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Amazon.co.uk Review
Hands down, Only Angels Have Wings is one of the most buoyantly entertaining movies in the American cinema. It is also a razor-sharp example of the action-oriented films of Howard Hawks, the wide-ranging auteur who would go on to make To Have and Have Not and Red River. This one is set in Barranca, a South American port city swathed in perpetual night fog, where a band of mail pilots struggle daily to get their planes through a treacherous mountain pass. They don't care about the mail so much as they live by the rules of adventure, professionalism and friendly rivalry. Cary Grant is the leader of this daredevil group, a man who won't be pinned down to anything except his own code of stoicism. ("I don't believe in laying in a supply of anything" he says, which may be why he's always asking people for matches to light his cigarettes.) His cool style is tested by the arrival of a wisecracking blonde (Jean Arthur) and an ex-mistress (Rita Hayworth); Rita's now married to a pilot (Richard Barthelmess), disgraced by a single act of cowardice. Hawks always got great mileage from throwing a bunch of colourful characters together in an enclosed space, where death could strike in a moment. The great secret about Hawks is that although his feel for action was crackling, he was really more interested in the way people exchanged sidelong glances or lit each other's cigarettes--there's a lot of both in Only Angels Have Wings. --Robert Horton
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This review contains no plot-spoilers! For a film this old, it's a pleasant surprise to see the beautiful DVD print transfer. There's also superb sound (no hiss, no crackles, even through headphones). Right from the opening scenes, you know this is a film that is going to be good. Then Cary Grant walks in, and you know it's going to be superb. The atmosphere of the location is absolutely believable, within the limitations of the set design of the 1930s. The storyline is strong and character-based and the dialogue is sharp and witty. All the actors mesh perfectly. Yes, this is man's man's world; but because everyone "knows where they stand", men bond deeply, are tender with each other, and even cry too. One of those rare films, like Brief Encounter, in which every shot seems perfect and perfectly-placed. Of course, for those reared on post-Star Wars FX, there's a certain amount of suspension of disbelief needed - but I defy you not to awed on the single-shot on-location scene in which a plane swings around an immense desert mesa and then lands.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Columbia Pictures presents "ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS" (1939) (121 min/B&W) -- Starring: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Richard Barthelmess, Rita Hayworth & Thomas Mitchell
Directed by Howard Hawks
While waiting for her boat, Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur) stops at a small airport in South America. The pilots there deliver mail over a dangerous and usually foggy mountain pass. Geoff Carter (Cary Grant), the lead flyer, seems distant and cold as Bonnie tries to get closer to him. Things heat up as Judy MacPherson (Rita Hayworth), Geoff's old flame, shows up with her husband Bat MacPherson (Richard Barthelmess) who is an infamous pilot.
Scripted by Jules Furthman from a story by Hawks, 'Only Angels Have Wings' is a treasure trove of terse, pithy dialogue: one favorite scene occurs when, upon discovering that he's about to die, Thomas Mitchell says he's often wondered how he'd react to imminent death-and, now that death is but a few moments away, he'd rather that no one else be around to witness his reaction.
Good score by the great composer Dimitri Tiomkin.
Special footnote: ~ Howard Hawks remembers: "When the movie was released a certain critic said 'It's the only picture Hawks ever made that didn't have any truth in it.' I wrote him a letter and said, 'Every blooming thing in that movie was true.' I knew the men that were in it and everything about it. But it was just where truth was stranger than fiction."
BIOS:
1. Howard Hawks (Director)
Date of Birth: 30 May 1896 - Goshen, Indiana
Date of Death: 26 December 1977 - Palm Springs, California
2. Cary Grant [aka: Archibald Alexander Leach]
Date of Birth: 18 January 1904 - Horfield, Bristol, England, UK
Date of Death: 29 November 1986 - Davenport, Iowa
3. Jean Arthur [aka: Gladys Georgianna Greene]
Date of Birth: 17 October 1900 - Plattsburgh, New York
Date of Death: 19 June 1991 - Carmel, California
4. Richard Barthelmess
Date of Birth: 9 May 1895 - New York City, New York
Date of Death: 17 August 1963 - Southampton, New York
5. Rita Hayworth [aka: Margarita Carmen Cansino]
Date of Birth: 17 October 1918 - Brooklyn, New York
Date of Death: 14 May 1987 - New York City, New York
6. Thomas Mitchell
Date of Birth: 11 July 1892, Elizabeth, New Jersey
Date of Death: 17 December 1962, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California
Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 5 Stars
Performance: 5 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 5 Stars
Overall: 5 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]
Total Time: 121 min on DVD ~ Columbia Pictures ~ (August 31, 1999)
Directed by Howard Hawks
While waiting for her boat, Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur) stops at a small airport in South America. The pilots there deliver mail over a dangerous and usually foggy mountain pass. Geoff Carter (Cary Grant), the lead flyer, seems distant and cold as Bonnie tries to get closer to him. Things heat up as Judy MacPherson (Rita Hayworth), Geoff's old flame, shows up with her husband Bat MacPherson (Richard Barthelmess) who is an infamous pilot.
Scripted by Jules Furthman from a story by Hawks, 'Only Angels Have Wings' is a treasure trove of terse, pithy dialogue: one favorite scene occurs when, upon discovering that he's about to die, Thomas Mitchell says he's often wondered how he'd react to imminent death-and, now that death is but a few moments away, he'd rather that no one else be around to witness his reaction.
Good score by the great composer Dimitri Tiomkin.
Special footnote: ~ Howard Hawks remembers: "When the movie was released a certain critic said 'It's the only picture Hawks ever made that didn't have any truth in it.' I wrote him a letter and said, 'Every blooming thing in that movie was true.' I knew the men that were in it and everything about it. But it was just where truth was stranger than fiction."
BIOS:
1. Howard Hawks (Director)
Date of Birth: 30 May 1896 - Goshen, Indiana
Date of Death: 26 December 1977 - Palm Springs, California
2. Cary Grant [aka: Archibald Alexander Leach]
Date of Birth: 18 January 1904 - Horfield, Bristol, England, UK
Date of Death: 29 November 1986 - Davenport, Iowa
3. Jean Arthur [aka: Gladys Georgianna Greene]
Date of Birth: 17 October 1900 - Plattsburgh, New York
Date of Death: 19 June 1991 - Carmel, California
4. Richard Barthelmess
Date of Birth: 9 May 1895 - New York City, New York
Date of Death: 17 August 1963 - Southampton, New York
5. Rita Hayworth [aka: Margarita Carmen Cansino]
Date of Birth: 17 October 1918 - Brooklyn, New York
Date of Death: 14 May 1987 - New York City, New York
6. Thomas Mitchell
Date of Birth: 11 July 1892, Elizabeth, New Jersey
Date of Death: 17 December 1962, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California
Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 5 Stars
Performance: 5 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 5 Stars
Overall: 5 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]
Total Time: 121 min on DVD ~ Columbia Pictures ~ (August 31, 1999)
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The film, alas not me. This is a wonderful old story, which was used as a base for the 1980s television series 'Tales of the Gold Monkey'. I bought this film because of this link, my two children, 9 and 12, love TGM and I thought this would be a nice foray into black and white. I was right, they loved it. This is a classic story with high adventure in the days before CGI. It's nice to see that, given the chance, the younger generation can appreciate a good story and leave their imaginations to fill in the details.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Subtitled
The case states that this film has Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portugese, Spanish and Turkish subtitles (film only, special features are not subtitled)
Published 9 days ago by Wayfarer
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Published on 18 Feb 2010 by Massimo Santilli
not so clunky
This movie holds up well enough in the 21st century. The effects are dated (not CGI but what is less convincing now? Read more
Published on 20 April 2008 by mitchum
Dated Hollywood heroics
I wanted to like this movie, but I thought it was so dated as to just about cancel out the strong story line and how the story was crafted into a movie. Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2007 by C. O. DeRiemer
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