A family diamond mine in South Africa causes great problems to owners Dr. Cecil James (George B. French) and his daughter, Grace (Helen Foster). Accompanied by her maid, Mira (Myrtis Crinley), Grace and her father decide to go to Africa to investigate. They arrange to meet Jack Woods (Joseph Bennett), manager of the Consolidated Diamond Mining Co., who has used the excuse of a native plague to close the mine and hold up shipments.
Being advised by his men of the doctor's visit, Woods has the party waylaid by Swahili warriors. The two girls flee and Wood "rescues" them, taking them to the a building at the mine site. Fearing for their safety, back home, Sir Henry Blake sends his son, Art (Al Wilson), after them, and he succeeds in eluding the gang at the mine.
Art sneaks into the Swahili village and frees the doctor but is himself captured and thrown in a lions' den, from which, however, he escapes. Woods forces Grace to accompany him in a getaway by air. Art pursues in another aircraft and in an air battle, subdues the villain, who falls to his death.
Al Wilson was not only the star of Won in the Clouds but also flew as a "stunt pilot" in the film. After becoming a flying instructor and a short period as manager of the Mercury Aviation Company, founded by one of his students, Cecil B. DeMille, Wilson became more and more skilled in performing stunts, including wing-walking, and left the company to become a professional stunt pilot, specializing in Hollywoodaviation films.[6]
Wilson worked together with stuntmen like Frank Clarke and Wally Timm and also for film companies, including Universal Pictures. After numerous appearances in stunt roles, he started his career as an actor in 1923 with the serial The Eagle's Talons.[7] Wilson produced his own movies until 1927, when he went back to work with Universal.[N 1]
Aviation film historian Stephen Pendo, in Aviation in the Cinema (1985) said Won in the Clouds was only one of a long list of aviation films that showcased Wilson's talents. He alternately wrote, acted and flew in a career that "spanned more than 10 years, and he acted in more films than any other professional pilot." In Won in the Clouds , Pendo noted the aerial stunts were essentially repeated from those in his earlier films.[4]
Aviation film historian Michael Paris in From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema (1995) agreed that Won in the Clouds, "merely repeated the formula."[9]
^ Wilson was one of the pilots flying in Hell's Angels (1930) and during filming, he was involved in an accident where the mechanic Phil Jones died. This episode marked the end of his career as stunt pilot in Hollywood.[8]
Paris, Michael. From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. ISBN978-0-7190-4074-0.
Pendo, Stephen. Aviation in the Cinema. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. ISBN0-8-1081-746-2.
Wynne, H. Hugh. The Motion Picture Stunt Pilots and Hollywood's Classic Aviation Movies. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1987. ISBN978-0-93312-685-5.
