CEILING ZERO (1936)

Pity the artist revisiting a theme, finding BEST enemy to GOOD . . . even to nearly as great.  Everyone knows Leonardo’s ‘Mona Lisa’ while his ‘Madonna of the Rocks’ (once a mere two paintings to the left at The Louvre and featuring the same model) would have nary a tourist blocking your view.  Shakespeare’s HAMLET; a hundred performances for every staging of soulmate TIMON OF ATHENS.  Operatically, the same four lead voice types fit Verdi’s ERNANI and IL TROVATORE to a ‘T,’ but the Marx Brothers knew which to poke fun at.*  So too this undervalued (and regrettably hard to find) Howard Hawks airline drama (adapted by Frank Wead from his play) vs. Hawks' ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS/’39, arguably his key work, from an original Jules Furthman screenplay.  Each dealing with a series of crises involving pilots, weather, equipment, love affairs & character (group & individual) largely taking place inside a flight command center.  And if the later is clearly the superior piece, that’s no reason not to give CEILING its due.  Pat O’Brien is now a solid citizen type running the ground game for a growing mail & passenger line, a tough but fair taskmaster to his staff . . . when not blowing his top.  But he’s got a soft spot for his old bud from roughhouse days before aviation became an industry, wildcat pilot James Cagney, suddenly back in the mix and ruffling fathers with his cocky style, go-it-alone attitude & womanizing ways (including O’Brien’s missus) in what is now a respectable business.  Cagney unusually physical with the ladies here (lots of full on kissing!), especially young June Travis, a ripening 19 to Cagney’s ‘old man’ 34.  Trampling over everyone, then charming or fast-talking his way out of jams, Cagney is just starting to realize his skills in the sky no longer suffice.  And when he goes too far and gets others in trouble, even killed, he finds a heroic (or is it easy/cowardly?) way out.  Technically, this Warners pic suffers from penny-plain model work, and occasionally betrays its stage origins, but is swell enough on its own merits, even if it can’t match WINGS’ all-star power or elaborate crisscross narrative design.  On its own, a must for any self-respecting Hawksian.  (And better than TIMON OF ATHENS.)

DOUBLE-BILL: Otto Preminger’s WWII naval epic IN HARM’S WAY/’65, has Kirk Douglas in a role much like Cagney’s.  Right down to the finish.  Here too, BEST is enemy to GOOD.  OR: As mentioned, ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Not to raise Hawks as artistic equal to these guys, auterist acolytes be damned.

READ ALL ABOUT IT: Todd McCarthy’s HOWARD HAWKS bio exceptionally good on this film.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: That unfortunate little mustache on Cagney?  A signal of contract rebellion.  Sure enough, Cagney went AWOL on Warners for a couple of years after this.