolutionized the aerospace industry.
Humphrey Bogart appears as Matthew Brennan, the man with a mission.
Eleanor Parker plays Jo, his love interest.
Raymond Massey, and the supporting cast, do their best to make the film work..
After all, Humphrey Bogart reminded Ingrid Bergman that they always had Paris in 1943's "Casablanca." In this 1950 film, he could have reminded Eleanor Parker that they always had London.Bogie is an ace-pilot here.
Parker was the gal he romanced in England while both were in uniform during World War 11 but did not wed.Back in the states, Brennan (Bogart) goes to work for Raymond Massey, an airplane tycoon hellbent on getting his plane off the ground.
Brennan gets the job from a friend, the latter later killed off when the plane he was experimenting with crashes.
The plot becomes should Bogie test the fallen pal's plane.Massey is rather subdued here in his quest for publicity when Brennan tests his plane.
. to make way for the new: this is one of the messages of CHAIN LIGHTNING.
I've had some connections with military people in my life, and from that I can tell you that this under-appreciated Humphrey Bogart vehicle perfectly captures their spirit (no matter how ridiculous the plotting becomes from time to time).
No, dummy, Hollywood will NEVER share the blueprints for our latest secret weapons with everyone bearing the price of a theater ticket, no matter how much you scream and pull out your hair and stomp your feet and turn blue in the face over so-called "goofs!" The one thing that best exemplifies U.S. military thinking is how neither of the main two pilots gives a second thought to ditching a multi-million dollar jet (they're multi-billion each today, with inflation) to prove a point.
I was 13 at the time, and knew nothing about piloting an aircraft.
The next time I saw it, I was 49 years old and owned an aircraft.
The story is simple: a pilot makes an epic flight in an experimental jet and sets a record.Spoilers ahead: One movie critic said that the flying footage was "uninspired." How charitable!
Understand: I like Bogart films.