Em Plenas Nuvens

I agree with the other reviewer, but there's more to this movie than Doug Fairbanks. John Francis Larkin's script shines with realistic characters and great one-liners. When Fairbanks approaches the destitute, sleeping Bette Davis on the couch in his flat in the middle of the night for sex, she wakes and screams angrily "I might have known this would happen" in defense of her chastity.

For an inexpensive movie, the stunts are great: the airwork is astounding, even though there's a cheating cut-away to work around the sheer impossibility of jumping between two extremely unstable biplanes. Then later there's an amazing shot of a parachuter on the train tracks that's a real stunner.

Sure the story's routine, but Frank McHugh's voice when he sings an old Irish ballad is authentic and comely. Leo Carillo (Hey Pancho! Hey Cisco!) plays the head gangster with style, and Davis is wonderful as always. This is definitely one of director Alfred Green's best efforts and well worth your time.

This pre-code movie stars Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Bette Davis as two victims of the Depression. It starts out with Bill (Fairbanks) and Toodles (Frank McHugh) being thrown out of the military for gallivanting with women when they should have been reporting back to a base. It is the wrong time to be discharged though; it is very hard to find work even as ex-pilots. Bill meets up with a beautiful stenographer named Patricia (Bette Davis) and the group teams up to find work and take care of each other. Slowly, they get involved in seedier and seedier jobs as their stomachs rumble and find themselves entangled in a dope ring.

A clip from this film was used in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? to show off "Jane's" bad acting, but Davis does well in this movie. She's great at delivering snappy lines and proving that you don't have to be dumb to be beautiful. Fairbanks is the same way, nice to look at but good to listen to as well. McHugh adds flair to the film with his distinct personality which makes him perfect for the best friend part.

This film is fast paced and enjoyable, perfect for a slow day.

About two ex-Marine pilots, Bill and Toodles (Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Frank McHugh), who move into a small apartment together in New York City but can't seem to find work. Bill soon meets up with a blonde in the park by the name of "Alabama" (Bette Davis), and, believe it or not, she agrees to move in with him after one lunch out together where they bond as they steal a bottle of ketchup and sundries from the café, and then steal a fish from a cat. Bill and Toodles end up sleeping head to foot in the same bed, while Alabama settles in on the couch. Bill soon starts earning dough for the trio, first by making a $75 parachute jump (right above the railroad tracks!), then becoming chauffeur for a wealthy blonde who picks her chauffeur by his physique rather than driving ability, and then he ends up as bodyguard/lackey for a mobster who "imports" booze and dope from Canada.

This film is pretty so-so, it sorts of switches gear from one thing to the next and just doesn't really seem to know what direction it wants to go in - just when you think the story is going one way, that ends, and on to something else. Even the title "Parachute Jumper" seems a bit odd, considering the parachute jumping is not the main focus of this film. Bette Davis is very cute in this, with platinum blonde hair and sassy Southern accent, she's very fun to watch and saves the film from being a complete bomb. Doug Fairbanks Jr. is just sort of bland throughout.

PARACHUTE JUMPER (1933), famously singled out by Bette Davis as one of the awful films she was required to make in the early years of her Warner Bros. contract, certainly isn't anything substantial. But it's a surprisingly fun Pre-Code flick.

The movie is carried by its three stars: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Bette Davis, and Frank McHugh. Fairbanks in particular gives a winning, charismatic performance. Fairbanks and McHugh play a couple of ex-airmen who are desperate for work during the Great Depression. They're so broke that they take turns wearing one suit of clothes.

Fairbanks hops around from job to job, from aerial stuntman one day to chauffeur the next, ultimately getting mixed up with rum-running gangsters. (This is a Warner Bros. film, after all.) McHugh has less luck finding employment. Davis, playing an out-of-work stenographer called "Alabama", uses a Southern accent throughout. (Why not?) Fairbanks invites Davis to share the apartment he's got with McHugh, and the three become one little happy family, cheering each other on and scraping around to put food in their stomachs.

Fairbanks and McHugh play off each other well as the two buddies. Miss Davis is young and blonde and sweet and pretty, and fits in nicely with the boys. Her great acting triumphs were still to come, but she's always a pleasure to watch (even in films she despised).

There are a few Pre-Code touches that stand out to the trained observer. Firstly, the sound of a toilet flushing (before Hollywood was forced to ignore the very existence of toilets). There are also a couple of rather amusing (if homophobic) scenes where Fairbanks and McHugh joke around in "sissy" voices. And when a car passes by when Frank McHugh is thumbing for a ride, he gives the driver an entirely different hand gesture.

As far as 70-minute Pre-Code films go, PARACHUTE JUMPER is rather enjoyable. The story isn't very deep, but it's not exactly something you've seen before. Fairbanks, McHugh, and Davis seem to have a good time. There's biplanes and booze, gangsters and guns, good girls and shady dames, romance and wisecracks, and even some parachute jumping. The movie's got just about everything, and it's all rather fast-paced and light-hearted. A good time.

Parachute Jumper is a prime example of the energetic, quick-witted fare Warner Brothers was known for in the early 30's. This film showcases all three players: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., a blonde, southern-accented Bette Davis, and Frank McHugh, but it really spotlights Fairbanks's suave and humorous side. Struggling through the depression in New York City is softened by the three characters' warm and jovial relationship with each other. They handle almost any situation with their one-liners and loyalty. Plenty of double entendres are targeted at love and authority. Fairbanks, Jr. especially handles his role with breezy panache. He deserved more material like this. I'll be watching this lighthearted film with intelligent dialogue and human characters again.