The Dawn Patrol (Warner Bros.) (1938)

ADVANCE PUBLICITY — "THE DAWN PATROL' ERROL FLYNN—SOLDIER OF FORTUNE, ADVENTURER, AVIATOR ERROL FLYNN... Hailing from the north of Ireland, Errol Flynn — actor by profession, adventurer by inclination — burst into screen fame as the swash-buckling pirate of ''Captain Blood."" He became one of As 'CAPTAIN BLOOD' (Advance Feature) Flynn Revives Tradition Of Colorful Film Stars “Color” is something an individual can’t acquire or describe. You either have it or you don’t. If you don’t have it, you can’t buy it or borrow it. Valentino had “color” and he has it yet, even though he has been dead many years. Wally Reid had it, too. Doug Fairbanks had “color” and still retains it though he hasn’t made a picture in years. Valentino, Reid and Fairbanks had little in common otherwise. And now there’s Errol Flynn. Lately that sort of “color” has been conspicuous by its absence in Hollywood. Absent, that is, until the appearance on the cinema horizon of the six-footthree Irishman. From the time he swashbuckled his way to sereen fame overnight by virtue of a single screen performance— in “Captain Blood” only three years ago to date, when he is starring, as a daredevil aviator in “The Dawn Patrol” coming to the Strand on Friday, he has left a wake of “color” a mile wide behind him. Everything Flynn does is news. He can’t spend a week-end at Catalina Island without something happening to him that makes headlines or causes people to take notice. He doesn’t plan these things; they just happen to him. Wherever Flynn goes, whatever he does, he makes copy for the reporters. For instance, while on a Caribbean cruise last spring Flynn staked a deep sea diver to recover a brass cannon off the coast of the Isle of Pines, south of Cuba. In the days of pirates, it seems, the buccaneers, pursued by a man-of-war, often stuffed treasure into a cannon, plugged the muzzle and heaved it overboard, hoping to return later to recover their loot. Several months later the diver recovered the cannon, It was filled with about $200 worth of semi-precious stones. “Tough,” said Flynn. “Swell,” said the people who write about Hollywood and its celebrities. Flynn hates the commonplace, as he demonstrated more than once during that Caribbean cruise. Where other deep sea anglers had trouble landing the giant tuna and marlin of the Grand Bahama banks with regulation tackle, Flynn had to use a bow and harpoon arrow. Moreover, he used them successfully, bringing in a 380-pound Mako shark, one of the hardest fighters in the sea, and dozens of other giant fish with his “Robin Hood” equipment. Hollywood used to be filled with gay adventurous blades like Flynn, Valentino, Wally Reid Tom Mix, with his big white hat and his big white cars with gold initials; Doug Fairbanks, Sr., who once made a preview crowd gasp by shinnying up the side of the old Egyptian Theatre and walking along the topmost ledge. The present day star has changed. He puts his career above the excitement of being a devil-may-care personality. But not Flynn, He lives for excitement and loves it. He alone remains an adventurer in a colony of celebrities who seldom do the unexpected any more. In ‘THE CHARGE...’ Errol Flynn May Head U. S. Deep-Sea Fishermen Errol Flynn, star of “‘The Dawn Patrol” coming to the Strand Friday, Irish by birth but American by adoption, has been offered the captaincy. of the. five-man team which will represent the United States in the international tuna fishing tournament at Cat Cay, Bahamas, next May. Flynn said that in view of | the fact that so many more outstanding big game anglers than he would be on the team, he questioned the advisability of accepting the invitation to head the American outfit, but added that he definitely would be on hand next May to join the United States team when the gigantic blue-fins start swarming north in the Gulf Stream off Cat Cay: Flynn plays a dare devil war ace of the Royal Flying Corps in “The Dawn Patrol.” As 'ROBIN HOOD' In ‘DAWN. PATROL' the outstanding romantic figures of the cinema. In “The Dawn Patrol," he plays a devil-may-care war ace of the Royal Flying Corps. "The Dawn Patrol" opens Friday at the Strand. (Advance Feature) Basil Rathbone Soft Pedals Villainy In ‘Dawn Patrol Basil Rathbone thinks his role in ‘‘The Dawn Patrol,’’ the Warner Bros. picture coming to the Strand Theatre on Friday, is a long step in the right direction. “I’m still pretty heavy,” he explained, “but not quite as villainous as I’ve beén in the past.” Rathbone, who is determined to break away, temporarily at least, from the type of characterization that has gained him fame on the screen, pointed out that while, in “The Dawn Patrol,” he does send young flyers to flaming deaths, he gets his orders from higher up. “Previously,” he continued, “I’ve ridden down children and killed them, I’ve beaten the daylights out of young people like Freddie Bartholomew. I’ve thrown comely actresses out of the house and I’ve made friends DARE-DEVIL ACES OF "THE DAWN PATROL" Mat 302—45c "THE DAWN PATROL" Warner Bros. thrilling drama of aviation which will open at the Strand Theatre on Friday is the year's most exciting story of warfare in the sky, with spectacular scenes of aerial combat. Errol Flynn (top left), Basil Rathbone (right), David Niven (bottom left) and Donald Crisp (right) head the cast as dare-devil aces of the 59th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. [6] with nice old ladies, then robbed and murdered them. I’ve done all this, cinematically speaking, because it was my own, wunprejudiced idea. : “But now, thank Heaven, I’m only taking’ orders, ‘military orders that can be disobeyed only on pain of court-martial and death before a firing squad, from others. “That, I’m sure, is a step in the right direction.” In “The Dawn Patrol” Rathbone is cast as Major Brand, commander of the 59th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, during the World War. Among the officers of his squadron are Errol Flynn, David Niven, Donald Crisp, Michael Brooke (the Earl of Warwick), ‘Morton Lowry and many others. Every time the telephone rings in the room of the French farmhouse that serves as squadron headquarters Rathbone knows that it will be a message directing him to send up another group of flyers and that from one to five of each flight of seven will never return. His inability to alter the situation rankles deeply; it becomes the underlying factor that creates a bitter enmity between Rathbone and Flynn and subsequently, when Rathbone is promoted and Flynn takes his post as squadron commander, between Flynn and his pal, David Niven. “But, you see,” Rathbone contends, “I can hardly be blamed for my actions.” Some day, he is firmly convineed, he will be able to put behind him all thoughts of the heinous crimes he has committed in the name of screen villainy. 1914 Auto Puzzles Post War Youths Warner Bros. picked up an old Sunbeam automobile which had actually served as a British staff car in France during the World War and a 1914 Rolls Royce, both of which are still rolling under their own power, for the scenes in northern France in “The Dawn Patrol,” which opens’ Friday at the Strand. Theatre. Donald Crisp, who had been in France at the time, had to show the “young bucks,” of his cast— Errol Flynn, | David | Niven, Michael Brooke, Peter Willes— how to run the game old autos.