Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

secondtake Captains of the Clouds (1942) It's always a bit weird to see semi-propaganda films made with mainstream talent, as if it's just another movie. It kind of eats into the credibility of movies in that period in general, as distinctive art forms as opposed to commercial vehicles. So this has (for example) songs by Harold Arlen (Over the Rainbow fame) and Johnny Mercer, and some photography by the great Sol Polito (though there were four shooters involved, due to the range of situations required). And the director is the indisputably excellent Michael Curtiz, who was making "Casablanca" at roughly the same time. This is a movie about the Canadian air effort in the war. The lead by James Cagney is slightly odd in this regard, but it gives the movie creds. The leading woman (reddish hair and very red lipstick for the Technicolor production) is a more suitable Brenda Marshall. The scene is in an isolated lake country, dependent on small planes for getting everything they need in and out (including teams of huskies, at the beginning). It's all quite beautiful, and if the characters are back woods caricatures, that's part of the whole shtick with this kind of film. So this is a manly world with people dickering over money, but showing a kind of integrity that makes them dependable and ready to support the war effort once it gets going. The speech by Winston Churchill heard by radio (halfway through the film) is the key turning point, and the men rise above their petty small town rivalries. The "girl" is what really matters behind all their arguments. But war, of course, changes even love. Devotees of war films will appreciate the accuracies in the training and the aircraft used. Of course, this was shot not long after it actually was happening (a year or two) and legitimacy is almost unavoidable on some level. But finally I have to get to the actual plot, the human interactions that make up the story, because this is a weakness overall. The attempts to give personal relatability to the events are natural, but not all that convincing. So seeing it sixty years later it can't be watched quite for the story itself, but for the many parts that make up the overall arc. Curtiz is great and he makes the most of it all. Max Steiner's music helps though it is a little overblown for a lot of what a mount to documentary sections. The fact it's in color is interesting (for the expense) and it's actually part of what makes it interesting-and it's quite believable, clean, not oversaturated color, brilliantly controlled.

slymusic Filmed in glorious Technicolor, and masterfully directed by Michael Curtiz, "Captains of the Clouds" is a gripping World War II drama concerning the careers, romances, and bravery of the Canadian bush pilots. Boasting an exciting screenplay full of witty dialogue and thrilling aerial footage, this is a motion picture well worth the price of admission. Young, cocky bush pilot Brian MacLean (James Cagney) is a "price-cutting son of a bozo" who swipes jobs left & right from other envious pilots, including Johnny Dutton (Dennis Morgan), Francis Patrick "Tiny" Murphy (Alan Hale), "Blimp" Lebec (George Tobias), and "Scrounger" Harris (Reginald Gardiner). Their attempts at revenge start a chain of events that eventually lead all five men directly to the Royal Canadian Air Force. Despite the RCAF's plans to make a flying instructor out of him, Brian has an intense desire to fight in the war. His superior happens to be Johnny, his "rival" for the "affections" of Emily Foster (Brenda Marshall). In the end, when everything is forgiven, Johnny and Brian lead several squadrons of unarmed bombers toward England, when Brian's gallantry is suddenly put to the test.Some of the highlights from "Captains of the Clouds" include the following. Near the beginning, there is an extended edge-of-the-seat chase sequence as Brian transports a nervous scruffy old-timer (Clem Bevans) in his seaplane. Typically not following RCAF protocol, Brian (now a staff pilot for a bombing & gunnery school in Jarvis, Ontario) takes a young Alabaman recruit (Russell Arms) on an unauthorized bombing test flight, unfortunately buzzing the targets too close and getting hit by the bomb splinters. Cashiered from the RCAF, Brian and Tiny spend all day in a back room at a tavern and harmonize a catchy number: "Bless them all, bless them all, / the short and the wide and the tall...", etc. In a private talk with Johnny, Brian's determination to fly an unarmed bomber with Johnny's squadron clearly shines through, and when that armed Messerschmitt appears, tension surely mounts as the squadrons are powerless to fight back, until Brian decides to break formation! And finally, the patriotic song "Captains of the Clouds", written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, can be heard several times throughout this picture; wonderfully orchestrated by Max Steiner, is it any wonder that this song was quite effective in boosting morale for all the Canadian & American servicemen fighting overseas? In closing, let us call our attention to the splendid casting of "Captains of the Clouds". James Cagney was the perfect choice to play Brian MacLean, an undercutting young rogue who feels that the rules do not necessarily apply to him. Handsome Dennis Morgan is superb as the dashing Johnny Dutton, who dreams of someday owning his own airline, but whose life takes an unexpected turn. Brenda Marshall is fine as the morally shallow Emily Foster, torn between Johnny and Brian; how she finally ends up is somewhat bizarre! Not to mention the likable Alan Hale as Tiny Murphy, George Tobias (a great dialectician) as the French-Canadian Blimp Lebec, and Reginald Gardiner as the British weasel who lives up to his name - Scrounger Harris.

Cactus-7 This is one of my favorite films, but not because of Cagney or Morgan. Brenda Marshall is the jewel in this picture's crown. She provides the blue-jean wearing, North Country beauty in the film and drives the fly-boys crazy. Marshall, who bears a resemblance to Madolyn Smith Osborne, wants to get to the big city regardless of how she gets there. The resulting competition among pilots keeps the story line from being completely aviation oriented. This is a good look at Canadian bush aviation in the 1930's and the cast is excellent. As with all films of this period, airplanes are shown doing things that are aerodynamically impossible, but it doesn't take away from the picture. There are even early aeromedical ideas about how G-forces affect the human body. Filmed entirely on location in Canada, much of the scenery is stunningly beautiful. Canadian politics are even slipped in during graduation ceremony when Air Marshal Bishop refers to pilots from "loyal Quebec." All in all a fun film.

MartinHafer Okay, I'll admit that this film is NOT Shakespeare! In fact, at times the plot is VERY VERY formulaic and silly but somehow the overall package is still quite entertaining.Jimmy Cagney is the main lead of the film, though it actually has an ensemble cast consisting of Dennis Morgan and other Warner Brothers regulars. And unfortunately, the worst part of this film is Cagney's character, as he plays essentially the exact same character he played in so many Warner films. You know,...the brash and obnoxious guy who seems greatly in need of a comeuppance (such as in THE FIGHTING 69th and MANY other films). It's too bad, as the rest of the plot is very very good and this is a wonderful propaganda film meant to bolster support for the war. In fact, the more I think about it, Cagney's character and how it was written so derivatively is the only real problem in the film. It's a shame really, as apart from this the acting is excellent and the Technicolor scenes of the Canadian wilderness and flying are beautiful.