The endless tracking shots of Mireau through the trenches are absorbing and dramatic, along with distant sounds of exploding mortars.For a moment, he considered revealing that he was Superman, but then reverted to his Clark Kent role.Only Angels Have Wingsmirrored a very successful plot element of other adventure/romance pictures of the 30s (Red Dust (1932),China Seas (1935)andTorrid Zone (1940)) - the idea of an independent woman invading an all-male, small environment and community.Stone claimed that his harsh, frightening and unflinching depiction of guerrilla warfare was designed to sharply contrast with the fake depiction of war in the gung-ho John Wayne film,The Green Berets (1968).