Only Angels Have Wings

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Cast & Crew

Cary Grant
Geoff Carter

Jean Arthur
Bonnie Lee

Rita Hayworth
Judith 'Judy' MacPherson

Richard Barthelmess
Barthelmess

Thomas Mitchell
Kid Dabb

Sig Ruman
John 'Dutchy' Van Reiter (as Sig Rumann)

Victor Kilian
Sparks (radioman)

John Carroll
Gent Shelton

Allyn Joslyn
Les Peters

Donald Barry
Tex Gordon, lookout

Howard Hawks
Director

Howard Hawks
Writer

Jules Furthman
Writer

William Rankin
Writer

Eleanore Griffin
Writer

Howard Hawks
Producer

Dimitri Tiomkin
Original Music

Manuel Álvarez Maciste
Original Music

Joseph Walker
Cinematographer

Viola Lawrence
Film Editor

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Critic Reviews for Only Angels Have Wings

Audience Reviews for Only Angels Have Wings

• Mar 03, 2020

  Hawks emphasizing character over plot has the effect of enhancing the danger of the flying sequences. You're just never sure who is going to survive.
  

  Alec B Super Reviewer
• May 24, 2015

  Cary Grant leads a tight ensemble of mail pilots in the Andes Mountains for whom frequently bad weather conditions turn every regular day of work into a dance of death. Somehow Jean Arthur gets off the boat and gets involved with the guys first and then with Grant. Much of this doesn't make sense or add up and yet the presentation is so atmospheric and well done that damned if one doesn't hang around for the ride. Rita Hayworth, in her first A picture, sizzles even then.
  Kevin M. W Super Reviewer
• Apr 10, 2013

  It's a film about adventure and romance, but what we really have here is a study on the nature of death by director Howard Hawks. A lone adventuress (Jean Arthur) steps off the boat in a tiny South American banana port, and makes quick friends with some lonely american pilots working for the local mail company. It's a friendship that ends all too suddenly and all too violently. But where she would shed tears for a soul lost to dust, his fellow pilots choose to sing songs and even laugh it off, as death could come for any one of them at any time. The dashing head of the crew (Cary Grant) is perhaps the most cavalier of the group, but then, he has to be, as he's the one who sends them out (possibly to their deaths). She's attracted to him, and he to her, not as some flighty dame, but as a real woman who knows how to value life. But it becomes her task to convince him that she won't try to change him like his last love (Rita Hayworth) did, and he must make the effort to want something, to want her, for more than a passing fancy. He, who never owns so much as a book of matches, feeling it's too much of a commitment. In the face of the constant threat of death, maybe this all seems unimportant, or maybe it's the only thing that IS important. Maybe that's the heart of the matter, the issue of what this life is all about and what are we doing here and why are we doing it. There is a scene towards the end of the movie, a pilot is going on "one last flight", and it's one he must make alone. It's the elephant in the room, the fact that everyone knows, but no one wants to say aloud. That we all must one day die, and that we will die alone. The light will die within us and the mystery of death will finally be revealed. It may be wrong to fixate on our ultimate fate, but it's more wrongful still to deny that fate completely. Only Angels Have Wings is a microcosm of all our own little lives put together. We push forward and persevere in our work and loves in spite of our own mortality, because to do otherwise would be to negate our whole existence in the first place.
  Devon B Super Reviewer
• Sep 05, 2010

  This is probably my favourite Cary Grant movie of the thirties. Jean Arthur, another favourite actor, stars alongside him in this. The movie combines adventure, drama, romance, and a bit of comedy. I loved this movie, and I highly recommend it.
  Aj V Super Reviewer

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