Non-Stop New York

Well this was surprising little treat - a light-hearted '30s crime thriller with an appealing lead, a fun cast of supporting characters, a snappy pace, and a delightfully absurd second half that takes place on a rather fanciful mode of transport.

The film opens in New York on New Year's Eve, with penniless, out-of-work English showgirl Jennie Carr (winsome blonde Anna Lee) meeting lawyer Billy Cooper (James Pirrie) in a café, and accepting an invitation for dinner at his apartment. The evening doesn't go as planned, however, when criminal Hugo Brant (Francis L. Sullivan) turns up, forcefully ejects Jennie (chicken leg in hand), and then shoots Cooper for refusing to work for him any longer. Blissfully unaware of the murder, Jennie returns to England, where she is arrested on a trumped up charge of robbery.

When Jennie is released from prison, she reads about Cooper's murder in the paper, and discovers that a vagrant called Henry Abel has been wrongly convicted of the killing and faces the death penalty. Jennie tries to tell the authorities about the men who confronted Cooper in his apartment, but Brant (now in England) ensures that no-one believes her story. Desperate to save Abel's life, Jennie stows on board the Airline, a flying boat destined for New York.

Up to this point, the film has been fun, but nothing particularly special; however, when the Airline takes off, so does the film, Jennie's journey being hugely entertaining from start to finish, with a wonderfully eclectic selection of co-passengers adding to the enjoyment: London police inspector Jim Grant, con-artist Sam Pryor (Frank Cellier), young violin prodigy Arnold James (Desmond Tester) and his aunt veronica (Athene Seyler), and, of course, the wicked Brant, who will do anything to stop Jennie from testifying. The plane itself is also a major character: a massive double decker craft complete with dining room, bar, luxurious cabins, and - best of all - a balcony from which passengers can observe ships passing below!

Duplicitous Sam's plan to blackmail Brant involves plucky young Arnold getting in over his head, lucky Jim becomes romantically involved with Jennie, and Brant leaves the plane mid-flight courtesy of Aunt Veronica's parachute, the fiend having killed the pilot. In the film's incredible climax, heroic Jim Grant has to climb over the top of the plane's exterior as it plunges towards the ocean, a wonderfully bonkers moment that really has to be seen to be believed.

I saw this film some years back on PBS and only wish I could find a copy of it now. A young woman witnesses a murder in New York, and promptly leaves for England. She sees the news in a London paper about a man in New York about to be executed for the murder, and she knows he is innocent. She has to get back to NY as fast as possible to save an innocent man from the electric chair, and so she stows on the Air Boat, Non-stop to New York. Some of the lines are so good that years later, they still echo in my head.

Much of the movie takes place on this incredible aircraft, which takes off from the Thames in London, and is like a flying..., well, boat. Dining room, state rooms, close quarters, nasty travel companions. It's all here.

Borders on Film Noir, but with a wry sense of humor.

If you like the style of the 1940s, and slightly outlandish stories so characteristic of the period, I dare say you will enjoy this English trifle quite a bit!

I won't reveal the ending, so you'll have to see the film to know if she arrives in time!

This unknown classic is a must see. It is fast paced in the Hitchcock style and well acted with a lot of droll sequences intertwined between. Anna Lee couldn't be prettier or more charming. The entire cast including the villain Francis Sullivan are great. The British attempt at American slang is slightly noticeable but otherwise the direction is top notch. I just love that luxury aeroplane and wish that it was a reality to the present air traveller to rid him of the monotony of long travel. The storyline may be a little slow paced but is offset by the acting. Certainly a movie far before its period and not necessarily a curio but most interesting to watch.

"Non-Stop New York" is a delightful film from 1937 starring Anna Lee, John Loder, and Francis L. Sullivan.

Anna Lee (Lila Quartermaine on General Hospital) is pretty Jenny Carr, a young British actress in New York City with a flop play. So soon, she'll be on her way back to London. She meets a man who sees she's hungry and offers to buy her a meal.

That man is later murdered, and a bum is arrested. He is due to be executed in a matter of days. He says that an English girl knows he didn't do it, but no one can find her. She's already home. Once she sees a headline that she's being searched for, she realizes she has to get back to the US immediately. She and her mother find a plane that goes London to NY in 18 hours, and her mother pretends to be drowning while Jenny boards the plane.

Little does Jenny know but the real killers are out to stop her.

This plane is something to behold. It's a clipper, and apparently this type of plane did exist. Wish it still did. The inside is more like a train, with sleeping compartments, dining room, and one can step out onto a terrace like thing outside the plane. It also flies rather low. Totally amazing.

Francis L. Sullivan is excellent as the slimy gang head who wears different disguises in his quest to get rid of Jenny. Apparently - could this be true - he was 35 years old when he did this. If you'd told me he was 65 I would have believed you.

John Loder, who was married at one time to Hedy Lamarr, is the handsome investigator who really doesn't believe Jenny.

This film is available on youtube. Try and see it - it's very enjoyable.

I bought the video of Non-Stop New York on a whim when I saw it was about a double-decker airplane with an outside deck(!). However, the plane only comes into play during the last half of the film, and when it does, the design of it is so downplayed that we assume double-decker planes were mainstream travel in 1938. The plot involves a chorus girl trying to free an innocent man from death row while being pursued by the gangsters that did it. Yeah, we've all seen it before, but the plane, and the way the movie uses it, truly make this trip worth it.

In my opinion, if you stumbled across a film as esoteric as this in the IMDb and actually are taking the time to read about it, you'll enjoy it. This is what all those Airport movies wish they were.