War Eagles

by David Conover, Philip J. Riley

This latest addition to Philip J Riley's Alternate History of Classic Filmonsters series is a collaborative effort with fellow film historian David Conover that delves into one of the most famous unproduced motion pictures of all time, Merian C. Cooper's legendary WAR EAGLES! Planned as a full Technicolor production at MGM in the late 1930s, WAR EAGLES would have eclipsed Cooper and long-time SFX partner Willis O'Brien's KING KONG as the greatest fantasy epic of the period had it not fallen victim to pre-war studio politics and the rise of Hitler's Third Reich on the eve of World War II. Long considered a lost film effort, Conover's research has actually uncovered a richly detailed pre-production history, complete with never-before -published artwork, storyboards, test footage frames and more, direct from studio archives and the estates of technicians and artists who actually worked on the film. Also included is the full, never-published final draft of WAR EAGLES by Cyril Hume (screenwriter of MGM's Tarzan series and the sci-fi masterpiece FORBIDDEN PLANET) along with Merian C. Cooper's original treatment and production designer Howard Campbell's notes and budgets for the ill-fated production. For decades, stop-motion fans and film researchers considered an early, coverless draft attributed to Willis O'Brien-- but actually written by Harold Lamb and James Ashmore Creelman-- to be the only existing script for WAR EAGLES, but Conover's discovery of the original typescripts at the USC film library in 2003 turned up 7 more drafts and multiple revisions that eventually led to the final Hume draft. Pre-production artist Duncan Gleason began detailed storyboarding and illustration based on this draft and it is very likely that it would have become the actual shooting script. Detailed models and sets were built and Technicolor test footage featuring stop-motion animation by Willis O'Brien and his crew (including Kong/Mighty Joe Young creators Marcel Delgado and George Lofgren) was shot, and the exciting tale of a lost race of Viking warriors astride giant prehistoric eagles doing battle with Nazis over the skies of modern day Manhattan almost reached the screen until the reality of impending war halted production in 1940... David Conover is a film writer and historian who began his quest to uncover the history of WAR EAGLES as a 13-year-old reader of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. He was a columnist and reviewer for the Louisville Eccentric Observer for 9 years and his work was syndicated widely during that period as well. He is also the Vice President and Programming Director for WonderFest, an international modeling, toy, film and FX expo that takes place annually in Louisville, Ky, where he lives with his wife, daughter, and a tiny piece of the stegosaurus model from the original KING KONG. If you ask him, he'll show it to you, along with the final page of Cyril Hume's WAR EAGLES script. He's not crazy, just enthusiastic..

Genres: Media Tie In

290 pages, Hardcover

First published June 16, 2008

Reviews

[Steve Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just how many versions can a film have? I don't know but, for example, let's take Metropolis. Off the top of my head, there's the original Berlin version, the German version (with less footage), the Channing Pollock version (way less footage), the BBC/PBS version (saved for posterity on one of the 1st VHS recorders!), the Giorgio Moroder adaptation (the 1st version I ever viewed), the "penultimate" version (post-Soviet Union break up and utilizing as many archive sources as possible) and .. whew ... finally the Argentinian restoration (the original minus 5 minutes or so).

That may be a record for films that would be made. How about films that were not made? (well, except for some test footage). I nominate War Eagles for consideration on that topic.

Connover and Riley did an excellent job of research in uncovering all types of artifacts on the films initial stages: Interviews, numerous summaries, notes, shooting scripts, budget documents, etc etc.

Each of these revealed a different "War Eagles".

Some tidbits:
_the giant White Eagle was a not too veiled homage to the symbol of Poland and the villains of the story were equally obviously Nazis.
-part of the story was inspired by the absurd claims of Henry Grindell Matthews. From my own research, I'm aware that he'd been peddling crazy inventions since the 20s (some of which also inspired a few silents of the day).
_the existence of two lost world races (many takes of the tale only have one)

This is a good companion piece to the novelization. My own editorial opinion? I'd take the novel if I wanted a nice escapist read. The shooting script was a bit unwieldy for me. However, if its the film itself that's of interest... then choose this tome.

[Chuck White · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I heard about this book, last year, I thought, "why have I never heard of this movie before?" That's because there was no movie, but one of film history's great "What ifs?". Well, learning why the film wasn't made, and short of someone actually making the film now, this book comes as close to the experience as possible. The first half of the book details the film's genesis and eventual demise. While the second half has a complete copy of the last shooting script that was written, just prior to the production being scuttled. A great read, and the script moves along at a fluid, energetic pace. The movie would have rocked.

Highly recommended.

[Dennis Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at an unfilmed 1939 fantasy screenplay from Merian C Cooper and Willis O'Brien. A tribe of lost vikings in Antarctica and the giant eagles they ride are called in to protect New York from an attacked by an unnamed enemy. This would have been a color epic from the makers of the original KING KONG. Sadly, the war came along, ending any studio interest in making this project. This book contains the screenplay, some comments from the people involved in the project, production art and more. It sis still mentioned as a possible project by modern filmmakers, but it sits, undeveloped....