|
Hell Divers
''Hell Divers'' is a 1932 American pre-Code black-and-white film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Wallace Beery and Clark Gable as a pair of competing chief petty officers in early naval aviation. The film, made with the cooperation of the United States Navy, features considerable footage of flight operations aboard the Navy's second aircraft carrier, the , including dramatic shots of takeoffs and landings filmed from the Curtiss F8C-4 Helldiver dive bombers after which the movie was named.Beck, Sanderson"Hell Divers (1932 b 109')."''Movie Mirrors'', 2000. Retrieved: December 27, 2011. ''Hell Divers'' was officially Gable's first "starring" role and filmed before he grew his trademark mustache. Gable had appeared in a minor supporting role in another Beery film, ''The Secret Six'', in April 1931. For Gable, ''Hell Divers'' was not a pleasant experience since he was again billed beneath Beery, an actor he personally disliked. Four years later, Gable would be billed over Beery ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Hill (director)
George William Hill (April 25, 1895 – August 10, 1934) was an American film director and cinematographer. Career He began his film career at age 13 as a stagehand with director D. W. Griffith. A cinematographer of silent films known for his skill in lighting female stars, he worked on a series of independently produced features for Mae Marsh and others in the years following World War I and was eventually recruited by the burgeoning major studios to be a director, beginning in 1920. Hill directed '' The Midnight Express'' (1924), which the ''New York Times'' noted was "a far better production than one is apt to gather from the title" and also that "the story is unfolded with skill and imagination." Through the following years, Hill's directing career began to gain serious traction and his assignments allowed him access to top stars such as Marion Davies and Jackie Coogan. Hill directed Lon Chaney's biggest money-maker, '' Tell It to the Marines'' (1926). Four years later, W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dive Bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact throughout the bomb run. This allows attacks on point targets and ships, which were difficult to attack with conventional level bombers, even ''en masse''. After World War II, the rise of precision-guided munitions and improved anti-aircraft defences—both fixed gunnery positions and fighter interception—led to a fundamental change in dive bombing. New weapons, such as rockets, allowed for better accuracy from smaller dive angles and from greater distances. They could be fitted to almost any aircraft, including fighters, improving their effectiveness without the inherent vulnerabilities of dive bombers, which needed air superiority to operate effectively. Method A dive bomber dives at a steep angle, normally between 45 and 60 degrees or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VFA-14 Tophatters
The Strike Fighter Squadron 14 (VFA-14) "Tophatters" are a United States Navy fighter attack squadron based at Naval Air Station Lemoore. They fly the F/A-18E Super Hornet, and are the Navy's oldest active squadron, having formed in 1919. Their callsign is ''Camelot'', and their tail code is ''NG.'' History Since its inception the squadron has flown 23 different type aircraft, had its designation changed fourteen times, operated from 20 different aircraft carriers (and several battleships) and had 90 commanding officers (the 91st is now in command). Over the years the squadron has been assigned many different missions, including patrol and observation in its early years, and scouting, attack, fighter, bombing, and forward air control missions when it became associated with carrier-based operations. The squadron adopted the classic Top Hat as its squadron patch and called themselves the "High Hats". Early years The squadron began carrier operations on board the Navy's first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flight Jacket
A flight jacket is a casual jacket that was originally created for pilots and eventually became part of popular culture and apparel. It has evolved into various styles and silhouettes, including the "letterman" jacket and the fashionable "bomber" jacket that is known today. The flight jacket Early history World War I In World War I, most airplanes did not have an enclosed cockpit, so pilots had to wear something that would keep them sufficiently warm. The U.S. Army officially established the Aviation Clothing Board in September 1917 and began distributing heavy-duty leather flight jackets; with high wraparound collars, zipper closures with wind flaps, snug cuffs and waists, and some fringed and lined with fur. World War II Leslie Irvin first designed and manufactured the classic sheepskin flying jacket. In 1926 he set up a manufacturing company in the United Kingdom, and became the main supplier of flying jackets to the Royal Air Force during most of World ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chief Petty Officer
A chief petty officer (CPO) is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards. Canada "Chief petty officer" refers to two ranks in the Royal Canadian Navy. A chief petty officer 2nd class (CPO2) (''premier maître de deuxième classe'' or ''pm2'' in French) is equivalent to a master warrant officer in the Army and Air Force, and chief petty officer 1st class (CPO1) (''premier maître de première classe'' or ''pm1'') is equivalent to a chief warrant officer in the Army and Air Force. In spoken references, chief petty officers may be addressed as "chief" but are never addressed as "sir". Australia "Chief Petty Officer" is the second highest non-commissioned rank in the Royal Australian Navy. India A Chief Petty Officer in Indian Navy is a junior-commissioned officer, equivalent to the NATO rank enlisted grade of E-6 ( Staff Sergeant ) . This rank is equivalent to Naib Subedar in Indian Army and Junior Warrant Officer in Indian Air force. The two hig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Young (actor)
Robert George Young (February 22, 1907 – July 21, 1998) was an American film, television and radio actor best known for his leading roles as Jim Anderson, the father character, in ''Father Knows Best'' (CBS, then NBC, then CBS again) and the physician Marcus Welby in ''Marcus Welby, M.D.'' (American Broadcasting Company, ABC). Early life Born in Chicago, Young was the son of an Irish immigrant father, Thomas E. Young, and an American mother, Margaret Fyfe. While Young was a child, the family moved to various locations within the U.S., including Seattle as well as Los Angeles, where Young was a student at Abraham Lincoln High School (Los Angeles), Abraham Lincoln High School. After graduation, he studied and performed at the Pasadena Playhouse while working wikt:odd job, odd jobs and appearing in bit parts in silent films. While touring with a Repertory theatre, stock company producing "The Ship", Young was discovered by a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer talent scout who signed the fledgli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie Prevost
Marie Prevost (born Marie Bickford Dunn; November 8, 1896 – January 21, 1937) was a Canadian-born film actress. During her 20-year career, she made 121 silent and sound films. Prevost began her career during the silent film era. She was discovered by Mack Sennett who signed her to contract and made her one of his "Bathing Beauties" in the late 1910s. Prevost appeared in dozens of Sennett's short comedy films before moving on to feature-length films for Universal. In 1922, she signed with Warner Bros. where her career flourished as a leading lady. She was a favorite of director Ernst Lubitsch who cast her in three of his comedy films: '' The Marriage Circle'' (1924), '' Three Women'' (1924) and '' Kiss Me Again'' (1925). After being let go by Warner Bros in early 1926, Prevost's career began to decline and she was relegated to secondary roles. She was also beset with personal problems, including the death of her mother in 1926 and the breakdown of her marriage to actor Ken ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marjorie Rambeau
Marjorie Burnet Rambeau (July 15, 1889 – July 6, 1970) was an American film and stage actress. She began her stage career at age 12, and appeared in several silent films before debuting in her first sound film, '' Her Man'' (1930). She was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in '' Primrose Path'' (1940) and ''Torch Song'' (1953), and received the 1955 National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in '' A Man Called Peter'' and '' The View from Pompey's Head''. Early life Rambeau was born in San Francisco to Marcel and Lilian Garlinda (née Kindelberger) Rambeau. Her parents separated when she was a child. She and her mother went to Nome, Alaska, where young Marjorie dressed as a boy, sang, and played the banjo in saloons and music halls. Her mother insisted she dress as a boy to thwart amorous attention from drunken grown men in such a wild and woolly outpost as Nome. She began performing on the stage at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorothy Jordan (American Actress)
Dorothy Jordan (August 9, 1906 – December 7, 1988) was an American movie actress who had a short, successful career beginning in 1929. Career Born in Clarksville, Tennessee, Jordan studied at what is now Rhodes College and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She performed in Broadway musicals, including '' Garrick Gaieties''. Jordan made her screen debut in the 1929 film ''The Taming of the Shrew.'' She made 22 more films in the next four years, including '' Min and Bill'' (1930) with Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler and '' The Cabin in the Cotton'' (1932) with Bette Davis. During this time, she appeared in films with Ramon Novarro, Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Walter Huston and Jimmy Durante. Film retirement and return In 1933, Jordan left films and married filmmaker and screenwriter Merian C. Cooper, who co-wrote, produced and directed the 1933 film ''King Kong''. The couple had three children, a son and two daughters. In 1937, Jordan came out of retirement to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conrad Nagel
John Conrad Nagel (March 16, 1897 – February 24, 1970) was an American film, stage, television and radio actor. He was considered a famous matinée idol and leading man of the 1920s and 1930s. He was given an Academy Honorary Award in 1940 and three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Early life Born in Keokuk, Iowa, into an upper-middle-class family, he was the son of a musician father, Dr. Frank L. Nagel, who was of German descent, and a mother, Frances (née Murphy), who was a locally praised singer. Nagel's mother died early in his life, and he always attributed his artistic inclination to growing up in a family environment that encouraged self-expression. When Nagel was three, his father, Frank, became dean of the music conservatory at Highland Park College in Des Moines, and the family moved there. After graduating from Highland Park College, Nagel left for California to pursue a career in the relatively new medium of motion pictures where he garnered instant a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billing (filmmaking)
Billing is a performing arts term used in referring to the order and other aspects of how credits are presented for plays, films, television, or other creative works. Information given in billing usually consists of the companies, actors, directors, producers, and other crew members. Films History From the beginning of motion pictures in the 1900s to the early 1920s, the moguls that owned or managed big film studios did not want to bill the actors appearing in their films because they did not want to recreate the star system that was prevalent on Broadway at that time. They also feared that, once actors were billed on film, they would be more popular and would seek large salaries. Actors themselves did not want to reveal their film careers to their stage counterparts via billing on film, because at that time working in the movies was unacceptable to stage actors. As late as the 1910s, stars as famous as Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin were not known by name to moviegoers. Acco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
China Seas (film)
''China Seas'' is a 1935 American adventure film starring Clark Gable as a brave sea captain, Jean Harlow as his brassy paramour, and Wallace Beery as a suspect character. The oceangoing epic also features Lewis Stone, Rosalind Russell, Akim Tamiroff, and Hattie McDaniel, while humorist Robert Benchley memorably portrays a character reeling drunk from one end of the film to the other. The lavish MGM epic was written by James Kevin McGuinness and Jules Furthman from the 1930 book by Crosbie Garstin, and directed by Tay Garnett. This is one of only four sound films with Beery in which he did not receive top billing. Plot Alan Gaskell (Clark Gable) is an abrasive, gambling, captain of a tramp steamer, the "Kin Lung," chugging between Singapore and Hong Kong. Tensions are high before the Kin Lung sails from Hong Kong because pirates are discovered disguised as women passengers while others try to smuggle weapons aboard. Dolly Portland (Jean Harlow) is Alan's former girlfrie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
