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Fails the Bechdel test

The Last Flight

1931. Directed by William Dieterle, written by John Monk Saunders.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

0 / 3

Fails

  1. No 1. At least two women
    Fewer than two women characters.
  2. No 2. Who talk to each other
    Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
  3. No 3. About something besides a man
    Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.

Poster for The Last Flight

The film

Cary, Shep, Bill, and Francis are pilots who have only just survived the First World War. They linger in Europe in the aftermath, drinking and ostensibly having fun, but pessimistic and flip about their futures, as each feels himself somehow lost and dead inside as a result of the horrors he's experienced. They encounter beautiful, vivacious Nikki and adopt her as a sort of mascot and light around which they can hover in hopes of regaining the sense of warmth and life. Nikki does her best to reinvigorate her new friends, but despite the seeming lightheartedness of their escapades, the shadow of the war can never be dispelled.

Released
29 Aug 1931
Genres
Drama
Rated
Passed
IMDb
6.8 / 10
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Cary 267 lines, man
  2. Nikki 245 lines, woman
  3. Shep 177 lines, man
  4. Bill 174 lines, man
  5. Frink 57 lines, man
  6. Francis 53 lines, man
  7. Pedro 17 lines, man
  8. Doctor 15 lines
  9. Gentleman 12 lines, man
  10. Aide 3 lines
Full cast, 12 people
  • Richard Barthelmess as Cary Lockwood
  • David Manners as Shep Lambert
  • Johnny Mack Brown as Bill Talbot
  • Helen Chandler as Nikki
  • Elliott Nugent as Francis
  • Yola d'Avril as French Party Girl at Cafe
  • Walter Byron as Frink
  • Luis Alberni as Spectator at Bullfight
  • Herbert Bunston as Man on Train
  • Jay Eaton as Extra in Claridge Bar
  • George Irving as Military Doctor
  • Wallace MacDonald as Officer at Hospital

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 41

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 100
2 to 204
3 to 306
4 to 405
5 to 500
6 to 600
7 to 7011
8 to 800
9 to 902
10 to 1000
11 to 112984
12 to 123984
13 to 13516
14 to 14311
15 to 15427
16 to 1616
17 to 171466
18 to 18017
19 to 193168
20 to 202222
21 to 212421
22 to 2289
23 to 2308
24 to 24614
25 to 2566
26 to 26414
27 to 27316
28 to 28548
29 to 29523
30 to 3004
31 to 3100
32 to 32027
33 to 3305
34 to 34415
35 to 35230
36 to 36217
37 to 3705
38 to 38638
39 to 391023
40 to 4000
41 to 411312

The evidence

  • Straight from the script
  • Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 24 are women's.

246 lines from women, 764 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

2 women and 10 men in the cast. 1 women and 8 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 50 of 1,037. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 49 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 24% of the words (1,874), men 76% (5,802).

Exhibit D: the test the other way

Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.

Conversations between two named characters

Exhibit E: behind the camera

None of the 6 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 0% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
William Dieterle (man)
Written by
John Monk Saunders (man)
From the novel by
John Monk Saunders (man)
Shot by
Sidney Hickox (man)
Edited by
Alexander Hall (man)
Costumes by
Earl Luick (man)

The crew, department by department

  • Camera

    0 women, 5 men, 2 not listed

  • Directing

    0 women, 2 men

  • Writing

    0 women, 2 men

  • Art

    0 women, 1 men

  • Costume & Make-Up

    0 women, 1 men

  • Other crew

    0 women, 1 men

  • Editing

    0 women, 1 men

  • Sound

    0 women, 1 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 25 on average. Men: 37 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Yola d'Avril 24, Helen Chandler 25

Men

Johnny Mack Brown 26, David Manners 31, Walter Byron 32, Jay Eaton 32, Elliott Nugent 34, Richard Barthelmess 36, Luis Alberni 44, Herbert Bunston 57

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 41 scenes and 1,037 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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