THE LAST FLIGHT (1931)

This WWI drama is interesting but not terribly compelling; it feels like warmed-over Hemingway, specifically "The Sun Also Rises." It probably felt fresh back then but the weak acting and underplotted script make it something of a chore to sit through now. There is an effective opening montage of WWI battle scenes, then we follow the post-war experiences of a group of American fliers, all damaged in some way by the war, as they decide after their discharge to stay in Paris and become members of the Lost Generation. They spend most of their time drowning their sorrows in a number of bars, and hanging out with odd rich girl Helen Chandler. It's not clear what her problem is--is she drug-addled? Slightly retarded? Inbred? Or just a darker version of the whimsical heiresses who would crop up so often a few years later in screwball comedies? It's also not clear why she is attracted to the group, but they all share their boozy misadventures until the outside world catches up and the group begins to fall apart. Richard Barthelmess, the most traditionally solid of the bunch, has injured hands; David Manners, a bit neurotic, has an uncontrollable eye twitch; Johnny Mack Brown and Elliot Nugent are the other buddies, and they are all trailed around by rich twit Walter Byron, who has a thing for Chandler. There are some neat transitional shots and fluid camera moves, but the delivery of dialogue is off, with lines that should be casually tossed off instead landing with a leaden thud. There is some pre-Code language and a shot of nose-thumbing, and Chandler uses a nifty line to excuse herself from the table: "I'm taking a Chinese singing lesson"; I assumed it just meant she was going to the bathroom, but at least one critic thinks it's a reference to opium use. Worth seeing for fans of 30's movies, but it doesn't have much else other than its unusual atmosphere to recommend it. [TCM]