Throughout most of the story, Brian MacLean (James Cagney) flies by the seat of his pants, and at times it seems the movie does too. The film starts out about a handful of Canadian bush pilots attempting to learn the identity of a sneaky, job stealing rival, and ends up with the bunch of them joining the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. In between there's a love triangle between Cagney's character and his main rival Johnny Dutton (Dennis Morgan) over the affections of Emily Foster (Brenda Marshall). Emily turns out to be a self promoting opportunist who shows her true colors by eloping with MacLean since he showed up with a bankroll first. It seems the only thing Emily has going for her is her fiery good looks, as even her father bemoans her integrity when Johnny comes back for her.
You're probably best served while watching the film to stop questioning the believability of the events on screen and just kick back to enjoy the natural beauty of the Canadian wilderness and the great display of era war planes. I'm no aviation buff, but the sight of all those colorful planes at the various flight training schools was incredible. Hard to believe though that nations actually carried out a World War in such machines when considering today's science and technology.
The rest of the film's cast almost makes it seem like like they might have been going for a comedy, with a lively Alan Hale leading the way, along with George Tobias and Reginald Gardner as fellow bush pilots. Scrounger Harris (Gardner) gets some mileage out of a running gag as a penny pincher; Cagney nails his character with the line "I have no money and he's trying to borrow it". Cagney and Hale ham it up by briefly dancing with each other in another lighter scene before things get somber in the finale.
Apparently many of the RCAF fliers in the movie's graduation scene wound up heading for the War in Europe shortly after filming, receiving their wings from real life Canadian war hero, Air Marshal William 'Billy' Bishop. He appeared comfortable in his brief on screen role, perhaps in the knowledge that the film might have inspirational propaganda value.
Cagney's character has a lot to redeem himself for, and does so in the film's climactic ending. It just struck me how many times he portrays a character that dies at the end of the story, this time realizing that he has a lot to atone for. True to his character, flier MacLean turns a deaf ear to his former buddy and now commanding officer Dutton - "I'm not disobeying orders, I just can't hear you."
You're probably best served while watching the film to stop questioning the believability of the events on screen and just kick back to enjoy the natural beauty of the Canadian wilderness and the great display of era war planes. I'm no aviation buff, but the sight of all those colorful planes at the various flight training schools was incredible. Hard to believe though that nations actually carried out a World War in such machines when considering today's science and technology.
The rest of the film's cast almost makes it seem like like they might have been going for a comedy, with a lively Alan Hale leading the way, along with George Tobias and Reginald Gardner as fellow bush pilots. Scrounger Harris (Gardner) gets some mileage out of a running gag as a penny pincher; Cagney nails his character with the line "I have no money and he's trying to borrow it". Cagney and Hale ham it up by briefly dancing with each other in another lighter scene before things get somber in the finale.
Apparently many of the RCAF fliers in the movie's graduation scene wound up heading for the War in Europe shortly after filming, receiving their wings from real life Canadian war hero, Air Marshal William 'Billy' Bishop. He appeared comfortable in his brief on screen role, perhaps in the knowledge that the film might have inspirational propaganda value.
Cagney's character has a lot to redeem himself for, and does so in the film's climactic ending. It just struck me how many times he portrays a character that dies at the end of the story, this time realizing that he has a lot to atone for. True to his character, flier MacLean turns a deaf ear to his former buddy and now commanding officer Dutton - "I'm not disobeying orders, I just can't hear you."