Wings in the Dark

Producer Arthur Hornblow, Jr. borrowed Myrna Loy from MGM for a loan out film at Paramount and teamed her for the first time with Cary Grant who was under contract there. This must have been a courtship film of sorts because the following year Hornblow married Myrna Loy. I'm betting that top billing went to Loy because of Louis B. Mayer as a condition of the loan out and because Hornblow was courting her hot and heavy.

In the Forties Cary and Myrna did The Bachelor And The Bobby Soxer and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, both films more of the usual sort of material for both of them. Wings In The Dark is a drama about an Amelia Earhart type aviatrix and an aeronautical inventor who find love and happiness. But it's a bumpy road to all that.

Grant is a cynical fellow who despises Loy as a circus stunt flier with no feel for the progress of aviation. Myrna properly puts him in his place when she points out that due to the status of women at the time, her kind of flying is all that's open to her and in doing what she does she is showing her sex as capable as the male. A very far reaching treatise on feminism for its time.

During an accident Cary goes blind and he's not one to take charity. But as it were he happened to be working on developing instrument flying through thick clouds and fog and in the end he gives his machine the ultimate test.

Wings In The Dark is dated because aviation has made light years more progress than when this film was made. And it does pale beside the two classic screen comedies that Grant and Loy later did. Still it does offer an interesting glimpse of both stars in their earlier year and for Grant an unusual bit of casting.

Cary Grant and Myrna Loy star in "Wings in the Dark," a 1935 film. It's obvious with films like Christopher Strong and others that with Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart around, aviation was a huge topic. In this film, Grant and Loy play aviators Ken Gordon and Sheila Mason - she does the stunt circuit. After Gordon is wounded in an accident in his workshop, he goes blind, and Sheila is there to help him. Gordon wants to continue his work, and is interested in perfecting the plane instruments so that even a blind man could fly a plane, that is, fly in terrible fog or other weather conditions.

Gordon doesn't realize it, but Sheila is funding his work by telling him that articles he's written have been sold. When his plane is taken away due to lack of payments, she agrees to fly a plane from New York to Moscow so she can collect $25,000. It isn't the smooth flight she anticipated.

This is a pretty good film with both actors turning in good performances. Grant gets to show his dramatic flair - the man could really do anything. Now that I've seen so many of his early films, I'm convinced he had a nose job - his nose is definitely longer early on. Nevertheless he was always extremely handsome.

Loy and Grant went on to make other films together, and this early one isn't mentioned much. It doesn't compare to Mr. Blandings or the Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer, but the stars raise it up a level.

Wings in the Dark (1935)

*** (out of 4)

Ken Gordon (Cary Grant) is a pilot who is trying to use technology so that other pilots will be able to fly blind. He meets stunt pilot Sheila Mason (Myrna Loy) but soon afterwards Ken is blinded in an accident. He soon hits depression but he believes now that he's really blind he can prove his technology.

WINGS IN THE DARK isn't a masterpiece or even a classic Hollywood picture but it's certainly an entertaining if rather routine drama that features two great stars and enough entertainment to make it worth watching. The film isn't one that was made to be an "A" picture but as far as a "B" film goes there's no doubt that it's very much worth watching.

There are a lot of cliché things in the picture even for 1935 standards. For starters, the entire story is rather predictable and especially in the way that it plays out. I'm not going to ruin the ending but you'll see it coming from a mile away and what happens at the very end was silly enough to where you'd have to right to boo it. Yes, the closing moments are really that bad! I'd also argue that the romance in the film really doesn't work either.

With that said, there are some terrific moments with the stunt sequences. The aerial flying sequences are extremely good and if you enjoy Hollywood films with real stunts then you'll certainly enjoy what's on display here. I'd also argue that both Grant and Loy were very good in their roles. Loy got the top-billing since Grant wasn't yet a star but it's his performance that steals the picture. I wouldn't say he gave one of the greatest performances by an actor playing someone who is blind but I thought the actor did a really good job in the scenes where his character acts out his frustration.

WINGS IN THE DARK will certainly appeal to fans of the two stars and they're both good enough to make it worth watching.

Wings in the Dark is a pretty remarkable movie for its day. Yes, when you watch it now, it's almost laughable and the ending is so far-fetched it makes you anxious to leave when the credits roll. But back in 1935, it was rare for a story to be produced about a blind man. City Lights featured a damsel in distress who literally sold flowers on the street, but in this movie, the young and virile Cary Grant is blinded. His former profession was an acrobatic pilot, so you can imagine how depressed he gets when he can no longer see.

Myrna Loy loves Cary and believes in him, no matter what his condition or handicaps. When Cary tries to get a new lease on life by becoming a writer, Myrna shows her great love: she tells him he's a success and provides the royalties herself. She was also a stunt pilot before his accident, and to make money, she performs terrifying stunts that endanger her life. What a gal! I would recommend watching this old flick if the story interests you. Just keep in mind that they did have to sugar coat some aspects of being blind; it was 1935 and audiences didn't want Cary Grant to be too forlorn. I found it very interesting to watch Cary's seeing eye dog teach him how to survive.

It's always a treat to find an early Cary Grant movie. In this case it was a double treat since Myrna Loy played his love interest. Wings in the Dark (1935) showcases the talents of its two stars, despite the rather unbelievable plot of a recently blinded pilot (Cary Grant) who flies a plane configured with special navigating equipment he has created. While the movie ends on a typical melodramatic, if not predicable note, the movie is still one to catch. Cary Grant pulls together an admirable performance of an independent man who is suddenly blinded and goes through a myriad of emotions that come with the convalescence. This movie shows that Grant had depth as a serious actor. Catch him with two other movies with Myrna Loy, The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer, and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.