Conquest (1928 film)

Conquest (aka The Candle in the Wind) is a 1928 American aviation drama film, based on the short story Conquest by Mary Imlay Taylor. The film was made using the Vitaphone sound process. Conquest was directed by Roy Del Ruth, and stars Monte Blue, H.B. Warner and Lois Wilson. The film is a melodrama about an aircraft crash in Antarctica. Conquest is now considered a lost film, although the complete soundtrack exists on Vitaphone discs.

Plot
Two pilots, James Farnham (H.B. Warner) and Donald Overton (Monte Blue) are in love with the same girl, Diane Holden (Lois Wilson ). Attempting to fly an aircraft to the South Pole, the pair run into trouble, tumbling out of control, and crashing in the Antarctic wastelands. Donald's leg is broken, and is left to die by James, whose motives are suspect. He can now have Diane all to himself.

Rescued by the crew of a whaler, Donald is injured but survives. When he recovers, he vows vengeance on the man who left him to die. Returning home, James has proposed and marries Diane, Donald's former fiancée.

Now, scarred and crazed, Donald searches out Dianne and James. Donald persuades William Holden (Edmund Breese), Diane's father, the sponsor of the first flight, to finance another flight to Antarctica.

The same crew is resurrected but again the two pilots crash, and this time James is injured, unable to move because of a broken leg. Donald cannot bring himself to leave him, and together they make their way to safety.

On the way back to civilization, James asks Donald's forgiveness and then kills himself, freeing Donald to find happiness with Diane.

Cast

 * Monte Blue as Donald Overton
 * H.B. Warner as James Farnham
 * Lois Wilson as Diane Holden
 * Edmund Breese as William Holden
 * Tully Marshall as Dr. Gerry

Production
Original pre-production work was on a film project entitled The Candle in the Wind, that was subsequently changed to Conquest. Highly influenced by public awareness of Antarctic aerial exploration by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Conquest was one of a number of aviation films about Antarctica flights, that were released, including With Byrd at the South Pole (1930) and The Lost Zeppelin (1929). Principal photography on Conquest began on July 30, 1928. To recreate the aircraft used on the Antarctic flight, an "elaborate full-scale Fokker tri-motor mockup" was constructed.

Reception
Aviation film historian Stephen Pendo, in Aviation in the Cinema (1985) characterized Conquest as a typical early "talkie" with a heavy reliance on dialogue, with as much as 70 percent of the film taken up by conversations.

Preservation status
Conquest is considered a lost film.