Sky Liner

Yet another gem in the Forgotten Noir Collection Vol. 4 DVD set. I'm quickly becoming a fan of the late director William Berke. Although he worked mostly in B-movies, he was one of the better directors in that field. He has a knack for pacing and getting the best out of actors, in this case no name thespians. These films are usually short, some just over an hour and others just under an hour, but Berke makes the best of low budgets and fast pacing. This film involves espionage in the air, on the Sky Liner of the title. It's definitely not typical noir, but it is decent little film. Richard Travis plays a sky marshal for the government tailing a spy network and the story goes on from there. The cast of no names is pretty good led by Rochelle Hudson, the always steady Herbert Evans, Steven Geray and others. The script is good so credit should be given Maurice Tombragel and John Wilste. At less than 50 minutes long, this is a surprising little treat.

I am sure that in time the overall rating of this film will change, but for now it's only 4.8. You'd think this would indicate that the movie is rather poor, though I thought the film was actually a bit better--and well worth seeing. However, one thing I need to point out is that although it's now on a DVD entitled "Forgotten Noir", this is really not an example of film noir--nor are many films in this series. It lacks the camera-work, dialog and grittiness you'd expect in noir. Instead, it's a rather straight-forward example of a crime film.

The film is set aboard an airliner (a Lockheed Constellation, if you really care). According to IMDb, the markings on the plane kept changing--a silly mistake but it didn't exactly ruin the film. A federal agent is on the plane--following a woman who is involved in some sort of espionage. However, when a dead body is found aboard, it's obvious that there is a killer on the plane! Who did it and how must be discovered before the killer is able to escape.

The film is enjoyable...even if the actual murder weapon is a bit far-fetched. Well-paced, interesting and a very good time-passer.

Richard Travis with a slight, sexy drawl was the love interest for Bette Davis in ' The Man Who Came For Dinner ' and he was very good in it indeed. He should have gone on to do other equally good films and many people must have taken notice of his presence in the Davis vehicle. He is very watchable in this, and so is Rochelle Hudson as a mysterious woman he is trailing for helping spies during the Cold War. Most of the action takes place on a plane and this works very well in focussing in on character, and a lot of the short running time is set among the passengers. Only the climax at the end ( and no spoilers ) brings the viewer down to earth, and in fresh bright air. Good atmosphere too as the plane seems to be going through a constant fog and this adds to the claustrophobia, and lots of rather amusing visits to a washroom ( a toilet for the English!! ) which appeared to be quite a chat room. I wondered at one point how many more could get in there, and the climax so to speak comes with murder as well. It is on YouTube and worth seeing, and saying that I am going to hunt down ' The Man Who Came to Dinner. ' Watch that too if you can, as it is a Bette Davis classic, and unlike a lot of her films not a melodrama.

When Sky Liner came out in 1949 this was Lippert Pictures trying to take advantage of current headlines involving espionage in the State Department. Joe McCarthy was a year away from his famous accusations in Wheeling, West Virginia about the Communists in government. But in 1949 Secretary Of State Dean Acheson was defending himself against right wing attacks about the Red Menace invading our State Department. Also remember that the Hiss case was coming to a head as well.

So what we have in Sky Liner is spy Rochelle Hudson, secretary to a State Department bigwig apparently ready to defect. A Communist takes her boss's place after killing him and the two are on the way to a conference. You have to believe there's going to be a defection because once they discover the real boss's body, it's all over. And that's supposing no one at the conference will realize there's a phony planted among the delegates.

Never fear because the FBI in the person of Richard Travis has her in his sights for a while and he also might get a twofer because foreign agent Stephen Bekassy is also on this transcontinental flight. It turns out as films in this era always did with the FBI protecting us from Red secretaries.

Sky Liner is one of the dumbest films from the Cold War I've ever seen and one of the dumbest from Lippert studios. And that is going some.

SKY LINER is a 61-minute B picture - short, effective, and reflective of the beginning of the Cold War and of commercial aviation (great publicity for the now defunct TWA. How the world changed in some 40 years!)

I do not know the actors but they do not compromise the product in any way. It is a riveting film from beginning to end, and characters have proper motivations for their actions.

No waste of time, this!