Hell's Angels (United Artists) (1930)

Form Lines At The Box-Office BY USING THESE STORIES For the first time in history a co¬ lossal film spectacle is presented without faked or processed shots. In Hell s Angels” when you see someone in the air, he is actually in the air. And when you see a per¬ son flying a plane, he is actually fly¬ ing it. There is no pilot concealed in a hidden cockpit to give the false appearance of an actor doing the flying. Nor are there any faked shots where the actors and planes are photographed on a studio stage, and the background double-exposed in later. Practically all of the incidents of Hell's Angels” are based on actual occurrences during the World War. There is nothing in the picture which could not have taken place, and most of the incidents actually did occur. Take, for exam¬ ple, the Zeppelin sequence. The inci¬ dent of the lower¬ ing of the observa¬ tion car and its ensuing drama ac¬ tually occurred over Calais during the war. The purpose of the observation car was to permit the Zeppelin to hide above the clouds, entirely obscured from the earth, while the small observation car was lowered on a cable through the clouds to a point eight or ten thousand feet below the Zeppelin, so that the observer from his posi¬ tion underneath the clouds could see the city and direct the dropping of the bombs. It was practically impossible for those on the ground below to see the observation car, or catch it with searchlights, because it was so small, whereas if the Zep¬ pelin, with its tremendous size, had been below the clouds it could easily have been picked up by searchlights and would have been a target for anti-aircraft guns. Dr. K. Arnstein, of Germany, who served as technical advisor in film¬ ing the dirigible sequence of “Hell’s Angels," was one of the high offi¬ cials of the Zeppelin company dur¬ ing the World War, and supervised construction of many of the Zeppe¬ lins used in the latter part of the war. In “Hell’s Angels” you see on the screen an exact historical reproduc¬ tion, accurate in every detail, of the principal part of the now world- famous Zeppelin played in the World War. Incidentally, you see many new faces in “Hell’s Angels.” In striving for complete realism Producer-Di¬ rector Howard Hughes endeavored to get away from well-known actors as much as possible, and use instead new players who were in themselves the characters required, so they could live rather than act their parts. Authorities on war-time aviation who have seen “Hell’s Angels” agree that it is not only the most authentic air film to date, but one of the greatest achievements in the history of aeronautics as well. Colonel P. J. Brady and Major William Ord Ryan of the United States Army Air Corps, who flew out to the Pacific Coast recently to observe the Army Air Maneuvers at Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles, pre-viewed two reels of the air sequences. Both were astound¬ ed and declared it was beyond belief that such shots could be made. “The scene in which 50 planes go into combat simultaneously is lit¬ tle less than miraculous,” declared Major Ryan. “The Army has never attempted such dangerous fly¬ ing in any of its practice maneuv¬ ers,” added Colonel Brady. The same air-se¬ quences were pre¬ viewed by 1 00 mem¬ bers of the Over¬ seas Aviators Club, a national organization of World War pilots and observers. Follow¬ ing the pre-view they passed reso¬ lutions commending Howard Hughes and his flyers for the "superb realism” of “Hell’s Angels," and stated, without reservation, that this was the most remarkable and authentic reproduction to date of the World War in the air. “Hell’s Angels” Air Battles Real Thing cJean 3iarloio, featured in “ ‘-Hell s Jhcig eis'l, ^ ^ 44—Two Col. Drawing (Mat 10c; Cut 50c) nPHE “story behind the story” of | “Hell’s Angels” constitutes the most amazing and colorful chapter in the history of movie¬ making. The drama and realism of "Hell’s Angels,” as unfolded on the screen, was obtained, not only at unparal¬ leled expense, but after three years of the most spectacular filming on record. It was nearly four years ago, in the fall of 1926, and before the ad¬ vent of “talkies,” that Howard Hughes, at the suggestion of Mar¬ shall Neilan, decided to produce a super motion picture that would glorify and perpetuate the exploits of Allied and German airmen during the World War. After months of writing and in¬ tensive research, a story distin¬ guished by its originality and his¬ toric fidelity, was completed, and plans made to film it on an epic scale. Throughout the spring and sum¬ mer of 1927, Mr. Hughes, aided by a staff of aeronautical experts, con¬ ducted a world-wide roundup of true-type world war planes to be flown in his “dream-picture.” He soon had at his command the largest fleet of aircraft ever assem¬ bled, except by governments. More than 50 war-time ships, including a giant German Gotha bombing plane, were purchased outright and re-conditioned for service in this single picture. Under direction of J. B. Alexan¬ der, the planes were brought to¬ gether from all parts of the world, and included many which had actu¬ ally been used during the war. The German ships were the famous Fokker D-VII’s, some of which Mr. Hughes had shipped from Germany through personal arrangements with Anthony H. G. Fokker, their de¬ signer and builder. The allied craft included British S. E. 5’s, Sopwith- Camels, Sopwith Snipes and some Avros. 100 Expert Pilots Mr. Hughes then obtained the services of more than 100 expert pilots, including some of America’s foremost stunt flyers. He also en¬ gaged more than a score of former world-war air-fighters to take part and serve as technical advisors in the filming of the sky sequences. Y Frank Clarke served as chief pilot throughout the picture and deserves great credit not only for the man¬ ner in which he handled this re¬ sponsible position, But also for the most spectacular flying in the film which he performed personally. Roy Wilson, who flew throughout the picture, is also responsible for many of the daring and spectacular aerial performances in "Hell’s Angels.” With his gigantic air army mobil¬ ized for action before the cameras, of ground near Van Nuys, Califor¬ nia, in the San Fernando Valley, Mr. Hughes next leased a vast plot where he established a complete fly¬ ing field. This airport, known as Caddo Field, became the main base of op¬ erations for the “Hell’s Angels” air- fleet during the three years of pro¬ duction, and served also as back¬ ground for the ground operations of the allied squadrons in the flying sequences of the picture. Two Air Fields Several miles up the valley an¬ other field was acquired and built into an exact reproduction of “The Jolly Baron’s Nest” (the term used by the English to denote the Aero¬ drome of Baron von Richthofen, the most famous German Ace of the World War), probably the best known Aerodrome of the war, from which the now world-famous Rich¬ thofen Flying Circus took off every morning on their tour of destruc¬ tion. A ground crew of 150 men, with Harry Reynolds in charge, was maintained at Caddo Field to keep the planes serviced and repair the ships damaged in the air-battles. This was a tremendous task in it¬ self as many of the old war-time models required the constant atten¬ tion of mechanics to keep them air¬ worthy. In October, 1927, actual filming of “Hell’s Angels” began at the Metropolitan Studios, with Ben Lyon, James Hall and Greta Nissen as the principal players. By the end of the year the interior se¬ quences, filmed silently at a cost of $350,000, were completed. Two years later these scenes were re¬ filmed on a much more lavish scale with complete sound and dialogue at a cost of $750,000. The “Hell’s Angels” sky-fleet of 87 fighting planes and 10 camera ships took the air at three separate locations—Caddo Field, Inglewood and the German airport in the San Fernando Valley. Frank Tomick was made chief of the camera-ship pilots, and Harry Perry was placed in charge of the aerial photography. Assisting Perry was E. Burton Steene to whom goes credit for most of the beautiful and spectacular long shots taken above the clouds, and Elmer Dyer, who also secured some of the remarkable flying scenes. Then followed a veritable repro¬ duction of the World War in the air—refought high above the clouds all over the State of California and over a period of two years. Mr. Hughes, piloting his private plane, at that time a Waco with Wright Whirlwind motor, directed the mimic sky battles, signalling his in¬ structions to cameramen and pilots from the air. Time and again there were forced landings, accidental crack-ups, and mid-air collisions, and on numerous occasions the front pages of news¬ papers throughout the country blazed the news of the miraculous escapes of the dare-devil pilots of “Hell’s Angels” who risked their lives to provide thrills for movie fans. A1 Wilson Crash One of the most spectacular of these accidents occurred when the propeller flew off A1 Wilson’s Ger¬ man Fokker while he was flying over the heart of Hollywood. A1 and some 20 other pilots were re¬ turning to Caddo Field after a thrilling “dog-fight” over the ocean near Redondo. They were flying high above a thick bank of clouds and the ground below was not vis¬ ible. Al, believing he was some¬ where above the Hollywood moun¬ tains promptly bailed out, and de¬ scended through the cloud bank. His abandoned ship dived dizzily past him, and landed with a terrific crash in the back yard of Joseph M. Schenck’s palatial residence on Hollywood boulevard. Al landed safely on the roof of another house nearby. The propeller crashed on to a sidewalk, narrowly missing sev¬ eral pedestrians. Famous Oakland Location Howard Hughes moved his entire company to Oakland airport to film the big climatic shots over the San Francisco bay region where he found the clouds which provide the beautiful atmospheric backgrounds of the air sequences. On this aerial location, after six months of training and practice, the spectacular air battle in which 50 planes stage a free-for-all “dog¬ fight” was finally filmed according to script. In one of these mid-air encoun¬ ters, Pilots Ira Reed and Stuart Murphy locked wings at an altitude of 5,000 feet. The clash occurred during the climax of the big "dog* fight,” with 50 planes participating simultaneously in the action. Pilot Reed, flying a German Fokker, had just driven an “enemy” ship down and was looking for, a second "vic¬ tim” when Pilot Murphy, in a Brit¬ ish plane, dived- at him from above. The ships collided and Murphy bailed out at once. He landed safe¬ ly with his parachute, and his plane was dashed to pieces on the ground. The right aileron of Reed’s plane was disabled and both right wings were almost torn off in the crash. He debated whether to jump also, but decided to make a desperate effort to save his ship. He finally landed with his crippled craft in a farmer’s field 40 miles from Oak¬ land. “Talkies” Hit Hollywood More than $3,000,000 had been invested in “Hell’s Angels” and more than two years of shooting had elapsed when the talking pic¬ ture 'upheaval struck Hollywood. The aviation sequences had already been filmed and with sound and con¬ versation, but Howard Hughes, as usual, did the unusual thing, and decided to refilm all of the non¬ flying portions of his picture with complete dialogue. The entire cast, with the excep¬ tion of Greta Nissen, was reassem¬ bled, and the dramatic sequences were all retaken with sound and talk. Miss Nissen, because of her foreign accent, was replaced by Jean Harlow, a former Chicago society girl, who makes her screen debut in this picture. The dialogue was written by Jo¬ seph Moncure March, author, and staged by James Whale, who put on the play, "Journey’s End,” in New York, London, and Chicago, and who later directed the picture, "Journey’s End,” after he finished his work with “Hell s Angels. When “Hell’s Angels” was finally completed it had cost approximately $4,000,000. More than 20,000 per¬ sons had taken part in its making, and more than 3,000,000 feet of film had been run through the cam¬ eras. The sheer cost of negative alone was well over $200,000, or more than the cost of the average motion picture. And, unbelievable as it seems, there was only one se¬ quence eliminated in the final cut in addition to the silent interiors, which cost only $350,000. With Howard Hughes the para¬ mount thought while producing and directing "Hell’s Angels” was to put on the screen the most realistic picture ever attempted. The Story Behind the Filming of The Air Spectacle, “Hell's Angels" PAGE FIVE