L'aigle et le vautour

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.

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.

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.

THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK is well on the way to being the best film of it's day and contains Frederic March's most impressive performance, nicely set against Cary Grant who had yet to make his own screen presence identifiable.

This stands along side any of it's cycle of aviation films - the great WINGS, HELL'S ANGELS, THE LOST SQUADRON, the draggy Hawks version of DAWN PATROL, THE LAST FLIGHT. The impact is not from the air action but from the way the familiar breaking point material is worked out in terms of character. The mess hall climax and subsequent resolution can't be faulted.

It is amazing that a film saying something so substantial, so well was not singled out by critics or subsequently "discovered." The same may be said of several of March's other films of the day. He remains the most underestimated film star we have.

Though credited to Stuart Walker, it is widely held that the film is the director debut of Mitchel Leisen who did the later and presentable plane movie I WANTED WINGS.

Though just over an hour the film does not have the feeling of slightness. It's tempo is impeccable. I'm impressed every time I run this one.