Alas sobre El Chaco: A relic of 1935

Is it worth your time?

If you have a thing for dusty, black-and-white aviation dramas from the mid-thirties, sure. If you aren't already into that specific vibe, you might find it pretty sluggish. People who love historical oddities will get a kick out of it. Folks who need modern pacing will probably check their phones within ten minutes.

It’s wild how they shot this simultaneously with the English-language version. You can almost see the actors trying to find their marks while someone yells directions in a language they might not even speak well. There is a weird, stiff energy in some of the dialogue that feels like a rehearsal that never quite finished.

The aerial stuff

The flying sequences are obviously the main event here. They aren't exactly Top Gun, but for 1935, they have a certain charm. Some of the shots of the planes look like they were filmed in a sandbox, but then you get these sudden, sweeping views that feel genuinely dangerous. One moment where a plane banks hard against a cloud layer stuck with me—it felt surprisingly real compared to the studio-bound conversations.

The ground stuff? That’s another story. It drags quite a bit. There’s a lot of staring at maps and looking concerned at coffee cups. It reminded me a bit of the slow, methodical pace in The Blazing Trail, where you spend half the time just waiting for someone to finally get back in the saddle—or in this case, the cockpit.

Odd bits

• The lighting in the canteen scenes is bizarrely bright. Everyone looks like they’re being interrogated, not grabbing a drink after a patrol.
• I’m still not sure if the background extras were actually looking at the planes or just squinting at a very bright stage light.
• The dialogue is very, very formal. Nobody just says 'hello' when they can give a three-sentence speech about the duty of a pilot.

It’s not as chaotic as some other stuff from that era, like When the Clouds Roll by, which felt like it was trying to do ten things at once. This one stays in its lane, even if that lane is a bit bumpy. You can tell they were trying to capture that high-stakes romance, but the chemistry is mostly just... polite. Everyone is very polite even when they are supposed to be jealous.

It’s a strange little artifact. Don't expect to be blown away by the storytelling, but if you like seeing how studios used to churn out duplicate movies just to reach different markets, it’s a fascinating watch. Just don’t expect it to change your life. ✈️