Fuzileiros do Ar

Devil Dogs of the Air (1935)

*** (out of 4)

James Cagney and Pat o'Brien stars in this Warner drama about two Marine pilots who start out as friends but soon turn to enemies when they fall for the same woman (Margaret Lindsay). I had recorded this thing back in March but just now got around to watching it because I thought it would be your typical pilot movie and it pretty much is but there's still a lot going for the film. The star of the film is without a doubt all the flying shots, some of which are just downright terrific including a great scene where Cagney and O'Brien are on a plane, which catches fire. Cagney is his usual great self, although the I think the screenplay makes him too much of a wise guy because you really dislike this guy even though that wasn't the films intent.

Jimmy Cagney plays (what else) a brash young flier who is convinced by his buddy, Pat O'Brien, to enlist in the US Marine flying school. Once there, he initially makes a nuisance of himself and even tries to horn in on O'Brien's girl--creating a lot of tension. The trouble is that Cagney is so talented and amazing as a flier that everyone but O'Brien soon forgets his initially brash ways. Will the friendship fizzle for good, will Cagney and O'Brien both prove themselves and rise above it all AND who will cute Margaret Lindsay fall for by the end? You'll just need to tune in to forget.

While I will admit that the plot of this film is highly reminiscent of many Warner Brothers and Jimmy Cagney films (such as CAPTAINS OF THE CLOUDS), it also is quite entertaining and very exciting to airplane buffs like myself. Because of this, I liked it quite a bit and another person could easily dismiss it as "just a piece of fluff"--which, at times, it unfortunately is. However, watching the great aerial stunts, seeing the US Navy dirigible, ships and early airplanes was quite a thrill for me and really kept my attention. In many ways, it's a great companion piece to a film he made shortly before this, HERE COMES THE NAVY. Not surprisingly, the plots are somewhat similar, but HERE COMES THE NAVY offers even more amazing scenes--dirigibles in closeup scenes as well as being set aboard the ill-fated USS Arizona (which was destroyed at Pearl Harbor less than a decade later).

So, for aerial buffs, I'd give this an 8. For the rest, a 6. Splitting the difference, a 7 seems appropriate.

James Cagney is a cocky stunt pilot who joins Pat O'Brien's beloved Marine Corps flying squad in Devil Dogs of the Air (1935). Taking the worst of the Cagney persona and upping it by a factor of at least 10 he is reduced to a boorish lout that insanely laughs at his own doings while stumbling into stealing O'Brien's girl, Margaret Lindsay. The execrable Frank McHugh adds to the agony as a braying jackass constantly repeating the same musical phrase as some sort of "comic" "relief." You could practically see the pages being torn from the script as it goes to the inevitable conclusion in high, inexplicable speed. The big flying sequence turns out to be a practice mission (it was between the wars, so...) and is about as exciting as watching a practice mission.

The studios had a hard time making quality films that conformed to the demands of the production code, particularly in the first few years of its existence, 1934-1938. So I lay the blame for the inanity and lack of entertainment value of this one on said production code. A much better film about flyers - though commercial not military - is Ceiling Zero from 1936, also starring Cagney and O'Brien. I'd recommend that one instead, but unfortunately rights problems make it unavailable.

This movie was directed by Lloyd Bacon and stars James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. This is probably one of Cagney's worst pictures and also one of the worst Cagney and O'Brien made together with the exception of The Irish In Us. Just a year later Cagney and O'Brien would go on to make Ceiling Zero with Howard Hawks which is a much better movie and you should watch that one instead. There isn't much to the plot like Cagney wanting to join the marines and winds up having to learn how to fly by his old friend O'Brien who is a Lieutenant. O'Brien is engaged to Margaret Lindsay but even after Cagney finds out he doesn't even care and still goes after her. There isn't much to the movie and you should watch one of Cagney's better movies instead.

The real founders of the buddy film James Cagney and Pat O'Brien after making their debut in Here Comes the Navy essentially reprise their roles in Devil Dogs of the Air for the Marines.

O'Brien is the no-nonsense flight instructor for the Marines who's written to an old Brooklyn pal James Cagney urging him to join the Corps. Cagney is a circus flier who pretty much knows the flying game inside out.

But he's Cagney and of course he KNOWS he knows it. That does not make for good discipline. But it does make for good raffish, knockabout comedy that Cagney/O'Brien films are known for. Of course there's a girl involved, in this case Margaret Lindsay. Need I say who she winds up with.

The only jarring note in this film is Frank McHugh. During the hey day of the studios, I think Warner Brothers was incapable of making a film without either Frank McHugh or Alan Hale. I usually enjoy Frank McHugh, but in this film he's downright annoying. He's in the medical corps and frustrated because he feels his training is being wasted because no one is ever injured in a crash or otherwise. McHugh is positively ghoulish in awaiting some accident to befall SOMEONE in the film.

However James Cagney is his usual cocksure and charming best and that carried a lot of Warner Brothers films to profit. We the audience profit also by that bouncy Cagney charm.