Os Dragões da Morte

Fredric March and Cary Grant star in "The Eagle and the Hawk," a 1933 film about World War I.

March plays Jerry Young, a Flying Corps pilot responsible for filming documentary positions. It's extremely difficult for him; a sensitive man, seeing all the tragedy devastates him.

Crocker (Cary Grant) is an ambitious gunner, anxious to get in the air, and loves killing Germans.

The film has wonderful aviation scenes (and Mitchell Leisen is rumored to have been the actual director of this film) which are very impressive.

A powerful antiwar statement, and very unusual for its time. The ending is quite stunning and partially unexpected.

Both men give excellent performances - in today's world, March may seem a bit over the top, but it was the style in those days. Carole Lombard has brief scenes as someone who tries to be helpful to him.

The overall atmosphere of this film is depressing, so don't watch it if you want to be entertained by something light. However, it's ahead of its time and definitely worth seeing.

"The Eagle and the Hawk" follows the World War One exploits of three American volunteer airmen who are members of Britain's Royal Flying Corps (which was later to be renamed the Royal Air Force). After months of training, Jeremiah Young (March) and Mike Richards (Oakie) are transferred from England to an observer unit in France. The third airman, Henry Crocker (Grant), washes out and later becomes an aerial gunner.

The observer unit flies two-seat biplanes doing primarily reconnaissance work, but this does not stop Young from being a very successful pilot, downing two enemy aircraft on his first mission alone. His initial jubilation over this feat is crushed when he discovers that his observer has been killed. Though he continues to shoot down many German aircraft, he has the appalling luck of losing five observers in his first two months.

The film follows the career of this heroic pilot and his comrades, including Crocker who ultimately becomes his observer. As the weeks go by, Young becomes more and more guilt-ridden, not only over losing those who fly with him, but over the many young Germans he has slain.

"The Eagle and the Hawk" is a well-made, well-acted film with decent aerial footage and a wonderful, anguished performance by Fredric March. Though he might be overlooked, Forrester Harvey's character is rather thought-provoking. He plays an enlisted man who has the unenviable task of collecting the belongings of slain airmen for safekeeping. On Young's first day, he had to perform this task five times.

This film is truly a gem which presents a strong anti-war message, one which is particularly interesting considering the time it was made (1933 being the year that Hitler achieved power in Germany and the 1930s being the period of appeasement). Its ending has a pair of surprises which are well worth the price of admission. This is a film which is highly recommended for classic movie fans.

Eagle and the Hawk, The (1933)

**** (out of 4)

Extremely hard-hitting and emotional anti-war film from Paramount features Fredric March, Cary Grant and Carole Lombard but for some reason it seems that history has forgotten this movie. March and Jack Oakie play pilots who are sent to France to lead up a group who, with gunners as protection, fly over hot zones to take pictures of the enemy. March quickly becomes a hero but his soul begins to hurt as he feels responsible for the gunners who are being killed on his mission. Soon the third pilot of the group (Grant) shows up to be a gunner for March but by this time the veteran pilot finds himself questioning the war and his missions. I had never heard of this film or even heard a mention of it when early war films were discussed and that's a real shame because this film deserves to be known by more people. I was really shocked at how brutally honest and at times heart breaking this film was and it's wasn't afraid to show it's feelings towards war. Most war films from this era always ended with a strong victory but this one here isn't about the victories but instead the deaths that it takes to get a win in battle. The film is also rather graphic in some of the death scenes with one of the biggest scenes coming when March must wipe blood off his hands. I've always called March one of the greatest actors in the history of film but this might very well be the best I've seen him. There are two sequences in the film, which the actor just really amazed me and surpassed the greatness he delivered to countless other films. One sequence is where he's having a nightmare about seeing pilots on fire and falling through the air. The second comes when he is being toasted for killing an ace pilot and March finally lets his feelings known. Grant is pretty good in his role as is Oakie. Carole Lombard has a brief, two scene role as a woman who helps March. As with many war films from this era, the aerial scenery is quite breathtaking with some beautiful stunts. These stunts are very good but they never take away from the main goal of the film, which is to show what costs there are to victories. I had never heard of this film but I'm so glad I watched it because it's certainly one of the best of the decade.

Powerful WWI film about the horrors of war, with an exceptional performance by Fredric March as an American pilot flying with the RAF who grows increasingly disturbed by all the death he sees. Cary Grant has an important supporting role as another pilot who clashes with March. This is one of the earliest dramatic roles for Cary that showed what he was capable of. Carole Lombard has only one scene as the appropriately-titled Beautiful Lady. Jack Oakie is March's sidekick, the closest thing to comic relief in the film. About midway through the film, look for a brief scene with Kenneth Howell playing a young pilot. He walks into the scene wearing eye shadow, lipstick, and penciled-on eyebrows!

Terrific aviation action scenes and short runtime are pluses. Sincere, believable antiwar film that gets its message across more powerfully than a hundred preachier movies of its type. Not as well-remembered as some of its contemporaries but it should be.

Powerful anti war movie - the scenes with Frederic March in particular and Cary Grant are quite intense and grim, but there is some relief to counter balance this aspect of the movie in the characters played by Jack Oakie (comic) and Carole Lombard (sympathy).

As another person has noted this was really directed by Mitchell Leisen. who is credited as assistant director. This was his second movie (after Tonight is Ours, also with March in it) and he does a fine job. It shows what a versatile director he was, considering he made him his name later with romance / comedy type movies like Midnight.

It was done pre code but re-released in 1939 with some editing that apparently lessens its impact (I have only seen the edited version). These are referred to in the book Mitchell Leisen Hollywood Director. The scenes with Carole Lombard are longer and imply a sexual relationship afterwards. Cary Grant survives the war but is a broken man.

Would love to see the original (please let me know if anyone has it). If the edited parts are still available this movie would warrant a restoration to its original vision. A DVD release along these lines would be most welcome.