the audience applauded

Sadly Over-hyped

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Richard Arlen (Jim Clark), Jean Parker (Shirley Brooks), Eddie Quillan (Riley), Nils Asther (Eric Karolek), Roger Pryor (Rocky Drake), Marie Wilson (Veronica Gimble), Grady Sutton (Chester Gimble), Dick Purcell (Bob Fuller), Kay Sutton (Danila), Joseph Crehan (Nunnally), Charlotte Henry (Corenson's secretary), William C. Thomas (Corenson), William Hall (Lew West, the test pilot), Dwight Frye (Leo Qualen), James Seay (Dave, the Los Angeles dispatcher), Richard Keene, George McKay, Gayle Mellott (bits). Director: FRANK McDONALD. Screenplay: Richard Murphy, Maxwell Shane. Film editor: Robert Crandall. Photography: Fred Jackman, junior. Art director: F. Paul Sylos. Set decorator: Ben Berk. Wardrobe: James Wade. Music: Dimitri Tiomkin. Assistant director: Howard Pine. Sound recording: Mac Dalgleish, Ferrol Redd. Producers: William H. Pine, William C. Thomas.Copyright 29 August 1941 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 29 August 1941. Australian release: 24 December 1941. 6,357 feet. 70 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Spies attempt to smuggle secret formula on board a return honeymoon flight from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.COMMENT: Like "Emergency Landing", this one starts off as a wacky romantic comedy, then suddenly switches mid-stream into a highly charged espionage drama. Unlike the other movie, however, the drama is more successful here. Both the crash landing and the escape from the inferno are particularly well staged. The players are reasonably skillful too. Richard Arlen, one of Hollywood's busiest stars, enacts his usual forthright self, Miss Parker makes an entrancing heroine, whilst Dick Purcell excels as the "other man". Cultists will enjoy the brief appearance of a blond-ed Dwight Frye as a venal traitor, although Marie Wilson's fans will be disappointed by the extremely labored puns she is forced to contend with. It's also nice to see a few good close-ups of a grown-up Charlotte Henry (the star of Paramount's 1933 "Alice in Wonderland"). And is that producer William C. Thomas playing the part of her handsome boss, Corenson? (The whole sequence involving Henry, "Corenson", Arlen and Purcell would seem to have little point unless it is in fact an elaborate inside joke).

After one dispute too many Richard Arlen quits as a pilot for one airline to start his own. What an idea, Honeymoon Airlines from LA to Las Vegas and back catering to those eloping couples.Arlen has his usual problems especially romantic ones with girl Friday Jean Parker. But some real ones happen when former pilot Roger Pryor wants a ride and foreign agent Nils Asther has some kind of electronic gizmo he's stolen from the Army Air Corps. We're never quite sure what it is.Flying Blind has all the silliness of a serial with the narrow escapes of one compacted into a B film. Some really good character players like Grady Sutton, Marie Wilson, and Eddie Quillan are wasted in some rather forced comedy.This was a Pine-Thomas Production which was Paramount's B picture unit. Arlen was one of many former big box office names they used in the 40s and 50s. Some of the Pine-Thomas films were good. This wasn't one of them.

Don't let the attractive poster/DVD cover fool you. This has a lot of action and thrills, but it is lacking in subtlety and realism. Remember the family driving through earthquake exploding southern California in "2012", then the follow up with them flying? The creators of that scene must have seen this B second feature where a diving plane crashes without exploding and takes off, flying through an inferno without catching fire itself. This surrounds evil Nils Asthers' attempts to hijack the passenger plane to Mexico with stolen military devices, instead going down early where the most absurd situations occur. Pine Thomas productions at Paramount missed the plane (or boat) on this often obnoxious saga that utilizes too Mich humor to hide the fact that the story makes no sense. Pilot Richard Arlen and stewardess Jean Parker quit their regular airline jobs to start a transport plane, taking eloping couples to Las Vegas along the way. Not only is nefarious Asther on board but mismatched and especially annoying Grady Sutton and Marie Wilson who add bubble headed comedy to offset Arlen and Parker's supposedly smart rapporteur. I rolled my eyes with each intended laugh, and ultimately just gave up in trying to figure it all out. The remainder of the cast is filled out with has-beens who were lucky enough just to be minor.

This is a B-film that not only had a low budget, but craptastic writing, acting and story. All in all, it was hard watching because it was so incredibly dull.The film is like two films spliced together. The first half is about a jerky guy and his girlfriend quitting a small airline to start their own. None of this is interesting in the least and the romance was far from romantic. The second half is such a change of pace that it just seemed bizarre...and stupid. A guy, out of the blue, hijacks the airline's sole airplane and during this hijacking, you are beside yourself with how stupid everyone acted. For example, when the guy pulls out a gun and takes over the plane, one of the crew members attacks him and tries to disarm him. NOT ONE OF THE PASSENGERS does anything!! They just stand their and offer no help at all--even though the one guy is a crazed psycho hijacker!! Later, in an equally inept scene, the plane supposedly crashes...but there is not crash! They just jiggle the camera to simulate the hard landing...on a plane that was standing still!!! Great special effects, huh?! While there's a little more to the movie than this, the very important question to ask yourself is "who cares!?"--none of it is engaging, some of the characters (the ever-annoying Marie Wilson, among others) are stupid and the film is bad---and should be considered a 'C-movie' if there was such a thing! Dull!