Cuerpo y alma

Tried and true story of 3 buddies, young men thrust into danger (in this case, World War I aviation), some of whom come back, while some are less lucky. Films about WW1 fliers had been spectacularly successful in the US around the turn of the 1930s, like "Wings," "Hell's Angels," and "Dawn Patrol." The Fox Studio evidently hoped this particular story, written by Furthman and others, had enough box office potential that Fox filmed it in 2 versions, the original English-speaking one (see under "Body and Soul" (1931)), and this Spanish-language "Cuerpo y alma" [literal translation of "Body & Soul"]. In the Spanish version the 3 fliers were played by Lewis (Farrell's role), Alcantara (Bogart), Nieto (Dillaway) and the 2 women by Custodio (Landi) and Soler (Loy). It's ironic that this Spanish version actually ran a half-hour longer than the original English one (99 min. vs. 70 min.), even though it's the same story filmed in the same sets. Perhaps Fox was so disappointed with the English-speaking result that after completion the studio cut it down radically (to play on US screens as part of a double feature), while the Spanish version actually preserved intact the complete original story...? (Something similar did happen that same year to the English and Spanish versions of "Dracula.")