Heroes of the skies
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Heroes of the skies |
| Original title | Captains of the Clouds |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1942 |
| length | 113 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Michael Curtiz |
| script |
Arthur T. Horman , Norman Reilly Raine , Richard Macauley |
| production | Hal B. Wallis |
| music | Max Steiner |
| camera |
Sol Polito , Wilfred M. Cline |
| cut | George Amy |
| occupation | |
| |
Helden der Lüfte (Original title: Captains of the Clouds ) is an American war film by director Michael Curtiz from 1942, based on a story by Arthur T. Horman and Roland Gillett. The premiere in Germany took place on the television station Das Erste on October 13, 1995.
action
At the beginning of World War II , McLean, Dutton, Murphy, Lebec and Harris worked as bush pilots in Ontario, Canada. When McLean is injured, Dutton saves his life by flying a doctor to McLean under difficult flight conditions. Out of gratitude and to spare him an unsatisfactory married life, McLean marries Dutton's girlfriend Emily. Dutton doesn't realize that McLean knows about Emily's bad character, and their friendship ends. The depressed Dutton joins the Royal Canadian Air Force .
McLean and his colleagues later also commit. However, they soon realize that they are too old for combat missions and are employed as Commonwealth Air Training Plan training pilots . Your senior officer is Dutton. McLean's independence comes into conflict with military discipline and command, so he collapses. He and Murphy fly off during the graduation ceremony held by Air Marshal Bishop. Murphy suffers a blackout from acceleration during a strenuous flight maneuver. His machine crashes, Murphy dies.
When two transport planes collide and all 44 pilots who were supposed to bring Lockheed Hudson bombers to England die, replacements have to be found. McLean and other civilians volunteer for the mission. They are supposed to fly the planes from Newfoundland to England unarmed. McLean's fleet is commanded by Dutton. A German fighter pilot attacks, Lebec is shot down. Harris, who is on board McLean's machine as a navigator, dies, so that McLean only sees one way out to save the other planes. He steers his bomber into the German plane.
Reviews
“A decidedly patriotic aviator and adventure film, built around the daredevil James Cagney. The acrobatic flying tricks are still convincing. "
Awards
1943 Oscar nominations in the categories:
- Best Camera (Color) - (Sol Polito)
- Best Equipment (Color) - (Ted Smith and Casey Roberts)
background
- The first Hollywood film to be shot entirely in Canada was also Cagey's first Technicolor film .
- The film's theme tune ( Johnny Mercer wrote the lyrics ), a military march, later became the official RCAF song.
- William Cagney, a brother of James Cagney, was co-producer.
- The film premiered simultaneously in New York (USA), Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Ottawa (Canada), Cairo (Egypt) and Melbourne (Australia). Copies of the film were transported to these cities by the RCAF.
- The later Oscar winner Gig Young can be seen in a minor role as a student pilot . In this film he appears under his real name Byron Barr.
- Prominent employees on the set: Co-author Reilly Raine (Oscar 1938), composer Steiner (Oscars 1936, 1943 and 1945), the musical director Leo F. Forbstein (Oscar 1937), film editor George Amy (Oscar 1944), and camera technician Winton C. Hoch (Oscars 1949, 1950 and 1953, plus a special Oscar in 1940), who was responsible for the aerial photographs here.
- The film's military advisor was Owen Cathcart-Jones, in his capacity as squadron leader.
Historical background
- William Bishop plays himself as the Air Marshal who runs the graduation ceremony. He was a so-called Flieger-Ace in World War I and set up the Commonwealth Air Training Plan in World War II .
- The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was a training program of the Commonwealth during the Second World War. Pilots from Great Britain , Canada , Australia , New Zealand , South Africa and what was then Southern Rhodesia took part. The program ran from December 1939 to March 1945. In total, over 167,000 people were trained.
- During World War II, 215,000 members of the Royal Canadian Air Force took part in the war in various positions. Among them were 15,000 women. 3,000 RCAF members were killed in the war.
Web links
- Heroes of the air in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Short review from Variety
- Review of the Classic Film Guide (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Lexicon of International Films 2000/2001 (CD-ROM)