Like an ensemble Grand
Hotel film and an answer to Hughes’ Hell’s
Angels at the same time with a great cast including both Barrymore’s- John
and a walking Lionel
Selznick produced
Active camera from Clarence Brown- a beautiful tracking shot
along the hospital to open then the transition to the funeral with the slow
wipe edit (not one you see often old or
new)
Narrative immediately set up nicely with the 24 hour timeline
with a cute dying kid in need of saving— one narrative issue is they don’t go
back to the kid often enough when showing what lengths these pilots are willing
to go to sacrifice
Great miniature work as the plane bobs and weaves through the
mountains
Hard-nosed pilots like the future work of Hawks’ on masculinity
from Air Force to Only Angels Have Wings
Goes back again and again to the slow wipe edit- a nice
aesthetic choice
Great shot as the radio receiver transitions to a radio player
Cast is so good- Gable is made to play the pilot and we have the
incredibly beautiful Myrna Loy—a story about pilots and the women who love them
A flaw with the film—there has got to be a better way of
relaying the narrative then showing notes that have been written by the pilots—the
alternative in the film seems to be a radio guy who is incredibly monotone –
weak
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