Hell's Angels (1930)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Howard Hughes

Writers:

Harry Behn (writer)
Howard Estabrook (writer)

Release Date:

15 November 1930 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

Howard Hughes' Thrilling Multi-Million Dollar Air Spectacle

Plot:

Two brothers attending Oxford enlist with the RAF when World War I breaks out. Roy and Monte Rutledge have very different personalities...

Plot Keywords:

Oxford | German | Munitions | Bomb | Royal Flying Corps

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Ben Lyon	...	Monte Rutledge
James Hall	...	Roy Rutledge
Jean Harlow	...	Helen (as Jean Harlowe)
John Darrow	...	Karl Armstedt
Lucien Prival	...	Baron Von Kranz
Frank Clarke	...	Lt. von Bruen
Roy Wilson	...	Baldy Maloney
Douglas Gilmore	...	Capt. Redfield
Jane Winton	...	Baroness Von Kranz
Evelyn Hall	...	Lady Randolph
William B. Davidson	...	Staff Major
Wyndham Standing	...	RFC squadron commander
Lena Melana	...	Gretchen, waitress (as Lena Malena)
Marian Marsh	...	Girl selling kisses (as Marilyn Morgan)
Carl von Haartman	...	Zeppelin commander

Runtime:

127 min | Belgium:94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | French

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Norway:16 | Brazil:14 | UK:A (original rating) (heavily cut) | UK:PG (video rating) (2005) (uncut) | USA:PG (re-release) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Center Studios - 1040 N. Las Palmas Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

The Caddo Company

Trivia:

Three pilots died during shooting.

Quotes:

Helen: Would you be shocked if I put on something more comfortable?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Scorsese on Scorsese (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Oh, du lieber Augustin

Possibly the best aerial battles yet!

My roommates and I saw a few minutes of this many years ago, and we spent weeks poring over TV listings and video rentals to find more of this movie. We were not disappointed. The aerial combat scenes are, quite simply, the most astounding ever. Some scenes show DOZENS of REAL airplanes roiling in a frighteningly tight ball like a cloud of gnats, and barely missing each other. 3 pilots died filming this movie. I'm forever spoiled for the safe choreography, heavy editing, and airplane-free skies of Top Gun... Hell's Angels has real pilots doing really scary stuff. Real planes crashing into real hillsides, not "drifting behind a sand dune and then setting off a gasoline pot."

I now scoff at the computer-generated zeppelin scenes in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." Howard Hughes kicked their butts over 70 years earlier.

Some of the movie is melodramatic and dated, but some human scenes are brutally harsh, powerful, and would never get filmed today because they're TOO chilling.

A really stunning movie, which not only holds up, but betters today's air movies.