Al Wilson didn’t need a stunt double, because he’d been flying for real since before Hollywood ever gave him a script. Wilson was born in Kentucky, then moved to Southern California while he was still young. He began working as a maintenance helper at the Schiller Aviation School. Over time, he took on more duties and became a flying instructor.
At one point, he even managed the Mercury Aviation Company for a short stretch. This was for one of his students, Cecil B. DeMille. After that, he left the job and turned to full-time work as a Hollywood stunt pilot.
He became known for wing-walking. He also did fast, low fly-bys and other tricks done close to the ground. In his day, people called those daredevils the “Squadron of Death,” especially the barnstormers.
By the time Wilson made Won in the Clouds in 1928, he had been doing stunts on film for about ten years. This African-diamond-mine story meant he could show even more of what his biplane could do, this time in front of a camera crew.
The plot — stolen diamonds, kidnapped heiresses, a rescue mission across colonial-era Africa — exists mainly as connective tissue between aerial sequences, and few people watching in 1928 would have pretended otherwise; Wilson’s genuine flying skill was the entire draw. What gives the film its heavier undertone in hindsight is what happened to Wilson afterward: two years later he’d be flying in the notoriously dangerous production of Howard Hughes’s Hell’s Angels, where a fatal on-set accident effectively ended his stunt-flying career, and four years after that, he died from injuries sustained while performing at the 1932 Cleveland Air Races, at just 36 years old. It’s in the public domain, and you can watch it free right now.
Won in the Clouds 1928 — Movie Overview Table
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Title | Won in the Clouds |
| Release Year | 1928 |
| Country | United States |
| Runtime | Approximately 45–50 minutes (5 reels) |
| Genre | Action, Adventure, Aviation Silent Drama |
| Language | Silent, English intertitles |
| Format | Black & White |
| Director | Bruce M. Mitchell |
| Producer | Carl Laemmle |
| Production Company / Distributor | Universal Pictures |
| Star & Real-Life Stunt Pilot | Al Wilson, who also performed his own aerial stunts |
| Setting | A fictional diamond mine in South Africa |
| Star’s Later Career | Al Wilson flew in Howard Hughes’s Hell’s Angels (1930); died in 1932 performing at the Cleveland Air Races |
| IMDb Rating | 5.0/10 |
| Public Domain | Yes — freely available to watch and download |
Full Cast Table — Won in the Clouds (1928)
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Al Wilson | Art Blake |
| Helen Foster | Grace James |
| Frank Rice | Percy Hogan |
| George B. French | Dr. Cecil James |
| Joseph Bennett | Portuguese Jack Woods |
| Albert Prisco | Bangula |
| Myrtis Crinley | Mira |
| Frank Tomick | Henchman |
| Roy Wilson | Henchman |
| Ivan Unger | Henchman |
| Red Sly | Henchman |
| Art Goebel | Sam Highflyer |
Al Wilson — A Real Barnstormer, Not a Movie Actor Playing One
Long before he ever appeared on screen, Al Wilson had built a genuine career in aviation’s most dangerous early era. After learning to fly at the Schiller Aviation School, he became a flying instructor and briefly managed the Mercury Aviation Company, founded by one of his own students, Cecil B. DeMille — a detail that quietly connects Wilson directly to the man who’d go on to become one of Hollywood’s most powerful directors. Wilson grew increasingly skilled at wing-walking and other aerial stunts before leaving to specialize full-time in aviation filmmaking, eventually working alongside fellow stunt pilots Frank Tomick, Frank Clarke, and Wally Timm across a string of Universal aviation pictures throughout the 1920s, including Flyin’ Thru (1925) and The Cloud Rider (1925) before Won in the Clouds.
One historical retrospective on the era’s stunt fliers situates Wilson within a specific, genuinely perilous professional community: pilots like Dick Kerwood, Ormer Locklear, and Dick Grace who’d all started out on the county fair barnstorming circuit before the movie industry made them famous — a group whose breathtaking low-altitude stunts “claimed the lives of many skilled aviators during those heady years,” earning them the grim nickname “Squadron of Death.” Safety precautions were minimal by modern standards; the same source notes that often the only safety device involved in a stunt sequence was a rope tied between the plane’s strut and the performer’s ankle. Wilson’s aerial footage in Won in the Clouds is, in every meaningful sense, the genuine article rather than movie-magic illusion.
A Career That Ended the Way It Was Always Going to End
Wilson’s story after Won in the Clouds carries a genuinely heavy weight in hindsight. In 1930, he was one of the pilots flying in Howard Hughes’s Hell’s Angels — a production notorious even at the time for its extreme aerial danger — when an accident during filming killed mechanic Phil Jones.
The incident essentially ended Wilson’s run as a Hollywood stunt pilot. He, like many from the silent era, could not fully adapt when talkies took over. His 1929 movie, The Sky Skidder, ended up being only his next-to-last film.
Wilson never fully left aviation behind, however, continuing to compete and perform at air races even after stepping away from Hollywood stunt work. On September 5, 1932, he died in Cleveland, Ohio, from injuries sustained when his aircraft crashed during a flying stunt at the National Air Races, at age 36. The crash itself was captured on film and is documented in the historical short Pylon Dusters: 1932 and 1938 Air Races — meaning the same man whose real flying skill gave Won in the Clouds its entire appeal also has his fatal accident preserved on film for posterity, an unusually direct and sobering piece of documentary evidence for the genuine risk these early stunt pilots accepted as a routine part of their profession.
Full Plot Summary — Won in the Clouds (1928)
A family diamond mine in South Africa becomes a source of mounting trouble for its owners, Dr. Cecil James (George B. French) and his daughter, Grace (Helen Foster). Accompanied by Grace’s maid, Mira (Myrtis Crinley), father and daughter travel to Africa to investigate serious disruptions at the mine, arranging to meet Jack Woods (Joseph Bennett), manager of the Consolidated Diamond Mining Co. — unaware that Woods himself has been using the cover story of a native plague to deliberately close the mine and hold up its diamond shipments for his own gain.
An Ambush and a Staged Rescue
Tipped off in advance about the doctor’s visit, Woods arranges for the party to be waylaid by Swahili warriors during their journey. In the chaos, the two women flee, and Woods himself steps in to “rescue” them, conveniently taking Grace and Mira directly to a building at the mine site — a scheme designed to give him leverage over the diamond operation and its owners simultaneously. Back home in England, Sir Henry Blake, alarmed for the family’s safety, sends his son, Art (Al Wilson), to Africa to track them down and intervene.
Captured, Thrown to the Lions, and Escaping Anyway
Art successfully eludes Woods’s gang upon arrival at the mine and sneaks into the Swahili village to free Dr. James — but is captured himself in the process and thrown into a lions’ den as punishment. He manages to escape regardless, setting up the film’s climactic sequence. With his scheme unraveling, Woods forces Grace to accompany him on a desperate airborne getaway, and Art pursues in a second aircraft. The two planes engage in an aerial battle high above the African terrain, and Art ultimately subdues Woods, who falls to his death — bringing the diamond-mine conspiracy, the kidnapping plot, and the film’s extensive biplane action to a decisive, sky-bound conclusion.
A Diamond Plot That Exists to Justify the Flying
The film’s framing device — a story about stolen diamonds, colonial mine operations, and a fictional “native plague” cover story — reflects fairly typical 1920s adventure-serial conventions of its era, including racial and colonial attitudes that were common to the period’s popular fiction but read very differently to modern audiences. As with much silent-era adventure cinema, the African setting and its inhabitants function mainly as exotic backdrop and plot obstacle rather than as a story told with any real specificity or care, a limitation worth noting for anyone approaching the film today expecting more nuance than a 1928 Universal programmer was ever designed to offer.
What the plot genuinely exists to serve is Wilson’s flying. Universal built an entire run of these aviation vehicles around him throughout the mid-to-late 1920s — The Air Patrol (1928), The Cloud Dodger (1928), The Sky Skidder (1929) — nearly all sharing the same basic formula: a wafer-thin adventure or crime plot serving primarily as connective tissue between extended sequences of genuine, dangerous aerial stunt work. Won in the Clouds follows that template closely, right down to casting fellow real-life stunt pilots Frank Tomick and Art Goebel in supporting roles alongside Wilson.
Where to Watch Won in the Clouds (1928) Free Online
Won in the Clouds is in the public domain and legally available across multiple platforms at no cost.
| Platform | Format | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Internet Archive | Stream + Download (multiple formats) | Free |
| YouTube | Stream | Free |
| Public Domain Movies | Stream | Free |
Won in the Clouds (1928) on Internet Archive:
Is Won in the Clouds (1928) in the Public Domain?
Yes. Won in the Clouds is in the public domain in the United States, and you can legally stream, download, share, and screen it without restriction or cost. It’s freely distributed by the Internet Archive and other archival platforms.
Critical Reception — Then and Now
The film holds a modest 5.0 out of 10 on IMDb, reflecting its status as a formulaic, budget-conscious Universal programmer rather than a genuine standout even within the aviation-adventure subgenre it belongs to. What continues to earn the film attention today has little to do with its diamond-heist plotting and everything to do with its star: as one summary of the picture frames it plainly, Al Wilson “became an action star in silent movies… using a simple adventure story about stolen diamonds in Africa to support loads of bi-plane action” — an accurate description of exactly what the picture delivers and exactly what it was designed to be.
Viewed today, the film functions best as a genuine artifact of the barnstorming era of American aviation cinema — a period when the line between “actor” and “professional stunt pilot” was, for performers like Wilson, effectively nonexistent, and when the aerial sequences audiences paid to see carried real, unscripted physical danger for the people performing them. That context gives even a fairly minor, formulaic adventure picture like Won in the Clouds a documentary weight its plot alone could never provide.
Frequently Asked Questions — Won in the Clouds 1928
Q: What is Won in the Clouds (1928) about?
A diamond mine manager in South Africa schemes to seize control of a family-owned mine by staging a kidnapping, taking the owner’s daughter and her maid hostage. Sent to rescue them, Art Blake (Al Wilson) is captured, escapes a lions’ den, and ultimately defeats the villain in a mid-air biplane battle.
Q: Is Won in the Clouds (1928) in the public domain?
Yes. Won in the Clouds is in the public domain in the United States and is freely available on the Internet Archive, YouTube, and other public domain film platforms.
Q: Did Al Wilson really fly the planes in the film?
Yes. Al Wilson was a genuine professional stunt pilot and barnstormer before becoming an actor, and he performed his own aerial stunts in Won in the Clouds and most of his other Universal aviation pictures.
Q: What happened to Al Wilson after this film?
Wilson flew in Howard Hughes’s Hell’s Angels (1930), where a fatal on-set accident effectively ended his Hollywood stunt career. He died in 1932 from injuries sustained while performing flying stunts at the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio, at age 36.
Q: Who directed Won in the Clouds?
Bruce M. Mitchell directed the film for Universal Pictures, produced by studio founder Carl Laemmle. Mitchell directed several other Al Wilson aviation pictures around the same period.
Q: How long is Won in the Clouds?
The film runs approximately 45 to 50 minutes, released in five reels.
Q: Is Won in the Clouds a silent film?
Yes. The film is silent with English intertitles, typical of American feature films released in 1928, just before the widespread industry transition to sound.
Q: What did critics say about Won in the Clouds?
The film is generally regarded as a formulaic, budget-conscious action adventure whose plot exists mainly to showcase Al Wilson’s genuine aerial stunt flying, rather than as a picture notable for its story or performances.
Q: Where can I watch Won in the Clouds (1928) for free?
Won in the Clouds is freely available on the Internet Archive, YouTube, and Public Domain Movies. All versions are legal to stream and download under public domain status.
Related Free Classic Adventure and Action Films
If Won in the Clouds (1928) drew you into silent-era aviation adventures or genuine stunt-pilot filmmaking generally, these are the natural titles to explore next:
- Atlantic Flight (1937) Full Movie Review, Plot, Cast & Free Aviation Adventure Classic
- Danger Lights (1930) Full Movie Review, Plot, Cast & Free Railroad Drama Classic
- The Dawn Rider (1935) Full Movie Review, Plot, Cast & Free John Wayne B-Western Classic
- Public Domain Movies List – All Free Classic Films (Complete Guide)
