Devil Dogs of the Air (1935)

I usually like Pat O'Brian and James Cagney movies. In this one, Cagney is his usual brash self – actually he is arrogant, self-centered and insufferable. In every respect O'Brian is the better man (and as good a pilot as Cagney to boot). Cagney sums up his character when at a dance he says to Margaret Lindsay: "That's me, I promise a lot and give a little." So, of course, Lindsay chooses Cagney and not O'Brien. Implausibly, O'Brien is a good sport about losing out to Cagney (but at least he does transfer out of the unit so he won't have to be around the schmuck anymore). McHugh was wasted in this film and as many reviewers have said the character he plays is extremely annoying (and indeed ghoulish given how much he hopes one of the pilots will get hurt).. The aerial stunts and flying scenes were very good and exciting and the war maneuvers were as well but, for me, went on way too long. That said, this film would be a real treat for aviation enthusiasts.

Jimmy Cagney plays (what else) a brash young flier who is convinced by his buddy, Pat O'Brien, to enlist in the US Marine flying school. Once there, he initially makes a nuisance of himself and even tries to horn in on O'Brien's girl--creating a lot of tension. The trouble is that Cagney is so talented and amazing as a flier that everyone but O'Brien soon forgets his initially brash ways. Will the friendship fizzle for good, will Cagney and O'Brien both prove themselves and rise above it all AND who will cute Margaret Lindsay fall for by the end? You'll just need to tune in to forget.While I will admit that the plot of this film is highly reminiscent of many Warner Brothers and Jimmy Cagney films (such as CAPTAINS OF THE CLOUDS), it also is quite entertaining and very exciting to airplane buffs like myself. Because of this, I liked it quite a bit and another person could easily dismiss it as "just a piece of fluff"--which, at times, it unfortunately is. However, watching the great aerial stunts, seeing the US Navy dirigible, ships and early airplanes was quite a thrill for me and really kept my attention. In many ways, it's a great companion piece to a film he made shortly before this, HERE COMES THE NAVY. Not surprisingly, the plots are somewhat similar, but HERE COMES THE NAVY offers even more amazing scenes--dirigibles in closeup scenes as well as being set aboard the ill-fated USS Arizona (which was destroyed at Pearl Harbor less than a decade later).So, for aerial buffs, I'd give this an 8. For the rest, a 6. Splitting the difference, a 7 seems appropriate.

Standard service triangle film centered around the United States Marine Corp (U.S.M.C.) and its Aviator training program, circa 1935. Warner Brothers (WB) standby director Lloyd Bacon provides his usual workmen like effort in another air oriented screenplay by John Monk Saunders. If it is in the 'air' either Saunders or Frank 'Spig' Wead was going to have a hand in it. Their plots are so similar as to be interchangeable.The Nuts; Lieut. Bill Brannigan (Pat O'Brien) invites friend and hotshot pilot Tommy O'Toole (James Cagney) to join the U.S.M.C. Reserve Aviator training program. O'Toole arrives and promptly starts to move in on Brannigans main squeeze, Betty Roberts (Margaret Lindsay) and get under everybody else's skin. Usual competition in the air and for the attentions of Betty with a predictable conclusion.The film featured the usual complement of the WBs contract players all who do a competent job. Except, Frank McHugh, who normally provides light comedy relief. In this film though he was way over the top and irritating, so bad that you wanted him to walk into a propeller (rotating). O'Brien also seemed too earnest, shouting most of his lines while Cagney was a little to coy. Margaret Lindsay a attractive and competent actress made the most her role. Ms. Lindsay by her own admission only took her career as seriously as it needed to be without the drive of Crawford, Davis, De Havilland or Stanwyck.The best part of the film had little to do with the principals, but actual maneuvers (wargames) by the United States Navy (U.S.N.) and the U.S.M.C. In the film the U.S.N. represented the BLUE Force (true) while the enemy was BROWN Force (misnomer). Those familiar with WAR PLAN ORANGE know that the BROWN Force was actual ORANGE, Imperial Japan. The ORANGE (and other) war plans were a series of studies initiated by Theodore Roosevelt when he was Under Secretary of the Navy. They were continuously gamed and updated to reflect changing requirements and technology, up to their absorption by RAINBOW FIVE, war on a global scale. Watching the filmed maneuvers you can easily pick up on what the U.S.N. was doing and how it applies even today. For more detailed knowledge consult WAR PLAN ORANGE: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan 1897-1945 by Edward S. Miller.

The real founders of the buddy film James Cagney and Pat O'Brien after making their debut in Here Comes the Navy essentially reprise their roles in Devil Dogs of the Air for the Marines.O'Brien is the no-nonsense flight instructor for the Marines who's written to an old Brooklyn pal James Cagney urging him to join the Corps. Cagney is a circus flier who pretty much knows the flying game inside out.But he's Cagney and of course he KNOWS he knows it. That does not make for good discipline. But it does make for good raffish, knockabout comedy that Cagney/O'Brien films are known for. Of course there's a girl involved, in this case Margaret Lindsay. Need I say who she winds up with.The only jarring note in this film is Frank McHugh. During the hey day of the studios, I think Warner Brothers was incapable of making a film without either Frank McHugh or Alan Hale. I usually enjoy Frank McHugh, but in this film he's downright annoying. He's in the medical corps and frustrated because he feels his training is being wasted because no one is ever injured in a crash or otherwise. McHugh is positively ghoulish in awaiting some accident to befall SOMEONE in the film.However James Cagney is his usual cocksure and charming best and that carried a lot of Warner Brothers films to profit. We the audience profit also by that bouncy Cagney charm.