Navio com Asas

1st watched 5/31/2003 - 4 out of 10(Dir-Sergei Nolbandov): Sweeping, yet dull at times, account of 1st aircraft carriers in the British navy. What starts out as a sales pitch for the British Navy slowly turns into a romantic drama, next comes war action, and then it's over(with "guess who" winning). The movie is set in World War II and the nazi's are portrayed as conniving and evil just as we all would expect them to be displayed. The Admiral's daughter bounces between 3 pilots until she finds the once whom she wants to marry which is displayed as a love triangle. This whole thing kind of gets forgotten in the last 1/2 hour due to the final battle scenes but it seemed out of place anyway. Good for nostalgia but not a great movie with some good scenes from the pilots perspective but not much else.

With good live footage of the British Royal Navy's first purpose-built aircraft carrier - HMS Ark Royal - and her aircraft, this film dedicated to the Fleet Air Arm was slated by some critics when released, although it was popular with cinema audiences, even in naval ports. The carrier was called HMS Invincible for the purposes of this film.

But today this film seems so poor that it is almost embarrassing to think it was made. The story is so over the top, with a hopeless mix of love story and war, and the characters wooden and stereotypical. The models used made me laugh out loud - they are terrible! Still, it's propaganda and the home team win in the end, so that's all right then.

Lieutenants get involved in Gunroom horseplay - that would not have happened. A Chief Petty Officer is called "sir" by a Sub-Lieutenant and referred to as Petty Officer by a senior officer! And the Admiral and Captain give most of the orders from the bridge of the carrier, giving the impression that only they would do so; indeed, the admiral is so involved with the running of the air squadrons that the Commander (Air) - who is allowed a few moments of duty to camera - might as well have stayed turned in. All of the foregoing are nothing like life in the real Royal Navy, now or then, and it is amazing that the naval adviser at the time did not so advise the film's makers. Worse still, one gets the impression that it is only the officers who do anything! Apparently, the criticisms made of this film at the time of release were well taken by the studio and later propaganda feature films tried to be more realistic.

The film has some interest but it's not worth a detour. I have the video but won't bother buying the DVD if one is ever released.

Trying to compare the production values of this film with a modern day blockbuster is stupid! It is like trying to compare a Ford Model T with a Ferrari - pointless. This film was made in 1941 two years into WW2. It was made on a low budget by actors trying to bring a little enjoyment and entertainment to an audience facing agonising uncertainty. I think it did that admirably! Remember also that if Hitler had won the war most of the cast would probably have been either shot or sent to a concentration camp for making this film. It was a film made for it's time. When you view it today try to view it in that context and you will not be disappointed. I grew up on these films and enjoy them as much today as I did in my childhood. If I want to watch a multi million dollar blockbuster then I watch a modern film.

Yes, this is British wartime propaganda. Yes, the story-line often seems cartoonish. Yes, some of the special effects seem as though they're out of a 1930s serial. While all those points are granted, "Ships With Wings, does score on featuring a lot of well-known British film and stage personalities of the period, along with some others; including Michael Wilding (Elizabeth Taylor's first husband) and Michael Rennie(The Day the Earth Stood Still) who would become well-known later on. However, "Ships with Wings" scores the most points for its' inclusion of many scenes of air operations on board the Royal Navy's famous aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal, with Blackburn Skua dive bombers, Fairey Fulmar fighters and Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers. HMS Ark Royal had actually been sunk by the time this film was released in 1942, but not before the Fleet Air Arm's Swordfish torpedo bombers, the immortal "String-Bags", had crippled the Italian fleet at Taranto. Look also for historic scenes of the real "Force H" operating in the Mediterranean, showing HMS Ark Royal accompanied by the Battleship HMS Bahram and battle-cruiser HMS Renown.

Rate this one an "8"; not for it's story, acting or special effects, but for it's value as an historic curio of the times in which it was produced.

This film was indeed propagandist in nature, so what? I mean so what? It has reasonably good performances from it's cast, Banks and Rennie really stand out......It's played with that exceptional British axiom, "the stiff upper lip" Stacey is the proverbial "sacrificial lamb" as a result of his indiscretion regarding an associate that wanted to fly....He comes back and gets his revenge on the axis SOB's and winds up going down in flames a-la John Carrol's "Woody Jason" in Dave Miller's 1942 opus: "Flying Tigers"..... This film NEVER fails to come through with the goods. As for the spfx.........Well, they could be better, but, as a long time spfx buff, you cannot, repeat, cannot fault the efforts and pure chutzpah of the technicians - even though it's all very improbable and very much "over the top". Look at Tsuburaya's early efforts at TOHO and Derek Medding's early work with Gerry Anderson. Screw CGI! Perhaps the lighting and photography of the miniature work could be improved, but the actual models themselves were superb and dead on accurate. Bloody good show!