Crack-Up

In this absurd but entertaining spy thriller from 20th Century Fox and director Malcolm St. Clair, brilliant aviation mogul John Fleming (Ralph Morgan) has designed a new plane christened the "Wild Goose". He's planning on taking it for its first trans-Atlantic test flight soon, to be piloted by Ace Martin (Brian Donlevy) and his young partner Joe Randall (Thomas Beck). And then there's Colonel Gimpy (Peter Lorre), a sweet but mentally deranged cripple who the air crew allow to hang around as a mascot. Only not everyone is who they claim to be, and more than one of them have secret agendas. It all comes out during the test flight, one which not all will survive.

The double crosses and triple crosses pass into the realm of silliness long before the movie is finished, and the very ending is ridiculous, particularly the music used, but I still enjoyed this "B" feature, largely thanks to Peter Lorre's terrific performance as Colonel Gimpy. The toy plane special effects only add to the goofy fun.

Surprisingly good, low-budget little espionage thriller, told in 70 minutes (so you don't have much time to question the accuracy of the plot), with good performances by all, including Peter Lorre and J. Carrol Naish in subtle characterizations, and Thomas Beck in a major role. The plot concerning a German conspiracy to steal the blueprints of a new American airplane is centered around four male characters (Lorre, Beck, Brian Donlevy and Ralph Morgan) who end up together in a dangerous flight over the Atlantic. The fast dramatic events include ruthless killings and a plane crash, all unknowingly leading to II World War.

This B-movie includes spies, murder and a thief trying to sell blueprints to a fancy new airplane....all things that sounds really exciting. Then HOW did the filmmakers drop the ball like they did and create a dud??

The story begins just before a new cross-Atlantic airliner is tested. Into the ceremony comes Colonel Gimpy (Peter Lorre) with some of the most amazing over-acting I've ever seen. Apparently, everyone at the airplane factory things he's a harmless old crank...little do they know that he's a spy seeking to steal the airplane with the help of the pilot, Ace Martin (Brian Donlevy). But the plan does NOT go as everyone expects and it leads to an overly long and bizarre ending which makes no sense....none at all.

What you have here is a B-movie made by a top studio (Twentieth Century-Fox). It has excellent production values, excellent acting (even Lorre's overacting) but what it doesn't have is a good script. It's a shame, as I like old aviation pictures...but this one really suffers from a script that goes no where in the second half of the film. How disappointing.

Brian Donlevy and Peter Lorre star in this 1936 film "Crack-Up," which is all over the place.

The crazy plot involves an ace pilot, Ace Martin (Donlevy), and a new plane he is set to fly, the Wild Goose. The test flight, for reasons not revealed, is going to Berlin. Martin, as it turns out, isn't what he seems.

He has made a deal to steal some important propeller plans from a company in exchange for $20,000. In order to do this, he gives a sob story for a young man he has taken on as a protegee, Joe Randell (Thomas Beck), stating that the propeller is his invention and he just has to have it to stake his claim.

Joe's fiancee (Helen Wood) works at the plant that has the diagrams, so when he picks her up at work one night - she's usually there late and alone - he steals them, not realizing what Ace is up to.

Meanwhile, getting in everyone's face at the plane site is a nut job who calls himself Colonel Gimpy (Peter Lorre) who walks around blowing a trumpet and making bizarre statements.

Little does anyone know that this Kayser Soze prototype is actually the brains behind a huge spy operation - he wants the plans for his country, which seems to be Germany.

It all gets crazier and crazier, with Ralph Morgan playing a man whose wife has unexpectedly left him. She's en route to Paris, so he hitches a ride. Then Colonel Gimpy appears on the plane while it's in flight.

All strange...yet parts of it are entertaining. If you decide to watch it, good luck.

For a B film Crack-Up has a more complex plot than usual and some of the characters are clearly modeled on some prominent figures, Brian Donlevy is Floyd Bennett and Ralph Morgan to me represents Orville Wright.

But Peter Lorre steals this film in a turnabout performance. When we first meet him he's a local character who hangs around an airfield who no one quite takes seriously. Than later we learn he's actually the head of a spy ring for an unknown country, but I'm thinking the Soviet Union.

Donlevy is not only an ace pilot, but an aircraft designer and he's got a new type model propeller that Lorre's crowd wants. Circumstances and the film's plot bring Morgan, Donlevy, and Lorre together on a downed plane which Donlevy was piloting on an experimental New York to Berlin run. The dynamics between these three and young Thomas Beck on the plane to Berlin is quite interesting.

This one is a neglected sleeper. Try to catch it.