Help on a movie title please

I seem to remember (vaguely) a movie that must have been from the 30's where the protaganist, an ace exhausted by the ravages of war commits suicide in his cot, is found by his best friend, then propped into a two seater early in the morning so it could be reported that this pilot was actually killed in action, saving his good name. Thanks in advance.

Best,

Holck

You're thinking of "The Eagle and The Hawk". It features a DH-4 which was "provided" to the studio by Garland Lincoln "and therein lies a tale." Bill Wylam, later a notable talent as a source of WWI and classic aircraft renderings, had acquired the DH while in Texas when scarcely into his 'teens. As I recall, he and another young buddy, traded a Model "T" for it. It was in a non-flying state and the fathers weren't initially concerned; when the boys were aided by some ex-USAAS mechanics in making it airworthy the fathers said it'd have to be sold. They advertised it and a "buyer" appeared. He offered to buy it upon the condition that it prove satisfactory during a quick test "hop". The test flight proved to be an immediate departure westward- into the sunset. They never saw the airplane again until the movie came out! Bill told me the fathers brought the "buyer" to court and obtained a judgement. The "buyer" was GL. Leo Opdycke has obtained the complete story from Bill, (now nearly 90) and will have it soon in "WWI Aero." Bill is now completing a comprehensive work on Breguet light bombers of WWI. VBR......Lee

The movie was "The Eagle and the Hawk", starring Frederick March, Jack Oakie, and a young Cary Grant(Paramount, 1933). March was the shell-shocked and war weary two seater ace (he flew a DH9A painted up in fantastic camouflage) who keeps bringing back dead observers and eventually commits suicide. This movie has shown up on the Cable channel AMC every once in awhile, and is available on video from various outlets; I have it on tape and I consider it one of the better WWI movies. Interestingly enough, Bogart Rogers, an American SE5a ace with No. 32 Squadron, was one of the screen writers. He had been trained under McCudden, and had certainly read McCudden's "Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps". March frquently tangles with a deadly German ace called "Green Tail", and when he finally shoots the German down , it is discovered that he is none other than - Voss ! Unfortunately, "Voss" wasn't flying a Fokker Triplane and the movie's in black and white, so it doesn't reveal any new clues about the color of Voss' cowling !!

[Vin]

One of the yarns the old Workers Compensation barristers used to tell was that of the bloke who died in bed during the night. The widow rings up a couple of his workmates who come round, dress the corpse, shove it in their car and drive to work. When they get to work, they tell the boss the deceased died in the car on the way to work. Under the old Workers Compensation Act, injury or death sustained travelling to or from work carried with it the right to compensation. So the widow received a pay out.


Vin

[mike_baram]

Guess I'll re-rent "Weekend at Bernie's" after all this.

Thanks everybody!

The vividness of your description has helped me recall the fragment where Grant, as the pilot, swings the Lewis gun around and fires a burst into the (thankfully!) off camera March to obscure the suicide.