User Reviews

Everything comes together perfectly in Howard Hawks' masterful drama, packed with action, suspense, romance and comedy. Jean Arthur, Cary Grant and Thomas Mitchell all hit peak form here and deliver stunning performances, putting across Jules Furthman's punchy dialogue with astonishing vitality. The rest of the cast is great too: Rita Hayworth dazzles in a star-making turn, whilst noted silent actor Richard Barthelmess provides a complex, superb characterisation - his best since the silent-era.

"Thrilling As Love Born Amid A Thousand Fabulous Adventures!" screamed the posters, and that's just what you get: pulsating encounters before a backdrop of plane crashes, deception, confrontation, scandal and danger. There are dozens of classic sequences, but one in particular stands-out. After the death of Noah Beery, Jr.'s character, Arthur mentions him by name. "Who's dead?" spits Grant, bitterly, "who's Joe?" This tough, fatalistic line forms the centre of Grant's brilliant characterisation, which in turns forms the backbone of this brutal, compelling, wildly entertaining film.

Only Angels Have Wings is both Hawks' best movie and one of the key pictures of the decade. Studio magic emanates from every joyous scene.

I guess I'm the dissenter here. I don't say this is a bad film, but to me it's a little illogical...although perhaps that's a different time perspective of the 1930s compared to today. The crux of the film is quite simple -- repeatedly, fliers are crashing and dying flying the mail up over a particular foggy mountain pass in South America. In fact, later in the film, you get to see the mountains, and you KNOW they wouldn't fly into them in the fog...well, actually they would fly into them -- literally -- in the fog. But, the mail must go through!!!!! Why not delay until the fog lifts? But of course, at least often when they crash, the mail is destroyed. So let's see -- the way they're operating, much of the mail never goes through, rather than sometimes just being delayed. Hmmmmmmmmmm. And they are destroying expensive planes in the process. Hmmmmmmmmm. Is this anyway to run an airline??? And of course, Cary Grant and others are very stoic about the repeated deaths, while only Jean Arthur has a lick of sense and sees the tragedy for those who die. Nevertheless, Jean Arthur begins falling in love with Cary Grant, who runs the flying operation...despite the fact that he repeatedly insults her.

Many see this as one of Howard Hawks' best directorial efforts, and perhaps it is, once you accept the rather boneheaded premise. Cary Grant's role here is not one you're likely to like him in, and I'm not so sure he even performs it well. There were times I felt he was over-acting (and just for the record, Grant is my favorite actor). Jean Arthur, whom we usually savor in comedies, shows her diversity here in a straight dramatic role. In terms of supporting actor Richard Barthelmess, I can only assume he did his best work in silent films...he certainly wasn't very interesting here. This was one of Rita Hayworth's first important screen roles, and she's quite good here, although the best role in the film may very well belong to Thomas Mitchell. This is one of his better roles, though he had many.

There are some things wrong with this film. Some of the scenes of airplanes landing and taking off are so primitive in terms of fake set that it's almost childish. And let's see -- there's all that fog in the jungle, but just a few minutes flying time away it's virtual desert. Hmmmmmmmm. But worst of all is when Jean Arthur doesn't want Cary Grant to fly because he might be killed...so she shoots him. Oh brother! There are more Cary Grant films in my DVD collection than of any other actor. And there are some I've watched a dozen times. This was a struggle to wade through the second time around...in fact, it took me 3 days to finish watching it. Considering the positive reviews others give it, there must be something I'm missing. But it's "okay"...once.

"Things happen awful fast around here!" exclaims Jean Arthur, after an unceremonious smooch from curmudgeonly wooer Cary Grant. It's a great moment - not only for being one of the few pieces of Hawksian snappy patter in a largely more serious film, but equally a piece of dialogue that serves not only microcosmic for Only Angels Have Wings, but Hawks' machine-gun-bantering career as a whole. Here, the breakneck pace bypasses the zippy frivolity of Bringing Up Baby and the Machiavellian mania of His Girl Friday, and lends itself to something altogether more grim. Only Angels Have Wings may not be a war movie, but it's undeniably coloured by the political climate and distant rumblings from Germany of its time. It's a film driven by acrid fatalism, yet seasoned with peppy resilience, both stagnantly stationary yet driven by furious momentum. And the drama and energy generated by its duelling influences are both infectious and superb.

In the aviation outpost of Barranca, cheating death is always only a phone call away, as the ominously omnipresent drone of background planes reminds us. Then, enter the players. We start with innocent enough flirty repartee, as Arthur is intoxicated with the fumes of adventure and derring-do of her pilot pursuers. Then, as suddenly as it is matter-of-fact, one of our cheery protagonists is killed - a bad crop of weather turned botched landing. And the comrades of the departed sing a raucously mocking song as they pick up and send his replacement out before his crash fumes have dissipated. And we wait for a punchline to come, to defuse and save the situation, and code it as safe and all in good fun. And it never comes.

Are these men, formerly charming and debonair, secretly sadistic and cruel? No - they've simply been ground down by too much death to react any differently. And this heady realism, and the grim humour it spawns, is what helps Hawks' drama soar above (ha) the heads of its fellow flyboy films. Hawks doesn't valourize his pilots with cloying heroism: he drags them through the muck - literal and emotional - and paints them with such a belligerently unwavering code of honour (as their peer bullying dynamics when introduced to one whose self-preservation cost the life of his mechanic demonstrates) that they're not heroic so much as simply standing. But, courtesy of his characteristic overlapping dialogue (employed with more restraint here) and flair for vivid, colourful ensemble characterizations, we see the cracks and misty eyes behind their devil-may-care gregariousness. And it's hard to imagine a more magnetically compelling human drama for it.

It helps that the film is gorgeously shot, melding classical grandeur with a noir murkiness, as valiant pilots, striding towards their aerial steeds, are besieged by shadowy torrential rain, mud, and blood. The impressively textured sets add to the film's rustic grandeur, as do the spectacular aviation sequences and aerial scenery shots (again, had the U.S. entered the War at this junction, it's impossible not to imagine such sequences being twisted into enlistment propaganda, a-la Top Gun). At two hours in length, the film isn't as lean and concise as it could be, though this length does allow for considerable immersion into the world of the pilots, as if rapt attention will help them cling to life. Similarly, the intertwining love subplots, particularly Arthur's lovesick pining amidst this world of fast-living, toe the line of being Classical Hollywood plot devices of convenience (the accidental gunshot is really pushing it), though this slightest breach of realism is only a mite bothersome.

Still, Arthur's careful performance sells it all beautifully, undercutting her playful banter with an undercurrent of acidic self-loathing. She may not act like the quintessentially spunky, take-charge, sexually aggressive 'Hawksian woman' (as was legendarily to his chagrin), but she's certainly kicking herself for it, and enjoys her nimble wordplay too mirthfully not to enormously take to. Similarly, Cary Grant at his surliest is still infinitely charismatic (albeit somewhat wolfish), and he's on top form here. Guarding himself against the hardships and horrors of his profession with an armour of sarcasm, like a fast-talking Rick Blaine from Casablanca, he metaphorizes the pilot experience by refusing to carry a match, but plays it as a surprisingly tender trope, which makes his rakish commander a lot easier to warm to. Richard Barthelmess gives a tremendously nuanced performance as the ashamed pilot who left his mechanic to die, his craggy gruffness perfectly etching out self-loathing yet self-preservation on his face, while Rita Hayworth is impressive indeed for holding her own sparring with Cary Grant in her first major cinematic role. It's a Wonderful Life's Thomas Mitchell is nearly unrecognizable here as aging but still twinkling pilot 'Kid', while Sig Ruman demonstrates consistently pitch-perfect comedic timing as the beleaguered yet lovable owner of the aviation company.

Only Angels Have Wings is a top-notch, classy affair, as Hawks' airtight, bravado directorial work and the cast's stellar performances help keep grim emotional realism aloft with spirited, thrilling storytelling. Exhibiting taut, magnetically thrilling storytelling far ahead of its time, the film is a prime example of Classical Hollywood with which to charm the acquainted and lure in the uninitiated. Those on the fence should be sure to call heads with Kid's lucky coin when deciding whether or not to check it out. In so many ways, this film has wings.

-9.5/10

Howard Hawks' 'To Have and Have Not (1944)' has often been described as the director's answer to 'Casablanca (1942),' an adventurous and witty love story/drama set in an exotic location. However, Hawks more successfully captured that spirit of passion and outlandish adventure in 'Only Angels Have Wings (1939),' a romantic, screwball comedy-style love story born amid a tense, exciting and epic aviation adventure. Hawks was evidently fond of story lines centred around aviation, considering he had already produced 'The Dawn Patrol (1930)' and 'Ceiling Zero (1936),' and the film's screenplay by Jules Furthman was expanded from Hawks' own 1938 short story, "Plane Four from Barranca." The film explores themes of male camaraderie, professionalism, and bravery, and the amusing consequences that arise when an independent woman arrives to disrupt this closely-knit community of men. The drama unfolds in the small port at Barranca, Ecuador, a village bordered by the might and majesty of the Andes Mountains, and where tropical storms are a regular but treacherous occurrence.

'Only Angels Have Wings' was filmed in Los Angeles, and does an excellent job of evoking the exotic tropical environment of South America. The characters always appear beleaguered by the overwhelming heat and humidity of the Ecuadorian jungle, and the frequent storms bombard the landscape with stifling fog and rain. The scenes of aviation, largely produced using elaborate model-work, remain mostly convincing, and those few shots that aren't have a likable charm about them. Roy Davidson (photographic) and Edwin C. Hahn (sound) received an Academy Award nomination for their special effects work, the first time that an Oscar had been offered in that category. One particular aviation shot, apparently involving no effects of any kind, follows Richard Barthelmess' mail-plane as he attempts an extremely risky landing on a perilous plateau. Filmed from adjacent aircraft, the long shot follows the plane as its swoops around the makeshift runway and comes in for the landing, coming to a stop just metres from the edge of the cliff. It's an elaborate and meticulously-staged moment that really makes you appreciate what cinema is all about.

The story involves Geoff Carter (Cary Grant), who manages a air-mail business from the small port-town at Barranca. Though he has been romantically-involved with many women, Geoff has basically given away all chances of happiness, being unwilling to place any woman through the stress and fear that besieges any wife whose husband has such a dangerous occupation. Spirited and intelligent Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur) arrives at the town, and, despite her initial aversion towards Geoff, slowly finds herself caring about him. Geoff's repeated attempts to rebuff Bonnie's advances ultimately prove futile, and he discovers that the woman who truly loves him will never allow herself to be affected by his rejections, however selfless and noble his intentions. Forming the film's dramatic heart is the character of Bat Kilgallen (Richard Barthelmess), a disgraced pilot who finds himself aggressively slighted by his comrades for ejecting from his aircraft and leaving his navigator, the brother of Kid Dabb (Thomas Mitchell), to die. Even when offered only the most dangerous missions, Kilgallen's unwavering desire for redemption earns him the respect of those who had formerly denounced him as a coward.