• 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
  • Recommend