The Eagle and the Hawk (1933)

Director:

Stuart Walker

Writers:

Seton I. Miller (writer)
Bogart Rogers (writer)

Release Date:

6 May 1933 (USA)

Genre:

War | Action | Drama

Tagline:

They dedicated their lives - to DEATH!

Plot:

The pilots of a Royal Air Force squadron in World War I face not only physical but mental dangers in their struggle to survive while fighting the enemy. |

Plot Keywords:

Pilot | Royal Air Force | Animal In Title | Ostracism | Death

Cast

Fredric March	...	Jerry H. Young
Cary Grant	...	Henry Crocker
Jack Oakie	...	Mike 'Slug' Richards
Carole Lombard	...	The Beautiful Lady
Guy Standing	...	Major Dunham
Forrester Harvey	...	Hogan
Kenneth Howell	...	Lt. John Stevens
Leyland Hodgson	...	Lt. Kingsford
Virginia Hammond	...	Lady Erskine
Douglas Scott	...	Tommy Erskine
Robert Seiter	...	Arnold Voss (as Robert Manning)
Adrienne D'Ambricourt	...	Fifi aka Fanny

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate not issued at release)

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: All the airplanes except the DeHavilands are well past 1918 time period. Curtiss P-1s are recognizable as well as other airplanes with highly tapered wings. Even the DH-4s were dated by 1933, but had been kept around, first as mail planes, then as barnstormers.

Quotes:

Jerry H. Young: I'm a chauffeur for a graveyard, driving men to their deaths day after day.

Vastly underrated WWI drama

Criminally underrated war picture details the adventures of a group of WWI volunteer pilots whose excitement turns to anguish and despair when they are confronted with the reality of combat. Director Stuart Walker helms this unabashedly grim WWI drama with tact and honesty, featuring some above average aerial footage and an unflinchingly blatant anti-war message that is still quite surprising and daring for a depression-era studio film. The acting is uniformly excellent, with Fredric March delivering a marvelously conflicted turn in the lead, and Cary Grant is convincingly cast against type as a hot-headed, violent brute. Perhaps a bit too a head of it's time when originally released, THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK is a terrific film that is ripe for rediscovery.