Page "Howard Hawks" Paragraph 21

The Air Circus is Hawks's first film centered around aviation, one of his early loves.

In 1928, Charles Lindbergh was the world's most famous person and Wings was one of the most popular films of the year.

Wanting to capitalize on the countries aviation craze, Fox immediately bought Hawks's original story for The Air Circus, a variation of the male friendship plot of A Girl in Every Port about two young pilots.

Officially, the original story is credited to Graham Baker and Andrew Bennison, while the screenplay was written by Seton Miller and Norman Z. McLeod.

In the film, Arthur Lake and David Rollins play two eager young pilots at flight school who compete over their flight instructors aviatrix sister played by Sue Carol.

The film was shot from April to June 1928, but Fox ordered an additional 15 minutes of dialogue footage to be shot so the film could compete with the new " talkies " being released.

Hawks hated the new dialogue written by Hugh Herbert and he refused to participate in the re-shoots.

The film was released in September 1928 and was a moderate hit.

It is one of two filmed directed by Hawks's that is a lost film.