User reviews

Ace Of Aces casts Richard Dix as a sculptor who is determined just not to get involved in the war even after the USA enters. But those were jingoistic years and when his own girlfriend Elizabeth Allan shames him into it he joins the Army and gets into the new Army Air Corps.

Once he's involved Dix discovers he has a taste for war and gets real good at combat flying. Others who aren't as good get dead and soon. But he's taken up by the media and is soon like Eddie Rickenbacker, the Ace Of Aces. And Elizabeth Allan does not like what she sees when she visits the front doing war work.

Dix gives a fine performance, one of the best I've seen in his talkie period. Very good use is made of the combat footage. It might very well have been outtakes from Howard Hughes's Hell's Angels or Paramount's Wings instead of the real deal or a combination. Still it's effectively added in.

Kudos also go to Ralph Bellamy as Dix's immediate superior who doesn't like him and has him figured out very well. One big flaw is the film has an obviously tacked on ending.

Ace Of Aces still holds up well after eight decades and ranks up high with aviation themed films.

Rocky and Nancy, couple in love, when War is declared (WWI, in spite of their early 30s clothing). Rocky (played by Richard Dix) compares soldiers to lemmings "trying to reach a goal that doesn't exist" - Nancy (Elizabeth Allan) thinks her man is "yellow" as she pushes him into going to battle. Next thing you know, Rocky has joined an Aero Squadron and is encamped in a barracks full of nicknamed comrades and a menagerie of "mascots" not limited to a goat, pig, chimp, parrot, and Rocky's personal mascot, a cute little lion cub (actually, he looked sort of like a leopard to me). Rocky starts out fighting his morals against shooting another man - but not for long, it seems, as Rocky gets pretty darn aggressive amazingly quickly - the war has completely gone to his head as Rocky turns into the fighting ace of all aces!

This film is a bit hit or miss - parts of it are good, other parts are quite slow-moving and boring. Richard Dix gives a somewhat hammy performance and there are some pretty fake looking kisses between the two leads, a real lack of chemistry there, I would say. BUT - there is some interesting photography in the air battle scenes, and a few other interesting scenes here and there, especially notable is a scene where Dix is confronted by one of the German soldiers he shot down, now on his death bed. Okay film.

Idealistic young sculptor Richard Dix (as Rex "Rocky" Thorne) decides not to enlist when President Woodrow Wilson calls for US soldiers to enter the Great War (aka World War I). A pacifist, Mr. Dix explains, "I just don't like the idea of killing my fellow man." His pretty Boston fiancée Elizabeth Allan (as Nancy Adams) calls Dix a coward and joins the war effort as a nurse. Suddenly ashamed, Dix enlists as a fighter pilot. On his first day with the squadron, in France, Dix is sent out on a mission. At first he is unable to kill his fellow man. But, when shot at, Dix turns into the Germans' worst nightmare, killing them at breakneck speed. Soon, Dix holds the record for the most kills...

During the heat of battle, Dix and Ms. Allan find their views on war have evolved...

This is a fine 1930s (anti-) war film, with exciting airborne battle scenes. The photography, by Henry Cronjager and Vernon Walker, is a highlight. In the leading role, Dix seems miscast, however. Many older men enlisted in both World Wars, but he appears too old for the role. The script might have been altered to include some mention of him getting a late start in marriage and claiming to be "too old for war." Even then, the part probably should have been played by a more delicate actor. Best supporting player is Theodore Newton (as Foster 'Frogy' Kelley). His first scene, introducing Dix to the squadron, is so good you can almost hear director J Walter Ruben yell, "Cut, print!" Yes, he nailed it.

****** Ace of Aces (1933-10-20) J. Walter Ruben ~ Richard Dix, Elizabeth Allan, Theodore Newton, Ralph Bellamy

I never liked Richard Dix very much. He's just awful in the wonderful film, Cimarron, which earned him an Oscar nomination. Any other film I've seen in him seems to show him off as a hammy, middle-aged actor just going through the paces. But Ace of Aces was a slight surprise. This WW I story about a pacifist artist who joins up and become a bloodthirsty killer under the guise of being a flying "ace" seems like the kind of role he needed. In a way it's similar to the role of Yancy in Cimarron, but minus the "Wahoos" he lets out sporadically in that film. Plus in Cimarron Dix pales in comparison to the great performance turned in by Irene Dunne. In Ace of Aces, Dix is the star. No one else registers very strongly. Elizabeth Allan is the girl friend, Ralph Bellamy the commanding officer, Theodore Newton the best friend, Nella Walker the socialite, and the Stroud twins (Claude and Clarence) play fellow flyers. Not a great film by any means, but a solid story certainly helps. The aerial dogfights are good but not as good as in Hell's Angels. Check it out.

As America decides to enter WWI, an artist (Richard Dix) tells his patriotic girlfriend (Elizabeth Allan) that he objects to getting involved in a pointless war "like a lemming." Feeling guilty over her rebuke, he signs up, and after overcoming initial qualms about killing, quickly becomes the best fighter pilot in his squadron, having killed 43 of the enemy. When the pair happen to run into one another on a weekend pass he has in Paris, he tells her that he'll only spend the time with her if she'll have sex with him - that's what he's looking for from other women - and she reluctantly consents (certainly a pre-Code moment). He's gone through quite a transformation, oozing masculinity and aggression so much that even fighting seems to be mostly about personal glory, but he's shaken when he sees real suffering in the hospital, including a man he personally shot down.

The film has elements glorifying war, such as the ragtag fighter crew and their aerial exploits, but it also has elements condemning it, such as the men suffering cruel, lingering deaths, PTSD, and a suicide. Despite having secured an instructor's position, the man feels compelled to go back out and earn more kills to beat some other hotshot's record, something I initially thought might be a metaphor for humanity inevitably continuing the crazy cycle of warfare, but his subsequent actions show a nice (if rather forced) sense of enlightenment.

Unfortunately, despite all these great concepts, the film is rather clunky in its mechanics for delivering them. At times it feels abrupt and at others, confused. It needed some other element with an edge - someone bringing up how ridiculous this particular war was in the first place, a darker change in Dix's character, some kind of arc to Allan's character, or an ending that was less saccharine - to have truly succeeded. It could also have used a little more star power and flair in its performances. I liked the antiwar components and how they reflected the psyche of the country in between the wars, but this one was just average, and not terribly special.

Richard Dix gets above the title on this war time flick. Co-stars british Elizabeth Allan and Ralph Bellamy. Actor Dix was already forty, much older than everyone else in the troop of foreign flyers, fighting the germans in the sky. He is a great pilot and strategist, and racks up many kills. Keep an eye out for the awesome Grady Sutton, when he comes in with news of the war. Had mostly uncredited roles before this, and even this one was uncredited. It's the typical war time flick. Men went off to war, and came back changed. How will the experience change his relationship with his girl Nancy from back home? And he gets a little too philosophical near the end... does the viewer really need a discussion on the pros and cons of going to war? Bellamy was just getting started in hollywood... this was one of TWELVE films released in 1933 for him. Granted, it wasn't a big role. Story based on bird of prey by John Saunders. Directed by walt ruben. Married to actress Virginia Bruce when he died at 43 of a bad heart. Dix also died young at 56, of heart problems.

This movie, along with the similar EAGLE AND THE HAWK and ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, is an excellent anti-war film made during the 1930s. It's completely original and unusual enough to merit you watching it. So what's so unusual about it? Well, Richard Dix plays a pacifist who only reluctantly agrees to go to war. However, once he becomes a fighter pilot and gets a taste for blood, his personality changes dramatically. Gone is the decent soul who had once longed to become a famous sculptor and in its place was a man who lived to kill--enjoying every minute of it! While this certainly isn't true of everyone who goes to war, the notion that personalities can dramatically change thanks to the carnage is an excellent point to make indeed.

United States has entered WWI. Sculptor Rocky Thorne (Richard Dix) is cynical about the patriotic display and the rush to join. His girlfriend Nancy Adams despises his selfishness, his aloofness, and his pacifism. She has joined the Red Cross nurses. He decides to join the new Air Force.

Right off the bat, I don't like the look of Richard Dix. He feels like a snooty rich boyfriend of a debutante. I would diminish that feeling by giving him a regular working man job. How does a sculptor become a pilot anyways? The film seems to want a stereotypical anti-war artistic type. It's the liberal type before hippies. It would make more sense if he's a mechanic who turns into an ace pilot. He fits more after the personality change. He has a natural anger to his performance. This seems to be an anti-war film but Rocky Thorne is not a particularly good voice for that. The flying sequences are all miniatures. There are some real planes but the action is mostly miniatures and rear projection. It's hard to distinguish between anybody in the dogfights. This is an interesting attempt but it may not be a successful one.

First, you have to buy Richard Dix as an upper-crust sculptor and pacifist named "Rocky." Then you have to accept that after one dogfight he turns into a cold-blooded killing machine. There's no middle road with this guy! The aerial combat scenes are well done with an excellent use of miniatures, but they aren't in the same league as the ones in "Wings," "Hell's Angels" or "The Dawn Patrol." The squadron banter has a realistic feel to it unlike any of the other dialogue in the film. There's a particularly bad scene where the heroine is a warfront nurse and the wounded Private Exposition is brought in to fill her in on the story so far. Dix's rapid changes in personality are given no real reason and make hash of his character and anything profound the film is trying to say. Obviously modeled after "Journey's End" and all the other anti-war plays of the time, "Ace Of Aces" ends up making a travesty of both pacifism and soldiering.

Ace of Aces (1933) was really a chick-flick disguised as an action movie so girls of the era could get their boyfriends to take them to it. I doubt it was the other way around.

Anyway, too much love story, not enough action, at least for what the film professes to be. And the special effects for what little action there was were terrible, even for the time period.

Flying scenes were ridiculous. Aerial victims were portrayed as having no choice but to fly straight ahead and allow themselves be shot down anytime one of their enemies got on their tail... except, of course, for our "hero" 2nd Lt. Rex 'Rocky' Thorne (Richard Dix) who need do nothing more than a simple loop to turn the tables whenever a "Heine" got on his six.

Worse yet, Richard Dix couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. He's as wooden a pile of lumber. I guess being considered handsome was enough for audiences of the time. Either that, or like the actor, they were still having a hard time making the transition from silents to talkies, and couldn't quite figure out when exaggerated "emoting" was needed and when to deliver monotone lines like a talking statue.

The one saving grace for Ace of Aces, garnering 3 stars from me instead of one, is Elizabeth Allan. She's absolutely gorgeous. And she can act... so much so that if she could time-travel her style would seamlessly fit best roles of our time.

My advice? If you must watch Ace of Aces, just fast-forward through any scenes that don't feature Elizabeth Allan, and skip the rest.

A mild-mannered sculptor who hates war becomes the ACE OF ACES in World War One.

Although nearly forgotten for decades, this powerful little anti-war film packs a punch as it focuses on the young men of an American flying squadron stationed in France. Cynical & flippant, they know the odds are against them surviving the war and they each deal with that knowledge in their own way.

Richard Dix, an excellent actor who has become undeservedly obscure, gives a powerful performance as a pilot embittered by war's savagery yet delighting in his ability to kill. His reaction at finally meeting one of the Germans he has mortally wounded is only one moment which gives the actor much scope to display his craft. Lovely Elizabeth Allan portrays the weary front-line nurse, once Dix's fiancée, who brings some humanity back into his life.

Ralph Bellamy plays Dix's no-nonsense superior officer; Theodore Newton does well as Dix's barracks mate. Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited Grady Sutton as an excited house guest.

RKO has given the film fine production values, with the flying sequences especially well mounted. The movie is marred slightly by the ending, which is rather unbelievable considering the moments leading up to it. And whatever happened to the chimp & the lion?

Considering the era it was made this film was very well made. Of all the fluff that came out of Hollywood I'm sure this was a pleasant change of pace for moviegoers of the day and is still worth watching some 70 + years later.

War and especially combat change a man and usually not for the better for a long time if not for life. This movie went into the dark corners of these human transformations. Great acting, writing, and directing was put into this effort.

Richard Dix was well chosen for the lead of this film as the role called for a tough character in this lead role of fighter pilot ace. Although Mr. Dix is not as well known in film history as Gable or Bogart he was very popular back in the 30's and 40's and a leading man. His untimely death at age 56 shortened a great career. If you get the chance to see this movie, please seize the opportunity to view some real Hollywood history.

Plot in a Nutshell: Spurned by his lover for his pacifist views, a man (Richard Dix) enters the fray of WWI as a fighter pilot and becomes a one-man wrecking crew in the skies over France.

Why I rated it an '8': Several reasons. The anti-war sentiment of Rocky Thorne was an interesting centerpiece and serves to remind us that a fair percentage of the population wound up believing (in hindsight) that the U.S.'s involvement in WWI was perhaps not such a great idea after all (similar to Vietnam and the Iraq war). The pre-code hotel conversation between Rocky and Nancy certainly got my attention. In it, Rocky uses Nancy's words against her - "everyone should do their part" and "give what they can give" - in a successful seduction where Nancy gives in to his sexual demands, in essence as part of the 'war effort.' It does not endear one to Thorne, as he comes across as callous and manipulative, but it's something you wouldn't see in a film just a few years later I'm sure.

SFX were decent for the time period. The German character actually spoke German and/or broken English which was a realistic touch. My only real complaint is why Thorne swings from one extreme to the other without much prodding (pacifist to remorseless killer). The best one can say is perhaps 'kill or be killed' - perhaps - but of course he didn't need to enlist as a pilot in the first place. He could have been an ambulance driver like Ernest Hemingway and avoided the requirement to kill altogether. Even so, a pretty enjoyable pre-code WWI flick.

Best Line: Rocky Thorne (to Nancy): "Courage? At a time like this it takes courage to stick to one's principles."

Times watched: 1. Would I watch again (Y/N)?: Yes.

The Great War is declared, and every man and woman must do his or her duty. Sculptor Richard Dix doesn't want to do his duty, but fiancee Elizabeth Allan expresses his contempt. The next we see of Dix, he's joining the Lafayette Escadrille, where he becomes the top American ace. And he loves it.

John Monk Saunders' script offers the aerial cavalry not as boys having a grand adventure, but as a brutalizing affair. Dix seems a odd choice as an artist yearning to express himself, but when it turns out his efforts at self-expression are to shoot down other aviators, and to strike the enlisted man who loads his gunbelt wrong, that seems more him. Throughout his sound career, Dix played the stalwart, but occasionally he essayed the role of the big man who went to pieces under stress, and he was frighteningly believable in those movies.

An Anti-War Movie that is Filled with Dread. The Brooding, Sensitive Richard Dix Plays a Pacifist Goaded into Entering WWI with the rest of the Lemmings by His Cute Girlfriend (Elizabeth Allan). Once there He is Propelled into a Flying Killing Machine.

He becomes and Ace of Aces as His near Psychotic Exploits are Turned when He is Forced to Confront His Death Talley by an Unarmed Kid He Shoots Down and Nearly Kills. After this He Snaps back to His Senses and All is Well, sort of.

This has some Pre-Code Violence (suicide and a bloody face mashing) among its Sexual Take on a Relinquished Virginity brought on by the Uncertainty of War. Some of the Dialog has a Bite and it makes it Clear in its Anti-War Sentiments.

Above Average in Theme and Wit, this will most likely Disappoint those Seeking Aerial Dogfights and Rah-Rah Action. But it makes up for it with a Strong, Sombre Stance and an Edgy Screenplay.

Early in the film Richard Dix's character is working on A figure he is sculpting out of clay wearing a suit and tie.....shouldn't he have been wearing a smock of some kind?

Thanks to TCM for running this all time classic, bringing back memories for us movie buffs who grew up watching it on the small screen in glorious black and white. Tribute to the star power of Richard Dix.

In the early 30s, Hollywood released two stark tales concerning the First World War. First, that of the adventurer and his fate overseas, the second of the disillusioned adventurer who returned home. Interestingly, a combination of both here, starring rugged to the bone, Oscar nominee Richard Dix playing Rocky Thorne, a sculptor, disillusioned from the start when it comes to engaging in battle of any type. He prefers to stay grounded until his fiancee Nancy (beautiful Elizabeth Allen) challenges him to change his ways and follow his good comrades.

Rocky becomes a pilot in France, and at first comes an incredible change in attitude, the will to fight Germans to the death -- until the rush ends and reality brings him back to where it all began. True, a movie that shows its age at times, nevetheless a haunting psychological story that will impress its viewer, in fact, multiple viewings are assured.

Wonderfully directed by J. Walter Ruben, known for B classics like, PHANTOM OF CRESTWOOD. Ralph Bellamy, in an early role, likewise shines as Captain Blake. Theodore Newton plays Lt. Froggy Kelly, also versatile dramatic actors Frank Conroy and Joe Sawyer. Look for James Cagney's brother, William, playing Lt. Meeker, later to become a film producer.

A mini masterpiece produced by RKO and much credit to the real "ace" stunt pilot Frank Clarke, a legend in his own time, working full throttle in the air. Frank died in an air accident in 1948, fondly remembered by Hollywood pilots and stunt performers to this day. Reportedly, aerial clips from Howard Hughes HELLS ANGELS were used.

10 Vintage Stars for creativity par excellence. Always on remastered dvd, TCM archives.

"Ace of Aces" was deliberately acted by Richard Dix while the role of Elizabeth Allen remains unclear. But she did attempt to convey the entire picture of a girlfriend during World War I who sees it as being a true requirement. How many total movies in the 1930s did that? Thus this is a suppressed movie. It's known that the British sent about 300 conscientious objectors to the firing squad during World War I. No one on the allied side in the movie, set of course in a flying squadron base, has any idea what World War I is about. You're not going to find from the movie whether the U.S. entering it helped anything. We know what the ultimate result was. So assuming the movie's value is the precise degree of disparity between Richard Dix and Elizabeth Allen, it is noteworthy that his character, Rocky Thorne, has the same last name as a major freeway exit adjacent to Fort Lewis, Washington. Which is the largest army base in the United States. Suppressed. Federal judge will grant the motion to extend.