Flight from Glory

In many ways, "Flight from Glory" is reminiscent of films like "The Wages of Fear" and "Only Angels Have Wings", and it is one of RKO's better films of the 1930s.

The story is set in some god forsaken airport in the middle of no where in South America. A company hires washed out pilots with promises of money and a second chance, but the troll in charge of the operation provides planes which are unsafe, awful working conditions AND they nickel and dime the pilots so badly that they're left with practically nothing.

Into this awful place arrive a disgraced pilot and his new bride (Van Heflin and Whitney Bourne) and they are shocked at the outfit. They are also shocked to hear from the boss (Onslow Stevens) that they owe the company money...so they cannot leave until it's been worked off...something you suspect with never happen. What is to become of this nice couple...as well as the other pilots?

This is a wonderfully written film. I also appreciated the fine ensemble cast which includes Chester Morris (a highly underappreciated actor). All in all, a really fine production.... far better than I'd anticipated...especially since the film has somehow been allowed to slip into the public domain.

FLIGHT FROM GLORY is a rather generic title for a programmer that is reminiscent of another aviation story that came two years later with a bigger budget and bigger stars--ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS.

And yet, it's a tightly constructed drama that gives early exposure to VAN HEFLIN, as a pilot who likes to drink too much, but who lands a job flying planes over the Andes even though he's newly married to bride WHITNEY BOURNE. Running the decrepit fleet of planes is ONSLO STEVENS, a man who doesn't fly the planes himself but who is a strict manager responsible for sending a group of down-on-their-luck men to almost certain death.

CHESTER MORRIS gets top billing as a man who's perceptive enough to realize that Whitney Bourne should never have come to the God forsaken airline and who forms an intimate association with her after trying to discourage her from liking him too much, since she's married to Heflin.

There's a strong ending with Stevens getting his comeuppance and a nice finish for Morris and Bourne.

Summing up: Interesting aviation drama worth watching mainly for the performances of Van Heflin and Onslo Stevens.

A band of outcast pilots fly mining supplies over the mountains. Their South American outpost is remote, their planes are decrepit, and their boss is unsympathetic. Lead flyer Chester Morris tries to keep his colleagues' spirits up but another pilot has just died in a crash. The team gets a shakeup when replacement pilot Van Heflin shows up with beautiful wife Whitney Bourne.

Morris informs Heflin that this isn't the glamorous job he thought he signed up for. Then he asks Heflin what the black mark is on his background, knowing there must be something: "Every new man that lights here thinks he's the first and only black sheep. Well, we're all black sheep."

The supporting cast includes Solly Ward as the crusty old mechanic who used to be a Russian soldier; Douglas Walton as the handsome pilot from a wealthy background whose reasons for being here are vague; Richard Lane as a trusty flyer. Onslow Stevens is appropriately sinister as the company boss who recruits disgraced pilots to fly his broken-down planes.

Whitney Bourne is just fine as the wife caught in a bad situation. She sticks with husband Heflin despite being encouraged by both Morris and Walton to go back to civilization--indeed, they both offer to pay her way. (Morris even grabs her and kisses her: "Maybe now you've got a reason to go," he says, "If that's what you needed.")

Van Heflin is quite good as the troubled newcomer: he's scared of flying, he's scared of failing, and he drinks too much. Morris quickly spots Heflin's weakness, which of course complicates his efforts to help Bourne....

Overall it's not bad - the plot is just okay but the characters are well developed.

There's a lot to like about "Flight From Glory" and if Radio Pictures had the budget to stage more aerial acrobatics, it would be a winner. But too much of the tale is spent in the South American shack where a group of pilots -- all with blemished records -- wait to fly decrepit vintage planes over the Andes. As pilots crash, newcomers are recruited which brings alcoholic stunt flier Van Heflin south along with his new bride. The lady is a problem for Onslow Stevens, the mini-airline's corrupt owner who keeps his pilots in check by gouging their pay for rent and food. And it's even more of a headache for hard-bitten Chester Morris who's attracted to her. Among the film's pleasures is the emotional wallop with which a young Van Heflin invests his character, leading to a surprising climax that finally gets the story where it should have been earlier -- off the ground.

I really liked this B picture offering from RKO studios in the mid thirties. Flight from Glory is Ceiling Zero with a bit of Red Dust thrown in and a pinch of Dawn Patrol.

Onslow Stevens is the airline's man in Delgado which looks on the map to be in Bolivia. I presume the mines he's servicing are either silver or tin. Stevens has found a really great way to keep costs down a maximize profits. He buys the oldest planes possible and knowing that pilots who can work elsewhere will, he recruits among pilots who are in trouble in the States and some have even lost their licenses. They can't exactly quit for a better job. Scrap planes and scrap pilots, is this any way to run an airline?

Into this merry bunch of fliers who know they're a couple step up from slaves comes young Van Heflin and his bride Whitney Bourne. A bride is something that Stevens doesn't count on and of course a woman around the place gets the hormones racing for Chester Morris and Douglas Walton among others.

I liked the idea of Onslow Stevens as the villain and it was certainly an original idea in his type of villainy. The rather melodramatic ending was a bit much otherwise I would have given Flight from Glory a higher rating. Chester Morris is a fine cynical hero out of the Humphrey Bogart mold and Douglas Walton does well as poor man's Leslie Howard.

And I assure you that you won't find slimier villains than Onslow Stevens in too many films.