Review of Hell's Angels (1930) by Bernard A — 13 Jun 2009

Howard Hughes' epic drama is about two brothers who enlists in the Royal Flying Corps at the onset of the Great War. One brother is a fun loving womanizer while the other one is sort of straight laced and has a seemingly proper socialite girlfriend (Jean Harlow in her 1st credited starring role).

Harlow looks stunning in this (she hasn't shaved her eyebrows yet), and looks especially radiant wearing a diaphanous evening dress during a festive ball scene filmed in early technicolor. Another scene of note involves the bombing of London by a german zeppelin.

The special effects are quite good for it's time and although Hughes spared no expense filming the aerial dogfight scenes - they're pretty good, but I still think the flying sequences in William Wellman's Wings (1927) are superior to this one.