ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS. (1939) DISTRIBUTED BY COLUMBIA PICTURES. WRITTEN, PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY HOWARD HAWKS. MUSIC BY DIMITRI TIOMKIN. STARRING CARY GRANT, JEAN ARTHUR, RITA HAYWORTH, THOMAS MITCHELL AND RICHARD BARTHELMESS. REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
Aw, I do like a nice bit of Cary Grant, the actor to whom the appellation 'suave' has been applied probably more than to any other actor who ever lived. He's so handsome, isn't he, with those gorgeous eyes, and he can be sooooo dominant at times. I love when he's shaking hysterical or agitated women by the shoulders angrily and saying: 'Stop it, you little fool...!' or words to that effect. Mmmm, sooooo masterful...!
Cary Grant's co-star in this film, Jean Arthur, remarked some thirty years after making the movie that she'd absolutely loved 'sinking her head into Cary Grant's chest.' I can't say I blame her, frankly! This isn't my favourite film of his- that would be SUSPICION, in which he co-starred with the beautiful Joan Fontaine, the star of Alfred Hitchcock's REBECCA- but he's still terrific in it.
If you're expecting to see the normally immaculately-tailored Mr. Grant in one of his trademark suits, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. On the other hand, I think he looks even sexier in the slightly more rough 'n' ready gear he sports in the film. He's a pilot, see, and he looks bang-tidy in his battered leather flying jackets and goggles, light-coloured slacks, flying scarves and knee-boots. Again I say: 'Mmmmmm...!'
He manages a small airfield in the fictional South American town of Barranca and he flies the planes too. He and the other pilots transport airmail and sometimes other things through a high and treacherous pass in the Andes Mountains. Now, these are the mountains in which that college rugby team crashed in the early 1970s and were forced to resort to cannibalism to avoid starvation, so we already know how dangerous that whole area can be. It's a beautiful place too though, and the shots of snow and clouds and mountains and thick fog are utterly breath-taking.
The planes in ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS are those fabulous little old 'Forties planes that look like childrens' toys and apparently fans of the golden age of aviation really dig this film. I love the noise the planes make. There's a certain noise made by planes in World War Two films that's absolutely unmistakable. Do you know the noise I mean? It's a kind of a droning sound and when you hear it, you know that any minute now the bombs are gonna start falling over England or Germany. Obviously, these planes are mail carriers and not bombers but they make the same noise.
Basically, the film shows us the workings of this little independent airfield and the pilots who work there and, to a certain extent, their loves and lives. The relationship between Cary Grant's character Geoff Carter and his co-workers is lovely to see. They all love and respect him, from cuddly old Dutchy, the owner of the airfield, to 'Kid' Dabb, his bestest buddy. 'Kid,' of course, is played by Thomas Mitchell who was Scarlett O'Hara's beloved Pappy in GONE WITH THE WIND.
Jean Arthur is Geoff's love interest, but it's the ravishing Rita GILDA Hayworth who draws all eyes to her in this, the film that first made her a big star. She hams it up big-time as Geoff's ex-girlfriend who turns up at the airfield unexpectedly, and married to a pilot that Geoff's not particularly keen on to boot.
She's all quivering red lips heavily coated with gloss and big eyes and she's just sex-on-legs, to be honest. Check out the scene in which Cary Grant gives her fabulous hair a surprise wash. I don't even want to say what I would do to a man who did that to me...! Oh, who am I kidding? If it was Cary Grant, I'd probably melt in his arms and say: 'Thank you, Sir! May I please have another...?'
The film is out on Blu-Ray at the moment, complete with extra features and all that jazz, courtesy of THE CRITERION COLLECTION. It features the immortal line 'Yes, we have no bananas,' which later made its way into THE SIMPSONS in an episode in which Homer mourns the sad but inevitable passing of time. I think Bart's going out on his first date or something like that.
One thing that really struck a chord with me in the film is as follows. On many occasions, I've attempted heart-to-heart conversations with various boyfriends that were interrupted by calls from their work or mates or mother or whatever. In ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS, Cary Grant's tete-à-tetes with his ex-girlfriend and his possibly new girlfriend are constantly broken into by the sound of the airplanes' switchboard:
'Come in, Barranca! Are you there, Barranca?'
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment