Os Dragões da Morte

The Eagle and the Hawk are Fredric March and Cary Grant, a couple of enlistees in Britain's Royal Flying Corps in World War I. March is Grant's training officer and he washes him out as a pilot. Grant resents this of course and bops him one on the snoot. He gets to be a tailgunner.

When they get over there March becomes an air ace. But soon all the deaths of comrades around him really gets to him. He's a sensitive soul and he starts to crack up. By then Grant is on the scene as his tailgunner, but they're still not getting along.

The Eagle and the Hawk covers a whole lot of the same ground as The Dawn Patrol did. But the players here know their business and serve the clichés up well done. Cary Grant plays very much against type. A few years later the public would never have accepted him in the part he plays here.

Jack Oakie is around to do the comic relief. Carole Lombard is in this as well for about 10 minutes as a woman March encounters while on a 10 day leave. I'm not quite sure what her purpose is in this film other than to give the men in the audience something to gape at.

It's a good anti-war film and the ending will surprise you.

"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.

As the others have said, this surprisingly turned out to be a realistic, antiwar movie. Frederick March gives an Academy-Award-worthy performance as the jaded fighter pilot, and Cary Grant gives a good performance as his rival. Since Hollywood made more pro-war movies than isolationist movies up to Pearl Harbor, this one was a bit startling, judging from its era and its title. Perhaps that is why it has not received its due rewards. Those who have experienced war usually try to prevent its recurrence, and the grim reality of its death and destruction are shown in this film about as graphically as they were allowed at that time. I have heard that even Germany's greatest ace in WWI, the "Red Baron," was very disillusioned when he went home the last time before his death. When his mother asked him who his friends were in a photo, he told her sadly when each of them had been killed. War is only glamorous from a great distance and in games. "The Eagle And The Hawk" captures the real essence of so many wasted lives in the Lost Generation and the destruction of prewar civilization.

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.

Criminally underrated war picture details the adventures of a group of WWI volunteer pilots whose excitement turns to anguish and despair when they are confronted with the reality of combat. Director Stuart Walker helms this unabashedly grim WWI drama with tact and honesty, featuring some above average aerial footage and an unflinchingly blatant anti-war message that is still quite surprising and daring for a depression-era studio film. The acting is uniformly excellent, with Fredric March delivering a marvelously conflicted turn in the lead, and Cary Grant is convincingly cast against type as a hot-headed, violent brute. Perhaps a bit too a head of it's time when originally released, THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK is a terrific film that is ripe for rediscovery.