Wings in the Dark: Cary Grant navigates the fog

Is it worth your time?

If you have a soft spot for pre-code era charm and watching Cary Grant try to act his way through a preposterous premise, then absolutely. If you need aviation movies that follow the laws of physics, or even the laws of common sense, steer clear. It is a movie that moves fast, hits hard, and forgets everything it established five minutes later.

The whole thing kicks off with Ken Gordon, played by Grant, obsessing over flying in the dark. He’s got that specific, intense look in his eyes like he’s trying to solve a math problem while someone is throwing rocks at him. Then, bang. A laboratory explosion—because of course it’s a laboratory explosion—leaves him blind.

Watching the transition is actually kind of wild. One minute he’s a hotshot pilot, and the next he’s stumbling around in a dark room with the curtains drawn tight. There is a scene where he tries to pour a drink and just misses the glass entirely. It feels like the movie is trying to be heavy, but it ends up being strangely frantic.

Myrna Loy is doing the heavy lifting here, honestly. She’s playing Sheila, the pilot who keeps Gordon’s career on life support by doing the actual flying while he sits in the cockpit and… talks at her? There is a moment where they are in the plane and you can tell the background is just a painted sheet shaking in the wind. It’s glorious.

Some random notes

• The dog, Lightning, is clearly the best actor on set. He knows exactly where the camera is.
• The dialogue sounds like it was written by someone who had only heard about human emotions through a series of telegrams.
• Grant’s descent into depression is basically just him wearing slightly darker suits and looking out of windows.

There is a sequence toward the end involving a long-distance flight that is supposed to be high-stakes. Honestly, I found myself looking at the clock. It feels like the movie realized it had to wrap things up and just decided to throw a plane into a storm to see what would happen. It’s not quite as grounded as Big Stakes, but it has a weird, nervous energy.

It’s not a masterpiece. It’s barely even a coherent story. But watching these two icons figure out how to make this stuff work is a trip. Sometimes a movie just needs to be a bit broken to be interesting. ✈️