"Men with Wings" finally on DVD!

Gregvan · 14 July 2015, 02:20 PM

Hi,

I was recently excited to learn that William Wellman's 1938 Paramount Classic "Men with Wings" had finally been released on DVD as part of the Universal Vault Series.

I quickly ordered one from Amazon and I'm very pleased with the DVD. I can finally say I've seen a really good print of this classic! By the way, don't be put off by a couple of negative reviews on Amazon. They refer to an earlier pirated DVD that was made from some rotten VHS copy from a TV late-show screening. The current DVD is the real deal, and very good quality.

For those of you that don't know...This flick was Wellman's attempt to tell the history of aviation from 1903 up to 1938, through the intertwined lives of three fictional characters (yes, there's a love triangle involved). No CGI, and relatively little model work. It was all filmed with real planes flown by Frank Clarke, Paul Mantz and others - and it's in COLOR!!

The story starts out in 1903 with the Wright Bros flight, and continues with a marvelously fun sequence about the 3 main characters as kids; the two boys construct a kid-carrying kite and talk their little girl friend into flying in it - wonderful scene, and a very young Donald O'Connor plays one of the kids.

The kids grow up into Pat Falconer (Fred MacMurray) a devil-may-care, irresponsible flier who goes off to fight in the Lafayette Flying Corps; Scott Barnes (Ray Milland), his stable and brilliant buddy who designs,builds and flies better & better airplanes; and Peggy Ransom (Louis Campbell) their mutual girl friend who marries Falconer but comes to realize she should have gone with Barnes. Andy Devine provided the comedy relief.

Paul Mantz collected and restored a real Spad VII, Nieuport 28 and Hisso-engined Fokker D.VII for the movie, but the Spad and N28 didn't do any flying in the picture but were used only in publicity stills. The Nieuport and Spad were painted up in camouflage colors and marked with the black cat emblem of Wellman's old escadrille N87.I think all three of these planes were the same ones that Frank Tallmann still had around 1960.

The highlight is a big dogfight scene in which one one real D.VII and several Travelair "Wichita Fokkers" appear, all painted up in bright flying Circus markings (in technicolor), They are bounced by Fred MacMurray and his buddies flying two Garland Lincoln LF-Is and some Wacos impersonating Nieuports. They wheel and whirl all over the skies over Van Nuys, CA. Yeah, most of them aren't real WWI planes but you do get to see a bright red Fokker D.VII being put through its paces by an expert flier.

The movie continues with Ray Milland being stuck at home, designing and testing new fighters for the US Air Service. He wants to upset his CO so he'll get sent overseas too, and his character takes off in his "new experimental" fighter which was actually Paul Mantz' Boeing 100, modified to look a bit like a 1918 era fighter. Frank Clarke did a lot of amazing flying for this scene, making very low passes over & between the hangars , flying inverted etc. It's amazing stuff, beautifully filmed. Milland crashes the plane after some of its upper wing tears away in a high speed dive.

By the way, you can spot a number of other historic types in these scenes, such as some DH-4's and Tommy Morse scouts in the background.

Anyway, if you have ANY interest in historic aviation or classic aviation flicks I'd recommend this one. Here are some photos of the real WWI airplanes that Wellman assembled for the picture; the real Nieuport & Spad couldn't keep up with the more powerful stand-ins so they don't appear in the movie!.

That's Wellman himself leaning against the Nieuport wing.

Gregvan · 14 July 2015, 02:25 PM

Here's some more shots of the real WWI types assembled for the movie; it's a pity there are no scenes in the flick with the real Nieuport and Spad. By the way, most of the dogfight scene was recycled years later for Wellman's last effort, the awful "Lafayette Escadrille" with the equally awful Tab Hunter. However, in that movie, the dogfight scene is in black & white!! You can see the original scenes in full-blown glorious technicolor in "Men with Wings".

Barry Hickson · 14 July 2015, 04:45 PM

Many thanks Greg for the "Heads Up" on this one.
Looks like a must have for us WW1 aero nuts.

sator · 15 July 2015, 12:12 AM

Thanks for the info Greg I,ll pick up a copy soon.

Barrett · 15 July 2015, 03:58 PM

I've never seen MWW in color and not at all in decades. Oddness: the only thing I remember well is early when the Pioneering Airman crashes & burns. As the kids drag him from the wreck he gasps, "Tell them to turn off the engine when they crash."

await · 21 July 2015, 09:03 AM

Thanks for the tip, Greg! I've been waiting for this film for a long time. I've just ordered a copy from Amazon.

CivvyCivvy · 25 July 2015, 11:39 AM

Thanks for that. It's going on my wish lish.

Gregvan · 27 July 2015, 07:01 PM

Here's the Lockheed Sirius that was fitted out as a camera ship for filming the aerial sequences in "Men with Wings". That's William Wellman in the foreground at the bottom, while Paul Mantz is at right on the plane.

Though it's not in the colors it wore for "Men with Wings", this is one of the Garland-Lincoln LF I "Nieuport 28" replicas owned by Paul Mantz that no doubt appeared in the movie. It later became part of the Tallmantz collection. This was photographed circa 1963.

await · 31 July 2015, 10:30 AM

Thanks for all the nice photos and info, Greg! I had quite a collection of magazine articles with photos like those from the '60s through the '90s, but unfortunately the box containing them went missing during a hasty move. Such old aviation magazines can be a really nice resource.

I have now watched "Men With Wings." You're right about the quality of the technicolor. It's gorgeous! There's something special about the colors in those old films. They seem highly saturated. Anyway, it's wonderful to see the original Fokker D.VII in flight (all too briefly!). And, as you mentioned, there are other planes such as Thomas Morse Scouts and the airmail DH4Bs which make brief appearances and cause one to reach for the "pause" button.

It was fun to see Andy Devine as well. He's in a few DVDs in my collection, including "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World" and a Twilight Zone episode in which he plays a loud-mouthed teller of tall tales whom no one will believe when he meets actual aliens from another world. Fun stuff!

Gregvan · 31 July 2015, 01:26 PM

Hi Adam,

Glad you liked "Men with Wings". Yes, the early Technicolor process produced very vibrant colors.

Fred MacMurray was photographed in Paul Mantz' Spad VII for a number of publicity photos and booklets promoting the film. It's a pity the Spad didn't make it into the movie! Here he is grinning as he grabs the non-historic grips for his Vickers Gun.

Here's the "Better Little Book" that was produced to tie in with the film.

Ironically, MacMurray would portray two WWI aces on film: the fictional Falconer for "Men with Wings", and the real-life Rickenbacker in "Captain Eddie" in 1945. That flick made use of possibly the very same Mantz Spad VII in stills and as background, and used stock footage from movies like "Hell's Angels" and "Men with Wings".