Watched: 07/11/2026
Format: TCM
Viewing: First
Director: Howard Hughes
Even back in film school I remember hearing or reading that Howard Hughes' production of Hell's Angels (1930) had been kind of out of control. It took years to make as Hughes was, ahem, a tad OCD and then The Jazz Singer happened during the already lengthy shoot, sound suddenly available during the middle of production - of course Hughes wanted in on that. They had to fire one of their leads - who had a serious Swedish accent - and replace her with Jean Harlow, effectively locking Harlow in as sort of the first blonde bombshell. I also knew a few people died making the movie - and having watched this thing, I can see how that could have occurred.
What I did not know is that Hell's Angels is actually a very watchable movie and was not really what I was expecting.
The plot sounds fairly simple on paper - a pair of brothers at Oxford, one a rule-follower and romantic, the other a bit more of a rake and nihilist - find that WWI has broken out. One brother volunteers for the Royal Flying Corps, and the other is voluntold he's in the RFC. Meanwhile, their German pal Karl is drafted into the Zeppelin corps.
