Calling Barranca

As we all know, 1939 was certainly jammed with classic hit movies, and one of the quieter ones in my opinion is Only Angels Have Wings. I first became aware of this film via the Lux Radio Theater version, but the movie itself is well-worth a watch, has a great cast, and is full of some great character studies.

It opens at the fictional port of Barranca in South America, where Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur) is disembarking the ferry. She’s got several hours until it leaves and she wants to stretch her legs. Naturally, two Americans pick her up right away, and take her off to their local bar, which is also a jumping-off place for American mail carriers who transport the mail over the mountains.

On a side note, do I really need to mention how bad an idea it is to go off with people you’ve just met? No matter how glad you are that they’re supposedly from your country? Old movies always show people doing this and no one bats an eye. In fact, everyone seems to become best friends right off the bat. Ah, fantasy. Anyway, moving on…

Bonnie settles in for a steak dinner with her two new friends, Les (Allyn Joslyn) and Joe (Noah Beery, Jr.), but then Joe is called away to deliver some mail. There’s extremely heavy fog, and it doesn’t take long for things to go really bad. Shining spotlights into the sky doesn’t do a thing. Joe tries to land but crashes.

Geoff (Cary Grant), much to Bonnie’s horror, sits down to eat Joe’s steak, and Bonnie can’t believe how cavalier Geoff and some of the other pilots seem even though Joe just died ten minutes ago. They even go so far as to ask Bonnie, “Who’s Joe?”

They’re ribbing her, of course, but Bonnie’s too shocked and angry to get the joke. She has to go outside and collect herself before she can rejoin the group, which she leads in a rousing rendition of “The Peanut Vendor.”

Geoff, who has made it very clear he wouldn’t ask any woman to wait for him while he’s off flying dangerously, is surprised to see Bonnie in the bar the next morning eating her breakfast. Well, more put off than surprised. There’s another boat the next week.

Bonnie, meanwhile, has found out enought about Geoff that she wants to stick around and see what makes him tick, and over the next week she gets more than she bargained for. Geoff’s ex, Judy (Rita Hayworth) and her husband, Bat McPherson (Richard Barthelmess) have come in because Bat is looking for a job.

Yep, things get tense. People get hurt in more ways than one, and not always on purpose, and over the course of the week Bonnie has to decide what she wants out of life. She has to admit, though, that she’s hoping Geoff will ask her to stay.

One of the interesting thing about this film is that it really doesn’t have much of a plot. The characters take off flying in dangerous conditions, and the women wait for them to come back. Who will survive? Who will die in a crash? How will everyone behave under pressure? The plot lies in the characters’ response to events over which they don’t have much control.

And that’s the big question: What kind of life would Bonnie have if she stays in Barranca? She would be doing nothing but waiting for Geoff to come back…if he comes back. Beyond that, what would she do? She could get a job at the bar or something, but it all looks very small.

What’s also interesting are the old planes, especially the Ford Tri-Motor. I saw one of these in the Smithsonian, and the film uses one of the single engine types, but it’s still on the same order. The corrugated metal is a dead giveaway. They were serviceable airplanes, so I’m not surprised they were used in the movie.

Other than that, there’s so much about this mail operation that’s very seat-of-the-pants. The radio receiver looks like an old candlestick phone. The characters talk about the planes being held together with glue and tape, and they might be joking…or not. It’s a very subtle way of upping the stakes, as if we need more excuses to wonder if these guys will return from their very dangerous flights.

And how did Only Angels Have Wings stack up in the very crowded calendar that was 1939? The movie pulled in $4.8M, or just over $201M in today’s money.

The critics were winkingly kind. Frank S. Nugent of the New York Times said,

“In Ecuador, in the banana port of Barranca, {director Howard Hawks} has indulged himself and the vicarious adventurers in the audience in a delightful series of crack-ups, close-shaves and studiously dramatic speeches. It is all very exciting and Juvenile…The brew stirs slowly, as is the way with two-hour shows, tending toward silly romanticism in its dialogue, but moving splendidly whenever the plot’s wheels leave the ground and take off over the Andes…But when you add it all up, “Only Angels Have Wings” comes to an overly familiar total. It’s a fairly good melodrama, nothing more.”

Marion Anderson of the Tampa Bay Times opined, “Superlative performances on the part of principal and supporting characters, alike, coupled with a tensely romantic story, make “Only Angels Have Wings,” now at the Florida theater, one of the outstanding pictures of the year.”

That might have been hyperbole in a review published halfway through the best single year in film history, but it’s not wrong, either.

Coming up in April (click on the banner for more information)…

Another post is coming up on Thursday. Thanks for reading, all, and I hope to see you then…

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