Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

Howard Hawks takes the viewer on a dramatic adventure at the tail end of the golden age of aviation in Only Angels Have Wings. As much as he’s obsessed with the technical details of the subject, his main concern is the human element, especially dealing with the risk and how that affects interpersonal relationships.

We’re dropped into nighttime Barranca, a fictional portside town in South America, as we follow a comic duo of pilots around. Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur), an entertainer and the female protagonist, attracts their attention, and soon they’ve made their way into a restaurant serving as the headquarters/hangout spot for the local air transport business, partly owned by a man named Geoff. Cary Grant ditches his usual suave persona to take on the role as a gruff man who only lives for the day and whose business is a few jobs short of collapse. It seems there’s immediate chemistry between the drifting entertainer and the hard-driving owner-pilot, but the question is whether she can live with the uncertainty of his dangerous lifestyle.

As usual, Hawks has a handle on his main female character. There’s a reason why there’s the term “Hawksian woman.” Bonnie Lee is brash, bold, and willing to say what’s on her mind. She can adapt to the fatalistic attitudes of the pilots. Still, she’s willing to put her tenderness on display. She can joke with the group as well as share in the sadness. There’s a wonderful scene where she shifts from mourning over one of the pilots to group frivolity as she takes over a bit of piano playing. She’s not heartless nor carried away by whim, but she reads the mood of the room to discern why the flyers express seeming indifference over the loss of their friend whom they were joking with moments before.  She does well as paired against Geoff, a man whose tough exterior shelters a past emotional life that comes walking in at the midpoint of the movie.

This brings us to the character of potential pilot Bat MacPherson and the internal conflicts of the story. When this mystery man walks into the hangout, we find out that he’s no mystery to the pilots. Because of an action viewed as cowardice in an incident that led to the brother of The Kid losing his life, MacPherson is persona non grata. Geoff shows his tolerant but driving nature by taking on the disgraced pilot, not knowing that MacPherson is married to his former love played by a young Rita Hayworth. Will Geoff resist temptation to rekindle his spark with Judy, and how will that affect his growing attraction to Bonnie? Furthermore, can a man like MacPherson at a nadir redeem himself before his compatriots? Richard Barthelmess is truly the hidden gem of the film in his portrayal of a man unwanted by nearly all but willing to take risks to prove that he’s more than his past. The actor was a former silent star, it’s possible that he had similar emotions as his character. The world of sound in film had since left silent age behind, leaving a number of performers unable to adjust as anathema to studios and audience alike. Barthelmess not only hold his own against the performances of the new age, but he stands out even when subdued.

The other key to the triumph of the picture is the visual effects. Through a number of sequences, the audience is shown both the excitement and danger of pre-WW II flight. There are two standout scenes that I can call to mind. One involves MacPherson doing a turning swoop to land on a precarious mountain top during his first mission. The other is the climatic flight where he has to pilot to safety despite engine failure that has also led to the aircraft ignite. The audience can almost feel the heat. It’s at this point, where we might have been still wary of MacPherson, we hope that he makes the moral decision despite the risk and the temptation for the easy way out.

If Only Angel Have Wings was just a visual spectacle, there might still be memory of it as a snapshot in history of flight. However, the visuals, while important, are physical supports to the emotional drama portrayed. If a supporting character like The Kid didn’t have his tension with MacPherson nor his dilemma of visual decline, we wouldn’t care about his choice to make that climatic flight or who he decides as his co-pilot. It would be just another thrilling scene of a random character in peril. However, Hawks wants the audience to feel more. He wants you to know why these men are risking their lives, even if it’s just basic pride. However, he’ll also show the costs. Thus, even if you don’t agree with the chances the pilots are making, you may have a modicum of understanding their perspective as Bonnie Lee does by the film’s close.