Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

calvinnme ... the script crashes and burns. Gable plays a test pilot who crash lands in Myrna Loy's corn field. A whirlwind courtship ensues and the couple flies back from whence Gable came, except they are married. Gable loses his job because of his delay, but soon picks up another one as test pilot. When one of Gable's friends dies in an aerial contest - the audience has met the entire family right before the contest so you KNOW it is curtains for this guy - suddenly Myrna Loy realizes the danger of her husband's profession. Really? He did crash land in your cornfield. The only reason that didn't kill him is your cornfield was not a high rise! So why am I giving this six out of ten? Well there are some cute scenes, such as when Gable returns with his new wife and realizes that she needs a night gown for the wedding night. Loy could have done this shopping herself, but it did make for a cute scene with a bewildered Gable lost in the clutches of the lingerie department of a local store. Much more romantic than 80 years later with strangers hooking up on Tinder like they are ordering steel belted radials and all of the romance of buying tires to boot.Then there is the acting. Loy is sharp, witty and at the same time touching and unaffected. Gable is masculine, gruff but vulnerable, a sort of trial run for Rhett Butler, and with the same director as in "Gone with the Wind" too. As for Spencer Tracy, as Gable's mechanic and buddy I can't say it was a bad performance he gave, but it was the oddest one I've ever seen after Tracy left Fox and came to MGM. He plays it like he is Harpo Marx, practically mute for the entire movie. In fact that is exactly what it is like - as though Harpo Marx is wearing a Spencer Tracy suit.Victor Fleming directed this one, and Howard Hawks and Spig Wead were two of the four writers. Perhaps this one could have been more tightly delivered if Hawks had been the director.I'd mildly recommend this, but if you get through it, scratch your head, and say "What exactly was the point of this?" all I can say is you are not alone.

jacobs-greenwood A film which gives one a sense of what it must have been like in the early days of aviation as pilots were employed to test airplanes to their breaking point, just prior to World War II. Directed by Victor Fleming and co-written by Howard Hawks, the film received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Editing, and Frank Wead's Original Story.Clark Gable plays the pilot, Spencer Tracy his friend and assistant. During a failed time and distance flight for his boss (Lionel Barrymore), Gable meets Myrna Loy when he lands in her father's field. Even though she's somewhat engaged to a local boy (played by Ted Pearson), he sweeps her off her feet and they hastily marry.Loy's character then learns of the hazards and the heartache of being a wife of such a daredevil, especially after another in her husband's profession (played by Louis Jean Heydt) is killed. The title character turns to drinking. Tracy, Loy, and even Barrymore, must then work together to help Gable's character mature and perhaps utilize his skills in another more stable way.Noted character actors Samuel Hinds, playing a General who wants the most from the planes, Marjorie Main, playing a landlord the penniless trio (Gable, Loy, and Tracy) convinces to let them live in her apartment on account, and Virginia Grey also appear.

jdeamara A weak film. To see its shortcomings, just compare it to Howard Hawks' "Only Angels Have Wings," a masterful film made a year later dealing with many of the same emotional issues. For example, compare the death scenes in the two movies; "Test Pilot" is not in the same league. Clark Gable is too Clark Gable. He should have reigned in his persona a little more here; more subtlety in his character would have done the film a lot of good. But perhaps coming off of "Parnell," a good movie but a bomb at the box office where he did depart from his typical macho character, he was less willing to take chances. Here, he does his typical macho character to the hilt.Myrna Loy is severely miscast as a Kansas girl whose backyard Gable uses for an emergency landing. She just looks too elegant, refined. Seeing her yelling and getting all excited at a baseball game just seems so out of character for her; an embarrassing scene. And like Gable, she over-emotes during most of the dramatic moments. Subtlety goes a long way; just ask Spencer Tracy.Of the three stars involved, Tracy comes out the best. His acting is the most naturalistic. Too bad he doesn't have a character. Just what exactly is his character's deal? Why is he hanging around Gable so much, blowing kisses at him as he takes off, living with him even after he's married. Is he related to Gable or just gay? I for one really don't like the pairing of Gable and Tracy. All three films they made together are weak (the first 40 minutes of "Boom Town" are good, but the movie quickly falls apart after that). In each, Gable is the unabashed, reckless, macho man, while Tracy is the morbid, grumpy, moral compass. Both actors deserve better and get better on their own. Perhaps "Test Pilot" would have been a much more satisfying movie with just Gable or just Tracy; with them together, it doesn't get off the ground. A disappointment, considering all the talent involved, in front of and behind the camera.

jpheifer-1 First of all, I am not a critic. This is just a visceral reaction to the movie.It starts out as a fun screwball comedy and then gets really deep. Halfway through I was still wondering where this movie was going. And after it got deep, most of the time I had no idea what the characters were talking about. Of course, by the context I knew they were talking about life, death and love, but what they were really trying to say wasn't clear. On one hand, I would think that this movie was quite a surprise to '30s audiences expecting a "Clark Gable movie," but on the other hand, '30s audiences weren't a bunch of innocents. They'd been through a lot of crap, so maybe this movie spoke to them.On the positive side, is there anything lovelier to look at than Clark Gable? Especially a young (about 37 years old) Gable. It's also fun to see Lionel Barrymore as a nice guy. Whoda thunk it?