Captains of the Clouds (1942)

Captains of the Clouds is a 1942 Warner Bros. war film in Technicolor, directed by Michael Curtiz and starring James Cagney. It was produced by William Cagney (James Cagney's brother), with Hal B. Wallis as executive producer. The screenplay was written by Arthur T. Horman, Richard Macaulay, and Norman Reilly Raine, based on a story by Horman and Roland Gillett. The cinematography was by Wilfred M. Cline, Sol Polito, and Winton C. Hoch and was notable in that it was the first feature length Hollywood production filmed entirely in Canada.

The film stars James Cagney and Dennis Morgan as Canadian pilots who do their part in the Second World War, and features Brenda Marshall, Alan Hale, Sr., George Tobias, Reginald Gardiner, and Reginald Denny in supporting roles. The title of the film came from a phrase used by Billy Bishop, the First World War fighter ace, who played himself in the film. The same words are also echoed in the narration of The Lion Has Wings documentary (1939).

In 1942, Canada had been at war with the Axis Powers for over two years, while the United States had only just entered in December 1941. A film on the ongoing Canadian involvement made sense for the American war effort. The films ends with an epilogue chronicling the contributions of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) to the making of the film.

Synopsis

Brian MacLean (James Cagney), Johnny Dutton (Dennis Morgan), "Tiny" Murphy (Alan Hale, Sr.), "Blimp" Lebec (George Tobias), and British expatriate "Scrounger" Harris (Reginald Gardiner) are bush pilots competing for business in rugged Northern Ontario, Canada in 1939, as the Second World War is beginning. Dutton, whose ambition is to start his own airline, flies by the book but MacLean is a seat-of-the-pants kind of pilot, mirroring the differences in their personalities.

Actors