Boring

A Major Disappointment

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I must say right up front that Humphrey Bogart is my favorite film actor of all time.That said, Chain Lightning won't be remembered as one of his best. In "Chain Lightning," Bogart is a World War H bomber pilot hired as a test-pilot who, after the death of his designer friend (Richard Whorf), successfully tries out a newly designed ejection cockpit...His fans may be able to suspend all disbelief and take some interest in Bogey testing jet planes and romancing the company secretary. Even so, Chain Lightning gives us the great Bogart one more time.Conclusion - This is not the best Humphrey Bogart movie ever. But that's like saying the sun isn't shining as well as it should. If you love Bogart, you will love this film!

The JA-3/JA-4 full-scale model in this movie is more like the Bell X-2, which had swept wings, than the Bell X-1, which had short, stubby straight wings. The movie aircraft is like the Bell X-1/X-2 rocket planes in that it has no air intakes (inlets) and therefore is not a jet. Jet aircraft have air breathing engines with the necessary inlets while rockets do not. This movie had no bearing on the design of the F-16, which is a jet. I was an aerospace engineer in F-16 advanced programs, first at Wright Field (mentioned in the movie) in the 1970s, and then at General Dynamics in the 1980s. This is one of my favorite aviation movies, even though it reflects Hollywood's dramatic idea of how aircraft are designed and developed rather than the actual process.

After all, Humphrey Bogart reminded Ingrid Bergman that they always had Paris in 1943's "Casablanca." In this 1950 film, he could have reminded Eleanor Parker that they always had London.Bogie is an ace-pilot here. As always, no one can talk to him because he's Bogie,plain and simple. Parker was the gal he romanced in England while both were in uniform during World War 11 but did not wed.Back in the states, Brennan (Bogart) goes to work for Raymond Massey, an airplane tycoon hellbent on getting his plane off the ground. Brennan gets the job from a friend, the latter later killed off when the plane he was experimenting with crashes. The plot becomes should Bogie test the fallen pal's plane.Massey is rather subdued here in his quest for publicity when Brennan tests his plane. Ditto for Parker. She had always been accused of over-acting, but that's not the case here.

With some minor plot revisions, "Chain Lightning" would just about qualify as a remake of Humphrey Bogart's 1936 film, "China Clipper". In both stories, Bogey's character is a former military pilot who takes on a civilian job as a test pilot for demanding bosses. Raymond Massey portrays the owner of the Willis Aircraft Company, a role performed in the earlier film by Pat O'Brien. Both men are hard driving, ruthless individuals who put work and success above having a personal life, whose ambition test the people around them, including the Bogey character. The minor difference might be in the romantic interest for Bogart; in 'Clipper' there was none, here he's on again, off again with Jo Holloway (Eleanor Parker) in a romance that tests one's patience throughout the film.I don't know when the device was first used, but in this movie, the opening scene serves as the introduction to a flashback narrative that winds up back at the same point later in the film. The bookends are fairly successful in delivering a complete story, but left this viewer wondering how much of it was based in fact. A reference was made to breaking the sound barrier by Chuck Yeager's earlier 1946 flight, and it seems that the story builds on technological advances in the history of military flight building up to the invention of the ejector pod. Bogey's conflicted character is in it for the money right up to the point he hears his buddy's voice recorder message detailing how he lost his life in a failed test of a 'JA-4' experimental craft. Will he or won't he? If it means hurtling back to Earth to be with his one true love Jo, all systems say go.I must say, I was a bit dismayed by Colonel Matt Brennan's (Bogart) post war job prospects. He's shown running his own flight school and charging customers three dollars an hour for the privilege. When a novice crash lands his only plane, it's time to look for more meaningful possibilities. What he's offered at Massey's company turns out to be seven hundred fifty dollars per MONTH! The good old days swung both ways.Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey worked together once before in the 1943 war adventure "Action in the North Atlantic". Interestingly, Bogey was top billed in both films, while Massey's character was his boss in both. Sometimes things just work out that way.As mentioned earlier, the film doesn't elaborate on events portrayed when it comes to accuracy. Obviously the ejector pod was someone's good idea at some point in time, but the way it's presented here would have meant more in a historical context. Even so, this viewer was kept interested enough by events in the film, even if the romantic angle between the principals seemed forced. Perhaps the film makers couldn't decide between Bogey landing his girl the easy way or the hard way.