Wings of the Navy (Warner Bros.) (1939)

ADVANCE PUBLICITY — "WINGS OF THE NAVY" U.S. Navy Cooperated in Filming ‘Wings of Navy When one of the major Hollywood film companies produces a navy picture like the Warner Bros.-Cosmopolitan production, “Wings of the Navy,” which opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre, the studio always has a silent partner. The silent partner is the United States Navy. The film company invests its capital —in the case of “Wings of the Navy,” Warner Bros. invested the money and pockets the profits and the box office prestige which comes with such a picture. The United States Navy invests the time of its officers who go over the film company’s script, help to supervise the filming of the story, and who finally sit as a board of ultimate approval on the completed film. The navy also provides the planes, or the warships, the guns, buildings, the drill grounds, and the officers and men who man them, in such a picture. And for its investment the navy draws no profits in cash. But it draws something far more important, from the navy’s point of view. Aids Recruiting The navy reaps its dividends in public good will, taxpayer interest, stimulated recruiting, and an attitude of receptiveness to the navy’s needs on the part of Congressmen from inland states. Llyod Bacon, who directed “Wings of the Navy,” and who also directed three other popular service thrillers, ‘Submarine D-1,” “Here Comes the Navy” and “Devil Dogs of the Air,” is the best known and most successful directer of Hollywood service pictures. Bacon occupies a unique position in this regard, for he not only has turned out a succession of navy service films which have been 100 per cent hits with the public, but in his lesser known capacity as a lieutenantcommander in the United States Naval Reserve, he has managed to please the navy, from top to bottom, with his pictures. “If one stops to think it over,” Bacon explains, “it is easy to see why the navy is so insistent that motion pictures about navy life should be very good pictures, taken from the standpoint of entertainment primarily, The navy wishes navy pictures to play in all the theatres in the country, and make a hit. “They are the navy’s best link with the public in inland sections. Such pictures provide the medium through which the schoolboys obtain their ideas of what the national service is like. They inspire many boys with a desire to learn more about the service life which they see authentically pictured in such films. Patriotic Service “The Navy feels the same as the film studios do: that in presenting such pictures to the public, we are doing a _ patriotic service, because we are letting the members of the public see the service as it really is.” Bacon also suggested that the public which sees such pictures as “Wings of the Navy” should receive full enlightenment on one score. “It is important,” he explained, “that the citizens of the United States should realize that the navy is not furnishing the film studios, gratis, with a lot of equipment, or burning up taxpayers’ money in putting on maneuvers for the studio to film. The navy is extremely particular not to do this. When a film studio gains the navy’s permission to photograph a certain phase of navy activity, that permission goes only so far as to permit the film company to have a camera on the spot at the time the navy carries out some regularly scheduled maneuver. The navy never does something over a second time just to please a motion picture company. And it never does something the first time unless it is part of the regular navy program to do so.” Scenes for the picture were shot at the U. S. Naval Air Bases in San Diego, California and Pensacola, Florida. TIME OUT FOR CHATTING Mat 205—30c @ BETWEEN SCENES of "Wings of the Navy," the thrilling air drama coming to the Strand Friday, pretty Olivia de Havilland and up-and-coming John Payne —who play the romantic leads in the picture—chat of this and that. Mat 201—30c @ NEW SCREEN TEAM—John Payne, handsome young leading man who rocketed to fame in "Garden of the Moon," and lovely Olivia de Havilland carry the love interest in "Wings of the Navy,’ t coming to the Strand. Director Bacon Calls For ‘Action’—and Gets It! Some motion picture directors yell “Action” and get a camera record of a charming love idyl. Some yell “Action” and get a musical spectacle, full of tunes and the rhythm of beautiful legs. But there are directors who yell “Action” and get action. Lloyd Bacon is one of these. Perhaps that is why the son of the late. Frank W. Bacon, of “Lightnin’ ” fame, bears the reputation of “sure-fire director.” Bacon says, “Long ago I learned that the public wants action in its motion pictures. So I don’t beat around the bush. I see that the public gets action in my pictures. Some others may use motion pictures as a vehicle for a psychological study. I haven’t the patience.” Bacon learned his business in the old and lively school of the silent films. He started with Broncho Billy Anderson in 1915, but enlisted in the United States Navy in the World War and worked up from enlisted man to the rank of lieutenant. His term in the navy whetted his fondness for action. Remember Bacon’s_ achievement of working up from the ranks in the navy and you will understand the deep attachment for the naval service which has marked his subsequent career. Leaving the navy after the Armistice, Bacon worked for Charlie Chaplin for a while, directed the old Lloyd Hamilton comedies, and then went with Mack Sennett and Universal. This was a lively and exacting school. Since then, Bacon has started several trends in picture popularity, probably the most important of which is his series of action pictures with navy themes. Bacon has directed four pictures of the sea service for the Warner Studio, and each one was a tremendous hit when released, both with the public and the box office. These films were ‘Here Comes the Navy” with Jimmy Cagney, Pat O’Brien and Frank McHugh; “Devil Dogs of the Air” with the same trio; ‘“Submarine D-1” with George Brent, Pat O’Brien and Frank McHugh; and his latest, “Wings of the [19] Navy,” the Warner Bros.-Cosmopolitan production with Brent, John Payne and McHugh, which opens at the Strand Theatre next Friday. Bacon directed the famous film, “The Singing Fool,” which set a fashion in films at the time, and he also set a precedent with his outstanding ‘‘Forty-Second Street.” This hit started 100 subsequent musical comedies on their way. Bacon showed what he could do with the comedy theme in “A Slight Case of Murder.” But his preference is action pictures about the navy. COMMANDER SEASE TECHNICAL ADVISER ON ‘WINGS OF NAVY’ Much of the excitement and all of the authenticity which are the most noteworthy elements of “Wings of the Navy,” the Warner Bros.-Cosmopolitan picture about naval aviation coming to the Strand Theatre next Friday, were the contribution of a man who had never been in Hollywood before this picture was filmed. This is Lieut. Commander Hugh S. Sease, U. S. N., who is now back at the United States Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia, Penn., from which post he was detached to report last summer at the United States Naval Air Training Station at Pensacola, Fla., and there told to join the Warner Bros. location troupe which had come to film scenes for ‘Wings of the Navy,” in which. George Brent, John Payne and Olivia de Havilland are featured. When Bacon’s company completed its schedule of film sequences at Pensacola, Lieut. Commander Sease packed up and accompanied his newly found friends of the screen industry to Hollywood. From then until the picture was finished he acted as technical adviser, liason man, weather expert, prompter, emergency dialogue director and general factotum on the film story. He stayed with the company for one week at the Warner Bros. Studio in Hollywood, and then left with the company for two more weeks of all-important camera work on location at the coast Nava] Air Base at North Island, San Diego, California. With those sequences completed, the lieutenant commander returned with the film company to Hollywood, where the final third of the picture was shot. Absolutely No Villains Allowed in Navy Films The United States Navy reserves the right to accept or reject actors who are advanced by film studios for roles in motion pictures based upon activities in the navy. This fact, not generally realized, sometimes disturbs the efforts of a film studio to “cast” the actors for a service film. The navy maintains a serene unconcern about an actor’s glamor rating, the magnitude of his four-figured salary, or his availability from a casting director’s point of view. For instance, the navy reacts dubiously to actors who may have become known in former pictures by their portrayal of drunk, undignified or crooked characters. This unwritten rule may explain why some pretty good character men never get on the quarterdeck of a film battleship. The Warner Bros. Studio, when it was filming the Warner Bros.-Cosmopolitan production, “Wings of the Navy,” which opens Friday at the Strand Theatre, found itself traveling along a groove of unusual goodwill when it began suggesting the actors to fit into its star roles service. George Brent, for the devoted flying officer who helps train the fledgling seahawks at Pensacola Naval Air Training Station, was a “natural.” The service greeted his selection with pleasure. It was the same with 26-yearold and 190-pound John Payne, Mat 105—I5c @ GEORGE BRENT AND OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND in "Wings of the Navy." whose place in the film is that of the student flier who is Brent’s brother. For Frank McHugh, the navy’s heart was already open. Genial Frankie had already played in such service hits as “Son of a Sailor,” “Here Comes the Navy,” “Devil Dogs of the Air’ and “Submarine D-1,” and everybody in the service was convinced that Frank was one of them, at heart.