Dirigible

Dirigible (1931)

GIANT EPIC OF THE AIR!

Dirigible commander Jack Braden and Navy pilot 'Frisky' Pierce fight over the glory associated with a successful expedition to the South Pole and the love of beautiful Helen, Frisky's wife. After Braden's dirigible expedition fails, Frisky tries an expedition by plane. Unfortunately he crashes and strands his party at the South Pole. Braden must decide between a risky rescue attempt by dirigible and remaining safely at home with Helen.

Date of release
1931-02-01
TMDB
5.5 / 10 (11)
Runtime
1h 40m
Genres
Adventure, Drama, War
Director
Frank Capra

Casting

Interesting facts

Dirigible is a 1931 American pre-Code adventure film directed by Frank Capra for Columbia Pictures and starring Jack Holt, Ralph Graves and Fay Wray. The picture focuses on the competition between naval fixed-wing and airship pilots to reach the South Pole by air.

Production

Capra and Columbia considered Dirigible as a step forward into the big time, with a $650,000 budget, the highest amount the studio had ever invested. Shot at Lakehurst, New Jersey, at the hangar that would house the U.S. Navy and later the Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg. The Navy gave "its full resources at Lakehurst" including the pride of the fleet, the USS Los Angeles to lend an air of authenticity to the production.

As production began, the old Ross Airfield in Arcadia, California, which was turned into a movie lot during a heatwave in 1930, was converted into the Antarctic film set, complete with "artificial snow, fake ice mounds and painted backdrop attached to the back side of the dilapidated Army barracks." With principal photography slated for September, dry ice in metal containers stuffed in actor's mouths sufficed for the usual Arctic breath.

This film is historically important to aviation buffs. A mid-air docking and recovery of a fighter aircraft with a dirigible is shown. The crash of an airship during a storm is accurately depicted. The aircraft carrier USS Lexington, with her 8-inch guns, can be spotted in the background during the takeoff of an aircraft.

The aerial cinematography was coordinated by Elmer Dyer.

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

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