Flying Devils

"Ace" Murray, "Speed" Hardy, and Speed's wife Anny Hardy are the leaders of The Flying Cats, an aerial flying circus. Speed is a drunken womanizer. Anny falls in love with Bud Murray, the younger brother of Ace, who wants to quit the law for the flying. The love triangle sets off some high flying dangers.

This is basically a barn storming tour on film with a slice of romantic melodrama inserted. Ralph Bellamy is the most charismatic character which isn't saying much. I don't care about these people like I should. The plot isn't much. I do like the flying, the real flying. The audience of the day was probably in love with the flying. This hints of an era. Otherwise, this is fine if not unremarkable.

The days between the World Wars when we had those flying aviation shows is the location for this film about the men who flew those biplanes from the late war in those aerial shows.

Brothers Bruce Cabot and Eric Linden go to work for Ralph Bellamy who runs an air show. Bellamy has some post traumatic stress from the war and was an ace from the war along with Cabot.. Bellamy is also the jealous husband of Arline Judge.

So when Judge starts checking out Linden, the jealousy for Bellamy kicks in and revenge is plotted.

in the air Flying Devils is a fine film. On the ground it's a standard melodrama about illicit love and betrayal.

Flying Devils (1933)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

RKO drama has a carnival of flying daredevils at odds. The star pilot (Bruce Cabot) doesn't want his younger brother (Eric Linden) joining the troop but the crooked boss (Ralph Bellamy) talks him into it. Then the younger brother ends up falling in love with the bosses sweet wife (Arline Judge), which leads to a climatic showdown. Once again, I wasn't expecting too much out of this 60-minute "B" film but it turned out to be pretty entertaining due in large part to the cast. Bellamy was just getting his acting chops down but he adds to the entertainment as does Cabot who's as stiff as ever but it makes for a unique performance. The air flight scenes are very well done, although it's clear they're stock footage from another film.

Odd little B film about barnstormers and their rivalries.

Ralph Bellamy is boss of a two-bit barnstorming act that plays the midwest. He has his wife (Arline Judge) as an attraction and a partner/rival (Bruce Cabot). The loop the loop and swoop the ground and Arline eventually jumps out with a parachute. But then Cabot's kid brother (Eric Linden) shows up and the fireworks start.

Linden is immediately smitten with Judge, who is tired of bossy Bellamy. Bellamy and Cabot fight all the time but the act takes off when they devise a double jump for Judge and Linden. Although they hit the bigtime, Judge and Linden cheat on Bellamy and everyone is on a collision course.

Cliff Edwards co-stars as a boozy sidekick. The guys are all pretty good, but Judge can't act at all.

This is a competent, tidy, short action film and romance from the time when pilots were daredevils. Law student Eric Linden, "Bud," wants to join his older brother Bruce Cabot, "Ace," as a barnstorming stunt pilot with Speed Hardy's Flying Circus. Cabot thinks it is too dangerous a job for his brother, especially with a second-rate group like Speed's. (The group's symbol, which they wear on their jackets, symbolizes their luck; it's a black cat.) The other two pilots with Cabot are Speed Hardy (Ralph Bellamy), the boss, and Cliff Edwards, "Screwy," who is perpetually drunk. But the most dangerous thing that Bud does is not his parachute jumps, or even his two-person parachute jumps; it is falling in love with Arline Judge, Speed's wife, because Speed is seriously jealous.

The plot, dialogue, and acting are just serviceable, but there are plenty of thrills from the ample footage of biplanes flying in formation, twirling and corkscrewing, crash landing, and just crashing.