Anjos da Terra

Despite the exploits of Amelia Earhart which had already passed into legend it was clear that the place for women in the aviation profession was that of stewardess. So while Dennis Morgan and Wayne Morris fly the planes and break women's hearts in every place that has an airport, it's Virginia Bruce who is training the women to serve the passengers. Bruce and her best friend Jane Wyman have it bad for Morgan and Morris. But these two are having a great old time.

That is until some eye trouble grounds Morgan. And airline boss Ralph Bellamy gives Morgan a job showing the stewardesses the rudimentaries of flight. They actually get serious and get married and the usual complications follow.

Flight Angels was your typical routine B programmer from Warner Brothers. Jane Wyman was getting routinely cast in these things in the same part as the heroine's best friend. She could have been a second Eve Arden had she not gotten a break in The Lost Weekend and The Yearling and shown her acting chops.

Enjoyable, but routine.

The Flight Angels are the stewardesses of American Airlines, here shown flying hither and yon from their airport base where they spend a lot of time gossiping and applying makeup. Virginia Bruce and Jane Wyman are the Angels we care about, but this being the 1940s, the action involves pilots Dennis Morgan and Wayne Morris, who are involved in the development of a super secret aircraft when they're not busy flying passengers from Point A to Point B. Flight Angels is nicely shot by cinematographer L. William O'Connell and features a vaguely provocative screenplay (one of the stewardesses actually gets away with saying the words 'sex appeal'), but ultimately doesn't rise above its second feature aspirations. Not bad, but predictable.

This film is far better than the usual kind of fluff aviation film made during the late 1930's and into the late 1940's. I expected a light romantic comedy--"not that there is anything wrong with that!"--and was surprised that it is quite interesting on other levels. The plot involved all the predictable vicissitudes of a pilot trying to come to grips with losing his flight qualification due to failing eyesight, and the film does have its share of predictable situations and character foibles. But what is most interesting is how it accurately reflects the state of aviation at the time: the concern over furnishing more reliable and safe all-weather commercial aviation, the challenge and opportunity of developing long-range high-altitude "stratosphere" airplanes, and the behind-the-scenes concern of national security, namely the expectation that we might be eventually involved in the war in China (and of course we were, a year after this film came out, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor). The airplane star of the show is the relatively new Douglas DC-3 (then just 4 years in airline service), a 21 passenger airliner, but there are also very good in-flight visuals of the Lockheed Model 10 Electra, the "stratosphere ship" of the movie. Finally, the acting is better than one might expect--minimal histrionics, some genuine chuckles, and a dialogue that includes some interesting lines. Virginia Bruce is coolly luscious, Denny Morgan and Wayne Morris do a credible job as airmen, and Ralph Bellamy is appropriately "heavy" as their boss. (Incidentally, in the "real world," Morris was inspired by his role in this film to become a Navy pilot, flying Grumman Hellcats in the Pacific and shooting down 7 Japanese planes). A very enjoyable movie, particularly for anyone interested in aviation in the heyday of the propeller-driven airplane!

Lewis Seiler spent most of his career at Warner Brothers and this one is not one of his most important ones. It is fun, fast paced, cool to watch; the Warner Bros trademark, and the movies about airplanes were galore in the thirties and forties. This film is just common, but rather rare for movie goers, that's all. Action, romance, comedy and that's it. You have been warned. I am tired of this after forty years of oldies watching. I guess this film is easily available thanks to the public domain rights. For airplanes movies lovers only, and I suppose there are many of them. Entertaining light hearted drama.

Chick and Art (dennis morgan, wayne morris) are pilots, working on some big, secret project. Ralph bellamy is the ground dispatcher. Mary and Nan (virginia bruce, jane wyman) are the flight attentdants, dealing with the flirtatious pilots and the demanding passengers. Dick Elliot (the mayor, on andy griffith) is the always laughing passenger. When the pilots have setbacks of all types, they have to deal with them on their own terms. It's pretty bland, a warner brothers shortie. Some big names though... bellamy and bruce were pretty huge by now. Morgan was just getting big with kitty foyle and later. Imdb says the airport scenes were filmed at burbank arrrrport. Directed by Lew Seiler. I guess in those days, since not many people flew around in planes, it was probably pretty exciting.