Captains of the Clouds (1942)

Very well executed

It is a performances centric movie

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

As a pilot, yes I enjoyed the airplanes. And the early technicolor views of Canada. But this is such a false, poorly written Hollywood script that I found the movie almost unwatchable. Every cliché in the book is trotted out, many of them at odds with the story. A guy marries the girl to keep his pal from marrying the wrong girl. Wrong because she dreams of the city life and this means she will run through the guy's money when he should be starting his dream airline. Really -- that's why you marry someone? But he, being the strong, silent type, and somehow thinking this is noble, doesn't tell his pal who ends up so bitter and broken-hearted that he throws away his money and never starts his dream airlines anyway. The irony seems to go completely unnoticed, probably because irony is not in the script. After another pal dies in an airplane crash, the hero sneaks onto the flight using his other pal's papers, and no one recognizes it is the wrong guy! A clever ploy that I am guessing only works in Canada. Well, you get the idea.

James Cagney's first color film is a formulaic but entertaining effort about a bush pilot who joins the Royal Canadian Air Force during WWII. The Technicolor is beautiful -- rich, luscious, vibrant colors that just pop out at you. It really brings the photography of the Canadian wilderness to life. This was also the first Hollywood movie shot on location in Canada. The cast is made up of solid WB contract stars. In addition to Cagney, there's Dennis Morgan, Alan Hale, Brenda Marshall, and the annoying George Tobias.I'll admit, as much as I like Cagney, in some of his pictures I just can't stand his characters. The plot here is very similar to previous Cagney films. He plays a cocksure jerk who "steals" friend Dennis Morgan's girl (Brenda Marshall). The movie does mix things up a bit by having him do this to HELP Morgan, if you can believe that! At least the altered formula allows Morgan to keep some dignity, unlike poor Pat O'Brien who played runner-up to Jimmy in several earlier films like this. Of course, this alteration to the formula is at the expense of Brenda Marshall's character. So if you're looking for a strong female character, look elsewhere. All in all, it's an enjoyable picture that's really nice to look at. Watch it for the fine cast and stunning Technicolor.

This is one of my favorite films, but not because of Cagney or Morgan. Brenda Marshall is the jewel in this picture's crown. She provides the blue-jean wearing, North Country beauty in the film and drives the fly-boys crazy. Marshall, who bears a resemblance to Madolyn Smith Osborne, wants to get to the big city regardless of how she gets there. The resulting competition among pilots keeps the story line from being completely aviation oriented. This is a good look at Canadian bush aviation in the 1930's and the cast is excellent. As with all films of this period, airplanes are shown doing things that are aerodynamically impossible, but it doesn't take away from the picture. There are even early aeromedical ideas about how G-forces affect the human body. Filmed entirely on location in Canada, much of the scenery is stunningly beautiful. Canadian politics are even slipped in during graduation ceremony when Air Marshal Bishop refers to pilots from "loyal Quebec." All in all a fun film.

Okay, I'll admit that this film is NOT Shakespeare! In fact, at times the plot is VERY VERY formulaic and silly but somehow the overall package is still quite entertaining.Jimmy Cagney is the main lead of the film, though it actually has an ensemble cast consisting of Dennis Morgan and other Warner Brothers regulars. And unfortunately, the worst part of this film is Cagney's character, as he plays essentially the exact same character he played in so many Warner films. You know,...the brash and obnoxious guy who seems greatly in need of a comeuppance (such as in THE FIGHTING 69th and MANY other films). It's too bad, as the rest of the plot is very very good and this is a wonderful propaganda film meant to bolster support for the war. In fact, the more I think about it, Cagney's character and how it was written so derivatively is the only real problem in the film. It's a shame really, as apart from this the acting is excellent and the Technicolor scenes of the Canadian wilderness and flying are beautiful.