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:).
Review of Chain Lightning
