Captains of the Clouds

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 .

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.

A number of sharp observations have already been made of this movie. Certainly, there do appear to have been two pictures which have been sliced in two and bonded together. I can't help wondering where the other film is - ie. the film which started out as a wartime RCAF flagwaver and ends as a mountains-and- lakes set movie with the love interest triangle, plus old Alan Hale.

As with so many old films, historical interest alone makes the picture worth seeing again and again; for its day, marks: 6.5 or 7 out of 10.

Certainly, there are one or two pretty corny scenes and fancy Michael Curtiz letting Cagney and D. Morgan get away with surely the least convincing fight ever filmed. He must have taken an early lunch that day.

• 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

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.