Three excellent but under-rated actors as well as some wonderful aerial stunts lift this above the run of the mill pilot buddy movie. Sally Eilers had shown what she was capable of in "Bad Girl" but then Fox forgot about her and by 1933 her career was on the slide. Tom Brown, in my opinion, was one of the best up and coming young actors of the early thirties, but like a lot of the sensitive ones, by the mid 30s his career had petered out. This was director William Wellman's first aviation drama set in peace time. "Wild Bill" was most at home with movies dealing with the camaraderie between professionals in the face of danger because that was how he had lived his life, being first a fighter pilot in the elite Lafayette Flying Corps during the last year of World War 1 (he was awarded a Croix de Guerre).
This action packed movie about the hazardous life of pilots had the wonderful Richard Bartelmess as Jim Blaine, a "cracked up" pilot, on his way home to a steady, boring job as a bank teller. His plane had gone missing during a fierce storm and while he was found safe, officials blamed his cowboy antics for ignoring the storm warning and he was blacklisted!! During the train ride home he is dazzled by some amazing stunt flying (the first of several scenes throughout the movie) and he is even more surprised to find it is his younger brother Neil (Brown) who hangs around just long enough to inform his family that he has taken a job at Lockheed.
Jim meets Jill (Eilers in a very unsympathetic role), a parachutist with a traveling air show, in a very cute scene that involves her being stuck up a tree. When the air show leaves town Jim, who is fed up with life on the land, goes with it as Jill's pilot and in a very revealing scene, shows just how close they have become - connecting doors in hotels, always left ajar. Once during a fight Jill locks her door and Jim kicks it in frustration!! But Jim honestly tells Jill he could not think of marrying, flying being too hazardous a business and that's what Jill really wants. And that scene is supposed to garner sympathy for Jill when she finds herself on the road with Neil - but it doesn't, it just makes her appear like a two timing floozie!! When Jim returns (he has been recuperating in hospital after yet another "crack up) to find Neil and Jill in bed together, Jill tells him that they were married and that Neil wanted to give her what Jim wouldn't - a wedding ring!!!
The film then proceeds to show that Jill married the wrong brother whether it is her far away look when garrulous friend Eddie (James Murray in a very short, short scene that belies his co-star billing) talks about what Jim is doing nowadays (Jim, not surprisingly had stormed out when he found them both in bed) or the sparks that fly when Neil is sent on a mercy mission and Jill finds she hasn't lost her feelings for Jim!!! The climatic scene features a thrilling rescue as Neil's plane crashes down on uncharted waters!!!
The wonderful aerial stunt work almost makes you forget the sordid story. Wellman had reason to be thankful for "Central Airport". He considered the movie too routine and beneath his capabilities so as a punishment he was sent to MGM's B unit, along with Loretta Young for "Midnight Mary". It was a big money maker and he came back to Warners for "Wild Boys of the Road" and "Heroes for Sale".
This action packed movie about the hazardous life of pilots had the wonderful Richard Bartelmess as Jim Blaine, a "cracked up" pilot, on his way home to a steady, boring job as a bank teller. His plane had gone missing during a fierce storm and while he was found safe, officials blamed his cowboy antics for ignoring the storm warning and he was blacklisted!! During the train ride home he is dazzled by some amazing stunt flying (the first of several scenes throughout the movie) and he is even more surprised to find it is his younger brother Neil (Brown) who hangs around just long enough to inform his family that he has taken a job at Lockheed.
Jim meets Jill (Eilers in a very unsympathetic role), a parachutist with a traveling air show, in a very cute scene that involves her being stuck up a tree. When the air show leaves town Jim, who is fed up with life on the land, goes with it as Jill's pilot and in a very revealing scene, shows just how close they have become - connecting doors in hotels, always left ajar. Once during a fight Jill locks her door and Jim kicks it in frustration!! But Jim honestly tells Jill he could not think of marrying, flying being too hazardous a business and that's what Jill really wants. And that scene is supposed to garner sympathy for Jill when she finds herself on the road with Neil - but it doesn't, it just makes her appear like a two timing floozie!! When Jim returns (he has been recuperating in hospital after yet another "crack up) to find Neil and Jill in bed together, Jill tells him that they were married and that Neil wanted to give her what Jim wouldn't - a wedding ring!!!
The film then proceeds to show that Jill married the wrong brother whether it is her far away look when garrulous friend Eddie (James Murray in a very short, short scene that belies his co-star billing) talks about what Jim is doing nowadays (Jim, not surprisingly had stormed out when he found them both in bed) or the sparks that fly when Neil is sent on a mercy mission and Jill finds she hasn't lost her feelings for Jim!!! The climatic scene features a thrilling rescue as Neil's plane crashes down on uncharted waters!!!
The wonderful aerial stunt work almost makes you forget the sordid story. Wellman had reason to be thankful for "Central Airport". He considered the movie too routine and beneath his capabilities so as a punishment he was sent to MGM's B unit, along with Loretta Young for "Midnight Mary". It was a big money maker and he came back to Warners for "Wild Boys of the Road" and "Heroes for Sale".