Hell's Angels (1930) - 6/10

After being impressed with the commentary by Scorcese for The Aviator last week, I wanted to see the original Hell's Angels movie Howard Hughes did which inspired the opening of that film. It's funny to think that such an eccentric guy who was such an aviation genius also directed this overblown epic of a movie but he did and I have to say, for 1930, it's pretty ambitious. The aerial battle sequences in particular I was intrigued to check out because like in The Aviator documentaries and such, I learned that he really went up in the air and filmed the scenes while waiting for those clouds and even though it's in B/W, it still looks pretty cool. From the attack on the Zepplin to the ending action pieces of huge dogfights, this movie seemed to put all it's budget into the planes and explosions but left zero for the actors or sets. For some reason all the relationships and drama that unfolds between the characters is boring as I couldn't wait to get to the next flying setup which really was ahead of it's time. From influencing Flyboys to even Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, it's fun to see this older movie that Hughes worked so hard on after I've learned about his entire history. Knowing that he did ADR for the entire movie also made me a laugh a little at the sound mix and dialogue that is so hard to hear sometimes that I was glad the fighting plane sequences were so overlapping with effects and foley. Glad i've seen it, but Hell's Angels is definitely too long and outdated for my taste.