Captains of the Clouds
| Captains of the Clouds | |
|---|---|
 VHS cover |
|
| Directed by | Michael Curtiz |
| Produced by | Hal B. Wallis William Cagney |
| Written by | Arthur T. Horman Roland Gillett Richard Macaulay Norman Reilly Raine |
| Starring | James Cagney Dennis Morgan |
| Music by | Max Steiner (score) Harold Arlen (title song) |
| Cinematography | Wilfred M. Cline, Sol Polito Winton C. Hoch |
| Editing by | George Amy |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | February 12, 1942 (NYC) February 21, 1942 (US) |
| Running time | 114 minutes |
| Country | United States Canada |
| Language | English |
Captains of the Clouds is a 1942 Warner Bros. war film in Technicolor, directed by Michael Curtiz and starring James Cagney. It was produced by William Cagney (James Cagney's brother), with Hal B. Wallis as executive producer. The screenplay was written by Arthur T. Horman, Richard Macaulay and Norman Reilly Raine, based on a story by Horman and Roland Gillett. The cinematography was by Wilfred M. Cline, Sol Polito and Winton C. Hoch and was notable in that it was the first feature length Hollywood production filmed entirely in Canada.[1]
The film stars James Cagney and Dennis Morgan as Canadian pilots who do their part in the Second World War, and features Brenda Marshall, Alan Hale, Sr., George Tobias, Reginald Gardiner and Reginald Denny in supporting roles. The title of the film came from a phrase used by Billy Bishop, the First World War fighter ace, who played himself in the film.[2] The same words are also echoed in the narration of The Lion Has Wings documentary (1939).
In 1942, Canada had been at war with the Axis Powers for over two years, while the United States had only just entered in December 1941. A film on the ongoing Canadian involvement made sense for the American war effort. The films ends with an epilogue chronicling the contributions of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) to the making of the film.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Brian MacLean (James Cagney), Johnny Dutton (Dennis Morgan), "Tiny" Murphy (Alan Hale, Sr.), "Blimp" Lebec (George Tobias) and "Scrounger" Harris (Reginald Gardiner) are bush pilots competing for business in rugged Northern Ontario, Canada in 1939, as the Second World War is beginning. While Dutton flies by the book, MacLean is a seat-of-the-pants kind of pilot, mirroring the differences in their personalities.
When Dutton saves MacLean's life by transporting a doctor under dangerous flying conditions, MacLean is grateful. He steals and marries Dutton's badly-behaved girlfriend Emily Foster (Brenda Marshall) in order to save him from a life of misery. Dutton, however, does not see MacLean's actions as an act of kindness, and abruptly ends their friendship. Depressed, Dutton gives his savings to charity and enlists in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Later, after hearing Winston Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches" speech on the radio, MacLean and the other bush pilots attempt to enlist in the air force, only to find that they are too old for combat. They agree to train as flight instructors for the Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Their superior officer is none other than Dutton. MacLean's brash and fiercely independent nature clashes with the military way of doing things and he inevitably washes out. For revenge, he and Tiny buzz the airfield in their bush planes when renowned Canadian First World War ace Air Marshal William "Billy" Bishop (playing himself) attends his group's graduation ceremony. Unfortunately, Tiny suffers a blackout (loss of vision due to g-forces) during a strenuous maneuver, crashes and dies.
When two transport aircraft crash, killing all 44 ferry pilots aboard, there is a desperate need for pilots to transport Lockheed Hudson bombers to Britain. MacLean and other civilians volunteer to fly the unarmed bombers from Newfoundland. He finds himself in a flight commanded by Dutton when they are attacked by a German fighter. "Blimp" Lebec is shot down. With his navigator Scrounger dead and no other way to fight back, MacLean uses his superb flying skills to crash his unwieldy bomber into the nimble fighter, sacrificing himself to save the remainder of the flight.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| James Cagney | Brian MacLean |
| Dennis Morgan | Johnny Dutton |
| Brenda Marshall | Emily Foster |
| Alan Hale | "Tiny" Murphy |
| George Tobias | "Blimp" Lebec |
| Reginald Gardiner | "Scrounger" Harris |
| Air Marshal W.A. Bishop | Himself |
| Reginald Denny | Commanding officer |
| Russell Arms | Prentiss |
| Paul Cavanaugh | Group Captain |
| Clem Bevans | "Store-teeth" Morrison |
| J. M. Kerrigan | Foster |
| J. Farrell MacDonald | Dr. Neville |
| Patrick O'Moore | Fyffe |
| Morton Lowry | Carmichael |
| O. Cathcart-Jones | Chief flying instructor |
| Frederic Worlock | President of court-martial |
| Roland Drew | Officer |
| Lucia Carroll | Blonde |
| George Meeker | Playboy |
| Benny Baker | Popcorn Kearns |
| Hardie Albright | Kingsley |
| Ray Walker | Mason |
| Charles Halton | Nolan |
| Louis Jean Heydt | Provost marshal |
| Byron Barr | Student pilot |
| Michael Ames | Student pilot |
| Willie Fung | Willie |
| Carl Harbord | Blake |
| Miles Mander | Churchill's voice (offscreen) |
[edit] Quotes
- Emily Foster: Hey! What brought you back?
- Brian MacLean: A whim.
- Emily Foster: Well, you can keep on going.
- Brian MacLean: Oh, you don't know me. I have a whim of iron!
- Air Marshal W.A. "Billy" Bishop (during the "Wings Parade"): Where are you from, Grew?
- LAC Grew: Texas, Sir.
- Air Marshal W.A. "Billy" Bishop: One of our most loyal provinces.
- LAC Grew: We think so, Sir.
- Johnny Dutton: Plane 21, hold your position.
- Brian MacLean (after Scrounger is killed): Sorry, I've got an appointment. I've got a date to meet Fritzie. (MacLean flies to his death, crashing into the German fighter aircraft.)
[edit] Music
The music score is by Max Steiner, and Harold Arlen wrote the title song (lyrics by Johnny Mercer) which is used as a march in the film. Later, "Captains of the Clouds" was adopted as an official song of the Royal Canadian Air Force, although its use today is largely ceremonial.[4] Canada's unofficial national anthem, "The Maple Leaf Forever", by Alexander Muir, is also heard, as well as "O Canada", the de-facto Canadian anthem since 1939, and official anthem since 1980.
[edit] Production
During preproduction, Joseph W.G. Clark, the public relations director of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was heavily involved in promoting a film project that was initially identified as "Bush Pilots" based on a script submitted by Canadian screenwriters. With RCAF backing, Hal Wallis and Jack Warner were approached in Hollywood to undertake a "patriotic film." Warner was enthusiastic, and began the task of casting a major star to front the project. After considering Raymond Massey, Errol Flynn and Clark Gable, the decision was made to cast George Brent, but Warner Brothers was unsure if he could carry the film.[5] Numerous attempts to rewrite the script into a more acceptable form resulted in a final screenplay now titled "Captains of the Clouds". The name was borrowed from a Victory Loans speech given by Billy Bishop. Now the only holdup was casting, which was resolved when Warner persuaded its resident "cocky guy" (as producer Jerry Wald had dubbed him), 42-year old James Cagney, to take on the lead male role.[6]
This film was Cagney's first in Technicolor. His participation in the production has been characterized as reluctant, and he only accepted after his brother was taken on as an associate producer. He quipped, "I didn't like this story the last four times I did it and I don't like it now!", fearing that he was immersed in one of his trademark Warner Brothers "potboilers", playing a role he had reprised numerous times. Yet in certain scenes, Cagney improvised, reverting to his typecast style. His loose interpretation is evident in a cabin scene when he is playing against his cronies. Cagney veers off the script pages, reverting to the cocky persona he had cultivated in countless earlier features.[7]
Captains of the Clouds was produced with the full cooperation of the Royal Canadian Air Force to promote enlistment in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.[2] (It was also intended as a rousing "war preparedness" film for American audiences, but by the time it was released, the U.S. was already at war; nevertheless it did serve as a showcase of the Canadian war effort.) The Warner Brothers principal cast and production crew of over 80 technicians along with "half a million dollars of colour cinematography equipment" came from Hollywood, crossing into Canada on July 12, 1941.[6] Scenes filmed in Ottawa include several views of the historic Chateau Laurier hotel, Parliament and the Cenotaph area.[2]
Much of the early footage involved a number of bush planes at the Woodcliff Camp on Trout Lake in North Bay, Ontario and nearby Camp Caribou on Jumping Caribou Lake in Marten River, Ontario.[3] The aerial sequences were under the direction of Paul Mantz, long-time Hollywood stunt pilot, who used a Stinson Model A trimotor camera ship. MacLean's aircraft, CF-HGO in the scenes, was a Noorduyn Norseman flown by veteran stunt pilot Frank Clarke (who doubled for James Cagney in flying scenes),[8] Johnny Dutton's silver CF-NBP was an actual Fairchild 71C bush plane,[9] while Laurentian Air Service's Waco EGC-7 and AGC-8 cabin aircraft provided the other float planes.[10]
Principal photography did not go well; a number of incidents slowed production.[10] One of the huskies that was key to a scene bit Morgan, opening up a gash on his hand. Cagney, in an uncharacteristic move, decided to forgo a stunt double and play the scene himself in which his character is struck by a whirling propeller. At first things proceeded smoothly, but when it came time for him to fall into the lake, he overdid it and suffered a real concussion, putting the 10-day shoot at North Bay, Ontario farther behind schedule. Weather was a constant challenge, and with the need to ensure continuity, small scenes became unnecessarily complex; as a result, a typical shooting day lasted almost into the night.[10] One 30-second scene with all the principals running along the dock took an entire day to complete, with Cagney, Hale and Tobias barely able to stand at the end of filming.[11] With a Hollywood production in their midst, North Bay residents became such a persistent nuisance that the crew reverted to sending messages out of the location site by homing pigeons.[12] [N 1]
The military background sequences were shot at RCAF Air Stations at Uplands, Trenton, Dartmouth, Jarvis, and Mountain View. The "Wings Parade" (officially the "Presentation of Wings Ceremony") filmed at the No. 2 Service Training School at RCAF Uplands was an actual graduation service for 110 RCAF cadets. It proved to be the most complex scene of the film. Over 100 Harvard training aircraft flew overhead in a salute to the graduates.[3]
The climactic ferry mission was staged out over the Atlantic from RCAF Air Station Dartmouth using the base's operational Lockheed Hudson bombers, along with a Hawker Hurricane, remarked as a German fighter to pose as an enemy aircraft. Due to the prominent Luftwaffe markings on the RCAF fighter, special alerts had to be posted in order to prevent the "trigger-happy" home defence gunners from shooting down their own aircraft.[3]
[edit] Reception
Released in an era of patriotic films with overt propaganda themes, Captains of the Clouds received an enthusiastic public acceptance. Although it was a "Hollywood" production, the film premiered simultaneously on February 21, 1942 in New York, London, Ottawa, Cairo, Melbourne, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver, with RCAF pilots transporting film copies to all these cities.[13][14] The public reaction can be partly attributed to the plot line that revolved around the unique Canadian wilderness and the bush pilot mystique. "So Full of Spectacle and Glory it Had to be Made in Technicolor!" was the ad copy that was used. The vivid aerial scenes filmed in Technicolor were another aspect of the expensive production that garnered critical attention.[N 2]Reviews were mixed; while some critics felt the film suffered from a stagey plot and a forced romantic story line, the aerial scenes were considered the film's redeeming feature.[15]
[edit] Awards
Captains of the Clouds was nominated for Best Art Direction- Interior Decoration, (Color) (Ted Smith, Casey Roberts) and Best Color Cinematography at the 1943 Academy Awards.[16]
[edit] References
- Notes
- ^ Even though it seems unlikely, the secluded location and lack of telephones necessitated the use of homing pigeons obtained locally to send out messages to the other film units.
- ^ However, major portions of the film were not shot using Technicolor's cumbersome Three-Strip system, but were instead shot using Technicolor's single-strip color system, which system was actually an adaptation of Eastman Kodak's Kodachrome system.
- Citations
- ^ Barris 2005, p. 164.
- ^ a b c Mackey, Doug. "North Bay's Big Movie - Captains of the Clouds 1941." pastforward.ca, August 29, 2003.
- ^ a b c d Oriss 1984, p. 43.
- ^ Jablonski, Edward. Harold Arlen: Rhythm, Rainbows, and Blues. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1996. ISBN 1-55553-263-2.
- ^ Dunmore 1994, pp. 264–265.
- ^ a b Barris 2005, p. 145.
- ^ McElwee, John. "Captains of the Clouds (1942) review." amazon.com. Retrieved: October 6, 2011.
- ^ Barris 2005, p. 151.
- ^ "Fairchild 71-C." Alberta Aviation Museum. Retrieved: June 7, 2009. Note: The actual registration number, CF-ATZ, can be clearly seen under the fictitious registration on the right wing's upper surface.
- ^ a b c Metcalfe-Chenail 2009, p. 32.
- ^ Dunmore 1994, p. 269.
- ^ Barris 2005, pp. 154–155.
- ^ "Captains of the Clouds: Trivia." imdb.com. Retrieved: July 28, 2010.
- ^ Oriss 1984, p. 44.
- ^ Arnold, Jeremy. "Captains of the Clouds (1942) review." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: June 7, 2009.
- ^ "Captains of the Clouds (awards)." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: June 16, 2010.
- Bibliography
- Barris, Ted. Behind The Glory: The Plan that Won the Allied Air War. Markham, Ontario: Thomas Allen & Son Publishers, 2005. ISBN 0-88762-212-7.
- Dunmore, Spencer. Wings For Victory. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1994. ISBN 0-77102-927-6.
- Captains of the Clouds (DVD). Burbank, California: Warner Home Video, 2007.
- Dolan, Edward F. Jr. Hollywood Goes to War. London: Bison Books, 1985. ISBN 0-86124-229-7.
- Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies". The Making of the Great Aviation Films, General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
- Mauro, Rudy. "Captains of the Clouds: A Half-Century's Perspective on the First Canadian Air Epic." Journal of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society, Vol. 29, No. 2, Summer 1991.
- Mauro, Rudy. "Captains of the Clouds: Filming the Bush Flying Sequences of Canada's First Air Epic." Journal of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society, Vol. 29, No. 3, Fall 1991.
- Mauro, Rudy. "Captains of the Clouds: A Postscript." Journal of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society, Vol. 33, No. 1, Spring 1995.
- Mauro, Rudy. "Recovering the ‘Cagney Norseman’: Salvaging the Remains of CF-AYO after Four Decades." Journal of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society, Vol. 39, No. 1, Spring 2001.
- Metcalfe-Chenail, Danielle. For the Love of Flying: The Story of Laurentian Air Services. Montreal: Robin Brass Studio, 2009. ISBN 978-1-896941-57-8.
- Orriss, Bruce. When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II. Hawthorne, California: Aero Associates Inc., 1984. ISBN 0-9613088-0-X.
[edit] External links
- Captains of the Clouds at the Internet Movie Database
- Captains of the Clouds at the TCM Movie Database
- Captains of the Clouds at AllRovi
- An actual aircraft used in the movie
- North Bay's Big Movie - Captains of the Clouds 1941
