Up in the Air

Frankie Darro as a studio page boy and Mantan Moreland as a janitor team up to solve a murder in Up In The Air. Singer Lorna Gray is shot to death during a rehearsal when the lights go out and a gun goes off. It's up to Frankie and Mantan to solve the crime especially since the cops are a pair of thickheaded detectives.

I have to say the film does have some funny moments. It also has some offensive ones. Both Darro and Moreland are aspiring radio artists and they've worked up a comedy sketch not unlike the act Moreland did in nightclubs with Ben Carter. But putting Darro in blackface was downright disrespectful. Later on in one of the Charlie Chan films Moreland does do that act with Carter and you should catch it if possible.

As it turns out Gray has quite a past and it's her past that's the key to solving her murder and that of Gordon Jones who wants to be a cowboy singer and get on the air.

For a Monogram Picture, not bad, but we sure didn't need the blackface.

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Richard Cross's review published on Letterboxd:

"Is I where I think I is or am I where I hope I ain't?" asks Manton Moreland of the bulging eyes and comical double-takes. He plays wing man to an ok Frankie Darro in this dull murder thriller, and, like us, he's sadly where he hoped he ain't.

A demanding, prima Donna radio singer, Rita Wilson who not many liked is murdered while singing on the air in a radio studio. The gun shot sounds as the lights go off, the singer is found dead - and the killer had to be in the locked studio and the gun isn't found till later in an air vent.

Radio page boy, Frankie Ryan, and his janitor pal, Jeff, solve the mystery for the none-too-sharp police.

Frankie Darro and Manton Moreland make an energetic pair in this breezy fun combination of comedy, mystery and music - the latter is foot tapping and the mystery is standard lock room, or shall I say lock studio, with the comic duo doing some detective work- it's a bit political incorrect with Darro putting on some boot polish and Manton doing his scary eyeball act, but overall an entertaining film.

The morning after watching this, my wife and I sat at the kitchen table discussing it, and found we had nothing to talk about but Mantan Moreland. The plot is pretty much a series of contrivances to hang situations on, and the inevitable solution of the "who killed..." mystery doesn't seem to be the driving force. It's all about Mantan. I have seen him as comedy relief in a dozen movies, and he always steals every scene he is in, but I have never seen him dominate like this. He makes everyone else into his straight man, and constantly subverts and deflates authority figures. Every time someone says "I've got an idea," or "I've been thinking," he's on the spot with his "UH-OH!" There is nothing cowardly (as it often appears in his Charlie Chan roles) about his fierce common- sense determination to move away from trouble, not toward it. He sometimes seems like the only one who is not dangerously foolish. Mantan and Frankie Darro work together really well here and, though modern sensibilities may be jarred by Darro donning blackface to try to get them a radio job as a comedy duo, they come across as peers and friends, not boss and lackey as so often occurs in films of this era. The highest point is Mantan's dance scene - inserted into the story for no reason but its sheer entertainment value - in which he is so suave, smooth, cool, cute, and downright huggable it's difficult not to exclaim in delight. The movie plugs along gamely in the moments when Mantan is not on screen, and provides some pretty fair musical numbers, but he is the real shining light in this production.

Here is yet another example of the Monogram product. Frankie Darro, Mantan Moreland and Marjorie Reynolds are top-starred in this modest yet enjoyable programmer centered around the murder of an obnoxious radio singer. The songs are pleasant enough and the mystery diverting. Modern viewers may cringe at a routine which puts Darro in blackface opposite Moreland in a sketch Moreland performed with another actor in the past. It is funny though, and the whole production runs 61 minutes and passes the time pleasantly enough. This came on one of those Mill Creek compilation sets and the quality is pretty good for a public-domain picture.