Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Michael_Elliott Wings in the Dark (1935) *** (out of 4) Ken Gordon (Cary Grant) is a pilot who is trying to use technology so that other pilots will be able to fly blind. He meets stunt pilot Sheila Mason (Myrna Loy) but soon afterwards Ken is blinded in an accident. He soon hits depression but he believes now that he's really blind he can prove his technology.WINGS IN THE DARK isn't a masterpiece or even a classic Hollywood picture but it's certainly an entertaining if rather routine drama that features two great stars and enough entertainment to make it worth watching. The film isn't one that was made to be an "A" picture but as far as a "B" film goes there's no doubt that it's very much worth watching.There are a lot of cliché things in the picture even for 1935 standards. For starters, the entire story is rather predictable and especially in the way that it plays out. I'm not going to ruin the ending but you'll see it coming from a mile away and what happens at the very end was silly enough to where you'd have to right to boo it. Yes, the closing moments are really that bad! I'd also argue that the romance in the film really doesn't work either.With that said, there are some terrific moments with the stunt sequences. The aerial flying sequences are extremely good and if you enjoy Hollywood films with real stunts then you'll certainly enjoy what's on display here. I'd also argue that both Grant and Loy were very good in their roles. Loy got the top-billing since Grant wasn't yet a star but it's his performance that steals the picture. I wouldn't say he gave one of the greatest performances by an actor playing someone who is blind but I thought the actor did a really good job in the scenes where his character acts out his frustration.WINGS IN THE DARK will certainly appeal to fans of the two stars and they're both good enough to make it worth watching.

mark.waltz Long before "The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer" and "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse", Myrna Loy and Cary Grant were paired only once together, in this somewhat unbelievable aerial drama about a cocky thrill pilot (Grant) who suddenly looses his eyesight in a freak accident and with the help of fellow pilot Loy and pal Roscoe Karns, ends up back in the cockpit. Loy, playing a variation of Amelia Earhart and Katharine Hepburn's "Christopher Strong", tries to break a transit record, and in the climactic sequence, is believed missing. The blind Grant sets out to find her, leading to one of the most ridiculous abuses of reality on film.Best known for comedy, the two have proved themselves in dramatic roles, so that is not the issue here. What is obvious is that they are playing a story that needs far more reality than the script delivered, so the result is as absurd as anything you've seen on film. Grant starts off as rather obnoxious; In fact, there's nothing in his character to suggest, other than his looks, that Loy would fall in love with him. But once blind, he looses all hope, even initially rejecting the seeing eye dog Loy and Karns bring him. This leads to sequences of obvious "cuteness", and how can you not love this Rin-Tin-Tin pooch. But the star power of the leads and the dog aside, I have to mark this one as a disappointment that fails even in spite of some thrilling flight scenes and bits of amusing dialog.

secondtake Wings in the Dark (1935)You have to remember what a total thrill it was to fly a single engine plane back in the early 1930s, and even to see airplanes buzzing about in the sky. Of course we still love small airplanes and bushpilots, what we see of them. And we have a fuzzy feeling for that specialty pilot who paints messages in the sky with smoke. The message that starts the movie in the deep blue? "Smoke Flips" including the dot on the I. Some things have changed, indeed.This movie has several amazing things going for it, and two of them have names: Myrna Loy and Cary Grant. Myrna is the pilot Sheila Mason who writes the opening cigarette ad overhead, and she's like a small town Amelia Earhart--charming, daring, and a woman in a man's world. Grant plays Ken Gordon, another pilot and an instrument pioneer. Gordon's current trick is to fly "blind" meaning by feel and by instruments, hence the title of the movie--at first. And he wants to fly to Paris. The movie was shot 7 years after Lindbergh's solo flight to Paris, and two years before Earhart's disappearance.The director is little known James Flood, and he is helped a lot by both the beautiful actors (and their acting) and some really good photography under William Mellor, an unsung mainstay of Golden Age Hollywood. There are lots of strong close ups and good strong graphic designs, including some nice angled shots from high up, as well as some fast moving camera to follow the action. It's a an uncluttered affair, and this draws attention to the acting, which is good. Loy by this point was an established star (she had been in some 80 films by this point). Grant was newish (less than 20, all in three years), and as charming and cute as can be, but playing a more regular guy than usual--not playing "Cary Grant" quite yet.The movie takes its dramatic turns when Mason (Loy) and Gordon (Grant) interact one on one. First there is a tragedy, then an opportunity. There are some seemingly necessary functional moments in the film, a process of getting through the crisis, but then the movie kicks in again. It's all pretty wild and exciting, actually, if not deep or original. It's got its formula underpinning, but it makes it all fast and emotionally moving, at least for a sucker like me. This is just after the Code kicked in and there is no suggestive or racy behavior, just the new clean romantic drama between two stars who are bound, we hope, to get together by the end.

lugonian WINGS IN THE DARK (Paramount, 1935), directed by James Flood, is an agreeable little story that centers upon a pilot named Ken Gordon (Cary Grant), attempting to perfect instruments for safe flying through darkness and fog. While working with some chemicals, a gas explosion occurs, blinding him before he can ever prove his experiments successful.Top billing goes to MGM star Myrna Loy, in her first film for Paramount since LOVE ME TONIGHT (1932) where she played the secondary role opposite Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald in the now regarded classic musical. Seeing Loy in this Paramount programmer comes as a surprise, especially since the studio had a roaster of contract players ranging from major names as Sylvia Sidney or Carole Lombard, to less important but familiar actresses as Frances Drake or Mary Brian (all who have worked opposite Grant at one time or another), but for the standpoint of the story as to whom would possibly be more satisfactory and believable in assuming the role as an aviatrix, or whose name on the marque would be important enough to draw attention, Loy, reaching the height of her career, became the chosen one. She is well cast as Sheila Mason, an woman flier whose initial meeting with Ken becomes turbulent, and even more of a problem after Sheila, feeling responsible for his accidental blindness, acquires a seeing eye dog for Ken. As he did earlier with Sheila, Ken, now taking up residence in the country with his faithful mechanic/ friend, Mac (Hobart Cavanaugh), and working on becoming a writer, rejects the faithful German Shepherd, not wanting to be pitied by anyone and to make it on his own. In time he comes to accept both as they each guide him every step of the way. The story finally gets off the ground as Sheila takes a big risk by flying her airplane from Moscow to New York through intense fog and darkness in order to earn back the finances she secretly supplied to Ken as well as putting his experiment to the test. Her flight is broadcast coast to coast on national radio and makes headlines in every major newspaper. When Sheila's plane gets lost through intense fog over Boston, Ken takes control of his airplane, flying blind through the clouds (hense the title), hoping to reach her in time before any danger occurs and lead her to safety.The supporting players consist of Roscoe Karns as Nick Williams, Sheila's manager; Dean Jagger as Tops Harmon; Bert Hanlon as Yipp Morgan; Russell Hopton as Jake; and radio broadcaster Graham McNamee appearing as himself. Hobart Cavanaugh, a familiar face of countless movies throughout most of the 1930s and '40s, usually appearing without credit from minor to bits parts, ranging from drunks to mousy husbands, plays up his role to good advantage. This, along with I COVER THE WATERFRONT (United Artists, 1933), ranks one of the few opportunities in finding Cavanaugh leading fine support.Not an important film by any means in spite of a its two leading actors, WINGS IN THE DARK could have been an important project with such a fine premise that might have worked into an powerful and dramatic theme dealing with one man coping with blindness as with John Garfield's character in THE PRIDE OF THE MARINES (Warners, 1945), or a top-notch aviation story combining adventure and romance as with Grant's ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS (Columbia, 1939). Grant's skills as a dramatic actor are properly showcased here, especially with one particular key scene where he tries to rehabilitate himself through the course of his blindness, roaming about and bumping into things, along with his rejection towards his seeing eye dog, as enacted by Lightning.Grant and Loy, in their initial screen performance, are best remembered for their two future unions together, THE BACHELOR AND THE BOBBY SOXER (1947) and MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE (1948), both RKO Radio releases. While these films have become notable comedy classics, thanks to frequent television revivals and availability on video cassette and later DVD, their initial pairing, having played sporadically on commercial television during the afternoon or late night movie era back in the 1960s and 70s, remains in the dark as being their least known of their three on screen partnerships.Close to being largely forgotten today, WINGS IN THE DARK, which runs at 75 minutes, is cliché at best but watchable, thanks to the know how combination of Myrna Loy and Cary Grant early in their movie careers. A little item from the 1930s worthy of rediscovery now that it's available on DVD. (***)