{ { Infobox film
| name = Devil Dogs of the Air
| image = Devil-dogs-of-the-air-movie-poster-1935.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Theatrical poster
| producer = Hal B. WallisJack L. Warner (Executive producer) Lou Edelman (Associate producer) | director = Lloyd Bacon | writer = Malcolm Stuart BoylanEarl BaldwinJohn Monk Saunders (original story) | starring = James CagneyPat O'Brien | music = Leo F. Forbstein | cinematography = Arthur Edeson | editing = William Clemens | studio = Warner Brothers Pictures (A Cosmopolitan Production) | distributor = Warner Bros. | released = | runtime = 86 (90) minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $385,000 (estimated)<ref name="warners">"Warner Bros financial information in The William Shaefer Ledger." Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Appendix 1, 1995, p. 15:sup1, 1-31 p 16 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551</ref> | gross = $1,685,000 (worldwide rentals) }}Devil Dogs of the Air (a.k.a. Flying Marines) is a 1935 Warner Bros. film, directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring James Cagney and Pat O'Brien, playing similar roles as close friends after making their debut as a "buddy team" in Here Comes the Navy. Devil Dogs of the Air was the second of nine features that James Cagney and Pat O'Brien made together. The film's storyline was adapted from a novel by John Monk Saunders.
Plot
Lieut. Bill Brannigan (Pat O'Brien) learns friend and hotshot pilot Thomas Jefferson "Tommy" O'Toole (James Cagney), the self-styled "world's greatest aviator", is joining the USMC Reserve Aviator training program. O'Toole arrives at San Diego and promptly starts to move in on Brannigan's love interest, Betty Roberts (Margaret Lindsay), the daughter of the owner of the nearby Happy Landings Cafe. In typical cocky fashion, O'Toole antagonizes nearly everyone else.
Although not temperamentally suited for the military, Tommy completes primary training and after surviving an accident he caused by running out of fuel, eventually realizes that he is willing to change.
Bill is assigned as his instructor, and on the first flight together, when Tommy begins to do some stunt flying, the aircraft has to be abandoned when it catches on fire. Bill bales out, but Tommy defies orders and lands the aircraft, making him a hero. Tommy performs his first solo flight perfectly and then browbeats Betty into attending the solo flight party with him. Bill is not amused.
After a competition in the air with his friend Brannigan flying together, a midair emergency takes place, but it is Bill who saves the aircraft. Tommy makes a good landing, and finds Betty waiting for him. Although their friendship is restored, Bill realizes that Tommy has won Betty and arranges a transfer to another base.
Cast
James Cagney as Thomas Jefferson "Tommy" O'Toole
Pat O'Brien as Lieut. William R. "Bill" Brannigan
Margaret Lindsay as Betty Roberts
Frank McHugh as "Crash" Kelly
John Arledge as "Mac" Macintosh
Helen Lowell as Ma Roberts
Robert Barrat as Commandant
Russell Hicks as Captain
William B. Davidson (as William Davidson) as Adjutant, a captain
Ward Bond as Jimmy, senior instructor
Bill Elliott (as Gordon Elliott) as Instructor
Olive Jones as Mrs. Brown
David Newell as Lieut. Brown
Helen Flint as Mrs. Johnson
Harry Seymour as Officer
Newton House as Officer
Ralph Nye as Officer
Selmer Jackson as Officer
Bill Beggs as Officer
Robert Spencer as Bob
Bud Flanagan as Student
Don Turner as Student
Dick French as Student
Charles Sherlock as Student
Carlyle Blackwell Jr.as Messenger
Production
Principal photography starting on October 1, 1934, was based at the US Naval Base San Diego. Paul Mantz did the aerial stunts for Cagney. One of the featured squadrons stationed there, Marine Attack Squadron 231 (VMA-231) after returning to San Diego in 1928, had traded in its World War I-era O2B-1s for new Curtiss F8C-1s and F8C-3s, which were soon redesignated OC-1s and OC-2s. Equipped with Vought O3U-6 Corsairs, the squadron continued to operate from San Diego and participated in the annual Fleet Problems, operating from the carriers , , and at different times. Shortly after receiving the F8C/OCs, the squadron, along with VO-10M took part in the filming of the 1929 movie Flight and later, prominently appeared in the Devil Dogs of the Air.