Ceux du porte-avions

"Ships with Wings reminded me of three other war films. Three years earlier, John Clements in "The Four Feathers" had played another disgraced British officer who redeemed himself, and "Casablanca" also portrayed Italian officers as ineffective popinjays.

Most strikingly, though, just as "Air Force" depicts an instant United States naval victory days after Peal Harbor, SWW portrays a mass sinking of German ships by the Royal Navy at a time when Axis forces were sweeping across the Eastern Mediterranean. Such fictitious achievements may have been designed to raise morale, but I wonder how contemporary cinema-goers reacted to the preposterous antics shown in the last part of SWW, which today look risible. Another reviewer has described them as "comic-book".

To avoid "spoiling", I won't list all the half-dozen improbable actions, though I do wonder why there was no attempt by the carrier's crew to deal with the burning aircraft that had crashed on its deck.

The film did start well, with some good scenes of the launching of HMS Ark Royal and of aircraft of the early 1940s.

As always with films of this period, there are some interesting names to look out for among the cast.

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.

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.

This movie is rather simplistic with 'special' effects right out of Flash Gordon. The movie is very much a propaganda movie covering the introduction of the Fairy Fulmar, the Royal Navy's first eight-gun fighter, into service.

The actors did not leave me with any lasting impressions. The stars are the aircraft and ships, with excellent quality pictures of aircraft and ships that no longer exist.

The aircraft include: Swordfish, Fulmars, and Skuas

The ships include HMS Ark Royal and HMS Renown plus RN cruisers and destroyers. The pictures include deck scenes from the Ark Royal giving an insight to British carrier set up as opposed to the USN carrier ops that we are all so familiar with.

Ships With Wings made in 1941 tells the story of the British flagship aircraft carrier the Ark Royal in battle in the Mediterranean theater. The first thing to compliment in this film is the judicious use of editing real battle newsreel footage into the film, integrating it with the plot of the film. I doubt very much if Ark Royal was being used for location shooting, the Royal Navy kept her quite busy in those years.

Three pilots take the lead here, John Clements, Michael Wilding, and Michael Rennie. Of the group Clements is an easy going, but reckless type. Some dereliction of duty gets him washed out of the Royal Navy's pilots.

But when war comes, Clements who is now working for a spitball Greek Airliner in the Mediterranean gets hold of German plans and flies to Allied territory to bring the world. The former Three Musketeers are united and Clements lends a helpful hand to the others at a critical moment in battle.

Ships With Wings is a nice rousing tribute to the men who served on Great Britain's Naval Air Arm and on the Ark Royal in particular. And this review is dedicated to everyone who ever served on that most gallant ship of the British Royal Navy. You folks kept us all free.