User reviews

I must say right up front that Humphrey Bogart is my favorite film actor of all time.That said, Chain Lightning won't be remembered as one of his best. In "Chain Lightning," Bogart is a World War H bomber pilot hired as a test-pilot who, after the death of his designer friend (Richard Whorf), successfully tries out a newly designed ejection cockpit...

His fans may be able to suspend all disbelief and take some interest in Bogey testing jet planes and romancing the company secretary. Even so, Chain Lightning gives us the great Bogart one more time.

Conclusion - This is not the best Humphrey Bogart movie ever. But that's like saying the sun isn't shining as well as it should. If you love Bogart, you will love this film!

As a pilot in the war you've been so brave, what are the chances you'd avoid finding a grave, the time comes round to go back home, to find a smaller aerodrome, leaving the one you love behind, without a wave. A new age of aeronautics ushers in, flying high where air and oxygen are thin, you get the chance to take a jet, new world records are then set, as you loop the loop, then twist and turn and spin. All in all the stories tame and rather plain, not really Top Gun but you are in the fast lane, alas there's little there to fuel, to make you salivate and drool, there is no lightening, and there's very little chain.

After World War II is over, bomber pilot Humphrey Bogart becomes a test pilot who flies the jet planes Raymond Massey's company builds. There's also a bland romance with Eleanor Parker. It's Bogart's first movie released in the 1950s, a decade he sadly would not survive. Bogie does fine but, truth be told, he's too old for the part. Richard Whorf plays his romantic rival. You'll forget him as soon as the movie ends. Eleanor Parker does what she can with her part as "the prize." Raymond Massey is solid as always. James Brown is the clichéd country bumpkin pilot. The plane stuff is interesting, even exciting in spots, but the story is so dull and put together in as workmanlike a manner as possible. When you chip away the advanced technology, you're basically left with one of those 1930s movies about the perils of flight. Only those were usually more fun than this. Not something I'd recommend unless you're an aviation buff or a Bogart completist.

Humphrey Bogart NEVER took himself too seriously, and LOVED poking fun at any Hollywood types who DID. Mentioning Errol Flynn in Bogie's presence would usually evoke a sneer.

Bogie often said of himself "You're looking at a guy who's made MORE bad movies than anyone else in Hollywood"!

Yeah, along with the great ones, Bogie made his share of howlers. Which brings us to CHAIN LIGHTNING!

In a lot of ways, this film's a REAL stinker, but it's a ton of fun just the same.

From an aviation technology standpoint, the film was 10 years ahead of it's time; the mythical JA-3 that Bogie flew had a level of performance that was totally unheard of at the time of the film's release... Alaska to Washington DC nonstop via the North Pole, at almost Mach 2.

At the same time, the film gives us an interesting glimpse into some of the engineering problems attendant to supersonic flight that were just being addressed in the period... like the JA-4's escape pod.

Some of the stuff presented was just plain WRONG, and the film makers KNEW it. Like Bogie flying thru clouds of meteor dust at 70,000 feet. And like the instrument we catch a quick glimpse of in his cockpit, reading GROUND SPEED... a value which was strictly a mathmatical concept which COULDN'T be directly read at that time.

Don't look too closely at ground shots of the JA-3... you might notice the thin steel cable that's connected to the nose wheel. The JA-3 couldn't move on it's own, and to set it in motion that cable had to be pulled by an off camera truck!

Just the same... the performances here are just plain FUN!

Bogie LOVED playing parodies of "tough guys", and those that he viewed as phony heros, and his character Matt Brennan was a broad, overblown sendup of these guys. "How do you want it Willis... the EASY way, or the HARD way?" Bogie growls at his boss, Raymond Massey, over a radio circuit. Typically laconic phony heroics; I don't see how Bogie managed to keep a straight face delivering that line. I suspect that the oxygen mask he was wearing at the time was hiding a mile wide GRIN as he said it! Bogie's just BEAUTIFUL to watch with his delivery of a dozen trite clichés all through the film!

As Bogie's buddy (and fellow scenery chewer) is James Brown, one of Hollywood's unsung hero character actors. Brown was apparently a Warner's contract player who, along with another Bogie movie "Tough Guy" staple, Joe Sawyer, would later make their marks on television in in THE ADVENTURES OF RIN TIN TIN; Brown playing Lt. "Rip" Masters, and Sawyer playing Sgt. O'Hara.

Contrasting Bogie's private little joke of a performance was Richard Whorf's role as Carl Troxel, the earnest aeronautical engineer. Intense and serious, he's a perfect counterpoint to the laid back, world weary Matt Brennan.

One thing that I noticed... to save money on the production, the producer pulled a slick trick with the sets.

If you'll notice, the radio shack / operations room in Alaska is the SAME set later used for the radio room at Washington National Airport; they just shot the same set from two different angles!

In any case... Bogie flies the airplanes, and gets the girl by the last scene. A bit corny and old fashioned, but what's not to like?

I give it a thumbs up all the way.

From 1950, "Chain Lightning" stars Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Parker, Raymond Massey, Richard Whorf, and James Brown. Brown played Lt. Rip Masters on Rin Tin Tin and I believe was my first crush.

This is one of those films Bogart probably made to fulfill his contract obligations with Warners, the other one being "The Two Mrs. Carrolls," a scream of a film in which he's really terrible. He's so rarely bad, and he's certainly not bad in this.

Bogart plays Matt Brennan, a pilot, and in the beginning, he's testing a plane. His girlfriend Joan (Eleanor Parker) rushes up and begs her boss (Raymond Massey) to order him down, as she's afraid for him.

The story then goes into flashback, with Matt and Joan during World War II. He was a bomber pilot, in love with Joan. He flew hazardous missions from England to Germany, while Joan is a nurse. He leaves for the states first - they want to get married, but he is unable to find anyone who can give him permission.

Once back in the states, after bouncing around for a bit, Matt is hired as a test pilot by Leland Willis (Raymond Massey) an aircraft manufacturer.

There, he re-connects with Carl Troxell (Whorf) who is now dating Joan, Willis' secretary. Apparently after he left England, Matt never contacted Joan, even though he wrote letters that he never sent. He felt the life that he could offer her wasn't good enough.

Matt takes the new jet JA-4 on a hazardous flight, and that brings us back to the first scene.

This is a pretty ordinary film, with Parker looking beautiful and Bogart acting tough - kind of Rick Blaine as a pilot. I will take issue with what one person on this board said, that Massey was playing Howard Hughes and doing a bad job. If the studio had wanted someone to play Howard Hughes, they would have hired someone else and named the character Howard Hughes. Massey was playing a Howard Hughes type, and he was fine.

The aviation part of this film was ahead of its time for sure. The rest of it was not special. I've always loved Bogart's acting, and even though he's probably going through the motions here, I'd rather watch him go through the motions than almost anyone. Eleanor Parker, another favorite of mine, gives a lovely performance and is absolutely beautiful.

In 1950, jet planes were a relatively recent phenomenon and their emergence offered new possibilities for the long-defunct test-pilot genre of film…

In "Chain Lightning," Bogart is a World War H bomber pilot hired as a test-pilot who, after the death of his designer friend (Richard Whorf), successfully tries out a newly designed ejection cockpit…

However, there is as little value in a film in which a line like "JA-3 to Fort George. I am fifty miles North of you—ooooops, I just passed you!" is fairly commonplace…

Eleanor Parker offers the only creative acting in the role of Raymond Massey's secretary and Bogart's love interest

Humphrey Bogart sometimes must have been desperate for proper roles and earning his meal ticket, how could we otherwise explain he fills roles like this one ? Decidedly overaged for the physical stress he is exposed to in his bomber- and test pilot roles as well as for the chase for the much to young Red Cross Nurse he is wooing, he moves in really thin air literally in this role. We know he can make it, but it is a real thin layer of substance over this heroic vs. business conflict designing new jet planes. Only for the died-in-the-wool Bogey Fans.

In the recent film The Aviator, one of the points of Howard Hughes's life that was gone into great detail was his post World War II airplane crash in Beverly Hills while testing a new model.

From what was shown in Leonardo DiCaprio's hauntingly accurate portrayal of Hughes, the casting of Raymond Massey in a paper thin version of the flamboyant aviator/businessman is pretty laughable. I'm sure Howard must have seen Chain Lightning and didn't like it a bit.

Jets were certainly a new phenomenon in those years and had the Germans developed them sooner and additionally had invested in aircraft carriers, the course of history would have been markedly and tragically different.

Humphrey Bogart is not bad as the Chuck Yeager like test pilot, in fact Yeager's historic flight breaking the sound barrier is referenced in the plot. Warner Brothers would have been better served with a straightforward biographical film about that flight.

Richard Whorf is the earnest aircraft engineer who worries that Massey is sacrificing safety for flashy headlines. Sad to say, but Howard Hughes would have been the first to agree with Massey's position. Headlines did and still do sell military hardware, just a fact of life.

Warner Brothers cheated on the aerial footages, you can plainly see the stuff is pretty routine. Now one thing about Howard Hughes, he certainly did know how to make aerial films exciting.

Fairly clichéd subplot about Bogart reuniting with war time love Eleanor Parker who is now Massey's secretary.

I would recommend it for fans of Bogey and that's about it.

Presently, test pilot Humphrey Bogart (as Matthew "Matt" Brennan) is on a dangerous flight, which worries pretty Eleanor Parker (as Joan "Jo" Holloway). She fears Mr. Bogart may crash. We will have to wait to see if he does, when flashbacks end. In the cockpit, Bogart begins his flight past, with 1943... During World War II service, bomber pilot Bogart flies dangerous missions from England to Germany, helping the Allies win the war. On the ground, he romances Parker, who serving as a nurse...

After the war, Bogart is hired as chief test pilot for aircraft manufacturer Raymond Massey (as Leland Willis). He re-encounters Parker, who is being romanced by designer Richard Whorf (as Carl Troxell). Bogart eventually takes the jet plane "JA-4" on a dangerous flight, which leads us back to the opening scene. This appears to be a well-crafted story, but it is not presented well. Bogart looks inserted uncomfortably into the stock aviation footage and the romantic triangle never gets off the ground.

**** Chain Lightning (2/18/50) Stuart Heisler ~ Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Parker, Raymond Massey, Richard Whorf

I saw this movie when it first came out and jets were practically unheard of. Three years later I was in Korea with the 335th FIS, and the King then was the F-86. The original movie showed a needle nose designed to break the air at high speed as a diver points his hands to break the water, and the air intakes were on the sides. The F-86 had one big intake in front which was dangerous because one of my best friends, a mechanic, was accidentally sucked up the intake while chocking wheels on the run-up strip when the pilot hit the throttle at 100%. He was gone in the blink of an eye. Bogie's plane could fly up to 60,000 ft and top speed of about 1600 mph. General Dynamics must have used this movie for the development of the F-16, because there seems to be a lot of similarities. I took an interest in some of the comparisons after seeing the movie "Afterburn".

Ok, this has got to be one of the most bizarre examples of mis-casting that I've seen in an age. Bogart plays a test pilot for an experimental supersonic jet. It's got plenty of interesting aerial footage, certainly, but otherwise is a really mediocre romantic drama as he tries to keep the affections of girlfriend "Jo" (Eleanor Parker) whilst risking life and limb 65,000 feet up in the air. It also features a slightly contrived rivalry between himself and Richard Whorf; and Raymond Massey is entirely underused as their boss "Willis", leaving us with a slightly bemusing adventure film that needed a far younger man in the flying leathers and a much more robust script. Director Stuart Heisler offers the star little opportunity to show any of his usual charisma, and Parker is way off her best too. Maybe one for folks who are interested in the cinematic evolution of flight - even if there is a frequently irritating repetition of radio call-sign "over and out" style of dialogue - but of little interest to anyone else.

this is a by the numbers boggie romance. Seems like humphrey phoned this one in knowing it was a watered down casablanca rip off. bogart's the jilted lover who gets a second chance with the girl. but this time the claude rains character is the one who makes the sacrifice. pretty tepid and only for fans of mr bogart who've already cycled through his classics.

Chain Lightning is pretty clearly riding the early '50's interest which arose from the disclosure of Yeager's shattering of the sound barrier in '46. The plane Bogie flies is visually a cross between the Bell X1 and X2. (Paned flush windscreen, but swept wings.) "This is the JA-3, position 300 miles to the north of you...Oops! Just passed you." It's not really a Bogie movie, it's one of the first hot-plane movies. I liked it a lot, since I was a hot-plane fan as a little kid. Bogie does OK, certainly. Little details like the perforations in the bottom of his faceplate (in a "pressure suit"!) rather hint that some members of the crew didn't quite understand what they were creating, but I'd rather watch him trying to shake off that stuck rocket booster or land dead stick than sit through another run down some Death Star trench:). It fits into the genre occupied by The Dam Busters and 663 Squadron, fast flying, but none of their "combat" content. The people support the hardware adequately:).

Lt. Colonel Matt Brennan (Humphrey Bogart) is a bomber pilot during the war. On his last mission, he takes on plane designer Carl Troxell. They encounter a Nazi jet fighter and barely escape. Matt and his crew are set to go home for a bond tour. Matt "celebrates" with his girl Jo Holloway and his crew. After the war, Matt starts his own tiny flying school. His war buddy gets him into plane manufacturer Leland Willis' party. Jo is there with Carl Troxell.

The love triangle needs more. Troxell needs to be bigger. Bogie and Eleanor Parker have a bit of chemistry but the triangle feels limited. Quite frankly, I thought that girlie pilot would be at the party. She could have been Willis' daughter and gets in the middle of the triangle. This movie spends more time with the planes than the relationships which would be fine for a B-movie. That's the feel of this movie. It's a B-movie supercharged with Bogie in the cockpit.

Admittedly, I'm a technically oriented person by profession but what can you say about a film in which its raison d'etre is an experimental jet aircraft which is portrayed as a caricature rather than an actual airplane capable of flight? Although the mockup is correctly shown with a tailpipe to provide an exit for the jet exhaust, the front of the plane is completely innocent of any air intake that, of course, all jet-powered aircraft must have in order to provide the pressurized air needed to mix with the jet fuel for combustion to take place. It's not located in the nose which is portrayed as needle-like, nor is it located underneath the nose, and certainly not as dual air intakes located on each side of the nose section. Real jet aircraft from the 1950 era mostly had the air intake located directly in the nose giving the front end of the plane a bulbous shape.

Note also that the aircraft is capable of flying at an altitude of 90,000 feet, impossible for any jet aircraft of its day, and maybe still impossible, and only achievable at the time by rocket-powered aircraft such as the experimental Bell X series then undergoing tests. Finally, mention is made that this magical plane is capable of airspeeds up to 1,400 mph - clearly another impossible feat at the time.

While I always enjoy Bogey and certainly think highly of Eleanor Parker, the technical absurdities, the silly dialogue between pilot and ground during flights, and the false heroics lent a cartoonish quality to the film which took away from my usual enjoyment of Bogart's work.

I often think that the producers of films such as these have considerable contempt for the movie-going public when they put out this kind of inaccurate work.

Dull, and Bogart's Age Doesn't Help. He is Miscast and Shows Few Signs of doing Anything more than Going Through the Motions here. It's an Awkward attempt at Introducing Jet Aircraft and the Aviation Problems/Advantages the "New" Planes Presented.

The Aircraft seen seem like Comic Book Versions, as do the Flight Sequences. Bogart's Flight Suits are certainly Comical and He looks Hilarious and Appears to be Elsewhere in most of His Scenes.

The Cast all Seem to be Clueless Ranting and Raving about This and That. Flight Limitations, Records are Made to be Broken Speeches, and the Romantic elements are Hard to Take in this bit of Clunky Cinema.

For Those that Think that The Return of Dr. X (1939) is Bogart's Worst Movie, Check this one out Before You Cast Your Vote. Nothing much Works in this Misfire.

The JA-3/JA-4 full-scale model in this movie is more like the Bell X-2, which had swept wings, than the Bell X-1, which had short, stubby straight wings. The movie aircraft is like the Bell X-1/X-2 rocket planes in that it has no air intakes (inlets) and therefore is not a jet. Jet aircraft have air breathing engines with the necessary inlets while rockets do not. This movie had no bearing on the design of the F-16, which is a jet. I was an aerospace engineer in F-16 advanced programs, first at Wright Field (mentioned in the movie) in the 1970s, and then at General Dynamics in the 1980s. This is one of my favorite aviation movies, even though it reflects Hollywood's dramatic idea of how aircraft are designed and developed rather than the actual process.

A 1950 Humphrey Bogart programmer where he stars as a pilot making the transition from WWII propeller based aircraft (which he used during the war) to the dawn of jet plane testing. Bogart was about to marry his sweetheart, played by Eleanor Parker, but circumstances caused them not to but once he's Stateside he meets up w/her again (his airplane instruction school goes paws up after his plane gets crashed by a student) working as a secretary for a new jet outfit which he volunteers for (to recapture that sky pioneer spirit but hopefully to win back Parker). After another test pilot bites the big one & after promised a big purse, Bogart decides to test pilot a jet from Alaska to California which keeps all the observers on pins & needles. Entertaining & well acted to be sure but this plane yarn is on auto-pilot (sorry!) so if you're expecting an existential journey into the morass of a man's soul & why he does what he does, turn the TV off right there & go to bed.