Best movie of this year hands down!

Let's be realistic.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Devil Dogs of the Air is a typical Warner Brothers film with a typical Warner Brothers cast, not that that's a bad thing at all. The movie stars Jimmy Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Margaret Lindsay, and Frank McHugh.Cagney plays a cocky flier, Tommy, whose friend Brannigan (O'Brien) encourages him to enlist in Marine flying school.The first thing he does is fall for Brannigan's girlfriend Betty (Lindsay) who can't stand him. We all know what that means. It turns out that Tommy is a remarkable flier and, though the friendship between the two men seems to suffer, everybody has to admit that Tommy knows what he's doing. And he keeps going after Betty.Predictable, but the good cast brings it up a level as do the flying sequences. The planes look like what the Wright Brothers invented, and they do some amazing things.If you're an airplane fan, you will enjoy this, though you might mix it up with some of Warners other flying films. But it has the US Navy dirigible, the early planes as I mentioned, and some fabulous stunts. I have to one day count up how many films Cagney, O'Brien and McHugh made together. I know McHugh and Cagney made 11, and that all three were friends. They worked together very well.

DEVIL DOGS OF THE AIR has all the ingredients for a delectable dish, but the ineptitude of the chefs produced an unpalatable, unsavory stew. The story idea came from John Monk Saunders—who, in such films as WINGS, ACE OF ACES, THE DAWN PATROL, and THE LAST FLIGHT, created complex, interesting characters and compelling, dramatic situations. In DEVIL DOGS OF THE AIR, the characters are uniformly one-dimensional and unlikeable, the plot completely lacking in drama and credibility.I'm huge fan of James Cagney and the brash, cocky, vital energy he brought to the screen. In this film, though, he's completely obnoxious, with no trace of any redeeming qualities underneath the outsized ego. I found myself rooting for stalwart Pat O'Brien to smack that arrogant smirk off his face and also win the girl at the end of the picture. Too bad it didn't happen that way. The reconciliation between O'Brien and Cagney in the penultimate scene feels unprepared and unconvincing.The more I see of Margaret Lindsay, the less I think of her as an actor. (Check out her incredibly amateurish and hammy turn in BABY FACE and you'll see what I mean.) Here she's stiff and charmless; so much so that it's hard to fathom why Cagney would pursue her so ardently and why she would choose him over O'Brien in the end. She seems much better suited to the dull, dependable guy.As others have commented, the usually delightful Frank McHugh is given one not very amusing routine that he repeats ad nauseam. Another waste of talent in a film that could have, should have been a lot better.The plot is riddled with non-sequiturs and illogic. For example, when Lindsay gets her mother's check back from Cagney, why do they go through the elaborate business of endorsing it and countersigning it, when all she needed to do was tear it up? And would Lindsay really have been given free rein to roam around the military base, even riding around the airfield during operations? In the scene where O'Brien proposes to her, it's amazing how long it takes her to figure out where the conversation is heading ("I have something important to ask you." "I've been talking to real-estate agents, and we could rent an apartment really cheaply... furnished even.") And she still looks totally shocked when he finally pops the question.The aviation sequences are probably of great interest to enthusiasts, but for this lay viewer they went on a bit too long and quickly became repetitious. The big finale, featuring the simulated air and sea attack, was completely devoid of dramatic tension.I wish I could send this dish back to the kitchen and tell the chefs to re-think the way they combined their ingredients. Maybe they'd produce something more satisfying.

This movie was directed by Lloyd Bacon and stars James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. This is probably one of Cagney's worst pictures and also one of the worst Cagney and O'Brien made together with the exception of The Irish In Us. Just a year later Cagney and O'Brien would go on to make Ceiling Zero with Howard Hawks which is a much better movie and you should watch that one instead. There isn't much to the plot like Cagney wanting to join the marines and winds up having to learn how to fly by his old friend O'Brien who is a Lieutenant. O'Brien is engaged to Margaret Lindsay but even after Cagney finds out he doesn't even care and still goes after her. There isn't much to the movie and you should watch one of Cagney's better movies instead.

Personally I'm not with Maltin at all on this one. This is a comedy and a darn funny one. Cagney is as electrified as ever, and O'Brien and Lindsay play their parts to the hilt as well. Personally I was slightly bored by the flying scenes, but if you like that sort of thing, you've got that in this movie as well. On a scale of one to five, I give it three and a half.