Melodrama does little to weigh down the airship excitement in the third of Capra's three armed services "buddy" adventures (with Submarine, 1928, and Flight, 1929). Each film represented a new departure for Columbia in scale and scope, in particular in the rendering of air and sea disasters. Yet in their straightforward simplicity, a Capra style began to emerge: tough guys Jack Holt and Ralph Graves were quite the atypical movie heroes for the day, appearing sans makeup. Legend has it that Capra persuaded his actors to suck on dry ice to create the illusion of cold in the filming of this tale of Navy pilots working on the experimental use of dirigibles at the South Pole. (Hobart Bosworth donated three teeth and the use of his jawbone to the cause.) So much for style; the climactic storm and fiery crash are the true measure of Capra's sheer technical expertise.