Chain Lightning

Chain Lightning (1950)

There's a new Bogart thrill in the sky!

Former World War II flying ace Matt Brennan takes a position as a test pilot for a commercial aircraft corporation and bumps into his old girlfriend, Jo Holloway, who now works as a receptionist for the company.

Date of release
1950-02-18
TMDB
6.4 / 10 (28)
Runtime
1h 34m
Genres
Drama, Action, War
Director
Stuart Heisler

Casting

Interesting facts

Chain Lightning is a 1950 American aviation film. The screenplay was written by Liam O'Brien and Vincent B. Evans, who had been a bombardier on the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Memphis Belle during World War II, based on the story "These Many Years" by blacklisted communist writer Lester Cole. Cole's credit on the film was officially restored by the Writers Guild of America in 1997.

Production

Principal filming took place from April 16, 1949, to July 1949, but final production was delayed from release until 1950. In order to realistically depict the flight testing, permission was obtained to film at various Air Force bases, including Muroc Army Air Field (now Edwards Air Force Base). Location shooting also occurred at the San Fernando Valley Airport (now Van Nuys Airport).

The model was based on a derelict Bell P-39 Airacobra fuselage that had been reworked by Vince Johnson, an expert "lofter". The Warner Bros. contract called for completion of a realistic fighter able to taxi and deploy parachutes. Along with the full-scale model used for most of the ground sequences, a number of scale models were built. A Willis JA-3 fiberglass miniature used in the production, measuring 80 in.

Revisiting his use of the wartime fleet of aircraft that he had obtained for films such as Twelve O'Clock High (1949), Mantz's B-17F, 42–3369, appearing as “Naughty Nellie,” recreated the wartime missions that the central character recalls in a flashback sequence.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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