China Clipper (1936)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Ray Enright

Writer:

Frank Wead (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 August 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

THRILL TO A NEW TRIUMPH! LOVE SPANS THE PERILOUS PACIFIC! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

Inspired by Lindbergh's flight, Dave Logan sets out with a Washington-Philadelphia airline but suffers financial problems...

Plot Keywords:

Ship | Caribbean | Aviation | Postal Service | Parade

Cast

Pat O'Brien	...	Dave Logan
Beverly Roberts	...	Jean Logan
Ross Alexander	...	Tom Collins
Humphrey Bogart	...	Hap Stuart
Marie Wilson	...	Sunny Avery
Joseph Crehan	...	Jim Horn
Joe King	...	Mr. Pierson (as Joseph King)
Addison Richards	...	Mr. B.C. Hill
Ruth Robinson	...	Mother Brunn
Henry B. Walthall	...	Dad Brunn
Carlyle Moore Jr.	...	Clipper Radio Operator
Lyle Moraine	...	Clipper Co-pilot
Dennis Moore	...	Clipper Engineer
Wayne Morris	...	Clipper Navigator
Alexander Cross	...	Bill Andrews

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #2227)

Company:

First National Productions

Trivia:

Henry Stephenson and Ted Thompson are in studio records/casting call lists as cast members, but they did not appear or were not identifiable in the movie.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The character names of Lyle Moraine and Dennis Moore are switched in the end credits. Moore was the Co-pilot and Moraine the engineer.

Soundtrack:

The Stars and Stripes Forever

Enjoyable flight movie

This is basically a thinly disguised bio of Juan Trippe and his early days after founding Pan American Airways. Yet the credits at the beginning disclaim any attachment to a true life story. Well what can you say? Hollywood's been putting those disclaimers on movies since the beginning of films. But the public can, and always does, figure it out. An aviation buff will have a field day pointing out some of the planes that appear in this movie,... a Fokker Trimotor and much stock newsreel footage of the actual Martin Flying Boat "China Clipper" to name a few. The Martin China Clippers of which there were about 4 or 5 ever built flew those pioneering trips to the Orient and an awful long journey it was. This movie re-creates those pioneering days with some great stock footage & some darn good acting. Warners did a number of these aviation flicks in the 30s, 'Devil Dogs of the Air' starring James Cagney comes to mind. But I enjoyed Pat O'Brien(with his wonderful excellerated speech as usual), Humphrey Bogart(marvelous and before all those classics), Marie Wilson, Ross Alexander, Henry B Walthall and silent star Kenneth Harlan who appears early in the film as an airline inspector.