Central Airport

Central Airport (1933)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Some great action and stunts are ruined by some boring melodrama that doesn't add up to much. James Blaine (Richard Barthelmess) moves back home after he crashes a passenger plane and is blamed for it. He gets a job working in a carnival air show where he falls in love with a woman (Sally Eilers) but can't see himself marrying anyone. Enter the man's brother (Tom Brown) who also falls in love with the woman, which causes James to lose it. CENTRAL AIRPORT has some truly great stuff but sadly they're wasted in some boring love triangle that really never makes any sense and at the end of the movie it's really not cleared up either. Director William Wellman gets the sole credit on the film but he was replaced by Alfred Green for a number of weeks when he came down with the flu. I really do wonder which scenes Green actually directed but I've seen enough Wellman movies to where I can comfortably say that Green was in charge of the love stuff. I say that because the majority of these scenes contain no life, no energy and no atmosphere, which certainly wasn't what you'd expect from Wellman. The scenes that you can tell the wild man director contain some rather risky pre-code material including a strong bit of sexuality early on when James meets the woman as well as towards the end when they're reunited. This is 1933 we're talking about and even though the woman is married to the younger brother we get scenes where she and James are kissing mouth to mouth. That there would certainly not have happened a year later when the code was forced. Most of the stuff dealing with the younger brother simply never adds up, isn't very believable and is just downright lifeless. The performances are a mixed bag with Eilers easily stealing the show as the woman caught in the middle. She's probably best remembered for appearing in a few of the Buster Keaton/MGM titles but she really delivers a strong performance here and her undressing, pre-code moments are certainly memorable as well. Barthelmess isn't too bad in the lead but he really doesn't bring much energy. I found Brown to be incredibly boring in his role as the brother and quite annoying as well. People will want to keep their eyes open for John Wayne who appears in the final wreck sequence but doesn't have any lines. CENTRAL AIRPORT contains some amazing stunts, wonderful aerial work and some nice pre-code moments but sadly all of this gets caught up in a silly love story that just never works.

There's more to this movie than John Wayne in a bit part, there are some spectacular flying scenes involving a train, sincere performances by Richard Barthelmess and Sally Eilers, a strange one by Tom Brown. Except for the flying, there's very little sign of Wellman's directorial expertise in cinematic storytelling (unusual for his 30's films), but it's likable and entertaining enough. Interesting crash scenes, and the sexual aspect of the story is somewhat shocking while being quite tastefully depicted.

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Central Airport is the story of a pilot named Jim (Richard Barthelmess) who has one bad flight in over 4000 hours and is forced to give up commercial flying. He meets a beautiful girl named Jill (Sally Eilers) and the two start up an act involving flying and stunts. The two start a relationship, but when Jim is hurt, his brother (Tom Brown) takes over the act for a while and falls for his brother's girlfriend. From there, things get exciting and terribly terribly sad.

This film is a pre-code because of several reasons. First, Jim and Jill have consummated their relationship without being married and with no intention of having a wedding. Second, Eilers is shown in her underwear, and absolutely restricted scene when the Production Code came into effect.

This film does not skimp on the dramatic love triangle and in consequence ends bittersweetly.

Other than fans of John Wayne who want to see if they can spot the Duke in a film where he has no lines at all, the main reason to see Central Airport is a very exciting air/sea rescue sequence. Of course aviation fans will love seeing all the vintage planes, it seems like between them Richard Barthelmess and Tom Brown flew about everything there was circa 1933.

Barthelmess is a commercial pilots who makes a bad call in trying to fly through bad weather and cracks up. He loses his ticket, no airline will hire him, so he's reduced to scratching for a living in the aviation game. That matters not to his brother Tom Brown who worships Barthelmess.

Both of them become rivals for aviatrix Sally Eilers, but when Barthelmess says fliers shouldn't get married, she teams up with Brown.

Of course later on when one of the brothers cracks up at sea, the other flies to rescue him. That's the best part of the film, every bit as exciting as the landing of that much larger commercial plane at San Francisco International airport in William Wellman's The High and the Mighty.

In fact Central Airport is the trick answer to the trivia question what is the first film Wellman directed John Wayne in. Not either of the classic The High and the Mighty or Island in the Sky, or the less successful and non-aviation story Blood Alley. This one where Wayne is a co-pilot of one of the wrecks.

Central Airport is a routine soap opera made better than it is by the rescue scene. For fans of aviation films in general, William Wellman in particular and those who want to spot the Duke.

The only real evidence of the directorial touch (often a fist) of Wild Bill Wellman here are the well-done aviation scenes and the sexual tension. As a pre-code entry, Central Airport has a handful of scenes that would undoubtedly be axed a year later--- Dick and Sally canoodle in adjoining hotel rooms without the dubious benefit of marriage and the plot would've probably been reworked. As it goes, it's pure soap involving lost love and a few assorted body parts. Richard Barthemless's career was on the wane by 1933 and it's not hard to tell why. He's stiff and his acting style is far more suitable for silents. With the novelty of talkies worn off, Central Airport had to be one of Warner's biggest budgeted gambles of the year. It boasts some decent special effects and the crash scenes (and there's more than one) must've been spectacular for depression-era audiences who treated pilots back then like we saw astronauts in the 1960's. Whines: John Wayne's part defines the term 'bit'--- he's barely in the movie and you practically have to keep your eyes peeled to spot him (his other notable 1933 walk-on was in Warner's Babyface, but at least he's given some lines)--- back to the Warner's Lone Star low-budget oaters for him until John Ford decides he deserves another A-picture shot after a decade as a sometimes singin' cowboy. I also spotted WB chorus girl Pat Wing (Gill) (not credited by IMDb) in a crowd sequence standing horrified behind an announcer--- her ravishing sister, Toby is credited as originally being cast but apparently became an editing room casualty. Look for the still-breathing Charles Lane as a radio operator early on (happy 100th Mr. Lane!). I love pre-code talkies... Central Airport is by no means the best of the lot but it has just enough ingredients thrown in to hold your interest. If you want to see a far better example of 1933 Bill Wellman, see Wild Boys of the Road.