THRILLING DRAMA OF THE CLOUDS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 143, 18 June 1931, Page 6

THRILLING DRAMA OF THE CLOUDS.

GREAT SPECTACLES IN “ HELL’S ANGELS.” “ The picture of the year ” has been used so often that it is becoming a meaningless comment, but it has real significance when ' applied to “ Hell’s Angels,” which is opening at. the Theatre Royal to-morrow. A pre-view was shown this morning, and it is undoubtedly true that the film substantially justifies all that has been said of it. It is an epic of war in the air. Thrill mounts on thrill, and , no expense or care has been spared in maintaining the vivid realism that is the feature of the picture. Every department of fighting in the air is graphically depicted. The photography throughout is remarkable in catching, not only the breathless action of the scenes, but also beauty and subdued effects above the clouds. The picture opens with sparkling scenes in Germany before the war. Ben Lyon and James Hall, as Monte and Roy Rutledge, are on vacation. On their return to Oxford, war is declared, and there are vivid glimpses of England, stirred to the depths by unexpected strife—surging crowds in the streets; excited members in the House of Commons; the mobbing of anti-war speakers in the streets; the youth of ’the nation surging round recruiting depots, and all the fervid enthusiasm and activity of a vast empire hurled into warfare. The brothers join the Royal Flying Corps, and the flight and destruction of a zeppelin over London begin the real breath-taking action of the film. From a bank of dully gleaming clouds the long slender hull of the giant airship noses its steady way and bombs are dropped. British aircraft are soon on vengeance bent, and, after a stirring fight, the zeppelin crashes blazing to the ground. The action of the story then shifts to France where the brothers are deputed to take a

captured Gotha over the German lines to destroy a munition dump. On the return, the daring men are attacked by von Richtofen’s “Flying Circus.” A British squadron comes to the rescue and what follows is certainly the most startling scene of the picture. Fifty 'planes are shown in combat simultaneously. Whirling, looping, twisting, and with their guns spurting flame, these wasps fight out a terrific battle. The fighting ’planes are like so many flies buzzing in frantic haste and the air seems full of them. Every now and then, one falls swiftly earthwards leaving a twisting trail of oily smoke drifting in its -wake. The close-ups are just as startling—grim faces fixed in rigid concentration over barking guns as the 'planes dive downward for the attack or strive for the advantage of height and position. The Gotha is forced down and the brothers captured. They meet death behind the German lines in what is a really splendid climax. The two stars, with Jean Harlow as the beautiful but unfaithful vamp, are an able trio and do full justice to the human side of the story. Their acting is quite in keeping with the spectacular nature of the film. “Hell’s Angels,’* a United Artists’ production, was directed by Howard Hughes. It cost nearly a million pounds to produce and took three years to film. More than 20,000 people appear in the mass scenes and 100 daredevil pilots take part in the thrilling air-fights. A flying fleet of 87 wartime ’planes, including a giant German Gotha bomber and a German Zeppelin, was brought together from all parts of the world in the successful search for realism.