Flight to Nowhere

The film has attractive leads, but the plot of the film is clumsy and confusing. Essentially Alan Curtis is a private pilot who is contacted at the last moment to fly a group of people to Las Vegas. It turns out that the people on the plane are attesting to sell atomic secrets, and it also turns out that Alan Curtis is a retired FBI agent. The film print was quite good considering that the movie is in the public domain, and the film appeared to have been shot entirely on location, no actual film sets at all, giving the film a somewhat low-budget feel. The film has a good leading cast: Alan Curtis, a former model turned actor, and Evelyn Ankers, Universal Studios horror queen. Jerome Cowan also has a good role as one of the crooked businessmen.

Alan Curtis is an airplane pilot. He's approached by Countess Micheline Cheirel for a trip to Death Valley and a dinner for two. Before that happens, government man Jack Holt wants him for a job of espionage. When Miss Cheirel shows up, it's with a gaggle of other people, none of whom are what they appear to be. It eventuates they're all concerned with laying their hands on the movie's Maguffin, a map showing where some valuable uranium deposits are.

There is some good character writing in this script, and some of the performers are amusing, particularly Inez Courtney as Curtis' ex-wife, and Jerome Cowan as a guy who spends most of the movie advancing the plot by reading a book that tells the audience who the new characters are. However, the movie is directed and edited in such an overbearing manner, with a score that tries to make every dull moment an instant of high drama that it falls over its feet.

A charter pilot gets mixed up with some stolen nuclear secrets and a few baddies that want to get there hands on these secrets. The pilot and the bad guys play a game of "hot potato" with the prized envelope as it's passed (or stolen) from one person to the next - over and over. It's all handled in the most excruciatingly dull manner imaginable. Seriously, I could barely hold my eyes open. And for a movie that runs at something like 75 minutes, that's not a good sign.

Beyond the wretched screenplay, I could go on and on with the problems I had with Flight to Nowhere. The laundry list would go something like this: It's cheap with poor lighting and even worse cinematography. Everything looks horrible. Even the music feels cheap. The sets are bargain basement and some of the acting is laughably bad. I know this wasn't a big budget, "A" film, but I've seen a lot of "B" movies that looked a million times better than this. Overall, a 3/10 for Flight to Nowhere is being generous.

One final thought - how many hits to the head can one man take? Our pilot hero should be suffering from a horrible case of post-concussion syndrome. There's no way I would trust him in the air with the repeated head trauma he suffers in this movie.

Golden Gate Pitchas presents.... Flight to NoWhere. At the very beginning, we witness a murder. don't know what, where, or why. seems to be over uranium. Mysterious lady with an accent calling herself a Countess, hires a charter pilot to bring them to Death Valley. She seems a little reluctant to answer questions. all very mysterious. Story jumps all over the place. Stars Alan Curtis as "Carrington" and Micheline Cheirel, the Countess, who may or may not be who she says she is. Alan Curtis died young at 43... complications from surgery. he played Philo Vance in a couple of the chapters, right after making THIS film. It's all very "B" movie.. the acting, the editing, the sound and picture quality. and the script -- the Countess is scared and asks for help, and suddenly he must kiss her?? where did THAT come from? and Carrington's ex wife pops up out of no-where, and knows the Countess. all pretty random. Directed by William Rowland. he only directed ten films, but seems to have produced many more during his career. couldn't find much info on Rowland or on Golden Gate Pictures... looks like GGP made six films. it's mildly amusing, but quite flawed. Needed a better script, editor, and director.

The film opens in Honolulu (I'm sure it was filmed on location) and some guy gets gunned down. Then we get stock footage of an atomic explosion. That's pretty much all the excitement in the movie, and the opening credits haven't even rolled yet.

Everybody is trying to find a map to a uranium mine. No one is who they seem to be. In other words, you think you are watching actors, but you're not.

Alan Curtis walks around like Al Gore and reads his lines off a teleprompter. He gets cold-cocked twice and makes wisecracks about it. A way-over-the-hill Jack Holt is shoved into several scenes as a government man. Evelyn Ankers doesn't even get a chance to scream. Silent film cowboy Hoot Gibson has a bit as a sheriff. Jerome Cowan is a bad guy. The climax lasts about 20 seconds.

You can fall asleep several times during the film (as I did) and not miss anything.