Chain Lightning (1950 film)

Chain Lightning
Directed byStuart Heisler
Written byLester Cole (from story "These Many Years")
Liam O'Brien (screenplay) and Vincent B. Evans (screenplay)
Produced byAnthony Veiller
StarringHumphrey Bogart
Eleanor Parker
Raymond Massey
CinematographyErnest Haller
Edited byThomas Reilly
Music byDavid Buttolph
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • February 25, 1950 (1950-02-25) (U.S.)
Running time
94 minutes
90 minutes (Germany)
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Multiple translations
Budget$1,477,000
Box office$2,555,000

Chain Lightning is a 1950 American aviation film based on the story "These Many Years" by blacklisted writer Lester Cole (under the pseudonym "J. Redmond Prior"); the screenplay was written by Liam O'Brien and Vincent B. Evans. During World War II, Evans had been the bombardier on the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Memphis Belle.

The film stars Humphrey Bogart as a test pilot along with Eleanor Parker and Raymond Massey. Cole's credit on the film was officially restored by the Writers Guild of America in 1997.

Created in the postwar era to reflect progress in aviation and aeronautics, the film is a fictional account of an American company that builds high-speed jet aircraft. Chain Lightning was one of Bogart's final Warner Bros. films, ending a 20-year association.

The film was released in multiple versions for 11 different countries; in Germany, it was known as Des Teufels Pilot.