Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

Regisseur:

Howard Hawks

Drehbuchautor:

Jules Furthman (screenplay)

Premierendatum:

15. Mai 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Abenteuer | Romanze

Werbezeile:

Powerful as a tropical storm!

Plot:

While waiting for her boat, Bonnie Lee stops at a small airport in South America. The pilots there deliver...

Plot Keywords:

American Expatriate | American Abroad | Beautiful Woman | Airmail | Aviation

Filmpreise:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Nutzerkommentare:

Not just another Hawks and Grant film - it's a lot more than meets the eye

Besetzung

Cary Grant	...	Geoff Carter
Jean Arthur	...	Bonnie Lee
Richard Barthelmess	...	Bat Kilgallen - Mac Pherson
Rita Hayworth	...	Judith 'Judy' MacPherson
Thomas Mitchell	...	Kid Dabb
Allyn Joslyn	...	Les Peters
Sig Ruman	...	John 'Dutchy' Van Reiter (as Sig Rumann)
Victor Kilian	...	Sparks (radioman)
John Carroll	...	Gent Shelton
Don 'Red' Barry	...	Tex Gordon (as Donald Barry)
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Joe Souther
Manuel Álvarez Maciste	...	The singer (as Maciste)
Milisa Sierra	...	Lily - Joe's girl (as Milissa Sierra)
Lucio Villegas	...	Doctor Lagorio
Pat Flaherty	...	Mike

Alternativ:

'- Only Angels Have Wings' (USA) (alternative spelling)
Howard Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings (USA) (complete title)
Plane No. 4 (USA) (working title)
SOS Feuer an Bord (Österreich) (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) [de]
Feuer an Bord! (Österreich) [de]
Flugpioniere in Not (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) [de]

Länge:

121 Min

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch | Spanisch

Farbe:

Schwarzweiss

Seitenverhältnis:

1.37 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Altersfreigabe:

UK:U | UK:A (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | France:U (re-release) | USA:Approved (PCA #4942) | Germany:6 | Australia:G

Firma:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Dies und das:

In this film, Richard Barthelmess plays a pilot who is shunned because he jumped out of a plane and left his mechanic to die. In The Last Flight (1931), he played a pilot who goes down with his plane to NOT leave his friend behind.

Pannen:

Filmfehler: Toward the beginning of the movie, when Tex the lookout radio guy says, "OK, it's open," you can see the whole mountain range in the background slightly shift to the right. (Apparently, somebody was moving the set backdrop or bumped into it while the scene was being filmed.)

Dialogzitate:

Bonnie Lee: So you're still carrying a torch for her?
Geoff Carter: Gotta light?

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Verweis/Anspielung/Erwähnung in A Decade Under the Influence (2003)

Soundtrack:

The Peanut Vendor

Not just another Hawks and Grant film - it's a lot more than meets the eye

This may be an overlooked Howard Hawks film. It's really a thoughtful film with substance under the guise of Hollywood famous stars and lively screenplay banters. Subject touches on death just 20 minutes into the film. Certainly no dull pacing. It has golden segments, like the exchanges between Grant and Barthelmess, Grant and Mitchell, Mitchell and Arthur, Arthur and Grant, and 10 minutes later, we see people gathered round by the piano singing songs and cajoling - not without sorrow beneath. Be not fooled, sentiments are there for friends passed away. It's not, but it is, a way of handling grief.

It's life, matter of fact and not hung up or lingering, simply moving on, devil may care, with boldness, dare, and risk-woe-begotten (or forgotten, for that matter). Men - one track-minded, to fly to deliver no-matter-what. Women - worry, or why worry. To love the man, much of letting go and let him be comes with the territory, even if it's Jean Arthur or Rita Hayworth. The story revolves around not just Cary Grant's Geoff leading the pack in the Andes, but also Thomas Mitchell's brother gone, Richard Barthelmess' past recur, Rita Hayworth's nostalgic fear, and the spunky, sentimental Jean Arthur's Bonnie wraps it all up. The supporting cast aptly contributes from the restaurant-hotel-mailing service owner, the lively South American accents and melody, to the pilots who are green and know not what peril is, and the lone fog-watcher and his donkey. Secrets revealed, conflicts challenged, and there's a growing promotion of trust through it all. Between business partners, colleagues, friendship or marriage - that unquestionable trust, without asking out loud but understood within - is what life and dare all about.

This film grew on me. I first saw it on cable TCM the latter half and couldn't wait to catch it again for the full story. Screenplay by Jules Furthman, music score by Dimitri Tiomkin, directed and produced by Howard Hawks, "Only Angels Have Wings" 1939 (available on DVD) is full of life, humor, drama, adventurous spirits, and non-stop exchange of word deliveries - entertaining, enjoyable, and heart-warming.