Hell in the Heavens
Cast & Crew
John Blystone
Warner Baxter
Conchita Montenegro
Russell Hardie
Herbert Mundin
Andy Devine
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
During World War I, American ace pilot Lieutenant Steve Warner leads a group of replacements for the French Escadrille squadron headed by Captain Andre DeLaage, whose ranks of the best flyers have been drastically reduced by the German ace known only as "The Baron." When German planes strafe the base, Steve carries Aimee, a French girl who refused to leave after her father was killed at Verdun, into a trench for protection despite her spirited objections. The flyers keep the only bottle of bourbon left after the raid as the "bottle of death" to be used only to toast the downing of German flyers. During a morning patrol, Andre is shot down by The Baron, who returns his helmet by parachute. Steve, now first in command, vows to bring The Baron down. He shoots down Schroeder, a German officer who tells him that The Baron, an avid hunter of wild animals, has already shot down thirty-two pilots. When a new man, Corporal Teddy May, repeatedly turns back after going on a number of missions because of disturbing dreams he has had of falling in flames, Steve talks with him. Steve then himself has dreams of being shot down by The Baron. Steve is comforted by Aimee, who now loves him despite the fact that they can barely understand each other. When Steve's second-in-command is forced down and reports The Baron's whereabouts, Steve shoots The Baron's plane down, but during his celebration, Schroeder reports that the burned pilot was actually The Baron's younger brother. After Steve proposes to Aimee and makes plans to go with her on an eight-day leave to Paris, May's plane is shot down in flames by The Baron, who sends a message of challenge to Steve. Despite Aimee's pleas, Steve flies up alone. During their dogfight, Steve's gun jams, so he crash dives into The Baron's plane. On the ground, Steve pulls The Baron out of his plane before it explodes. When they drink a toast from the "bottle of death," Stephen is surprised to hear The Baron confess relief that he can now sleep without dreams of dying.
Director
John Blystone
Cast
Warner Baxter
Conchita Montenegro
Russell Hardie
Herbert Mundin
Andy Devine
William Stelling
Ralph Morgan
Vince Barnett
William Stack
J. Carrol Naish
Johnny Arthur
Arno Frey
Rudolf Amendt
Vincent Carato
Louis Mercier
Frank Tomick
Earl Gordon
Jack Rand
Howard Batt
Robert Blair
Thomas Beck
Patrick Cunning
Fred Wallace
Francesco Maran
Eugene Borden
George Renault
Adele St. Maur
Robert Du Couedic
Jacques Venaire
John M. Bleifer
Abe Abrams
Stanley Blystone
George Kerebel
Jack Latham
Marcel Lebrun
Roland Mccracken
Louis Sainty
Joe Waddell
Ron Wilson
Carl Anderson
Jimmy Barton
Roger Cox
W. Grant Fisk
Gene Gill
Elmer Marcy
Ted Oviat
Manuel Zamora
Robert Bell
Maurice Brierre
Bob Chapman
Arthur Dulac
William Emile
Louis Van Den Ecker
Richard Clark
Phil Ford
Norman Frazer
Charles Griffin
Branch Stevens
Paul Massoc
Paul Parry
Garland Lincoln
Crew
Joseph Aiken
Howard Batt
Reginald Berkeley
Margaret Clancy
Joseph Cunningham
Louis De Francesco
Bert Glennon
Earl Gordon
William Lambert
Garland Lincoln
Paul Massoc
Booth Mccracken
R. C. Moore
Byron Morgan
Jack Otterson
Ted Parsons
Hans Peters
Jack Rand
Ferdinand Reyher
Al Rockett
Marcel Silver
Frank Tomick
Lt. Comdr. Frank Wead
Jack Yellen
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to information in the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department at the UCLA Theater Arts Library, Fox agreed in writing when they purchased the rights to the play not to make any changes "which shall in tone or form discredit the honour of Germany." In a statement in the legal records concerning a plagiarism suit, screenwriter Byron Morgan stated that the play was based on the experiences of officers and men in a German Flying Squadron and that his co-writer, Ted Parsons, who had been a member of the Lafayette Escadrille, suggested they transpose the story to take place within a French unit that included American volunteers. Morgan also stated that the character played by Andy Devine, which was created for comic relief, was the only one not in the original play and that with the exclusion of the ending and the preliminary buildup, the play was adhered to in the film version. In the play, the two leading characters are killed at the end. A letter in the legal records by producer Al Rockett states that to offset the serious nature of the story, he was "loading it with as much comedy as possible and [Herbert] Mundin, to me, is as important as [Warner] Baxter in the picture."
Information in the legal records indicates that Rockett attempted to obtain footage from the 1929 Paramount Famous Lasky production Wings to use as stock shots, but ended up purchasing "cut-outs" from the 1930 Caddo Co. production Hell's Angels (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.2411). According to Daily Variety, location work was done at Baker's Ranch in Saugus, CA. The legal records state that the castle set was shot at Fussell Bros. Ranch in Triunfo, CA. According to a news item and information in the Twentieth Century-Fox Produced Scripts Collection, also at UCLA, Ketti Gallian was originally scheduled to play the female lead, and Stuart Erwin was to be in the film. The legal records state that Ferdinand Schumann-Heink was originally cast as "Baron Kurt von Hagen" and that Frank Sully worked as a writer, but it is not known if any of Sully's material was used in the final film.
