Wings of the Morning

Shot partially on location in Killarney, Ireland in Glorious Three-Strip Tecnicolor, "Wings of the Morning" can claim to be the first film shot in that process on the British Isles. Iconic cinematographer Jack Cardiff gets his first Technicolor credit as the film's camera operator and would go on to one of the most illustrious careers in film history. However, although it was financially successful during its initial release, fans of John McCormack and Henry Fonda will be disappointed with it today.

John McCormack, the pride of Athlone, County Westmeath and arguably the greatest Irish tenor of all time, failed in several attempts to break into the movies. That's not surprising when one views his stiff acting and singing in this film. Although he sings three songs here, he evidently didn't even bother to memorize the lyrics and sings while looking at a notebook he carries with him. It's no wonder that the film editor decided to cut away from him to inserts of the idyllic Irish countryside during his performance rather than keep the overweight and unphotogenic singer on screen.

Fonda supposedly played a Canadian in this British movie shot partially in Ireland but clearly didn't have a competent dialogue coach because he plays his early scenes with a decidedly Southern drawl. He later lapses into his singularly un-Canadian Midwestern twang.

At this point in his career Fonda was a free-lancer and didn't have to do this film, which was designed as a showcase for French beauty Annabella in her English-speaking debut. After he did sign a long-term contract at Fox in 1940 as a condition of getting the role of Tom Joad in "The Grapes of Wrath," the respected actor chafed when required to play support for films designed to showcase other Fox stars. His unhappy experience on the Alice Faye vehicle "Lillian Russell" is a prime example. Why did Fonda agree to do the film? A good guess would be that the trip to Englasnd and Ireland, rather than the script, was enough motivation.

The story is pleasant, though artificial and inconsequential. The scene where the heroine was obliged to go swimming and thus reveal her true identity is almost identical to one in the earlier Girls Will Be Boys with Dolly Haas. The print I saw was from the Cohen Collection, looking superb, and what I really enjoyed was seeing Ireland and pre-war London and its people in colour, together with character actors like Mark Daly and D.J. Williams, previously confined to faded monochrome footage. And not least the legendary Irish tenor, John McCormack, whom I've long heard recordings of, but never seen. Annabella and Henry Fonda make an attractive leading couple.

While Korda was in the process of constructing his own Technicolor processing plant at Denham he in the meantime provided his studio facilities for this pioneering project, the very first Technicolor feature made outside Hollywood.

Inevitably it's quite a hybrid, with an American director and cameraman, an American leading man pretending to be Canadian and a French leading lady pretending to be a Spanish gypsy pretending to be a lad (a deception partly facilitated by wearing slightly less rouge on her cheeks than in the rest of the film).

Since most of the exteriors were shot in Ireland the colour scheme is inevitably predominantly green, but colour is occasionally used at the service of the narrative as when the heroine is spectacularly transformed by slipping into a burgundy gown, the progress by jockey Steve Donohue in the Epsom Derby is made possible to follow by his ochre shirt, followed by the dramatic climactic appearance of the bright red objection flag.

Archival interest is provided by the partiticipation of tenor John McCormack and tipster Ras Prince Monolulu.

This is the first true technicolor feature to be made in the UK. The story concerns a beautiful young Spanish gypsy woman (French actress Anna Bella) who flees to England where she falls in love with a Canadian horse trainer (Henry Fonda) against a back drop of the UK's premier horse race, The Derby.

The story is a bit unoriginal and the dialogue extremely clunky in places. There is also an element of tweeness to the depictions of gypsy life. Yet despite the so-so plot and (at times) wooden acting there is a certain charm in the film. The Technicolor photography is gorgeous and it provides a very rare colour record of what England & Ireland looked like prior to the second world war. The scenes on Epsom downs are also remarkably well filmed (considering the technical limitations of early technicolor filming on location) and the colour really brings an otherwise very average film to vivid life. There are one or two moments which would make the politically correct viewer squirm, such as the depiction of black & white minstrels.

If this film had been made in black & white i suspect it would have been long forgotten now, but as a curio it is a fascinating insight into another era. The photography is beautiful at times and make the film watchable. If only the same care had been taken with the script. Its a shame that this DVD only seems to be available in the U.S. though as i think it is calling out for a decent release.

Forget the plot, which is silly, but bask in the glorious 3-strip Technicolor-the first British colour film-which is very fine indeed, natural and delicate and not at all garish. I assume that the use of many different coloured props (dresses, fruits etc.) was deliberate to show off the process, but the result is beautiful; it must have been something of a sensation for the 1937 audiences.

Add to this cameos by the famous (ageing here) jockey Steve Donoghue; songs by the much-loved singer Count John McCormack; cameos by two well-known (in their day) racing commentators; and extremely rare footage in colour of Derby Day, and you have quite a valuable historical record of the times.

A young Henry Fonda (well-31 but only into his 3rd. Year of movies) is almost unrecognisable apart from his distinctive voice and hints of those pale blue eyes that became more piercing as he aged.

The print that UK's Talking Pictures channel showed (August 2022) is almost beyond criticism, maybe a little faded in places, but what a joy to view!