'Men with Wings' enabled director William A. Wellman to combine his twin enthusiasms for both aviation and Technicolor, but ultimately fails to live up to its soaring title. It starts well in 1903 with its lead trio (including the young Donald O'Connor) as kids experimenting with a kite in the fields of rural America, picturesquely staged in rich early Technicolor by Oscar-winning cameraman W.Howard Greene.
The film's high spot is the magnificent flying sequence depicting a dog fight between WWI biplanes against a Technicolor blue sky and enormous fluffy white clouds. The film continues to look ravishing throughout, as does the lovely Louise Campbell, but after the war ends and she ends up with the wrong guy, soap opera begins to take over the plot, and models take over the flying scenes.
It's interesting to see the various familiar faces in supporting roles in colour, and although MacMurray is top billed, the real hero (apart from the aircraft) is plainly Milland.
The film's high spot is the magnificent flying sequence depicting a dog fight between WWI biplanes against a Technicolor blue sky and enormous fluffy white clouds. The film continues to look ravishing throughout, as does the lovely Louise Campbell, but after the war ends and she ends up with the wrong guy, soap opera begins to take over the plot, and models take over the flying scenes.
It's interesting to see the various familiar faces in supporting roles in colour, and although MacMurray is top billed, the real hero (apart from the aircraft) is plainly Milland.