I Wanted Wings (1941)

The personal and professional lives of three men from different walks of life who join the U.S. Army Air Corps are depicted.

Director:

Mitchell Leisen

Writers:

Richard Maibaum (screenplay), Beirne Lay Jr. (screenplay) (as Lieut. Beirne Lay Jr.)

Stars:

Ray Milland, William Holden, Wayne Morris

Won 1 Oscar.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ray Milland	...	Jeff Young
William Holden	...	Al Ludlow
Wayne Morris	...	Tom Cassidy
Brian Donlevy	...	Capt. Mercer
Constance Moore	...	Carolyn Bartlett
Veronica Lake	...	Sally Vaughn
Harry Davenport	...	'Sandbags' Riley
Phil Brown	...	Jimmy Masters
Edward Fielding	...	President of the Court
Willard Robertson	...	Judge Advocate
Richard Lane	...	Flight Commander
Addison Richards	...	Flight Surgeon
Hobart Cavanaugh	...	Mickey
Douglas Aylesworth	...	Lt. Hopkins
John Trent	...	Lt. Ronson

Storyline

Story follows the training and personal lives of three recruits in the Army Air Corps --- a wealthy playboy, a college jock and an auto mechanic. Love interest is supplied by a female photographer and a sultry blonde.

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Plot Keywords:

aviation | patriotism | based on book | 

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

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. Its earliest documented telecast took place in Omaha Friday 6 March 1959 on KETV (Channel 7), followed by Milwaukee 25 April 1959 on WITI (Channel 6), by Phoenix 1 August 1959 on KVAR (Channel 12), by Philadelphia 19 September 1959 on WCAU (Channel 10), by Asheville 27 October 1959 on WLOS (Channel 13), by Chicago 14 November 1959 on WBBM (Channel 2), and by Grand Rapids 31 December 1959 on WOOD (Channel 8).

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Goofs

In the opening scene showing the bombers flying over the observation post, the angle of their outline is wrong, it should be shallower, these planes look like they are about to bank to the right. Also, the altitude given by the observer is 15,000 feet, but the planes would look a lot smaller at that altitude.

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Quotes

Capt. Mercer: I expect you to make mistakes but don't make excuses.

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Connections

Referenced in Hold Back the Dawn (1941)

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Soundtracks

Born to Love
Lyrics by Ned Washington
Music by Victor Young
Performed by Veronica Lake (uncredited) (dubbed by Martha Mears (uncredited))

User Reviews

Just passable air force flick bogged down by script

Mitchell Leisen was drafted in to do this one after shooting had started when it wasn't coming together under the original director. He did a good job of the flying shots but the clichéd, inconsistent script stops this from being any more than passable.

The movie is also long, unusual for Leisen as he liked fast paced movies, and I guess some of this is due to scenes capturing the feel of the air force at work. However by the time you get back to the court martial scenes at the beginning you have almost forgotten what the trial was about.

I liked Brian Donlevy - thought he was convincing. Bill Holden was just starting out. Ray Milland always reminds me of a second rate Cary Grant, except he managed to do something later in his career that Cary was unable to do - win the Oscar for best actor. There is no development at all for his character in the script. Didn't mind Veronica Lake though she was apparently not a lot of fun to work with in this her first movie.

This movie is also referenced in Leisen's next movie "Hold Back the Dawn" as the movie Leisen is making when the Charles Boyer character comes in to tell his story.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 July 1941 (Australia)

Also Known As:

I Wanted Wings

Filming Locations:

Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1