Test Pilot

Released Apr 22, 1938

1h 58m

Adventure

List

67%

9 Reviews

Tomatometer

69%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

Test pilot Jim Lane (Clark Gable) has endangered himself more than once because of his drinking. Despite efforts by his best friend, Gunner (Spencer Tracy), Jim has not quit the bottle. After making an emergency landing on a Kansas farm, Jim falls for, then marries, local girl Ann (Myrna Loy), but married life cannot keep Jim from indulging in his reckless ways. Then, on a dangerous mission with Gunner, Jim finally confronts something that just may scare him into never flying again.

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Variety Staff

Variety

Test Pilot is an actioner against a new approach to the aviation theme, fortified by a strong romance.

Mar 26, 2009

Full Review

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

It has a few pulsing aerial sequences, but I get the feeling that Fleming isn't injecting the necessary fuel to get the romantic adventure off the ground. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 5/10

Mar 21, 2023

Full Review

Ann Ross

Maclean's Magazine

An exciting and expert air drama combined with an honest human story.

Jul 22, 2019

Full Review

TV Guide

One of the best Hollywood aviation dramas.

Rated: 4/4

Jan 30, 2012

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Myrna Loy's favorite movie role.

Rated: C+

Aug 16, 2009

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Combining adventure, melodrama, and thrilling aerial sequences, Victor Fleming's film is a typical MGM star vehicle of the Depression, showing to an advantage the charisma of Gable, Tracy, and Myrna Loy.

Rated: B

Mar 6, 2009

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Russ

Another film starring the King of Hollywood that you've never heard of, and with ample reason. Spunky Myrna Loy falls for bad boy Gable and cheerfully goes along for the wild ride. Tracy plays the figurative wing man. You've seen all the plot devices before, and more convincingly. It probably drew an audience on its star power eight decades ago, but there's nothing to recommend it. All the characters are cardboard cutouts and the situations are predictable. If you've seen Jimmy Stewart, June Allyson, and Harry Morgan in "Strategic Air Command" you've basically seen the same story, only done far better visually. In both pictures, the long suffering wife eventually gets her man safely on terra firma by the end.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/25/24

Full Review

Mark A

Gable, Loy and Tracy at their best.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Clark Gable is the one in the title role and Spencer Tracy is his best friend and mechanic. Test Pilot portrays a footloose and fancy free Gable doing a dangerous job because he's entranced by the beauty and danger of flying. Tracy is along to give him a reality check every now and then. While trying for a coast to coast record Gable has trouble with a fuel line and has to make a landing in a Kansas wheat field that just happens to belong to Myrna Loy's parents. She's the farmer's daughter all right. Of course a little of that Gable charm and she's off in the wild blue yonder with him and spends the rest of the film worried about his daredevil behavior. She's not in Kansas any more. This was the second of the three Gable/Tracy co-starrers. All three of them, San Francisco, Test Pilot, and Boom Town have withstood the test of time and have become classics. Test Pilot's original story was written by Frank "Spig" Wead who's life story was brought to us in the film Wings of Eagles. Wead was a flyer himself until a fall in his home left him a paraplegic. After that he became a writer and several of his stories were filmed. In fact Gable and starred in Night Flight earlier on which was written by Wead. Of course Wead had a great feel for the type and character of the people who chose aviation as a career. The aerial sequences are first rate and the players settle comfortably in their parts. It's got aerial action for the guys and romance for the gals. How can you go wrong?

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

kevin w

Clark Gable leads this old school Hollywood fantasy as a man-boy hotshot pilot who faces death every time he goes up. Spencer Tracy plays his sidekick, his wingman, and his mechanic. And Myrna Loy plays the braless woman from Nebraska who snags Clark, but wonders if she should've. Everyone knows that he's flirting with disaster...how long before it catches him? At least that's the story this story is selling. Another story, one that happens before your eyes, is that the situations serve to create a sort of menage a trois atmosphere between the three, a tension. Interestingly subversive stuff coming from the 1930's, naturally.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

steve d

The actors are fun and so is the film.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The right stuff is a more relevant and interesting film by far about a similar subject and top gun as well for that matter. I recommend those ones over this. In any case, it had its moments and for an old film it had decent cinematography, acting and dramatics. The casting was well done. I just found myself mostly bored by this film tho and couldn't stand the unrealistic expectations of the wife-no wonder she couldnt take it after all.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

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Victor Fleming

Director

Clark Gable

Jim Lane

Myrna Loy

Ann Barton

Spencer Tracy

Gunner Morris

Lionel Barrymore

Howard B. Drake

Samuel S. Hinds

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Synopsis

Test pilot Jim Lane (Clark Gable) has endangered himself more than once because of his drinking. Despite efforts by his best friend, Gunner (Spencer Tracy), Jim has not quit the bottle. After making an emergency landing on a Kansas farm, Jim falls for, then marries, local girl Ann (Myrna Loy), but married life cannot keep Jim from indulging in his reckless ways. Then, on a dangerous mission with Gunner, Jim finally confronts something that just may scare him into never flying again.

Director: Victor Fleming
Screenwriter: Howard Hawks, Vincent Lawrence, Frank Wead, Waldemar Young
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co: Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Genre: Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 22, 1938, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 16, 2016
Runtime: 1h 58m
Sound Mix: Mono