Captains of the Clouds

Captains of the Clouds (1943)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Extremely exciting actioneer from Warner about a bush pilot (James Cagney) who pisses everyone off and then joins the Canadian Air Force to train pilots for battle in WW2. Top-notch acting, incredibly flight sequences and an all around good story makes this a wonderful little gem that really sticks out from the various war films produced in this era. I've had the chance to see this movie countless times over the years but kept pushing it back and I'm really kicking myself for doing that. The love triangle between Cagney, Dennis Morgan and Brenda Marshall is very well handled and doesn't come off simply as formula melodrama. This mixes in well when we hit the action stuff and the reasoning behind the constant battle between Cagney and Morgan. The entire cast does a great job in their roles and this includes the three leads as well as Alan Hale and George Tobias. The flight sequences are incredibly impressive and the ending is packed with intense action. The Technicolor (Cagney's first) also benefits the film greatly with all the beautiful locations and it really brings the blues out of the skies. The film was certainly made to be patriotic and it pulls that off extremely well with the ending.

Watching Captains of the Clouds yesterday, I was struck by the fact that at the time it was made, Canada had no film industry to speak of. If they had I'm sure it would have been a different film.

I yield to no one in my admiration of James Cagney as actor. But quite frankly, he's too urban, too much from the sidewalks of New York to be a convincing Canadian bush pilot. But Brian McLean is a typical cocky Cagney character. So if you can get past Cagney's speech pattern, you'll enjoy the film.

Nice location shooting. I'm not sure where the outdoors stuff was filmed, but it looked convincingly Canadian for me. Shots of Ottawa were blended nicely with back lot studio stuff.

Of the rest of the cast only George Tobias attempts an accent and he's a French Canadien. The rest of the cast does well with old scene stealer Alan Hale leading the pack.

But the official Canadian imprimatur was put on the film because Air Marshal William Bishop appears in it in a scene where graduating fliers are given their wings. For those who don't know, Billy Bishop was the finest of air aces on the Allied side in World War I. He had more confirmed kills than anyone else. He was one of the biggest heroes in Canada at that time and still is held in the highest regard by Canadians.

One thing I am sure though. Billy Bishop may have appeared in the movie, but I can't help thinking he would have much preferred the whole thing be done under Canadian auspices if it could have been.

A great idea to shoot this picture in Canada AND in colour, as the scenery just wouldn't have had the same impact in black and white. Cagney, as bush pilot Brian McLean, is his typical bad-boy self. Something theater audiences around the world had come to expect. Some favorite lines: "If you're lookin' for me, I'll be the drunkest man in the biggest hotel in Ottawa", "I like to swipe my jobs honestly" or "You worked up enough lather to shave all of Montreal".

The first half of the picture seems to set up the conflict he initiates between he and Dennis Morgan back in the rugged bush country of Northern Ontario, while the second half resolves the conflict through Cagney's humbling. Brenda Marshall is stunning as a manipulative small-town tart. Her good sense, or lack of same, is painfully evident when she begs Morgan to "Please take me to Winnipeg!" I understand a North Bay area woman had the good fortune of doubling for Marshall during the scene where Cagney's plane brushes just above her head, as she waves at him from a haystack.

I got the biggest kick from the scene where Cagney and Hale go on and on about Billy Bishop, who is a native of a city in my local area (Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada). Everyone who grew up in Owen Sound and surrounding Grey County knows the name William Avery "Billy" Bishop, a legendary WWI flying ace, who had been promoted to Air Marshal during WWII. After viewing many still photos and silent films of Bishop, this was my first opportunity to see the man move, walk and talk. When I viewed COTC for the first time, I was stunned to find that the Owen Sound Library didn't yet have a copy of COTC (they assure me this is soon to be remedied), but the Bishop Heritage Museum in his native city definitely does and featured COTC on a "Movie at the Museum" night in early 2006.

To clarify a question by one of the previous reviewers, Air Marshal Bishop's comments to the Texan pilot ("Ahhh Texas! One of our most loyal provinces!") is clearly a joke. Bishop, who appears quite comfortable in front of the camera, was undoubtedly improvising with a little dry Grey County wit. Exhibiting a voice and manner that is a cross between Foster Hewitt and Lester Pearson, how can you deny Mr. Bishop was Canadian! I swore Alan Hale Sr. was going to thwack Cagney with his skipper's hat, he was so similar to his son, Alan Jr. of Gilligan's Island fame and seeing Abner Kravitz (of Bewitched fame) before he hitched up with Gladys is a treat, too. We even get a cameo of the actor who played Mr. Brewster from the Beverly Hillbillies. Some interesting TV connections to this 1942 flick.

The North Bay interest in this Hollywood movie, the first one shot entirely on location in Canada, is well documented. See the several pages on the "miscellaneous" link for this film from the North Bay Nugget. One link, on famous Canadian cartoonist Lynn Johnston's website, claims the flick was shot not far from her art studios on Trout Lake, near Corbeil.

• Having grown up in North Bay Ontario Canada, I would like to point out that the first part of Captains of the Clouds was set on Trout Lake near North Bay . The Actors stayed at The Empire Hotel in North Bay.

All of the people of North Bay were excited about this movie and many of us crowded around the entrance to the Hotel and every other place the Stars were sighted. It was certainly a memorable time for the residents of North Bay!! There are more details I would love to add but at this point I would like to ask if there are any reviews that include ALL the areas where Captains of the Clouds was set? Thank you.

Patricia Kennedy

The comments of earlier folks were appreciated .As a Canadian viewer I too appreciated it's accurate parts.And I also thought that Jimmies New Yawk accent was funny for a Canadian .The sentiment was great and the overall picture was good for the times .

In the scene in a pub where the boys sang "Bless Them All" and two of them lamented being rejected from flight school , it was interesting to note (along with the wonderful nostalgia throughout)the long necked beer bottles they drank from.

We old timers knew that they were the originals,before stubby bottles. I say this after recently hearing young people refer to the fact that there used to be stubby beer bottles before the present long neck bottles .Or ,was that only here in B.C.?

Thanks to one commenter for the aircraft info too . And another , for the location of the lake .