Buques con alas

"Ships with Wings reminded me of three other war films. Three years earlier, John Clements in "The Four Feathers" had played another disgraced British officer who redeemed himself, and "Casablanca" also portrayed Italian officers as ineffective popinjays.

Most strikingly, though, just as "Air Force" depicts an instant United States naval victory days after Peal Harbor, SWW portrays a mass sinking of German ships by the Royal Navy at a time when Axis forces were sweeping across the Eastern Mediterranean. Such fictitious achievements may have been designed to raise morale, but I wonder how contemporary cinema-goers reacted to the preposterous antics shown in the last part of SWW, which today look risible. Another reviewer has described them as "comic-book".

To avoid "spoiling", I won't list all the half-dozen improbable actions, though I do wonder why there was no attempt by the carrier's crew to deal with the burning aircraft that had crashed on its deck.

The film did start well, with some good scenes of the launching of HMS Ark Royal and of aircraft of the early 1940s.

As always with films of this period, there are some interesting names to look out for among the cast.

This film was indeed propagandist in nature, so what? I mean so what? It has reasonably good performances from it's cast, Banks and Rennie really stand out......It's played with that exceptional British axiom, "the stiff upper lip" Stacey is the proverbial "sacrificial lamb" as a result of his indiscretion regarding an associate that wanted to fly....He comes back and gets his revenge on the axis SOB's and winds up going down in flames a-la John Carrol's "Woody Jason" in Dave Miller's 1942 opus: "Flying Tigers"..... This film NEVER fails to come through with the goods. As for the spfx.........Well, they could be better, but, as a long time spfx buff, you cannot, repeat, cannot fault the efforts and pure chutzpah of the technicians - even though it's all very improbable and very much "over the top". Look at Tsuburaya's early efforts at TOHO and Derek Medding's early work with Gerry Anderson. Screw CGI! Perhaps the lighting and photography of the miniature work could be improved, but the actual models themselves were superb and dead on accurate. Bloody good show!

With good live footage of the British Royal Navy's first purpose-built aircraft carrier - HMS Ark Royal - and her aircraft, this film dedicated to the Fleet Air Arm was slated by some critics when released, although it was popular with cinema audiences, even in naval ports. The carrier was called HMS Invincible for the purposes of this film.

But today this film seems so poor that it is almost embarrassing to think it was made. The story is so over the top, with a hopeless mix of love story and war, and the characters wooden and stereotypical. The models used made me laugh out loud - they are terrible! Still, it's propaganda and the home team win in the end, so that's all right then.

Lieutenants get involved in Gunroom horseplay - that would not have happened. A Chief Petty Officer is called "sir" by a Sub-Lieutenant and referred to as Petty Officer by a senior officer! And the Admiral and Captain give most of the orders from the bridge of the carrier, giving the impression that only they would do so; indeed, the admiral is so involved with the running of the air squadrons that the Commander (Air) - who is allowed a few moments of duty to camera - might as well have stayed turned in. All of the foregoing are nothing like life in the real Royal Navy, now or then, and it is amazing that the naval adviser at the time did not so advise the film's makers. Worse still, one gets the impression that it is only the officers who do anything! Apparently, the criticisms made of this film at the time of release were well taken by the studio and later propaganda feature films tried to be more realistic.

The film has some interest but it's not worth a detour. I have the video but won't bother buying the DVD if one is ever released.

"Ships With Wings" starts out admirably - with an excellent title and introductory sequence featuring sharp studies of aircraft and ships of the Fleet Air Arm. The movie proper also begins well, with snappy, witty English banter and the glimmer of what appear to be some complex characters. And then, before you know it, it all falls apart into what others have appropriately referred to as a 'comic book.' That's really the only way to describe it.

I kind of like this film nevertheless, so my 4/10 rating may be a bit harsh, but I said to myself "if 5 is average, surely this film must rate below average." And, it does.

Noteworthy are the aircraft used in this film as, on balance, they are some of the worst military aircraft to have flown. Specifically, the Blackburn Skua and (especially) the Breda 88 Lince routinely feature on lists of the "world's worst aircraft". However, the Lince at least looked the part of a decent aircraft, so it is understandable that it would have been cast as a fearsome enemy. It is worthwhile to read the wikipedia article on the Lince to see just how useless it was.

Trying to compare the production values of this film with a modern day blockbuster is stupid! It is like trying to compare a Ford Model T with a Ferrari - pointless. This film was made in 1941 two years into WW2. It was made on a low budget by actors trying to bring a little enjoyment and entertainment to an audience facing agonising uncertainty. I think it did that admirably! Remember also that if Hitler had won the war most of the cast would probably have been either shot or sent to a concentration camp for making this film. It was a film made for it's time. When you view it today try to view it in that context and you will not be disappointed. I grew up on these films and enjoy them as much today as I did in my childhood. If I want to watch a multi million dollar blockbuster then I watch a modern film.