Being familiar and enthusiastic with the subject matter has always been a boon for filmmakers who strive to make their work personal and unique. Howard Hawks, an aviation enthusiast whose many works dealt with that world, provides one such example. Despite working within the confines of Classic Hollywood, Hawks has been retroactively proclaimed as an embodiment of Auteur Theory. His best-known aviation film, often considered the classic of the genre, is the 1939 adventure drama Only Angels Have Wings. Hawks wrote the story, later adapted into a script by Jules Furthman, based on his personal experiences with pilots he had met during the production of Viva Villa in Mexico a few years earlier.
The plot is set in Barranca, a fictional port city somewhere on the Pacific coast of South America. It begins when travelling piano-playing entertainer Bonnie Lee (played by Jean Arthur) disembarks from a banana boat and, while waiting for another boat to continue her journey, meets a group of fellow Americans that congregate in a bar owned by John “Dutchy” Van Ruyter (played by Sig Ruman). Dutchy also owns a small and financially troubled airline whose chief pilot and manager, Geoff Carter (played by Cary Grant), must maintain a continuous mail delivery through the treacherous Andes Mountains. Bonnie is both fascinated and attracted to Geoff, while he, following an accident that claimed the life of one of his pilots, must use the services of the disgraced Bat Macpherson (played by Richard Barthelmess), with whose wife Judy (played by Rita Hayworth) he had an affair a long time ago.
Modern viewers may initially be puzzled by what makes this film so special. The majority of the action takes place in bars, hotels, and indoor airport facilities, with the outdoor scenes occurring at night. This setting allowed for the use of simple miniature-based special effects, which were much easier to achieve at the time. The pace may seem slow at first, but the audience's patience is gradually rewarded, starting with some thrilling aerial footage in the middle. The slow pace at the beginning pays off because it allows for a thorough exposition and the introduction of a set of interesting and colourful characters. The audience becomes invested in their ultimate fate, also thanks to a great and diverse cast. Cary Grant stars as the stoic leader of the men, while Jean Arthur portrays a charming but strong independent woman who finds herself drawn into their world. The supporting cast includes the formidable character actor Thomas Mitchell, whose character's demise, apparently inspired by a real event Hawks personally witnessed, represents one of the most moving scenes of Classic Hollywood. Richard Barthelmess, a silent-era star whose career began to wane with the arrival of sound, plays one of his last screen roles as a disgraced pilot with a secret. Hawks used the scars on Barthelmess's face, the result of botched plastic surgery, to make his character more menacing and tortured. Although it was one of his final roles, Barthelmess left a lasting impression. Young Rita Hayworth also makes a relatively brief but memorable appearance, which allowed her to gradually advance into a starring role and become one of the icons of 1940s Hollywood.
Only Angels Have Wings is, in some ways, a product of its time, when aviation was still a new phenomenon, and the technology was still new and untested, fraught with danger and attracting men who liked to live on the edge. The script by Jules Furthman uses this setting to mix drama, action, adventure, and bits of romance, delivering entertainment for 1930s audiences that is both realistic and escapist. While highly regarded as one of Hawks's best films, Only Angels Have Wings suffered from being released in 1939, the annus mirabilis of Classic Hollywood. The film simply had trouble standing out among so many masterpieces. However, it was selected as one of twelve films to represent the USA at the newly started Cannes Film Festival. The festival was ultimately cancelled due to the outbreak of the Second World War, but that did not prevent the film from being fondly remembered by audiences and later recognised as one of the finest examples of the aviation genre.
RATING: 8/10 (+++)
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