Le bousilleur

Devil Dogs of the Air is a typical Warner Brothers film with a typical Warner Brothers cast, not that that's a bad thing at all. The movie stars Jimmy Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Margaret Lindsay, and Frank McHugh.

Cagney plays a cocky flier, Tommy, whose friend Brannigan (O'Brien) encourages him to enlist in Marine flying school.

The first thing he does is fall for Brannigan's girlfriend Betty (Lindsay) who can't stand him. We all know what that means.

It turns out that Tommy is a remarkable flier and, though the friendship between the two men seems to suffer, everybody has to admit that Tommy knows what he's doing. And he keeps going after Betty.

Predictable, but the good cast brings it up a level as do the flying sequences. The planes look like what the Wright Brothers invented, and they do some amazing things.

If you're an airplane fan, you will enjoy this, though you might mix it up with some of Warners other flying films. But it has the US Navy dirigible, the early planes as I mentioned, and some fabulous stunts.

I have to one day count up how many films Cagney, O'Brien and McHugh made together. I know McHugh and Cagney made 11, and that all three were friends. They worked together very well.