Hell's Angels

Howard Hughes' legendary World War I aviation spectacle — three years and nearly four million dollars in the making, the most expensive film produced up to that time. Two Oxford brothers, one noble, one dissolute, become Royal Flying Corps pilots and find their bond tested by war, cowardice, and the same dangerous woman (Jean Harlow, in the role that made her a star). The aerial sequences are the real draw, and they remain genuinely breathtaking: Hughes assembled the largest private air force in the world, personally flew dangerous missions for the cameras, and lost three pilots during filming. The climactic Zeppelin raid and the dogfight over no-man's-land are among the most spectacular aerial sequences ever filmed. A flawed, fascinating monument to one man's obsessive perfectionism and unlimited checkbook.