Tonight's Movie: Chain Lightning (1950) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

CHAIN LIGHTNING (1950), an aviation drama starring Humphrey Bogart and Eleanor Parker, was recently released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive.

This was my first time to see this movie, which I enjoyed.

Bogart plays pilot Matt Brennan, who survives 25 WWII missions in Europe before being shipped stateside. He leaves behind his girlfriend, Red Cross nurse Jo (Parker), who he was unable to marry before being sent home.

Matt has a rough time earning a living when his service is completed, touring in aviation shows and trying to start a flight school, and he doesn't stay in contact with Jo.

Things start looking up for Matt when he's hired as a test pilot by aviation magnate Leland Willis (Raymond Massey). Matt is also reunited with Jo, who happens to be Leland's secretary.

Matt's friend Carl (Richard Whorf) also works for Willis; his projects include designing a jet ejection seat which he hopes will save lives. Carl is also interested in Jo but not sure how he stands once she's reunited with Matt.

This 93-minute film is fairly "by the numbers" and predictable, but it's elevated by the two leads and a good supporting cast. Aviation themes also hold appeal for me, so I gave this solid and entertaining drama a "thumbs up." I suspect fellow fans of Bogart, Parker, and/or "airplane movies" will feel the same.

The film is punctuated with some very good sequences, such as Carl being scared out of his wits when he accompanies Matt on a "hot" mission during the war; there's a wonderful bit where he keeps dropping his notebook out of sheer fright. Viewers also accompany Matt on a couple of white-knuckle flights in his job as a test pilot.

I also liked touches such as the sophisticated way it's implied that Matt and Jo spent the night together in London before he shipped out, without saying or showing anything specific. She says "We have six hours," and the next thing you know she's looking out the window, watching a plane take off while wearing a nightgown. Less, as they say, can be so much more.

Bogart and Parker highly watchable in this, and Massey is entertaining as their cantankerous, demanding boss. The supporting cast includes Roy Roberts, Morris Ankrum, Fay Helm, and James Brown.

Stuart Heisler directed, with black and white cinematography by Ernest Haller. The screenplay was by Vincent Evans and Liam O'Brien, based on a story by Lester Cole (aka J. Redmond Prior).

Extras on the good-looking Warner Archive Blu-ray are the trailer, a cartoon, and the Joe McDoakes short SO YOU WANT TO BE AN ACTOR (1949). The Blu-ray has an excellent soundtrack; those jet engine sounds really pop.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from the Warner Archive Collection Amazon Store or any online retailers where Blu-rays are sold.

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