Ven a volar conmigo

"Come Fly with Me" is a fun film from 1963 with some young stars, including Delores Hart, Lois Nettleton, and Pamela Tiffin, as well as Hugh O'Brian, Karl Bohm, and the more established Karl Malden.

I love old films that show how airlines used to be - nice seats, free food, people seeing you off at the gate, and the flight attendants walking into the cockpit.

The story concerns three flight attendants and their love problems - Tiffin with O'Brian, Hart with Bohm, and Nettleton with Malden.

Watching the caviar and lobster in first class was almost painful. Nevertheless, it's a fun trip.

Delores Hart entered the convent after this film, where she still is. Lois Nettleton, now deceased, was a highly underrated actress, and Pamela Tiffin today is a New York socialite.

I saw Hugh O'Brian two years ago at an event - though he looked like a mountain man with his long gray hair, he still has all his marbles and a sense of humor at 91.

This movie is not an Oscar winner, but what it does have going for it is its charm. It is the perfect romantic comedy to watch with your loved one! This, in fact, is the best kind of romantic comedy. It is corny, but in the kind of way that invokes whimsical smiles and nostalgic thoughts of the happy days of youth.

The locations in the movie are beautiful as the airline crew and passengers travel throughout Europe. The perspective is almost unique: nearly the entire movie is filmed aboard plane.

But the charm of the movie is by far the biggest reason to watch it. One can view and enjoy it with the same suspension of disbelief as was possible with many of the musicals of the 1940s and 50s. The movie is predictable and not a critical success. But in view of the fact that the movie's title tune was later covered by Frank Sinatra; also, considering that "Come Fly With Me" was Dolores Hart's last movie before religious life, it is a shame that this movie is not available on VHS, at least. How could it have been overlooked?! Come on, guys! You can do better than that!! Give us what we're asking for!!

While not as blatantly tacky and overdone as some of the other films of this type (which are actually good things for some people who seek out glossy, over-produced flicks like this!), it still has it's points of interest and moments of eye-rolling cheesiness. After Frankie Avalon croons the title song, flash-in-the-pan Tiffin comes jiggling on wearing an extremely sexy and snug flight attendant's uniform, spoiled only by the somewhat unflattering hat they all wear. It is utterly fascinating to see how stewardesses were perceived at this time. It's hard to say, at this point, how close to real life it was, but in this film they are treated as total sex objects with clothes that stress looks over functionality. Her hair is done in manner that makes one wonder if Catherine Zeta Jones and her stylists keep a loop of this film running in their salon. There is a definite occasional resemblance. Hart is quite a revelation. For someone who was about to become a nun in real life, she is surprisingly hard-edged and mouthy here. She may even swear once and she smokes incessantly. It's great to see a lesser beauty, but still a talented actress, like Nettleton get a featured role. She creates a sympathetic, if a bit overly difficult character. Poor Maxwell ("Miss Moneypenny" of 007 films) barely even got in a word edgewise. O'Brian is his usual suave and macho self as a voraciously skirt-chasing pilot. Cruelly, he keeps his shirt on at all times and never goes swimming. Malden does an okay job as a lonely businessman. German actor Boehm is a bit of an annoyance with his thin voice and heavy accent. There's a "love song" sung by a Parisian street chanteuse that will have many folks wretching and screaming for her to stop. All in all, a pretty, easy, soufflé of a film with just enough color and wit to hold interest up to a point. A mid-air trauma or an appearance by Joan Crawford.....something to punch it over the edge, may have been welcome, though. Nary a moment of it is believable, the same as it was for similar films like "Three Coins in a Fountain", "The Best of Everything" and "The Pleasure Seekers".

Just a pleasant, solid film with a breezy theme song and some attractive young performers, (and Karl Malden, too), in a film that goes down easy. There are a lot of such films that were made in the 60's and I miss them. It's interesting that this has been described by some posters as a comedy. It really isn't, but it's such a "nice" movie it seems like one. There's nothing wrong with curling up on the couch and just enjoying something that's easy to take.

It's also a last look at Dolores Hart as an actress. She's very beautiful, even by movies star standards, has a very expressive face and has a strong intelligent presence. She might have accomplished great things in the cinema but I'll bet those qualities came in handy in her new profession, one which I'm sure meant a lot more to her.

By the 21st century, air travel had become so common that it was almost passé. Flying somewhere for business or to visit relatives had become ho-hum. While vacation flights may still carry a little excitement, for the most part air travel is now so common that there's nothing special about it. And, considering the changes and difficulties with travel today, modern folk can be excused if they don't know about a time when air travel was fun, relaxing, exciting and even romantic. But there was such a time, indeed.

The glamor days of air travel were the late 1950s to the early 1980s. Air travel grew by leaps and bounds after World War II as jet airplanes cut flight time to a couple hours between airports in most countries. In America, cities large and small had multiple airlines serving them. People enjoyed travel for business, pleasure and family visits. Vacation packages frequently included air travel or were built around it by the airlines. And security measures were simple and quick to get through. Many airlines flourished during this time. By the 2010s, I had flown on every major carrier in the U. S. since 1962, and on several foreign airlines. And, I had flown on most of the U. S. regional or trunk lines as well and regional airlines in Europe and Asia.

The first three decades of jet air service were the halcyon days of air travel. Airlines then competed for passengers with service. The cream of the crop of the American-based airlines were Pan Am (Pan American World Airways), Braniff International and TWA (Trans World Airlines). Running close behind them in service were United, American, and Eastern airlines. Other national carriers were Delta, Northwestern, Continental and National. Travelers will recognize that all but three of those were gone within a decade into the 21st century, and that some new airlines have been added. The cream of the regional carriers back then was Alaska Airlines - still flying in the 21st century.

So, why do I bother giving this brief history of U. S. airline service? I think it may help younger movie fans especially to get in the mood of this film, "Come Fly with Me." This film shows a little of the meal and drink service on the airlines of the past (and that international flights still provide), and the hospitality of the airline employees. In those days, women were stewardesses and men were stewards. Today they have no gender distinction and are called flight attendants. But it also is an example of a type of film that was popular for that period when many people associated flying with romantic getaways or just plain romance. So, in the style of the day, three of the flight hostesses are friends who enjoy travel to foreign ports and hope to meet well-to-do men. And, the co-pilot has a role that was typical for films of this period genre - as a flyer with a girl in every port.

Enough said on that. "Come Fly with Me" puts a different twist on the usual fare for the women and the co-pilot. Dolores Hart, Pamela Tiffin, Lois Nettleton, Hugh O'Brian and the rest of the cast play their parts well. I especially enjoyed Karl Malden as Walter Lucas and Lois Maxwell as Gwen Sandley. Watch for the misadventure involving Hart's character and a traveling baron who catches her eye.

This is a light comedy romance that is worth watching besides just for its historical view of the travel culture of the time.