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Hell Divers

Director: George Hill (Dir) Release Date: 16 Jan 1932 Production Date: 26 Jun--7 Aug 1931 Duration (in mins): 110 or 113 Duration (in reels): 12			Print this page Display Movie Summary

Cast:	Wallace Beery	(Windy [Riker])
	Clark Gable	(Steve [Nelson])
	Conrad Nagel	(Duke [Johnson])
	Dorothy Jordan	(Ann [Mitchell])
	Marjorie Rambeau	(Mame Kelsey)
	Marie Prevost	(Lulu)
	Cliff Edwards	(Baldy)
	John Miljan	([Jack] Griffin)
	Landers Stevens	(Admiral)
	Reed Howes	(Lieutenant Fisher)
	Alan Roscoe	(Captain, U.S.S. Saratoga)
	Frank Conroy	(Chaplain)
	Robert Young	(Sailor)
	Niles Welch	(Leiutenant Commander)

Summary:

"Windy" Riker, chief petty officer of the aviation squadron on the U.S.S. Saratoga , loses his five-year claim to the title of "champion dog fighter" when a young upstart C.P.O. named Steve Nelson joins the squadron. Soon after meeting, Windy and Steve engage in friendly competition as they try out a new vertical dive-bombing technique. Later, Windy, a notorious bully and troublemaker, is arrested for wrecking a Turkish bathhouse. Windy is spared punishment, however, when Jack Griffin, the commander of the unit, intervenes on his behalf. The friendly rivalry between Windy and Steve turns bitter when Steve questions Windy's explanation of a flying mishap and Windy punches him. When Ann Mitchell, Steve's sweetheart, visits her beau to discuss his marriage proposal, Windy, angry with Steve for not having been introduced to Ann, takes revenge on him by sending his friend Lulu to start an argument between them. Lulu pretends that she is Steve's ex-lover, which infuriates Ann and causes her hasty departure. Following a mid-air collision which cripples Jack, the squadron commander is retired, and Duke Johnson is appointed to take his place. When Windy makes an aviation error, he is confined to the ship while it docks in Panama. This prevents him from visiting his sweetheart Mame Kelsey, but allows Steve, who knows Mame, to meet her on the dock and share a carriage ride with her. Enraged, Windy sneaks off the ship and follows them. When he finally catches up to them, Mame prevents them from fighting and forces the two to make amends. As soon as they are left alone, however, Windy and Steve engage in a fight, which results in the destruction of a bar and Windy's arrest. Though Windy is sprung from jail in time to make his ship's departure, he soon learns that Steve will be replacing him as leading chief when his upcoming retirement takes effect. Windy is crushed by the news. During a mock battle drill, Steve's plane crashes, leaving Steve and his pilot stranded on a rocky island. When Windy and Duke discover the downed plane, they rescue the two at a risk to their own safety, and Windy sets Steve's broken leg. Steve and Windy resume their friendship as they wait for four days for a search party to find them. With no sign of a rescue mission to save them, Steve devises a plan to leave the island by having Windy fly the plane according to his navigation. In order to lessen the danger of flying too heavy, the injured Steve insists on riding the wing. Together, the servicemen locate the aircraft carrier, but when the plane crashes onto the vessel's deck it explodes, killing Windy. Following Windy's burial at sea, Steve reads a letter that Windy wrote to him before his death. In the letter, Windy reveals that Ann left him not because she did not love him, but because of his deeds.

Production Company:	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.	(Loew's, Inc.)
Production Text:	A George Hill Production
Distribution Company:	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp.
Director:	George Hill	(Dir)
	Robert Barnes	(Asst dir)
	Charles O'Malley	(Asst to the dir)
Producer:	E. J. Mannix	(Supv)
Writer:	Harvey Gates	(Scr)
	Malcolm Stuart Boylan	(Scr)
	Frank Wead	(Story)
	James K. McGuinness	(Addl dial)
	Ralph Graves	(Addl dial)
	Edward Dean Sullivan	(Contr wrt)
	Charles MacArthur	(Contr wrt)
Photography:	Harold Wenstrom	(Photog)
	Harold Lipstein	(Photog)
	Reginald Lanning	(2d cam)
	Harold Marzorati	(2d cam)
	Charles Straumer	(Asst cam)
	Robert Hoag	(Asst cam)
	Kyme Meade	(Asst cam)
	Charles A. Marshall	(Aerial photog)
	Albert Scheving	(Akeley asst)
Art Direction:	Cedric Gibbons	(Art dir)
Film Editor:	Blanche Sewell	(Film ed)
Sound:	Douglas Shearer	(Rec dir)
	Robert Shirley	(Sd)
Production Misc:	Bert Lynch	(Still photog)
Country:	United States

Songs:	"The Monkeys Have No Tails in Zamboango," composer unknown.

Copyright Claimant	Copyright Date	Copyright Number	Passed By NBR:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp.	20/1/1932 dd/mm/yyyy	LP2772	Yes

Physical Properties:	b&w:
	Sd:	Western Electric Sound System


Genre:	Drama
	Drama
Sub-Genre:	Military
	Aviation

Subjects (Major):	Aircraft carriers
	Airplane accidents
	Aviators
	Courage
	Friendship
	Military education
	Rescues
	United States. Navy

Subjects (Minor):	Amputees
	Bars
	Bathhouses
	Blimps, dirigibles and zeppelins
	Death and dying
	Engagements
	Fistfights
	Hoaxes
	Islands
	Jealousy
	Panama
	Retirement
	Rivalry

Note:	Writer Frank Wead is credited onscreen as "Lieutenant Commander Frank Wead." According to a contemporary HR news item, Hell Divers had a sneak preview showing in San Bernardino, California, on 29 Oct 1931. M-G-M publicity material notes that this picture, which was filmed with the cooperation of the U. S. Navy Department, featured Clark Gable in his first starring role, and this it was the first film to feature "fighting-diving bombers." Studio publicity records also indicate that Wallace Beery played the piano and sang for this film, the first time he had done so in any picture. HR pre-release news items indicate that Edward Dean Sullivan and Charles McArthur worked on the adaptation, and that actors Eric Alden and Eric Holden were set for parts. The appearance of Holden and Alden in the released film has not been confirmed. According to a 1956 NYT news item, some footage of this film was incorporated into the 1957 M-G-M picture The Wings of the Eagles , a film based on Frank Wead's life. Portions of Hell Divers were filmed aboard the U.S aircraft carrier Saratoga while on maneuvers in Panama, in the Caribbean Sea, and on the North Island Naval Base near San Diego, California.

Bibliographic Sources:	Date	Page
Film Daily	27 Dec 31	p. 10.
HF	4 Jul 31	p. 20.
Hollywood Reporter	1 Jul 31	p. 4.
Hollywood Reporter	4 Aug 31	p. 3
Hollywood Reporter	31 Oct 31	p. 2.
Hollywood Reporter	10 Nov 31	p. 3.
International Photographer	1 Jan 32	p. 30.
Motion Picture Herald	26 Dec 31	p. 30.
Motion Picture Herald	16 Jan 32	p. 22.
New York Times	23 Dec 31	p. 27.
New York Times	17-Nov-40
Variety	29 Dec 31	p. 166.

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The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.



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