_{Day 35 of Project Glowing Rectangle, in which I try to divert some of my daily doomscrolling time back towards a more nourishing oblong: Cinema.}

Title: Only Angels Have Wings
Director: Howard Hawks
Writer: Jules Furthman
Year: 1939
Country: USA

Format: Blu-ray
Length: 121 minutes
Seen: 8 February 2026
Rewatch

This afternoon’s film was Only Angels Have Wings (1939), a romantic drama directed by Howard Hawks. Cary Grant stars as Geoff Carter, chief pilot of a South American airmail company. The mail route is extremely risky; pilots are frequently killed, which gives the survivors a rather jaded, fatalistic attitude. But when visiting pianist Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur) falls for Geoff, his determination not to be tied down is put to the test.

“I’m hard to get, Geoff. All you have to do is ask me.”

This film didn’t make a big impression on me when I first saw it about eight years ago. But this time around I was completely sold! The cast is great, especially the central performances by Arthur and Grant. I got fully wrapped up in the will-they-won’t-they romance between Geoff and Bonnie, as well as the fates of the various pilots. The gripping aviation scenes reminded me heavily of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s 1939 memoir Wind, Sand & Stars. And there’s a prominent supporting role for a young Rita Hayworth as the woman who once broke Geoff’s heart. Yep, this is good stuff!