Fugitive in the Sky

I was flipping through channels and happened to catch this gem last night on TCM. I don't normally enjoy the older movies at all, not even the highly rated stuff. Usually when I see b&w I just keep on flipping. Something about FITS caught my attention and I was rewarded with many laughs. My rating is based simply on the laugh-a-minute, old-school dialog. It's too bad people don't still speak this way. A lost art, I guess. 'Killer' Madsen is the sort of criminal we just don't see enough of these days. The other main characters were also quite entertaining, and the fella with John Kerry's eyebrows was a particular favorite for me. Alls I can say is that I found FITS to be full of humor (whether it was meant to be that way or not) and I'd like to see more like it, See?

There's a lot going on aboard this particular air flight from one undefined location to another. That's not just because reporter Warren Hull is trying to pitch some woo at stewardess Jean Muir. There's also a punchdrunk boxer and his manager, a daffy old lady who tries to draw everyone's horoscope, and, oh yeah, a dangerous killer who's carrying a gun and will shoot up the pilot and everything. All this despite a title at the beginning informing the audience that air travel is safe.

A lot of the stuff going on in this Warner's B directed by Nick Grinde is old hat by the standards of 1936, but there's such an awful lot of it that it keeps the viewer pleasantly dizzy with variety for the 58 minutes it takes to sit through. Grinde and DP Ted McCord show you don't need a lot of scenery to make a movie, just two sets, a variety of camera angles, andenough special effects to put the stratosphere in a window. With Carlyle Moore Jr, Wini Shaw, Mary Treen, John Litel, Nedda Harrigan, and Charley Foy.

Fugitive In the Sky is an hour of non-stop thrills delivered by the 'B' team at Warner Brothers. Heck, with no stars worth mentioning and director Nick Grinde behind the camera, it's the 'B' team's 'B' team at that. Nonetheless, thanks to some outstanding miniature work, good set design, a game cast, an exciting screenplay, and some ridiculous but vastly entertaining plot twists, this remains one of the most enjoyable bill fillers of the period. Howard Phillips does a nice job as psycho 'Killer' Madsen, Jean Muir is fine as self assured stewardess Rita Moore, and watch out for those disguises! Besides being one of the first films--if not THE first--to establish many of the plot devices and cliches that would be further developed in films from Zero Hour (1957) to Airport 1977 (1977), Fugitive In the Sky also features cross-dressing, a bleak Dust Bowl farm straight out of the Universal horror playbook, and the best cockpit set this side of Plan 9 From Outer Space. An unusual and surprisingly satisfying effort.

This is a worthwhile comedy-mystery "B" film. I'd give a 6.5. The only caveats I have are 1) the leading villain's performance is a bit over the top (though remarkable in another sense) and 2) the biplane stock footage near the end doesn't match the monoplanes subsequently shown landing.

All the other actors do a good job, their banter is excellent, as is the picture's pace. Familiar faces abound. They include Mary Treen (218 credits), John Litel (216 credits), "Wild" Bill Elliott of "B" cowboy fame (277 credits), John Kelly (165 credits), Charley Foy (of the Seven Little Foys' theatrical family), and Spencer Charters (225 credits). Who the murderer is, is not not easy to figure out, and, for the time, the special effects are well done.

What the midwestern "dust bowl" of the 1930s was like will probably come as a shock to younger viewers. After seeing this film's depiction of a typical dust storm, however, it is easy to understand why the "Okies" began migrating to California. (see The Grapes of Wrath, 1940.)

Even the featured plane is interesting. The Ford Trimotor plane ("The Tin Goose"), with its corrugated skin, was based on the German Junkers' design. That is why fans of World War II films will find it very familiar. (It closely resembles the Nazis' Junkers Ju 52 transport.) And in 1929 it was involved in, what was at that time, the worst plane disaster ever. In New Jersey, 14 people died when two of a "goose's" engines failed.

A fugitive takes the passengers of a blimp captive, until it crashes and they are all left to wander through the windy desert.

This film is hilarious and suspenseful. A great piece of film making that demonstrates what a good team can do with a small B-movie. Unlike most B-films, the characters are quite memorable, and for their personalities, as opposed to one random funny line.

Definitely watch this film if you are a fan of classic movies. It's not very dramatic or beautiful, but it is a solid film that's definitely worth an hour of your time.