THE LOST SQUADRON (RKO Radio, 1932), directed by George Archainbaud, is not exactly a full-fledged war story dealing with ace pilots captured by the enemy or one about a military search for a lost patrol. It's one about veteran war pilots who become stunt pilots in aviation movies. Richard Dix, a leading man for the studio, highly popular due to his Academy Award winning epic western CIMARRON (1931), heads the cast playing the captain who risks everything for those under his command, the very same men who happen to be his closest friends in both squadron and civilian life.
Taken from the story by pilot/author, Dick Grace (who also appears in the movie as one of the pilots), the story focuses on ace pilots stationed in France shooting enemies followed by crash landings in air battle during the World War. A treaty has been signed naming November 11, 1918, as Armistice Day. With the war over, Christopher Gibson (Richard Dix), a captain in charge of his command, gathers together with pals Lieutenant "Woody Curwood (Robert Armstrong), 'Red" (Joel McCrea) and airplane mechanic, Fritz (Hugh Herbert) for one last drink of liquor before heading out for civilian life. Back in the states, the men return to find life they had known is not the same: Red returns to Sharkley and Company to inquire about his old job, only to refuse his position when it means an employer friend of his with a baby on the way will have to be let go; Woody discovers he is now broke when his business partner embezzles his funds; and Gibson returns to Follette Marsh (Mary Astor), a stage actress and the girl he loves, only to find she has another suitor (William B. Davidson) and learning they now have nothing in common. The four men gather together with a clause to simply stick together. Through the passage of time, with newspaper headlines reading about war veterans victims of the Depression when seen on bread lines, Gibson, Red and Fritz, now hobos, bum a freight train ride to Los Angeles to locate Woody. They find him in Hollywood escorted by two ladies attending a premiere of "Sky Heroes," an independent aviation war movie directed by Arthur Von Furst (Erich Von Stroheim), starring his wife, Follette Marsh. With Woody doing well in the movie business, he unionizes his war buddies employment working with him as stunt pilots for the upcoming aviation movie under Von Furst's direction. Problems arise when the insanely jealous director discovers his actress wife's past romance with 'Gibby," leading to his "accidental" airplane crackups and dangerous aerial scenes intended for Gibson to put him out of the way. Others in the cast include Dorothy Jordan (Woody's sister, alias "The Pest"); Ralph Ince (Jettick of the Homicide Squad); Marjorie Peterson (The Stenographer); and Ralph Lewis.
THE LOST SQUADRON has the distinction of having three separate stories for one motion picture. It starts off like a war drama, becomes a movie within a movie, and finishing off as a murder mystery. Of the co-stars, the sixth billed Erich Von Stroheim, a former actor/director himself of the silent screen, notably for GREED (1923), gives a notable performance doing a parody of himself of a tyrant director with unlikable personality. Von Stroheim's sarcasms with critical outbursts toward his staff simply earn him that distinction of "The Man You Love to Hate." Mary Astor gives a fine performance as the woman with acting ambition. Sadly her character disappears long before the movie's finish. Robert Armstrong, a pilot with his love for flying and boozing, is routinely played. Joel McCrea, early in his career, is satisfactory as the handsome young pilot pal while Hugh Herbert, famous for his befuddled characters in comedies for Warner Brothers and Universal, offers a rare treat in a straight role with some doses of comic touches early in the story. Let's not overlook Richard Dix, the hero in both war and civilian life, who gathers enough attention and likability during its 79 minutes.
Distributed on video cassette in the 1980s, and later on DVD decades later, THE LOST SQUADRON had the rare distinction of being one of the true vintage RKO movies (prior to 1933) to continue its New York City broadcasts on WOR, Channel 9 (home of the RKO Radio film library) well into 1974, It was also broadcast around the same time with its dubbed Spanish prints for the Spanish TV station of WNJU, Channel 47 (Newark, New Jersey). Once shown regularly on cable television's American Movie Classics prior to 2001, THE LOST SQUADRON, along with similar theme drama about movie stunt pilots, LUCKY DEVILS (RKO, 1933) starring William Boyd, can both be shown occasionally on Turner Classic Movies. (***)
