The Wings of Eagles (1956. released 1957 John Ford)

Ford continues to blow me away with this biopic of Frank 'Spig' Wead. From the off, a most entertaining (and brilliantly executed) scene in which Wayne takes his debut flight, showing the rivalry between navy and army, ending up in a swimming pool. Then suddenly, his and Maureen O'Hara's baby (the 'Commodore') is dead. And so follows a combination of guts, comedy, bravery, perseverance, filmed in a typically lean style, episodic as ever, and featuring some blistering real war footage, cannily cut. Also the way characters interact with authority figures, and vice versa, is very distinctive,

Absolutely great throughout. The repeated bust-ups with the army over dinner (Sig Ruman presiding), the girls not recognising him, the drinks helpful people in hospital keep bringing, Hollywood (the director here is presumably modelled on Ford himself*), the return to active service. The whole convalescence thing is done so well - no shots of Wayne's face, just his inert body, as people come in and go, then the rhythms of 'Move that toe!'.

With Dan Dailey, Ward Bond, Ken Curtis, Edmund Lowe, Kenneth Tobey, James Todd, Barry Kelley, Henry O'Neill, Willis Bouchey, Dorothy Jordan and (uncredited) Tige Andrews (the one with his shoe off).

I was never much of a fan of Wayne or O'Hara - am now a big fan of both.

Photographed by Paul Vogel. Loved that shot where the aircraft fly over in formation and there's perfectly a bird in foreground flying along with them.

Opens on one of the trippiest MGM logos I've seen:

This is 'George', 1956 - 1958

I was wrong - that clip wasn't from China Seas but Hell Divers (1932 George Hill), also with Beery and Gable. Wead wrote Air Mail for Ford in the same year. They were great friends and most of the unlikely events in the film actually happened. Ford: "He died in my arms."

* Yes. Ward Bond is Ford. Unknown to him they borrowed his hat, pipe and his six Oscars! (which were for The Informer, The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley, and The Quiet Man as director, The Battle of Midway and December 7th (Best Documentary).