If you're going to watch this, do so for the technicolor flying action. The plot is terrible. Our star is James Cagney as Brian McLean. He introduces himself as a Canadian bush pilot who is lying about the other local pilots and undercutting their prices to get all of the local jobs. Also the instant he lands and sees Emily (Brenda Marshall) he decides to make up stories about Johnny her lover who she plans to marry, and take her away from him. He gets hit by his own helicopter blade. She nurses him to health. Johnny, in dangerous weather conditions, flies a doctor in and saves him. These two and another guy make a bunch of money. Then Brian marries and immediately leaves Emily. He says he needed to do that to stop Brian from marrying her and prevent him from wasting all of his money on her (really). They end up in the Canadian air force. He is all about being a hotshot with his intuitive skills. He is a trainer. He takes a pilot up to show him how it's done. He crashes, nearly kills the guy and totals the plane. For this he is court martialed and forced to leave the military. So he mopes around town getting drunk and complaining about it. He get's the bright idea of dive bombing a celebration where the air force is giving other pilots their wings with a friend and the friend gets killed. He is rather intuitive and reckless. But in the end he sneaks back into the air force. He flies with a group of unarmed planes to England. A German plane shows up. He flies his plane and himself into the German plane. They both crash. The other planes are saved. He is a hero. The end. Stupid.

James Cagney's stalwart mug on the poster, and a glorious title like CAPTAINS OF THE CLOUDS involving Canadian Bush Pilots fighting in World War II, could be misleading for anyone loving the smart-alleck, womanizing Cagney: the persona that built his reputation before venturing into more serious matters – especially after the Big One broke out.But most of this film has the pint-sized icon, a daredevil pilot stealing jobs from his fellow airmen using every trick in the book, is shrewder than ever. He's got his sites on a younger pilot's gorgeous fiancé – she too is a money-grubbing rogue and both make a fiendish pair. Brenda Marshall is the perfect mix of lovely and deceitful, wisping her long black hair while planting a soft spike into kindhearted idealist Dennis Morgan.Scenes involving Cagney teaming up with Morgan and Alan Hale in their own cargo business lead to the group joining the RAF – where Cagney's cocky persona, training young fliers to take risks instead of following orders, gets him in hot water with the hard nosed military elites. But like all Cagney's best characters, the ramifications mean nothing – he's in it for the thrills and blind adventure: and the audience takes part.But the last thirty minutes, as the group fly off into the inevitable battle (framed by Winston Churchill's famous speech), seems a bit rushed and doesn't live up to the energetic first act of double-crossings and Arial scenery over plush Canadian exteriors. Director Michael Curtiz, a few years shy of CASABLANCA, wields each shot with precision so there's never a dull moment. But Cagney being classic Cagney is what really delivers the goods throughout this overlooked gem, far exceeding your typical wartime propaganda.For More Reviews: www.cultfilmfreaks.com

This is one film that we had never heard of until somewheres in the late '70's or early '80's. This was most unusual; inasmuch that me Bride, Deanna, is an ardent Cagney-phile! Our first viewing came quite accidentally and unexpectedly on our one of our local Chicago TV stations. We missed looking at the listings that week, and there didn't seem to be anything on the tube this particularly dull Saturday evening.The evening of relaxation began with us and our 2 then grade schooler girls, Jenn and Michelle, our watchin' of THE MUPPET SHOW on WGN, Channel 9. This was not unusual, though work on the CPD demanded my absence for a third of a third of the time; due to our shift rotation.In that pre-cable/satellite era*, we had a selection of approximately 8 broadcast TV outlets; 5 being vhf, 3 of them were UHF. This rendered any "channel surfing" to be of the most elementary. (In fact the term was then still unknown.) In our journey around the dial, it was a great surprise to land on the familiar Warner Brothers' opening, albeit in, rich toned, bright and stunningly beautiful 3 strip Technicolor Process.All of the biplane aviation imagery in the opening credits sure put a lotta hurtin' on me head; for at first me mind erroneously raced to a couple of biplane loaded Warners' epics of bygone years of the '30's like DEVIL DOGS OF THE AIR (1935, with Mr. Cagney) and WINGS OF THE NAVY (1939, no Cagney). But instincts said no, as those old aviation sagas were strictly old b & w; not that there's anything wrong with black & white film! ** So there it was, big as life on our Channel 11, WTTW, Chicago's "Educational" Station and PBS affiliate (Polit Bureau System***). We took it in, non-interrupted, beginning to end. Beyond initial astonishment, we had a great feeling-as if this were a brand new Cagney vehicle, with Jimmy in his prime, yet! And this was both vintage Cagney at its best; yet was strangely unique role for Mr. C.IN THE OLD NUTSHELL, the story concerns the coffee clutch of Canadian "Bush Pilots", Brian MacLean (Mr. Cagney), Johnny Dutton (Dennis Morgan), 'Tiny' Murphy (Alan Hale), Blimp Lebec (George Tobias) and Scrounger Harris (Reginald Gardenier).These men in real life, were the last of the pioneer breed; who bravely crisscrossed the vast Northern pine covered expanses of land, which are ever so sparsely dotted with small settlements with a seemingly endless supply of small lakes.The Bush Pilots are at once the embodiment of rugged individual-type of Free Enterprise (that's Capitalism, Schultz!), yet were each other's best friends and cooperated heavily in getting the job done. Their camaraderie is matched only by their rivalries; in the air, in the market place and in matters of love.And speaking of sex appeal, the story has Mr. Cagney and Mr. Morgan cast as rivals in competition for the attentions and affection of Emily Foster (Brenda Marshall) who lived out at the little lake, somewhere in the woods, helping her Father (J.M. Kerrigan) with his General Store.But the with the War with the Axis raging in Europe, Canada's position as a member of the British Commonwealth called for total mobilization, including their tapping of the flying talents of the Bush Pilots. It is at this point where we spend a lot of time at this huge air base, with graduation being presided over by Canadian World War I Flying Ace, Billy Bishop-now Air Marshall William A. Bishop, of the Royal Canadian Air Force (R.C.A.F.). Typical Wartime sacrifice and heroics follow Being released just ahead of the next James Cagney vehicle, his Academy Award winning performance in YANKEE DOODLE DANDY; the asking of a certain question is certainly proper and definitely called for. That would be: just why wasn't YANKEE DOODLE DANDY also done in such beautiful color? With its Show Biz setting, its colorful costumes and music, it would have been a feast for the senses.Could it be that the CAPTAINS OF THE CLOUDS project was done in Technicolor in order to capture what surely must have among the most breathtakingly beautiful scenery any where. And just maybe it was designed as a rallying project for all Canadians and their Yank Neighbors Jack Warner had been doing his part for at least 3 years. Do you suppose that the Dominion chipped in some cold ca$h? NOTE: * Remember that we are here in Chicago, where the business of Cable TV came late. The City just plain dragged its collective feet, while everywhere else had theirs in place.NOTE: ** Just listen to my unmitigated B*ll Sh*t! Nobody had Color TV in our neighborhood until the mid '70's.NOTE: *** Yeah, these phony Public Television Stations all act as if they are operating on some higher plain than all of the stand-on-their-own-two-feet operations. And these Left leaning elitist Libs have the unmitigated gall to ask for money, while getting their Tax generated Grant$ from Corporation for Public Broadca$ting, the National Endowment for the Art$! Now don't get me started when we're supposed to be saying THE END!

I feel that I saw this movie with James Cagneys sister,Jeanne,in the role Brenda Marshall played and was called"BUSH PILOTS".I have not been able to find any reference to this any where.I checked Jeanne Cagney movies with no luck.I checked James Cagney movies with no luck.Can anyone help?It is so vivid in my memory that I can see Jeanne Cagney in the role and the name "Bush Pilots" as the movie started.Jeanne Cagney did not make many movies but I could swear this was one and was never given credit for her role in it-even if it was redone with Brenda Marshall.Granted,she wasn't a "star" as most leading ladys were known,but I'm sure She was in this movie as it was originally released.