“Dive Bomber”, the 1941 Technicolor film, will be shown in the auditorium at the Harold B. Lee Library 7 p.m. Friday
“Dive Bomber” is part of The Special Collections Motion Picture Archives Film Series which presents motion pictures prints of film, rather than digital video, that come directly from the collections of film directors, actors and producers preserved by the L. Tom Perry Special Collections. There is only one showing of “Dive Bomber” because the prints are rare archival copies.
Cici Nye, public relations assistant at the Harold B. Lee Library, explained the Special Collections has acquired items such as the Oscar awarded for “Gone With the Wind” donated to the collection from the composer of the film’s music. “Amazing things come to Special Collections in strange ways,” Nye said.
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“Dive Bomber” was Warner Bros. tribute to naval aviation, providing a rare look at the USS Enterprise in Hawaii and its diverse array of aircraft, all of which were destroyed months later in the Battle of Midway. The principle aircraft depicted in the film are Vought SB2U Vindicator dive bombers and Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers.
Nye explained a few months after production the USS Enterprise was destroyed as the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
“The USS Enterprise in the film is a cool piece of history that went to war a few months later and now no longer exists,” Nye said.
Nominated for an Academy Award for its Technicolor aerial photography, “Dive Bomber” was shot documentary style and is the first feature film to contain sequences photographed in 35mm color negative film. Previous color features were shot in black and white negative film photographed from behind color filters.
“One of the coolest things about this film is the aerial cinematography which was innovative for that time,” Nye said.
The doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the film will run for 133 minutes. This screening is free and open to the public.
