Wings for the Eagle
- July 18, 1942 (1942-07-18)
Wings for the Eagle (aka Shadow of Their Wings) is a 1942 American drama film starring Ann Sheridan, Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson and George Tobias, directed by Lloyd Bacon.[2][3] It tells the story of workers at a Lockheed aircraft assembly plant in the months preceding the attack on Pearl Harbor.[4] It was the first of 11 films in which Morgan and Carson appeared together, though they did not become known as a movie "team" until a few years later.
Plot
In 1940, Corky Jones (Dennis Morgan) and Gil Borden (Don DeFore) come to Burbank, California, looking for jobs. They get work at the Lockheed aircraft factory. Corky stays with his friend Brad Maple (Jack Carson) and his wife Roma (Ann Sheridan) Brad is unemployed.
At work, Corky befriends Jake Hanso (George Tobias) and his son Pete (Russell Arms). Pete is studying to become a military pilot. Corky rents a room from Jake after Brad becomes jealous of him. Jake is a supervisor at the plant, born abroad, who loses his job because he is not a citizen.
Roma leaves Brad. Corky begins dating Roma, and the two men fight over her, creating a romantic triangle. When the Japanese launch a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Pete reports for service. He is killed in action.
Corky joins the military as an air cadet, and he arranges for Roma and Brad to get back together. On an early mission his plane shoots down two Japanese fighters, fulfilling a request from Jake by avenging Pete's death.
Cast
- Ann Sheridan as Roma Maple
- Dennis Morgan as Corky Jones
- Jack Carson as Brad Maple
- George Tobias as Jake Hanso
- Russell Arms as Pete Hanso
- Don DeFore as Gil Borden
- Tom Fadden as Tom "Cyclone" Shaw
- John Ridgely as Johnson
- Frank Wilcox as Stark
- George Meeker as Personnel Man
- Fay Helm as Miss Baxter
- Billy Curtis as Midget
- Emory Parnell as Policeman
- Edgar Dearing as Motorcycle Officer
Production
Wings for the Eagle, originally titled Shadow of Their Wings was partly set in Burbank, California near the Lockheed Corporation which had built a production facility where 45 buildings spread out over 550 acres. Warner Bros. received permission to shoot at the Lockheed plant, but, for security reasons, the film crew and actors were instructed to keep a birth certificate on them at all times. The original casting had Ronald Reagan co-starring with Dennis Morgan but he was replaced by Morgan and Jack Carson became the "sidekick".[4]
Warner Bros. advertised the connection with Lockheed in a full-page ad in Life magazine, dedicating the film, "to the workers who actually build Wings for the Eagle. To the workers of America's Fighting aircraft industry ... men and women devoted to the new gospel "We can! We must! We Will!" [4][N 1]
Wings for the Eagle was churned out quickly between January 12–February 1942 at both the Lockheed plant and the Curtiss-Wright Aircraft Company in Buffalo, New York, using a near-documentary film style. At the conclusion of the production, Sheridan, Morgan and Carson went on war bond tours together. Later, Morgan and Carson would visit hospitals and camps throughout the South Pacific during the war.[4]
Aviation film historian Stephen Pendo in Aviation in the Cinema (1985) described how Wings for the Eagle benefited from its association with Lockheed, especially being able to photograph the ceremony highlighting the rollout of the 2,000th aircraft produced for the war effort. An interesting anecdote involved "Billy Curtis, a midget, who showed one way of solving a fuselage construction problem."[5]
Reception
The New York Times called Wings for the Eagle "a rather substantial and satisfying film," but said it "doesn't have the tight construction of its planes and it lacks some of the flaring excitement of films devoted mainly to scenes of air combat."[6] The Los Angeles Times said the film won't make motion picture history but "is a satisfactory enough passing event, important now."[7]
References
Notes
- ^ Despite Lockheed factory staff working in close proximity with the Warner Bros. operation, not one day of aircraft production was lost.[4]
Citations
- ^ "101 pix gross in millions" Variety, January 6, 1943, p. 58.
- ^ Beck 2016, p. 219.
- ^ "Overview: 'Wings for the Eagle' (1942).' TCM.com, October 28, 2014. Retrieved: June 23, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e LaBianco, Lorraine. "Articles: 'Wings for the Eagle' (1942)." TCM, 2019. Retrieved: June 23, 2019.
- ^ Pendo 1985, p. 200.
- ^ Strauss, Theodore (T.S.). "The screen in review: 'Wings for the Eagle,' Warner's film drama of the men who build the giant Bombers, is arrival at Strand Theatre." NYTimes.com, August 1, 1942. Retrieved: June 23, 2019.
- ^ Schallert, Edwin (1942-07-16). "'Wings for the Eagle' Much Astir With War Doings". The Los Angeles Times. p. 15. Retrieved 2021-06-06 – via Newspapers.com.
Bibliography
- Beck, Simon D. The Aircraft-Spotter's Film and Television Companion. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2016. ISBN 9-781476-663494.
- Paris, Michael. From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0-7190-4074-0.
- Pendo, Stephen. Aviation in the Cinema. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. ISBN 0-8-1081-746-2.
External links
- Wings for the Eagle at IMDb
- Wings for the Eagle at the TCM Movie Database
- Wings for the Eagle at AllMovie
- Wings for the Eagle at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
- v
- t
- e
- Broken Hearts of Hollywood (1926)
- Private Izzy Murphy (1926)
- Finger Prints (1927)
- White Flannels (1927)
- The Heart of Maryland (1927)
- A Sailor's Sweetheart (1927)
- Brass Knuckles (1927)
- Women They Talk About (1928)
- The Singing Fool (1928)
- Pay as You Enter (1928)
- Stark Mad (1929)
- No Defense (1929)
- Say It with Songs (1929)
- Honky Tonk (1929)
- So Long Letty (1929)
- The Other Tomorrow (1930)
- She Couldn't Say No (1930)
- A Notorious Affair (1930)
- Moby Dick (1930)
- The Office Wife (1930)
- 50 Million Frenchmen (1931)
- Kept Husbands (1931)
- Sit Tight (1931)
- Gold Dust Gertie (1931)
- Honor of the Family (1931)
- Manhattan Parade (1931)
- Crooner (1932)
- Miss Pinkerton (1932)
- The Famous Ferguson Case (1932)
- You Said a Mouthful (1932)
- 42nd Street (1933)
- Picture Snatcher (1933)
- Footlight Parade (1933)
- Son of a Sailor (1933)
- Wonder Bar (1934)
- A Very Honorable Guy (1934)
- Here Comes the Navy (1934)
- He Was Her Man (1934)
- 6 Day Bike Rider (1934)
- In Caliente (1935)
- Frisco Kid (1935)
- Sons O' Guns (1936)
- Cain and Mabel (1936)
- Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936)
- Marked Woman (1937)
- Ever Since Eve (1937)
- San Quentin (1937)
- Boy Meets Girl (1938)
- Racket Busters (1938)
- A Slight Case of Murder (1938)
- Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938)
- Wings of the Navy (1939)
- The Oklahoma Kid (1939)
- Indianapolis Speedway (1939)
- Espionage Agent (1939)
- A Child Is Born (1939)
- Invisible Stripes (1939)
- Three Cheers for the Irish (1940)
- Brother Orchid (1940)
- Knute Rockne, All American (1940)
- Honeymoon for Three (1941)
- Footsteps in the Dark (1941)
- Affectionately Yours (1941)
- Navy Blues (1941)
- Larceny, Inc. (1942)
- Wings for the Eagle (1942)
- Silver Queen (1942)
- Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
- The Fighting Sullivans (1944)
- Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944)
- Captain Eddie (1945)
- Wake Up and Dream (1946)
- Home Sweet Homicide (1946)
- I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now (1947)
- You Were Meant for Me (1948)
- Give My Regards to Broadway (1948)
- An Innocent Affair (1948)
- Mother Is a Freshman (1949)
- It Happens Every Spring (1949)
- Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949)
- The Good Humor Man (1950)
- Kill the Umpire (1950)
- The Fuller Brush Girl (1950)
- Golden Girl (1951)
- Call Me Mister (1951)
- The Frogmen (1951)
- The Great Sioux Uprising (1953)
- The French Line (1953)
- She Couldn't Say No (1954)