No Place to Land

In 1958, Republic Studios announced that it was closing up shop after more than two decades. "No Place to Land" was among the final films released by Republic...and with films like this you can understand their decision to close. It's not exactly a terrible film...but certainly not the type to put the studio into the black.

Iris (Mari Blanchard) is a screwy mess of a woman (today she'd likely be seen as having a Borderline Personality). When she and Jonas (John Ireland) split up, she quickly marries Buck (Robert Middleton) on the rebound and yet immediately begins flirting with Jonas! Not surprisingly, this makes her short-tempered and occasionally psychotic husband fly off in a rage...and Iris seems to enjoy doing this, as she enjoys being a tramp. Clearly the lady loves excitement and living on the edge and she seems to be sleeping with everyone except Jonas and Buck! As for Jonas, he's no idiot and does his best to avoid Iris...but you get a strong impression that Iris isn't done trying to manipulate him and getting him to play her game.

In the meantime, Jonas and his partner, Swede (Jackie Coogan), try to find work. The problem is that Buck controls most of the nearby dusting and Iris' actions have seen to it that Buck keeps Jonas from working. The pair find work when they find a very drunk pilot and the drunk man's wife, Lynn (Gail Russell) convinces them to help them. What's next? See the film...or not.

This is a silly, lurid movie. It's not terrible, exactly, but doesn't have a lot of depth nor does it seem like the sort of must- see film that Republic really needed at the time. An interesting ending...but otherwise...meh.

By the way, at the beginning of the credits it says that this film is brought to you in 'Naturama'. I looked this up and apparently that was the name Republic gave to its widescreen process--much like Paramount's Vistavision.

Noticeably lacking in things like a cohesive plot and logic this cheap programmer with an apparent budget of about fifty bucks is representative of what used to fill the bottom half of a double bill.

For such a short feature with the rather innocuous theme of a crop dusting business this has a remarkably high body count, some of those incidents happening without a sensible reason.

As for the performances, John Ireland is okay if unmemorable in the lead while Mari Blanchard is properly brazen as a tramp with a serious case of hot pants. Jackie Coogan, who gives the film's best performance and also has the part with the most depth-which isn't much but comparatively speaking there is at least some reasoning behind what he does.

The only other performer of note is Gail Russell nearing the end of her career. Once considered to have the potential to be a big star her insecurity led to an enormous drinking problem which wrecked her career. Her appearance is shocking-her beauty ruined by booze, she was only 34 when this was made and looks a rough 50. Ironically her one big speech is about how her character's husband has ruined his life though his addiction to alcohol, it's terribly sad if you know her back story. She would only make one film after this and literally drink herself to death within three years.

Not an awful film but not a very good one either. If you like 50's melodramas or any of the stars it's worth catching once but that will be enough.

It's been a while since I've seen this film but I believe that you have to judge it for what it is (or was). First, it is very 1950's. Low budget 'B' movie probably shot and filmed in a matter of days and on a shoe sting budget, in an era when the big studios cranked these things off the assembly line. But what I remember most about the movie is how seductive was Mari Blanchard. You have to see the opening scene of her dancing and flirting around a little diner to music on a juke box. Albeit her character was cheap and bawdy, something comes across on the celluloid that moved me, and I think that had it not been for her untimely death, her career may have really opened up. The movie itself is a love triangle trapped in a stupid little plot, but amidst the backdrop and supposed romance of the crop dusters of the day, which were common in the 1950's, when America was a little more rural and agricultural, and with all the fly-boys returning from WWII and pursuing said nomadic lifestyle. Also, possibly one of the first films to deal with a female stalking a male, maybe not quite in the vain of Fatal Attraction but at least helping blaze the trail a bit. The movie could be described as terrible, but it's so bad that it almost compels you to watch it, like some Ed Wood films were famous for.

The tragedy of the beautiful Gail Russell is only compounded when one sees this celluloid disaster, because the only thing that makes it almost tolerable is the natural, easy, relaxed and totally believable Gail Russell. In this pic, her next to last one, she indicates that she had continued to mature as a skilled actress -- she is even able to utter these incredible moments of dialog with a lovely voice and convincing demeanor. Too bad that her superb work in 'The Tattered Dress' didn't get her an Oscar nomination as a Supporting character. If that film had been a little better and a little better received then Ms. Russell might have had a shot at a formidable and hopefully self-assured return. This enormously awful film about crop dusters is really about the ridiculous character portrayed by a swaggering, hip-swinging, silent movie vamping of Mari Blanchard, who was a pale imitation of Mamie Van Doren who was a pale imitation of Jayne Mansfield who was a pale imitation of MM. Veterans Jackie Coogan and John Ireland cannot do much with the asinine plot, although Coogan has a moment or two of something akin to professionalism. Robert Middleton is amazingly bad in his villainous role. The screenplay is one long horror, and the direction, to be kind, is so inept that the film would have been turned down by the Creeping Crud Film Festival!! But,despite Blanchard's incompetence and the lousy work of all the others, there is still the radiance of Gail Russell, turning in a performance where none would have seemed possible.

This was the title in the UK and it was double-billed with ' Serious Charge ' that flirted with homosexuality. This programme was shown in main cinemas and the public flocked to see the ' daring ' subject matter. The British Board of Film Censors ' had given both films an ' X ' certificate for adults only and over 16 year olds must have appreciated the supposed taboo issue of ( faked ) male sexual assault in ' Serious Charge ' plus the sight of Mari Blanchard, one of B movies most sexually provocative women. I find her almost equal to Dietrich in ' Destry ' a remake of one of of Dietrich's films set in the West. Dietrich never looked comfortable in Westerns but Mari Blanchard did. Just to see her hopping from man to man and proudly showing off her body she was more blatant about sex than either Jayne Mansfied or Mamie Van Doren both queens of torrid second feature cinema. Why was she so good ? In ' Man Mad ' she is a mocking vision of men's lust, not only on screen but in the audience. She was not beautiful, but a drag queen version of a woman and delightfully primitive in her appeal. I enjoyed her presence a lot and at the trash end of film she was perhaps its main star. She also probably knew what men expected of her and hit back at them on screen, laughing all the way at their single minded desires. But bad girls as we know must die and I will not give away the demented plot, and as men dominated Hollywood ( as they do even now ) she was given her just punishment for arousing them. And John Ireland, a rough sexual image in himself tries to keep up with her, and as for Gail Russell she gave her best in a pitiful role. Unique in its sexual madness this film is well worth watching.