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Only Angels Have Wings Overview:

Only Angels Have Wings (1939) was a Drama - Adventure Film directed by Howard Hawks and produced by Howard Hawks.

SYNOPSIS

A sparkling cast, well directed, highlights a film that represented the comeback of Barthelmess, a major leading man of the silent era. Grant plays the flinty director of a trans-Andes air courier operation. He is the eye of a hurricane of women who want him, Barthelmess, who may be responsible for the death of Mitchell's brother, and the nearly blind Mitchell himself, who dies on a dangerous mission while trying to spare Grant the risk. When the storm clears we glimpse a humanized Grant with Arthur on his arm.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Academy Awards 1939 --- Ceremony Number 12 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best CinematographyJoseph WalkerNominated
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Only Angels Have Wings BlogHub Articles:

Only Angels Have Wings (1939): Hawks’ Greatest Adventure Movie

By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 6, 2019 From 4 Star Films

Howard Hawks always had a knack for creating worlds and subsequently building camaraderie between his characters simply by stringing scenes together one after the other. Only Angels Have Wings sets up a premise — revolving around a South American outpost — then settles in on two fl... Read full article

Watching 1939: Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

on Jul 4, 2019 From Comet Over Hollywood

In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, th... Read full article

Only Angels Have Wings (1939, Howard Hawks)

By Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 17, 2018 From The Stop Button

The first forty-five minutes of Only Angels Have Wings is mostly continual present action. Jean Arthur arrives in a South American port town, looking around–followed by two possible ne’er-do-wells (Allyn Joslyn and Noah Beery Jr.)–and the film tracks her experience. Great direction from Hawks,... Read full article

CCU37: Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

By Aaron West on May 15, 2016 From Criterion Blues

May 15 Posted by aaronwest Mark and Aaron fly back to 1939 to discuss Howard Hawks’ classic Only Angels Have Wings. We evaluate the special effects, how the film built suspense, the context of aviation in the late 1930s, and later films that embody a similar masculinity. We also reveal the wi... Read full article

CCU37: Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

By Aaron West on May 15, 2016 From Criterion Blues

May 15 Posted by aaronwest Mark and Aaron fly back to 1939 to discuss Howard Hawks’ classic Only Angels Have Wings. We evaluate the special effects, how the film built suspense, the context of aviation in the late 1930s, and later films that embody a similar masculinity. We also reveal the wi... Read full article

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Only Angels Have Wings Quotes:

Bonnie Lee: Say, things happen awful fast around here.
Kid Dabb: The boat doesn't stop at Santa Maria this trip.
Geoff Carter: Why not?
Kid Dabb: They have no bananas.
Geoff Carter: They have no bananas?
Kid Dabb: Yes, they have no bananas.
Bonnie Lee: What was she like, anyway?
Geoff Carter: Who?
Bonnie Lee: That girl that made you act the way you do.
Geoff Carter: A whole lot like you. Just as nice, almost as smart.
Bonnie Lee: Chorus girl?
Geoff Carter: Only by temperament.
Bonnie Lee: Say, isn't that girl the one he used to be in love with?
Kid Dabb: Bonnie, when it rains, every third drop falls on one of them.
Geoff Carter: Got a match?
Bonnie Lee: Say, don't you ever have any?
Geoff Carter: No - don't believe in laying in a supply of anything.
[she hands him a match]
Geoff Carter: Thanks.
Bonnie Lee: Matches, marbles, money or women, huh?
Geoff Carter: That's right.
Bonnie Lee: No looking ahead; no tomorrows; just today.
Geoff Carter: That's right.
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Only Angels Have Wings Facts
With the exception of the rain, The Kid's death scene was copied nearly exactly and word-per-word from a pilot's death that Howard Hawks had witnessed.
Was originally titled "Pilot Number 4."
The "Flit gun" mentioned by Bonnie in relation to the pests in her room is a hand-pumped insecticide sprayer. The devices were developed to spray Flit, a brand-name insecticide. Like many innovations, the name became attached to similar devices made by competitors and "Flit gun" became a generic name for this type of sprayer.
For the role of Judy MacPherson, Howard Hawks screen-tested Dorothy Comingore, Rochelle Hudson and Rita Hayworth. He selected Hayworth because she had a face "that the camera likes."
Near the end of the film, Bonnie (Jean Arthur) says to Geoff (Cary Grant), "I'm hard to get, Geoff, all you have to do is ask me." This line would, of course, be more famously re-utilized by director Howard Hawks and screenwriter Jules Furthman in their later film, To Have and Have Not, spoken this time by Slim (Lauren Bacall) to Steve (Humphrey Bogart).
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