On H List of Movie Reviews

(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)


Hell's Angels (1930)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 5/25

HellsAngels
5/25: Hell's Angels is a notable film for two reasons: Howard Hughes directed it and the major screen debut of Jean Harlow.

Despite showing some trappings of silent cinema, it's a timeless movie. Because of the aerial scenes in the final forty-five minutes of which four people died for real, the Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography is richly deserved. Howard Hughes flew once to pull off a dangerous stunt that nobody wanted to perform and fractured his skull after crashing his plane.

The story is unique with a love quadrangle (not triangle that so many reviewers have mentioned), and the lines are shocking to hear with some profanities and instances of taking the Lord's name in vain. You won't hear the following that much in a 30's war picture such as:

"Can't you see they're just words? Words coined by politicians and profiteers to trick you into fighting for them. What's a word compared with life...the only life you've got. I'll give 'em a word. Murder! That's what this dirty rotten politician's war is."

"Would you be shocked if I put on something more comfortable?"

"Why should we fight this war? For capitalism? You will die! You will die! All your sons will die for capitalism! Down with capitalism! Down with war!"

"Listen, Roy, never love a woman. Just make love to her."

The Zeppelin raid scene may be a weird sight, but it did happen during WWI. When the ship crashed, it ironically predicted the Hindenburg disaster on May 6, 1937. However, I don't like the occasional colorized scenes, causing some of the characters to appear ghastly white. To fix the issue, the whole thing should be strictly black and white.

What happened is that talking pictures had finally arrived but Hell's Angels was first shot as a silent film in 1927, so Howard Hughes decided to redo most of it which ultimately failed to turn a profit despite finishing number one at the box office of 1930. At least, it began Jean Harlow's career as a vamp, predating Marilyn Monroe by twenty years. She was in her late teens when that happened. Everybody else's performance is good, and the standouts are Ben Lyon and Lucien Prival.

All in all, it's prophetic that Jean Harlow's line in Hell's Angels is "Life's short, and I wanna live while I'm alive" as she passed away in 1937 at age 26.