Lafayette Escadrille (film)

"Lafayette Escadrille" Memorial Arch

The opening credits appear over the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial. A narrator introduces it as “a half-forgotten corner of France, and a wholly forgotten war. ‘ In memory of the heroes of the Lafayette Escadrille, who died in defense of Right and Liberty.’” The camera pans over the names etched in the stone. “This monument, this patch of foreign sky belongs to a handful of Americans who flew for France and died for France in the First World War. They came with an air of adventure or a sense of impatience, in the days before America entered the war. They wore French uniforms. They fought in French planes. And they fell in love with French women. These weren’t just names in 1917, they were headlines. But this story is about a man whose name isn’t carved in stone with the other young men of that old war. He ran away to war for reasons of his own.. “

Thad Walker, a spoiled, rich kid from Boston, steals a sports car in the middle of the night and is recognized by a policeman, who calls his name. Walker smashes into a bike rider and runs from the scene, shots echoing after him. His father is more concerned about what the newspapers will say than about the fate of the bike rider. He slaps Thad repeatedly, drawing blood.

In a third-class cabin on a ship bound for France, Thad, who has stowed away, talks with Bill Wellman about their plans to join the French and, if they qualify, to fly. Thad's face is bruised. and he muses about the fact that after years of beatings from his father, this was his chance to hit back—and he didn't. Wellman's friends— "Duke" Sinclair and Tom Hitchcock —arrive and welcome Thad to their company. In Paris, the four enlist and are told the papers will be approved in four days.

A bistro called “Olga’s” is crowded with men in uniform, telling war stories. Thad is drawn to a beautiful girl standing quietly at the bar. She does not understand English, he does not speak French, but the attraction is powerful. A Lafayette Escadrille pilot welcomes them all as Thad and the girl walk out into the night.

Four days later, all the boys but Thad are cramming themselves into a train compartment and wondering where he is. He is on the platform, with the girl. He gives her a little mirror that will tell her how beautiful she is. They kiss goodbye and she seems deeply moved.

They arrive at the camp in the middle of the night. There is only one empty bunk in the barracks. Before they can toss a coin, Thad takes it and falls asleep. They knock out the supports, but he doesn't stir. They settle down on the floor.

The narrator returns and the camera moves over the sleeping faces: “Those kids slept in good company that night. There was Dave Putnam, he had only another year to live, long enough to become a famous ace. 13 official victories..” This begins a heartbreaking litany telling the fates of 15 of these young men: Almost all of them will die.

Reveille comes at 3:30 a.m. in the form of a servant bearing a huge pitcher of hot coffee and crying “Good morning, American bums!” Putnam greets the boys and helps them get their bunks—wood planks on sawhorses—and explains the pre-dawn rising. The best time to fly is early in the morning and late in the afternoon, when there is no wind.

On the field, the recruits watch Putnam take off. A couple of fliers are sitting on the ground with their shirts off, picking vermin. One tosses his find on the other. Moseley flicks it back saying, “Hey, no thanks , it might mix the breed.” The boys report to the Captain, who tells them, in French, to report to Sergeant Parris in the land of the Penguins. Putnam returns to the field, engine smoking. He lands perfectly—the Captain comments, “comme une fleur” (like a flower)—but as soon as Putnam is away from the plane, the engine explodes.

Now in their uniforms, the recruits all have their first lesson—entirely in French. They do not understand a word. The penguins turn out to be training planes that don ‘t fly. Even the task of just driving them around the field is too much for the recruits, who smash two of them. They are more like kites than airplanes, so no harm done.

In the barracks, Charlie recognizes Thad’s picture of Renée Beaulieu, and when he says she is a hustler (movie code for prostitute) who hangs around Olga’s, Thad knocks him out. In the washroom, he confides in his friend: Olga told him all about herself before they left for camp, and it didn't matter.

The training continues. Comic relief is provided by a French officer’s attempts to drill the fliers, and the French Captain’s attempt to explain a baseball game to his puzzled officers.

Meanwhile, Walker goes AWOL, to see Renée, just go a night. She has written to tell him in halting English that she has a new job as a conductress on the subway. She has left Madame forever and is living in a little hotel. At the hotel, Walker is welcomed enthusiastically by the concierge. He is a romantic soul who takes delight in figuring out ways to communicate with Walker . (He is missing an arm, which suggests that he is veteran of an earlier conflict.) He says Renée has talked of nothing but Walker. She works in the Metro until 6 a.m. and he shows Walker to her room, joyously singing “Auprès de ma Blonde.” When Renée returns in the morning, he does not warn her, but gleefully sings under his breath, which tips her off. Walker has fallen asleep, and Renée kneels by the bed to wake him by blowing gently on his face.

Back at camp, the flyers are being drilled and as usual, they do not follow instructions; one flyer taunts the instructor by playing “Mademoiselle from Armentières” on a hidden ukulele. The frustrated officer begins inspection and zeroes in on Walker, telling him in French to stand to attention and to look straight ahead, clearly demonstrating his commands with his swagger stick. Instead of obeying, Walker looks at the officer—who is much shorter. The infuriated man grabs Walkers’ chin and tries to force it into position. When Walker resists and slaps his hand away, the officer slaps him and starts to tell him that he had better learn to take commands in French. Walker slugs him and he falls to the ground. Cursing, the officer calls for three sergeants to take Walker to the guardhouse.

This is a very serious offense. He could be shot. The flyers plan a jailbreak, with a massive brawl—carefully planned ahead of time—as a distraction They release all the prisoners. As they part, Walker says to Wellman, “I finally took a poke at my old man.” Wellman is the only one who knows that Walker's father beat him.

On the road, he tries to steal a soldier's coat and is badly hurt in the fight that ensues. He makes it to Renée's apartment and collapses. She summons the concierge to help. Weeks later, his bandages come off, revealing an ugly scar running down the side of his face by his right eye. Renée does not care.

He wants to marry her but dare not go outside. When Walker cries, “all this takes is a few words from the Bible!” the concierge offers his pocket-sized missal. Walker recognizes the Messe de Mariage (Mass for Marriage) but cannot read it. With the concierge as their witness, they hold the missal in their clasped hands, and Walker says “Before God, I take you for my wife.” Renée murmurs in French and they kiss the book. He gently takes her earring to use as a wedding ring.

Training continues and the flyers finally get their wings. Thad is getting stir crazy and hates the fact that Renée is the sole breadwinner. Unknown to Renée, he goes to the Madame. She recognizes his name, and that he is a deserter. She offers him a job as a pimp, reluctantly. She thinks it will do him no good. He will be protected while he is working for her, but at no other time. Renée is furious, but gives in when he tells her he loves her. He says it will last only a month or two and then they will go to Buenos Aires.

At Olga's, Walker loses the custom of two British officers who distrust him because of his scar. Leaving, he sees his friends at the bar, but goes without saying anything. America comes into the war, and Wellman wonders how Walker feels. At a hotel, Walker gives directions to a taxi driver and gets in with an American general. The cabdriver whistles “Pretty Baby” and the General sits silently as Walker tells him the whole story, begging him to get him into the U.S. Air Service. When they get out at their destination, the general asks his name and where he went to school. It turns out that they are from the same part of Massachusetts. The general tells him to be in his office the next morning: “Go tell your little girl you made it... Sergeant Walker...” The general steps toward the entrance to the building and then changes his mind. He gets back in the taxi and goes back to the hotel. Walker goes to the apartment wearing his new uniform, and the concierge salutes him.

A sign reads U.S. Air Service Aviation School. The narrator returns:

“They gave him a plane and a patch of sky and he returned to the air, a born flyer come home. Home was the clouded landscape of the pursuit pilot and he learned quickly. He was a young man in a hurry, he had a war to catch up with. He wrote his name in the sky over Issoudin and earned his wings.”

A bewildered photographer wearing nightshirt, nightcap and shawl stands in his studio the middle of the night, The five friends are together for a reunion photograph, in their different uniforms. Later, under a flowering tree, Renée and Walker sing “Pretty Baby.” He has been assigned to Eddie Rickenbacker's squadron and reports the next day. Walker gives her the metal bracelet he is wearing with WHST ENGRAVED on it

Renée sees him off, in the rain. German flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron spots Walker from above, but his guns jam. Walker drops by the Espadrille's barracks to take a nap in his friend's bed, and Wellman invites him to come on the afternoon flight: Walker is finally able to fly a mission with the Lafayette Escadrille. An elaborate dogfight proves that he is a superb fighter pilot.

On the streets of Paris, Walker meets Renée and takes her to a church where his friends are waiting to witness his marriage. The picture closes back at the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial. The Narrator says: “It stands in aging splendor on the outskirts of Paris, a war turned to stone in the broad museum of Europe. They wore French uniforms. They fought in French planes. And they fell in love with French women. Two words: Lafayette Escadrille.”

Cast notes:

• The roles of "Duke" Sinclair (Reginald "Duke" Sinclaire), Dave Judd (Edward David Judd), Arthur Blumenthal and Frank Baylies (Frank Leamon Baylies) were also based by Wellman on actual members of the Escadrille
• Craig Hill's uncredited role as Lufberry, based on Raoul Gervais Lufbery, is essentially a walk-on role.

Corporal William Wellman and Celia Nieuport 24 fighter c. 1917 (one of a series of aircraft all named after his mother)

Relying on his own World War I service, Wellman wrote the original story, based on the actual exploits of a friend from the war years.[3] Earning himself the nickname "Wild Bill", Wellman was first an ambulance driver in the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps, then joined the French Foreign Legion.[4] On December 3, 1917, assigned as the first American fighter pilot to join N.87 escadrille in the Lafayette Flying Corps, Wellman went on to score three recorded "kills", along with five probables and to receive the Croix de Guerre with two palms.[2]

Although he considered Lafayette Escadrille a "personal project", the studio did not give Wellman the budget he demanded and continued to interfere with the project, to the extent that the decisions on starring roles, title, ending and other important aspects of the production were taken out of his hands,[5] including the title of the film: Wellman's original title was C'est la Guerre which the studio, despite his objections, changed to Lafayette Escadrille.[6] In casting, Wellman wanted Paul Newman and Clint Eastwood as the leads; studio head Jack L. Warner refused, and substituted teen idol Tab Hunter and David Janssen, with Eastwood moved to a minor role.[7] Warner also insisted Wellman make Darby's Rangers as a condition of financing Lafayette Escadrille.[8]

The use of mocked-up Nieuport 28 and Thomas-Morse Scout fighters along with other period aircraft such as one real Fokker D.VII and the ubiquitous Travelair "Wichita Fokkers" were "lifted" from Wellman's earlier 1938 production, Men with Wings, an early color feature also directed by Wellman.[9] Principal photography took place primarily at the Hancock Santa Maria, California airport. Hollywood stunt pilot Paul Mantz, built a number of Blériot XI "Penguin" clipped-wing and full span training aircraft, used in the training sequences.[10]

According to information in the Warner Bros. Archive, the original script—with the tragic ending in which Walker dies in combat and Renée commits suicide—was written by Paul Fix.[11] A later script, dated October 1956 and attributed to A. Fleischman (with story credit to Wellman) has the happy ending. [12]Shooting took place October 19 to December 8, 1956.[8]

In the original cut of the film Tab Hunter's character died at the end. However this was poorly received at previews and a new ending was shot in April–May 1957 where he lived.[8]

While the aviation scenes in Lafayette Escadrille were well received (William Clothier filmed the spectacular aerial sequences, evocative of those he shot in Wellman's earlier silent classic Wings), critics said the film falls far short of the classic status of the 1928 Oscar winner. The flying sequences were not enough to overcome a mediocre story and flat acting, aspects roundly panned by critics. Howard Thompson, reviewer for The New York Times called it a "flapdoodle" in his blistering review.[13]Variety echoed other reviews, noting, "What could have been an reasonably good actioneer ... has been badly marred by a flat predictability in plot, intrusion of an inept and, at times, ludicrously irrelevant romance and some quite dreadful dialog.[14]

The Lafayette Escadrille was also totally disowned by those still alive who had flown as part of the fabled Lafayette Escadrille and the Lafayette Flying Corps, who were understandably upset at their portrayal, including Wellman who insisted that his producer's credit be removed.[15] This was to be William Wellman's last directorial effort; it had started out to be a paean to his memories of the storied squadron, but ended up a target for insults, accusations and lawsuits, not the least of which were directed against Jack Warner and Warner Brothers Studios for their heavy-handed interference.[15] The film was shelved for two years, partly because of the wrangling between the two Hollywood heavyweights. TCM.com reports that a modern source suggests that the delay was at least partly due to the studio’s hopes that Hunter would succeed as a singer.[16] So a "pollyanna" ending grafted into the film.[17] Wellman was "heartbroken" with his treatment at the hands of Jack L. Warner, and kept his word that Lafayette Escadrille would be his last film.[18]

• The Legion of the Condemned (1928)
• Flyboys (2006)

Explanatory notes

Citations

Bibliography

• Lafayette Escadrille on IMDb 
• Lafayette Escadrille at AllMovie
• Lafayette Escadrille at the TCM Movie Database
• Lafayette Escadrille at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Lafayette Escadrille at Rotten Tomatoes