Warner Brothers came up with a good idea to make a war picture without the U. S. being involved in said war yet. They made this film about a group of Canadian "bush" pilots who decide to join the Canadian Royal Air Force after England enters the war in 1940.
The film is basically split into two pretty much equal parts. The first part gives you a feel for the toughness of the pilots and the toughness of their work as they are independent contractor pilots hauling goods and people to wherever they are needed in the Canadian wilderness. In the middle of this is a love triangle with Emily (Brenda Marshall), daughter of the owner of a trading post, on one side and pilots Brian MacLean (James Cagney) and Johnny Dutton (Dennis Morgan) on the other two sides. MacLean is just fooling around with her - and she fools back. Dutton wants to marry the girl. Dutton disappears at the end of this first half. Nobody knows where he's gone.
The second half is about Canada entering WWII when England is under attack by Germany starting in 1940, with the bush pilots wanting to sign up and do their part. The film is realistic in the sense that the RCAF tells the Bush pilots that they are too old to be fighter pilots - that nobody over 26 is young enough to be a fighter pilot due to the physical stress. They are offered jobs as staff pilots or instructors, which they take. Tiny (Alan Hale) washes out because of his alcoholism. McLean washes out because he can't follow rules because, after all, this is James Cagney we are talking about! Oh, and it turns out that Dutton disappeared to join the RCAF before the war and now is an officer.
There isn't much acting or real interaction in this second part. It is practically a documentary on the Royal Canadian Air Force as it existed in 1941 and doubles as a film to stir up patriotism. But this film suffered from bad timing. It was released in February 1942, two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Still, it made a profit.
Yes, this is a stereotypical role for James Cagney considering all of his other brash roles at Warner Brothers in a paint by numbers plot, but then people paid good money to see James Stewart be basically the same character for decades with no complaints. The Technicolor is stunning, especially the shots of the Canadian wilderness in the first half, and this being Cagney's first color film you get to see that bright red hair of his. It's definitely worth a look.
The film is basically split into two pretty much equal parts. The first part gives you a feel for the toughness of the pilots and the toughness of their work as they are independent contractor pilots hauling goods and people to wherever they are needed in the Canadian wilderness. In the middle of this is a love triangle with Emily (Brenda Marshall), daughter of the owner of a trading post, on one side and pilots Brian MacLean (James Cagney) and Johnny Dutton (Dennis Morgan) on the other two sides. MacLean is just fooling around with her - and she fools back. Dutton wants to marry the girl. Dutton disappears at the end of this first half. Nobody knows where he's gone.
The second half is about Canada entering WWII when England is under attack by Germany starting in 1940, with the bush pilots wanting to sign up and do their part. The film is realistic in the sense that the RCAF tells the Bush pilots that they are too old to be fighter pilots - that nobody over 26 is young enough to be a fighter pilot due to the physical stress. They are offered jobs as staff pilots or instructors, which they take. Tiny (Alan Hale) washes out because of his alcoholism. McLean washes out because he can't follow rules because, after all, this is James Cagney we are talking about! Oh, and it turns out that Dutton disappeared to join the RCAF before the war and now is an officer.
There isn't much acting or real interaction in this second part. It is practically a documentary on the Royal Canadian Air Force as it existed in 1941 and doubles as a film to stir up patriotism. But this film suffered from bad timing. It was released in February 1942, two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Still, it made a profit.
Yes, this is a stereotypical role for James Cagney considering all of his other brash roles at Warner Brothers in a paint by numbers plot, but then people paid good money to see James Stewart be basically the same character for decades with no complaints. The Technicolor is stunning, especially the shots of the Canadian wilderness in the first half, and this being Cagney's first color film you get to see that bright red hair of his. It's definitely worth a look.