Tropes:
- Blood from the Mouth: Happens with one of the pilots in the aerial dogfight, after taking a machine-gun burst.
- The Casanova: Monte. In his Establishing Character Moment, he brings one girl to a bar where another one of his girls works as a waitress.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Baron von Kranz, the officer who Roy fights a duel with in 1914, is the officer who questions Roy and Monte after they are captured years later.
- Cold Equation: See Heroic Sacrifice below.
- Dirty Coward: In the last scene, Monte is perfectly willing to tell the Germans about the attack and condemn a British division to slaughter in order to save his own skin. His brother has to shoot him In the Back to keep him quiet.
- Downer Ending: Roy shoots his brother and is promptly executed by the Germans.
- Emergency Cargo Dump: See Heroic Sacrifice below.
- Get Out: Helen to Monte after he grows a conscience following sex with her.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Most of the crew of the zeppelin willingly jump to their deaths to try and lighten the load so it can escape the RFC. A couple have to be pushed.
- High-Class Glass: Baron von Kranz, the German officer who catches Monte with his wife in 1914, wears one of these.
- Hitler Cam: An anarchist protesting against the war is shot this way, right before the audience pulls him off his platform and beats him.
- Honor Before Reason: When Monte skips out on his duel with Baron von Kranz, Roy, who is worried about the social stigma, takes his place.
- Mildly Military: Monte apparently is a good enough pilot but definitely isn't down with the whole war thing. His response when the squadron is roused to take on a zeppelin bombing London?"Surely we don't all have to go. I'm tired."
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Jean Harlow makes no attempt to sound British.
- Really Gets Around: Helen will sleep with anything in a uniform, while also pretending to love Roy.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Helen wears one for the ball scene.
- Slip into Something More Comfortable: Helen says this when seducing Roy. She then re-emerges wearing a robe tied loosely enough that it appears to reveal a breast. (Yes, this film was made before enforcement of The Hays Code.) This film is believed to be the Trope Namer.Helen: Would you be shocked if I put on something more comfortable?
- Splash of Color: The formal ball is shot in Technicolor. This scene is the only color footage of Jean Harlow.
- Taking You with Me: A British pilot plows his plane into the Zeppelin.
