AIRPLANE DOUBLE FEATURES PART 1

READER TOM ASKS, “How about an article on flying films?” Readers Bob and Andrew each responded with favorites. Indeed, here in Parts 1 and 2 today and tomorrow is a continuation of the “Double Features” theme. (If something’s worth doing, why not to excess?)

Aviation Comedies. There’s an appropriate pairing of two of my favorites: Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines and the more modern flight comedics of Airplane!

Magnificent Men is memorable for its rendering of Edwardian aircraft in the spirit of artist Ronald Searle. Twenty craft were created for the film. Six were flying replicas, several of which did double duty with minor changes of appearance. 

It’s 1910 and the challenge is to be first in flying from London to Paris. The British action takes place at “Brookley Airfield,” a fictitious Brooklands. The French finish was complicated by authorities denying flying rights over Paris. Instead, models of the aircraft and Paris scenery were constructed, as was a Calais mockup. 

There’s also good fun in having six of its female characters portrayed by the same actress, Irina Demick, who in real life was romantically involved with Darryl F. Zanuck living in Europe at the time. 

Memorable Airplane! Lines: Captain Clarence Oveur (whose name recurs in radio communication) asks little Joey Hammen visiting the flight deck, “Have you ever seen a grown man naked?” Dr. Rumack’s repeatedly saying, “… don’t call me Shirley.” And the entire flashback scene where pilot Ted Striker romances Elaine Dickinson in a sleezy takeoff of Tony Manero’s Saturday Night Fever. And stewardess Elaine’s saving autopilot “Otto” from deflation. And…. The list goes on.

Howard Hawks, the 1930s, and Hollywood Stars. Already something of a youthful film celebrity, director-to-be Howard Hawks was tapped as a flight instructor in World War I. In 1930, his first all-sound film was The Dawn Patrol, a well-received flying flick of The Great War.  

By the late 1930s,  director Hawks had added to his talent for screwball comedies (Twentieth Century, 1934; Bringing Up Baby, 1938) with three aviation flicks, Ceiling Zero, 1936; Test Pilot, 1938, albeit screenwriting only; and Only Angels Have Wings, 1939. These three movies starred, respectively, James Cagney and Pat O’Brien; Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, and Spencer Tracy; and Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, and Rita Hayworth (in her first major role). 

These two movies provide a good sense of aviation during its Golden Era. Their stars perform admirably too. 

Tomorrow in Part 2, we’ll go to war and then undertake some DIY in the desert. ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2023