Test Pilot (film)

Infobox Film
name = Test Pilot


caption = Original film poster
imdb_id = 0030848
director = Victor Fleming
writer = Howard Hawks
John Lee Mahin
starring = Clark Gable
Myrna Loy
producer = Louis D. Lighton
runtime = 118 min.

"Test Pilot" Is a 1938 film directed by Victor Fleming. Featuring Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy, and Lionel Barrymore, it tells the story of a daredevil test pilot, his wife and his best friend.

"Test Pilot" was written by Howard Hawks, Vincent Lawrence, John Lee Mahin, Frank Wead and Waldemar Young, and directed by Victor Fleming. Based on a story written by Frank Wead (a writer later portrayed by John Wayne in John Ford's The Wings of Eagles).

The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Plot summary

Reckless test pilot Jim Lane (Clark Gable) is forced to land on a Kansas farm in his plane, the "Drake Bullet", where he meets Ann Barton (Myrna Loy). Despite already having a fiancé, Ann quickly marries Jim. Though she soon finds out how dangerous her husband's occupation is, Ann promises Jim's best friend and mechanic, Gunner Morris (Spencer Tracy), that she will stick to her man. She and Gunner resign themselves to the inevitable.

One day, Gunner has to accompany Jim on a test flight of a new bomber. Something goes wrong; the plane goes into a tailspin, and sandbags (substituting for the weight of bombs) break loose, pinning Gunner. Unwilling to bail out without his buddy, Jim manages to land, but it is too late for Gunner. When Jim realizes the toll his job has taken on his wife, he gives it up.

Cast

*Clark Gable as Jim Lane
*Myrna Loy as Ann Barton
*Spencer Tracy as Gunner Morris
*Lionel Barrymore as Drake, the owner of the company that employs Jim and Gunner