Hell's Angels (1930)

“Murder, that’s what it is!”

Hmm. I always rather liked it, despite the storyline. :rolleyes:

Thanks Melvyn. I might wait till it comes on TV or I can borrow it then, rather than spend money on a rubbish film. Cheers for the tip.

Dave,

Be warned, the film is rubbish. The flying is interesting, the mass take off by the Germans great, the bombing of the depot is superb (all models) the Zeppelin is also impressive but the story is dire and you have to sit through a lot of film to get to the flying.

Thanks everyone – fascinating stuff. I must see this film now. Apparently it has been recently released on DVD fully restored and iincluding the two colour technicolour scenes and the hand coloured/tinted scenes. The thing I read almost implied that the technicolour scenes have not always been seen in the film so perhaps it was edited for TV or something?

They should. The models were big. The Zeppelin was 27 feet long!

Blimey!!

They should. The models were big. The Zeppelin was 27 feet long!

Only the initial stages of the spin were used in the film, the lower cameras all had the pilot’s parachute in the frame. The crash in the film was a model.
The

It looked bloody realistic when I first saw it!

Re the World War I bomber (strictly CGI) in “The Aviator”, at least one of the early flying films employed a “Gotha” (which was actually a Keystone or some such beast, in very rough condition, decked out in German livery); as I recall it was supposed to be “shot down” and during the sequence a wing spar failed, the pilot baling out successfully, but a crewman operating a crude smoke system for the scene died in the crash.

As posted before I got back the aircraft was a Sikorsky. The spar did not fail. The full story is in the book mentioned above. The smoke system (actualy lamp black) could have been operated by the pilot but it was thought that better results could be had by using an operator and the chap did it because he needed the extra cash.

The original plan was to use a Jenny, mocked up as the bomber, for the scene where the bomber spun down but it was burnt in a hanger fire so the decision was made to use the Sikorsky that Hughes had more or less conned out of Roscoe Turner.

The plan was to spin down and recover low down. The aeroplane was not designed to spin and several pilots backed out of donig it after they had flown it. Camera aircraft were positioned at 7,000, 4,000 and 1,000 ft. The bomber did a couple of spins and recovered a couple fo times but then the spin tightened and some fabric was torn from the left wing and pieces of cowling started coming off. The pilot yelled ot the smoke operator to get out and jumped himself but the smoke guy stayed in. The pilot gave up stunt flying.

Only the initial stages of the spin were used in the film, the lower cameras all had the pilot’s parachute in the frame. The crash in the film was a model.

Another on-screen crash shows two fighters crash head on. This was also models.

The

“Hell’s Angels” Bomber

I read somewhere that the “Gotha” in the original “Hell’s Angels” was actually a converted Sikorsky airliner. I also understand that 3 – colour Technicolour did not exist at the time of the making of “Hell’s Angels” but an earlier two colour Technicolour system did. This system was used “The Mystery of THe Wax Museum”.

Colin

Melv,

Talking about aircrafts used in US movies, when Strategic Air Command was released in Belgium, maybe 50 years ago, there was a 52 minutes on Paul Mantz (Frank tallman was not mentioned). I wonder if someone can recall or find the name of this documentary?

Hi Dave et al–

The Sopwith Snipe now in the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa was used along with two others (all owned at that time by actor/pilot Reginald Denny) in ground shots for “Hell’s Angels”. CAvM’s Fokker D.VII airframe may also have been used in the film.

Re the World War I bomber (strictly CGI) in “The Aviator”, at least one of the early flying films employed a “Gotha” (which was actually a Keystone or some such beast, in very rough condition, decked out in German livery); as I recall it was supposed to be “shot down” and during the sequence a wing spar failed, the pilot baling out successfully, but a crewman operating a crude smoke system for the scene died in the crash.

Re the Connie, I’m told the fleet of L1049s in “The Aviator” is the Kansas City museum’s N6937C, digitally “photocopied”…

Cheers

Steve T

Sounds like an interesting book, thanks for the tip. If I ever see it I’ll have to take note and possibly purchase.

I got the figure of 86 aircraft from what was said in the dialogue of The Aviator.

Were all the WWI planes seen in The Aviator real, or were there just a few used and mutiplied by cgi? Also, what about the Connnies, how many of them a re real aircraft?

There are some shots of real aircraft in the film – most notably the SE5a that taxies past the camera is given away as a scaled-down Replica Plans version – the pilot’s head is much too big! Dunno how much of the rest are real – I’m surprised there wasn’t much in the way of coverage in the monthlies.

Sounds like an interesting book, thanks for the tip. If I ever see it I’ll have to take note and possibly purchase.

It is worth looking out for.

I got the figure of 86 aircraft from what was said in the dialogue of The Aviator.

Mmmm, perhaps not factual! There is a photo in the above book that shows about 35 planes, not all of which were real WW1. A scan through the book lists two SE5s, two Snipes (it says not used in the flying but I am sure I remember seeing one), five Fokker DVIIs, a DH4 as a camera plane and Thomas Morse Scouts pretending to be Camels.

Were all the WWI planes seen in The Aviator real, or were there just a few used and mutiplied by cgi? Also, what about the Connnies, how many of them a re real aircraft?

I very much doubt it. I have not seen The Aviator but the clips I have seen (the racer slicing through the roof of the house) look overly CGI’d as is the norm these days. I would imagine they only used one Connie.

Sounds like an interesting book, thanks for the tip. If I ever see it I’ll have to take note and possibly purchase.

I got the figure of 86 aircraft from what was said in the dialogue of The Aviator.

Were all the WWI planes seen in The Aviator real, or were there just a few used and mutiplied by cgi? Also, what about the Connnies, how many of them a re real aircraft?

Dave,

Get yourself a copy of “The Motion Picture Stunt Pilots and Hollywood’s Classic Aviation Movies” by H, Hugh Wynne, from the Pictorial Histories Publishing Co, ISBN 0-933126-85-9.

There is a lot in there that will interest. As for 86 World War One aeroplanes, that is not something that rings a bell, for example only five original Fokker DVIIs were used and at least one was crashed. Most of the Fokkers were Travellairs. There were some SPADs, at least one SE5E, and a couple of Snipes were used as background.

Dave – you should be able to get Hell’s Angels on DVD nowadays, if you want to see it.

I’m not sure about the colouring of the film, but it was tinted for the most part. I don’t recall seeing any colour, but I haven’t watched it in a while.

Dunno about any of the out-take stuff surviving, but I seem to recall seeing somewhere that the complete movie would be bum-numbing to say the least!!

I think (although I stand to be corrected) one of the S.E.5a/e aircraft still exists, and it did fly for a while (Melv’s book has some nice shots of it). Think it’s in a museum, static, in the States.