Only Angels Have Wings is sandwiched
between two other collaborations with Cary Grant in the filmography of Howard
Hawks, showcasing his range as a director along with the star’s versatility.
1938’s Bringing Up Baby and 1940’s His Girl Friday gave audiences two
different personas for Grant, one meek and bookish with the other cocky and
masculine, but both utilized his comedic abilities within the screwball
sub-genre. While 1939’s Only Angels Have
Wings also made use of the witty repartee and masculinity, it gave
audiences a chance to see Grant in a dramatic role and allowed Hawks to capture
the excitement of aerial action sequences.
The film takes
place in a South American port town, focusing on the dangerous lifestyle of the
pilots working in an airmail company hired to make treacherous journeys through
the local mountain terrain. We are brought into this world by a traveling
entertainer named Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur), who makes a brief stop on her
journey and ends up staying after becoming enamored with the company’s hot-shot
pilot, Geoff Carter (Grant). Carter takes many unnecessary risks in his job,
especially with a long-term contract on the line, which makes him an unstable
romantic partner. Having previously lost a romantic partner to his love of
being a pilot, Carter is hesitant to bring another woman into his world.
This world is
complicated even further when Carter’s former love (played by the undeniably
gorgeous Rita Hayworth in an early role) shows up married to the company’s
newest pilot, MacPherson (Richard Barthelmess). Though one might expect this to
turn into a typical love triangle, Carter carries much more weight than
romantic feelings. MacPherson faces harsh adversity from his fellow pilots
because of a past accident which have left him branded amongst his colleagues,
which also begins to affect his marriage. Though Carter is not without his
judgments of the new employee’s past actions, he decides to give him a chance,
even providing his former flame with advice on how to be married to a pilot.
This drama
between the characters is what raises the stakes in the action sequences, which
feature Oscar-nominated effects and high-wire aerial stunts. Though these
effects from 1939 are hardly cutting edge any longer, this is easily forgiven
by how expertly Hawks is able to build suspense. And some of the camera work is
impressive even by today’s standards. As a pilot himself, Hawks understood how
to apply realism to his aerial action, basing many of the characters and events
on people and situations he had encountered. This tough outlook seems also to
have been engrained in the pilots within his film, so unaffected by the dangers
that they don’t even allow themselves to mourn the loss of friends. It is the
ultimate depiction of masculinity, which is just as affecting today, despite
being somewhat dated in its representation of gender roles.
Presented with a
new 4K digital restoration, along with the uncompressed monaural soundtrack,
there is no better way to see this classic (save a time machine trip back to
1939). This Criterion Collection Blu-ray release also comes with an assortment
of special features, including a new program with interviews from film scholars
Craig Barron and Ben Burtt called “Howard Hawks and His Aviation Movies,” and a
new interview with film critic David Thomson. Archival extras include audio
excerpts from a 1972 conversation between Hawks and fellow filmmaker Peter
Bogdanovich and the Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the film from 1939,
including the original cast members and hosted by Cecil B. DeMille. The Blu-ray
package also has a foldout insert with an essay on the film by critic Michael
Sragow.
Entertainment Value:
8/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 8.5/10
Historical
Significance: 8/10
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