Men with Wings

I was fortunate enough to tape this movie off of a local PBS station in New Jersey, and I consider it one of my treasures. My copy is very viewable. I liked this movie as a youngster, and like it so much I made a model of the Fokker DVII in the black and white motif the same as the one Pat Falconer (Fred McMurray) shot down in the WW I sequence. It too is one of my prize possessions. As I said in the summary, considering the year it was made it holds up well.

I was surprised to see Edna Ferber not listed as an inspiration for Men With Wings. It has the scope and background of one of her novels, in fact in some aspects it's like an airborne Cimarron.

Men With Wings is the story of aviation from the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk where Walter Abel is covering the event right up to 1938 and the threat of a second World War looming ahead. It's seen through the eyes of three fictional people who become a love triangle. Billy Cook, Donald O'Connor and Virginia Weidler grow up to be Ray Milland, Fred MacMurray and Louise Campbell.

Milland is the smart one, he goes to MIT and becomes an airplane designer. MacMurray is the adventurous one, he grows up to be an air ace in World War I. But MacMurray is a fly by the seat of your pants pilot who's not real comfortable with new technology. But the progress of aviation is not all these two have a disagreement over.

Louise is Walter Abel's daughter and she's grown up in aviation and has had it for good and evil. As boys Cook and O'Connor send her aloft in a big kite and Abel becomes a believer in flight after seeing the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk. She marries one of the leads and the other steps gracefully aside.

The comparison to Cimarron bears attention with MacMurray whose character is definitely modeled on Ferber's Yancey Cravat from Cimarron. It's also modeled in real life on Eddie Rickenbacker who became an airline president after his World War I service. Of course Rickenbacker was not as technology resistant as MacMurray.

Aviation buffs will love Men With Wings. It's done in early technicolor and by dint of that director William Wellman improved on his Academy Award winning Wings. The aerial footage is some of the best ever done and it's done with a loving hand. Just about everyone knows of William Wellman's lifelong love of aviation, acquired since his service in the Lafayette Escadrille in World War I.

I wish Men With Wings were shown more often. I certainly hope it's a candidate for restoration as the print I saw, the color was pretty washed out. For aviation buffs everywhere.

I saw this movie as a ten-year old, and it made a profound impression on me regarding the dedication and sacrifices of the men who were involved in the development of aircraft and powerplants in the early days when aviation was in its infancy.

I would like to see it converted to video and made available again.

As the summary on IMDB says, there are two main plots in "Men with Wings". The story is partly a history of powered flight...starting with the Wright brothers and moving into the 1930s. The main story is about three people caught up in this. Patrick and Scott (Fred MacMurray and Ray Milland) love aviation and are good friends. Patrick is more a natural flyer and loves excitement and danger. Scott is more an engineer...more stable and also a guy responsible for making better planes as well as test flying them. They grew up with Peggy (Louise Campbell) and both love her, though she unwisely chose Patrick...a man so addicted to flying and tempting death that he ended up making a rotten husband. As for Scott, well, he's a bit of a putz...the 'nice guy' who is always there to pick up the pieces of Peggy when her husband disappears for adventure. Frankly, he isn't worthy of her but Peggy and Scott are too 'nice' to say enough is enough! What's to become of this strange threesome?

To me, the best thing about the movie are some of the flying sequences. The WWI fighter scenes are nutty, as the pilots REALLY are pushing the planes to the limit. And, seeing Patrick flying about testing the newest planes is also pretty nutty...but very exciting. The weakest point in the film, to me, is the threesome...as Scott is kind of pathetic and Patrick is reprehensible and Peggy is a doormat. I think a bit of editing and strengthening of the characters would have helped the story a lot. But even still, it is a very enjoyable movie and is worth seeing.

I agree with your other viewers--a very well made action film. I saw this when I was 8 years old and loved it--even though some of the crash scenes were scary. I did see it on TV once, perhaps 10 or 15 years ago, so I think the negative still exists. AMC should be encouraged to broadcast it.