Universal pre-coder, directed by John Ford, about the dramatic goings-on at an air mail base. Ralph Bellamy runs the place and has his hands full with arrogant new pilot Pat O'Brien. In future films similar to this, O'Brien would play the Bellamy part of the responsible straight-arrow while James Cagney played the reckless hotshot. So it's interesting to see him playing against his (later) typecasting here. Fine performances from Bellamy and O'Brien. Good support from Gloria Stuart, Slim Summerville, Lilian Bond, David Landau, and Leslie Fenton. Nice special effects and flying sequences. Not quite as good as Night Flight but right up there as one of my favorite aviation films from the '30s.
12 Reviews
'Neither snow nor sleet...............'
bkoganbing7 March 2013
If any of you have seen John Ford's tribute biography to Spig Wead The Wings Of Eagles, you'll recall that Ward Bond plays a director modeled on Ford who is contacting former flier Wead to write a screenplay of an aviation film he's planning to do. For some reason Airmail has not been readily available for the public in years, but fortunately I did get to see a copy and now know what Ford and Wead were negotiating for.
Airmail stars Pat O'Brien and Ralph Bellamy as a hotshot pilot and the supervisor of an airport in the western USA. O'Brien curiously enough is playing the kind of role that James Cagney would have been cast in the many collaborations those two did at Warner Brothers where O'Brien would sign in the following year. Bellamy in turn is playing a typical Pat O'Brien role, the authority figure who has to take the wind out of Cagney's sails.
Airmail does live up to Spig Wead's hopes and dreams of a tribute to the men who flew these crates delivering the mail. As airplanes got better and safer mail delivery got to be taken for granted. But putting an airmail stamp on a letter meant in the early Thirties you were asking a pilot to risk his life so your loved ones could get news from you. The film was extremely timely as in 1932 the topic of air safety was a big one as news of pilot crashes of mail planes seemed to be occurring regularly.
O'Brien who has no hesitation in letting everyone know he's the best at what he does, starts an affair with Lillian Bond the unhappily married wife of fellow pilot Russell Hopton. This isn't a first for either O'Brien or Bond. Later on Hopton is killed, one among the many deaths in Airmail.
The climax has O'Brien flying a rescue mission for Bellamy who with a lack of pilots takes an Airmail plane up to deliver the mail what happens is for you to see Airmail, but it's along the lines of several Cagney/O'Brien films.
Speaking of which Cagney and O'Brien a few years later starred in the screen adaption of Spig Wead's Broadway play Ceiling Zero. That one is rather static owing to a bad cross over from stage to screen. Airmail is qualitatively better.
And while the special effects are ancient, the drama is real and contemporary. Try to see this rarely seen Ford feature when it's broadcast. It was strange to see O'Brien in a Cagney part, but he acquitted himself well.
Airmail stars Pat O'Brien and Ralph Bellamy as a hotshot pilot and the supervisor of an airport in the western USA. O'Brien curiously enough is playing the kind of role that James Cagney would have been cast in the many collaborations those two did at Warner Brothers where O'Brien would sign in the following year. Bellamy in turn is playing a typical Pat O'Brien role, the authority figure who has to take the wind out of Cagney's sails.
Airmail does live up to Spig Wead's hopes and dreams of a tribute to the men who flew these crates delivering the mail. As airplanes got better and safer mail delivery got to be taken for granted. But putting an airmail stamp on a letter meant in the early Thirties you were asking a pilot to risk his life so your loved ones could get news from you. The film was extremely timely as in 1932 the topic of air safety was a big one as news of pilot crashes of mail planes seemed to be occurring regularly.
O'Brien who has no hesitation in letting everyone know he's the best at what he does, starts an affair with Lillian Bond the unhappily married wife of fellow pilot Russell Hopton. This isn't a first for either O'Brien or Bond. Later on Hopton is killed, one among the many deaths in Airmail.
The climax has O'Brien flying a rescue mission for Bellamy who with a lack of pilots takes an Airmail plane up to deliver the mail what happens is for you to see Airmail, but it's along the lines of several Cagney/O'Brien films.
Speaking of which Cagney and O'Brien a few years later starred in the screen adaption of Spig Wead's Broadway play Ceiling Zero. That one is rather static owing to a bad cross over from stage to screen. Airmail is qualitatively better.
And while the special effects are ancient, the drama is real and contemporary. Try to see this rarely seen Ford feature when it's broadcast. It was strange to see O'Brien in a Cagney part, but he acquitted himself well.
Only angels have wings.
dbdumonteil19 December 2001
Warning: Spoilers
Released the same year as "Flesh",this is much more "fordian" than the movie starring Wallace Beery."Airmail contains the seeds of a lot of things which will be developed by the director afterward:manly friendship,sense of duty,struggle against the elements.And most of all,the fact that any man can redeem himself.There are such characters in the script:the first one is the pilot who,in the past,left his plane (with passengers)before the crash;the second is Duke (Pat O'Brien)who falls first under a femme fatale's spell,then leaves her and comes to his mate's rescue,at his own risk.
People often say that Ford's cinema is very optimistic.These ones have tunnel vision.There are a lot of deaths in this film:Joe 's and "Dizzy"'s ones are particularly dreadful.The men here are true heroes who give everything:Bellamy's character will face the storm,in spite of his lover's plea.
"Only angels have wings"(Hawks ,1939)would certainly be influenced by Ford whose interest in planes would not be dried up when he directed "The wings of eagles" in 1957.
NB:Would you believe it?Gloria Stewart was famous back in 1997 for playing old Rose Dewitt Bukater!!
People often say that Ford's cinema is very optimistic.These ones have tunnel vision.There are a lot of deaths in this film:Joe 's and "Dizzy"'s ones are particularly dreadful.The men here are true heroes who give everything:Bellamy's character will face the storm,in spite of his lover's plea.
"Only angels have wings"(Hawks ,1939)would certainly be influenced by Ford whose interest in planes would not be dried up when he directed "The wings of eagles" in 1957.
NB:Would you believe it?Gloria Stewart was famous back in 1997 for playing old Rose Dewitt Bukater!!
Very Underrated
Kalaman17 September 2003
I have nothing further to add M. Dumonteil's perceptive remarks on "Air Mail", but I just want to say that this film is criminally neglected among Ford's works. I just saw it for the first time in years and I really loved it very much. When I first saw it about 3 years ago, I didn't care for it that much. But now I think it is one of Ford's most stirring and beautiful masterworks. "Air Mail" will inevitably be compared to Hawks' masterful "Only Angels Have Wings" but Hawks' film is closer to the romantic exoticism of Josef von Sternberg, whereas Ford's shows the influence of Murnau. Of course, Ford surpassed this early effort many times in his career but it should not be missed. It should be a fascinating companion to Ford's "The Wings of Eagles", a superb biography of Frank Weade, the scenarist of "Air Mail".
Universal John Ford classic
jaybee-321 May 1999
A film that belies its age. There are some corny bits of dialogue and cheesy special effects, but Ford created a good low-key drama utilizing an excellent cast. Strong story written partly by Frank Wead. Could not believe this was made in 1932 and at UNIVERSAL!
Before Hawks, there was Ford
davidmvining8 November 2021
Before Howard Hawks made Only Angels Have Wings, before he made Ceiling Zero, John Ford made Air Mail. I was struck at how pretty much identical the first act of Air Mail was to Ceiling Zero. There's the introduction to a small commercial airport that specializes in delivering mail, bad weather conditions (including the use of the term "ceiling zero"), and a pilot crashing because he couldn't accurately gauge the ground. There's also a hotshot pilot flying in, making a show of his first approach, and coming into conflict with the older and more traditional head of the airport. The two films end up diverging a good bit by the end in terms of story plot points, but it is interesting at how closely they track for so long. Where Ford ends up failing where Hawks managed to succeed twice at different levels of success is that Ford succumbed to his tendency of overstuffing his own film with characters that the runtime of the overall film couldn't really support. His ending, like almost always, elevates what came before, but just not quite enough.
Ralph Bellamy plays Mike Miller, the head of the Desert Airport near the Rocky Mountains. The airport is running on thin margins with a surfeit of pilots, the constant danger to their lives, and the Christmas rush upcoming. With fog hitting the airport and a pilot incoming with a mail load, they struggle to get him down, leading to his crashing and death. He needs a replacement, and his boss offers him Duke Talbot (Pat O'Brien), a brash pilot who is happier to do tricks in his plane than make Mike happy with solid and quiet work. There are a bunch of other characters circling around, but the core of the film ends up being the conflict between Mike and Duke.
Duke becomes somewhat infatuated with Irene (Lilian Bond), the wife of another pilot Dizzy (Russell Hopton). He's aggressive, and her unwillingness fades away to acquiescence as they fall into each other arms while Dizzy is off on his own run. The dangers of the job end up crashing Dizzy's plane, killing him in the process. The relationship between Dizzy and Irene had already been fraying before Duke showed up, so the news of Dizzy's death doesn't affect Irene that much and she's happy to run off with Duke.
Mike has an unofficial policy that whenever an accident happens during a flight, he takes on the next delivery himself. He took it near the beginning of the film, but his physical revealed that his eyesight was failing. Still, he's going to do it after Dizzy's accident, and we get the most concentrated dose of this movie's issues with lack of focus. There's a very minor character, another pilot, Tommy (Frank Albertson) who suddenly gains prominence when a passenger plane has to emergency land at Desert Airport and that pilot identifies him as a pilot who parachuted out of a passenger plane, leaving all of his passengers to die in a crash. It comes out of nowhere, and suddenly this minor character is begging for his chance to redeem himself by taking the next dangerous flight. Mike takes on the mission himself, anyway, and Tommy is never heard from or seen again.
There are other bits that distract, like the first pilot's sister (Gloria Stuart) acting as a sort of love interest for Mike but kind of disappearing in the final act even though she should have a decent role to play, even if it's just as the worried woman left behind.
Anyway, Mike does the run, and he crashes in the mountains. Duke, having run off with Irene, hears about the rescue mission to find Mike, ultimately being called off because no one will be able to land near him. Duke, being a brash but great pilot, scoffs at the idea, goes back to the airport, steals a plane, and goes in search of Mike. He lands in spectacular fashion (with some entertaining miniature work), damaging the plane in the process.
What makes this ending work is Duke becoming the man that Mike had wanted him to be. Yes, Duke is still a reckless pilot, but he does it for the good of his fellow pilot in need, keeping honest with the brotherhood of pilots. There's a sacrifice in the end, done with real flair, that helps end the movie with a surprising punch. If the movie as a whole had been able to focus more fully on the central relationship, I think that ending would have been more satisfying. It's still a nice fulfilment of that particular storyline, but the first hour or so is so unfocused with so many personalities that it blunts the ending's impact.
Still, it almost makes the movie. The nearly identical opening to both of Howard Hawks' commercial airline movies (as well as other smaller ones to other Hawks films like The Dawn Patrol) are interesting but aren't really anything more than curiosities and possible indications of the limitation of stories available in the time and place of a commercial airport that delivers mail. A lot of Ford's hallmarks are on display here, for both good and ill, and it ends up a mixed end product that could have used a bit more time in the screenwriting stage. But, this was the era of Ford making an average of 3 movies a year. There was no time for rewrites.
Ralph Bellamy plays Mike Miller, the head of the Desert Airport near the Rocky Mountains. The airport is running on thin margins with a surfeit of pilots, the constant danger to their lives, and the Christmas rush upcoming. With fog hitting the airport and a pilot incoming with a mail load, they struggle to get him down, leading to his crashing and death. He needs a replacement, and his boss offers him Duke Talbot (Pat O'Brien), a brash pilot who is happier to do tricks in his plane than make Mike happy with solid and quiet work. There are a bunch of other characters circling around, but the core of the film ends up being the conflict between Mike and Duke.
Duke becomes somewhat infatuated with Irene (Lilian Bond), the wife of another pilot Dizzy (Russell Hopton). He's aggressive, and her unwillingness fades away to acquiescence as they fall into each other arms while Dizzy is off on his own run. The dangers of the job end up crashing Dizzy's plane, killing him in the process. The relationship between Dizzy and Irene had already been fraying before Duke showed up, so the news of Dizzy's death doesn't affect Irene that much and she's happy to run off with Duke.
Mike has an unofficial policy that whenever an accident happens during a flight, he takes on the next delivery himself. He took it near the beginning of the film, but his physical revealed that his eyesight was failing. Still, he's going to do it after Dizzy's accident, and we get the most concentrated dose of this movie's issues with lack of focus. There's a very minor character, another pilot, Tommy (Frank Albertson) who suddenly gains prominence when a passenger plane has to emergency land at Desert Airport and that pilot identifies him as a pilot who parachuted out of a passenger plane, leaving all of his passengers to die in a crash. It comes out of nowhere, and suddenly this minor character is begging for his chance to redeem himself by taking the next dangerous flight. Mike takes on the mission himself, anyway, and Tommy is never heard from or seen again.
There are other bits that distract, like the first pilot's sister (Gloria Stuart) acting as a sort of love interest for Mike but kind of disappearing in the final act even though she should have a decent role to play, even if it's just as the worried woman left behind.
Anyway, Mike does the run, and he crashes in the mountains. Duke, having run off with Irene, hears about the rescue mission to find Mike, ultimately being called off because no one will be able to land near him. Duke, being a brash but great pilot, scoffs at the idea, goes back to the airport, steals a plane, and goes in search of Mike. He lands in spectacular fashion (with some entertaining miniature work), damaging the plane in the process.
What makes this ending work is Duke becoming the man that Mike had wanted him to be. Yes, Duke is still a reckless pilot, but he does it for the good of his fellow pilot in need, keeping honest with the brotherhood of pilots. There's a sacrifice in the end, done with real flair, that helps end the movie with a surprising punch. If the movie as a whole had been able to focus more fully on the central relationship, I think that ending would have been more satisfying. It's still a nice fulfilment of that particular storyline, but the first hour or so is so unfocused with so many personalities that it blunts the ending's impact.
Still, it almost makes the movie. The nearly identical opening to both of Howard Hawks' commercial airline movies (as well as other smaller ones to other Hawks films like The Dawn Patrol) are interesting but aren't really anything more than curiosities and possible indications of the limitation of stories available in the time and place of a commercial airport that delivers mail. A lot of Ford's hallmarks are on display here, for both good and ill, and it ends up a mixed end product that could have used a bit more time in the screenwriting stage. But, this was the era of Ford making an average of 3 movies a year. There was no time for rewrites.
Very Much a Prototypical John Ford Movie
jayraskin126 January 2017
This is about a band of rugged air mail pilots who risk death to deliver the mail. It seems pretty silly nowadays, but I think people would have accepted the premise in 1931. Ralph Bellamy is excellent playing the heroic John Wayne style hero (Ford made 14 pictures with Wayne). He is a man of extraordinary courage and dedication and few words. Pat O'Brian is quite good as a hot shot, devil-may-care, egotistical flyer. Lacking any real villains, he plays the antagonist in the film. Slim Summerville gives a nice, comical sidekick performance. Besides them, Lilian Bond, as a faithless, bad girl, and Gloria Stuart (Titanic) as a faithful good girl are fun to watch.
The flying scenes are not as thrilling as they were in 1931, and it is not a masterpiece, but it is entertaining enough to hold your attention for the 84 minute running time.
The flying scenes are not as thrilling as they were in 1931, and it is not a masterpiece, but it is entertaining enough to hold your attention for the 84 minute running time.
Totally gripping in spite of some odd implausibilities.
mark.waltz25 July 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Lock up your postman hating dog when you watch this, because you will want no distractions in this saga of the trials and tribulations of air mail pilots who go through all sorts of inclement weather and potential disasters to get the mail quickly by plane to where it needs to go. Some are daredevils, and others take their jobs more seriously, but when it comes to looking out for each other, they take their jobs very seriously. A horrific scene in the very beginning of this intense film shows a fiery plane crash where pilot Ralph Bellamy must shoot another pilot dead so he doesn't burn to death in utter agony. The screams of the unseen pilot will ring in your ears for days after seeing this, because indeed, it is one of the most horrifying moments I've seen of a plane crash in film. Bellamy must then tell the man's sister (Gloria Stuart) a lie to ensure her that her brother died instantly to spare her the agony and nightmares of re-living his last moments over and over.
Just as this situation is wrapped up, hotshot newcomer Pat O'Brien comes along, showing off his medals and war record, and being an absolute braggart about it all. O'Brien, it appears, had been involved with the wife (Lillian Bond) of another pilot (Russell Hopton) who keeps his wife with him, obviously knowing that on her own, she could get into all sorts of trouble. Veteran pilot Slim Summerville, looking like the sad hound dog he became famous for, is teased by local kids for looking like the eagle on his plane, but for the most part, remains the company's voice of reason, with Bellamy the calm in many storms they face. When Bellamy's plane goes down in the middle of snowy nowhere, it is feared that he will never be found, and just as all hope is lost, O'Brien sets out to find him. You would expect after their rather unfriendly start that Bellamy would exclaim, "No! Not you!" when he is found.
The light comedy helps distract the audience from the more horrific moments of this exciting adventure that features some amazing flying photography. In the hands of legendary director John Ford, this is one of the most underrated of his long list of classics, having fallen into obscurity because of his classic westerns and war movies, usually featuring John Wayne. The pre-code elements give this a close to home look, as well as a chance to glimpse the beautiful Gloria Stuart 65 years before she played the 100 year old Rose in 1997's version of "Titanic". All of the actors playing the pilots give interesting dimensions to their characters, with Bellamy quite serious, O'Brien very outrageous, and Summerville underplaying his comedy. The elements of how mail gets to its destination may have changed in the past 86 years, but to look back and see the efforts made years ago makes for a fascinating drama that will leave you hooked.
Just as this situation is wrapped up, hotshot newcomer Pat O'Brien comes along, showing off his medals and war record, and being an absolute braggart about it all. O'Brien, it appears, had been involved with the wife (Lillian Bond) of another pilot (Russell Hopton) who keeps his wife with him, obviously knowing that on her own, she could get into all sorts of trouble. Veteran pilot Slim Summerville, looking like the sad hound dog he became famous for, is teased by local kids for looking like the eagle on his plane, but for the most part, remains the company's voice of reason, with Bellamy the calm in many storms they face. When Bellamy's plane goes down in the middle of snowy nowhere, it is feared that he will never be found, and just as all hope is lost, O'Brien sets out to find him. You would expect after their rather unfriendly start that Bellamy would exclaim, "No! Not you!" when he is found.
The light comedy helps distract the audience from the more horrific moments of this exciting adventure that features some amazing flying photography. In the hands of legendary director John Ford, this is one of the most underrated of his long list of classics, having fallen into obscurity because of his classic westerns and war movies, usually featuring John Wayne. The pre-code elements give this a close to home look, as well as a chance to glimpse the beautiful Gloria Stuart 65 years before she played the 100 year old Rose in 1997's version of "Titanic". All of the actors playing the pilots give interesting dimensions to their characters, with Bellamy quite serious, O'Brien very outrageous, and Summerville underplaying his comedy. The elements of how mail gets to its destination may have changed in the past 86 years, but to look back and see the efforts made years ago makes for a fascinating drama that will leave you hooked.
John Ford makes an okay film.
planktonrules27 November 2016
Although John Ford was one of the top directors of his time, he apparently didn't always get prime opportunities to helm movies-- particularly earlier in his career. Despite making such prestigious films as "The Iron Horse" and "3 Bad Man" and dozens of other films, here Universal Studios hired him to direct a film which is not much better than a B-movie--passable entertainment and worth seeing but otherwise unremarkable.
The film is set in an airport in the desert and Mike (Ralph Bellamy) is in charge of this airmail operation. However, the job is dangerous and they keep losing people. So, when they are down a man he hires an unlikely guy, Duke (Pat O'Brien). He's unlikely because Duke is a top pilot...one of the world's best...and why would he get involved with such a dangerous and thankless operations? Plus, as the film progresses, it becomes obvious that Duke is a total jerk-- only interested in himself and certainly not a team player. So how is Duke going to rise to the occasion and prove himself to be something more? See the film...or not.
This film is unusual because the part Pat O'Brien plays is very much unlike his usual nice-guy persona. It's also unusual because the film plays a lot like Howard Hawks' film "Only Angels Have Wings" but isn't nearly as good nor as well acted. Passable and predictable entertainment...the sort of film John Ford could have directed in his sleep.
The film is set in an airport in the desert and Mike (Ralph Bellamy) is in charge of this airmail operation. However, the job is dangerous and they keep losing people. So, when they are down a man he hires an unlikely guy, Duke (Pat O'Brien). He's unlikely because Duke is a top pilot...one of the world's best...and why would he get involved with such a dangerous and thankless operations? Plus, as the film progresses, it becomes obvious that Duke is a total jerk-- only interested in himself and certainly not a team player. So how is Duke going to rise to the occasion and prove himself to be something more? See the film...or not.
This film is unusual because the part Pat O'Brien plays is very much unlike his usual nice-guy persona. It's also unusual because the film plays a lot like Howard Hawks' film "Only Angels Have Wings" but isn't nearly as good nor as well acted. Passable and predictable entertainment...the sort of film John Ford could have directed in his sleep.
This should be better known
AlsExGal12 May 2023
John Ford directed this look at the US Air Mail Service, from Universal Pictures. Ralph Bellamy stars as Mike Miller, the tough boss of an air mail station and supervisor over a number of pilots. The hazards are many, and turnover in the ranks is frequent as many pilots crash, permanently injuring themselves or, more likely, dying. After one such death, hot-shot former war ace Duke Talbot (Pat O'Brien) joins the service and immediately starts rubbing everyone the wrong way, with the exception of the wife of a fellow pilot, whom he tries to rub the right way, causing even more trouble in the ranks. But when the chips are down, Duke may be the only one who can save the day. What's interesting here is that Pat O'Brien is playing the kind of arrogant character James Cagney played in 1936's Ceiling Zero, where in that same film Pat O'Brien is the tough talking supervisor of pilots.
The highlight here is the aerial footage, with some excellent shots from under the planes while doing low-flying aerobatics. Some rear-projection and miniature work is antiquated, though. There's a lot of the typical "men in close, stressful quarters" type of dialogue and camaraderie, which comes off as more genuine than the attempts at melodrama involving infidelity. The movie serves as a nice snapshot of a type of work, and the characters who worked it, that are now distant history.
The highlight here is the aerial footage, with some excellent shots from under the planes while doing low-flying aerobatics. Some rear-projection and miniature work is antiquated, though. There's a lot of the typical "men in close, stressful quarters" type of dialogue and camaraderie, which comes off as more genuine than the attempts at melodrama involving infidelity. The movie serves as a nice snapshot of a type of work, and the characters who worked it, that are now distant history.
Air Mail review
JoeytheBrit18 April 2020
As Christmas storms gather, the under-pressure manager of an air mail depot is forced to accept a selfish, boastful foe as one of his new pilots. Ralph Bellamy makes a bland and colourless leading man in a movie that suffers from comparison with Only Angels Have Wings, which is based on the same story by Frank Wead and Dale Van Every. Pat O'Brien doesn't fare much better - he was never particularly convincing in roles that called upon him to be cocky and arrogant - and only Lilian Bond as the unhappy wife of a pilot who falls for O'Brien's dubious charms makes a positive impression, although there is something to be said for Slim Summerville's unerring aim with chewing tobacco and a spittoon (ptooh! ding!!). It starts strongly with an impressive air crash and some insane aerial acrobatics in one of those flimsy-looking biplanes, but there's little else of interest.
Recommendation of my PM , shri Narendra Modi.
rahulkala-866481 September 2018
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