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| Night Flight - 1933 |
Coming up next is 1933's "Night Flight", a story about the early days of the use of flight for mail delivery in South America. The movie is set over a twenty-four hour period, and shows us how dangerous and uncertain it was to be a flyer in the early days of flight.
The film's cast includes John Barrymore, Helen Hayes, Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Robert Montgomery, Myrna Loy, William Gargan, Dorothy Burgess, and Helen Jerome Eddy.
The film begins with a foreword, which tells us that this story was taken from records in the early days of South American aviation.
An outbreak of infantile paralysis (which is caused by polio) is ravaging Rio de Janeiro. Children are getting sick and dying.
Inside hospitals, mothers cling to hope that somehow their children will recover. Doctors in Rio telephone a hospital in Santiago, Chile, who promise to send a life-saving serum by mail.
One flyer begins part of the journey. He makes it to his rendezvous but is late, earning him a stern admonition from the director of the airline.
The airline director is concerned with only one thing: the prompt operation of his air mail business. He relies on a large map with lights on it detailing the progress of his pilots.
The pilots have to fly over dangerous conditions, through snow-covered mountains and also through fog engulfed passes.
The airline director is also having one of his pilots and a wireless operator attempt the first night flight across South America.
During the flight, Jules Fabian, who is thinking about his wife and home, puts on his headphones and tunes into a radio frequency that is playing classical music. At home, his wife is also listening to the same radio station and waiting for her husband to come home.
Madame Fabian is busy around the house making sure her husband's pajamas are laid out, the table is set for his return dinner, and fresh flowers are on every surface.
Elsewhere, another pilot is being ordered to make the next leg of the journey that will bring the serum to Rio.
Meanwhile, Madame Fabian knows that her husband should've been home hours ago. She calls the airport for an update on his whereabouts, but they don't (or won't) tell her anything.
It turns out that Jules Fabian is lost and can't find a place to land because of severe weather. He lets out a flare, but finds he has been flying blind over the ocean.
His wife goes to the airport so she can hear reports firsthand. She anxiously waits for any news.
After running out of gas, Jules Fabian has no choice but to bail out and hope for the best. He and his wireless operator parachute into the ocean, never to be heard from again.
Madame Fabian is furious with the airline director for allowing men to fly in such conditions. She tells him all he sees is the map and dollars and cents. "All you care about is planes, motors,
schedules. When they land, when they take
off. Just a map with a lot of lights on
it. You never think about those
men, the pilots. What it's like to be lost up there in a storm
with no place to land. And their wives, and their homes. The dinner all ready, the bed turned down,
the
flowers in the window
waiting for him to come home."
The serum still needs to be delivered. It is placed aboard it's final aircraft.
The pilot's wife goes to see him off and begs him not to go. She tells him about the dangers of night flying. "What's it all for? Just so somebody in Paris can get a postcard on
Tuesday instead of Thursday?"
The airline director stares at the one light that is lit on his map, knowing that the hope for Rio's children is represented by that solitary light.
The serum arrives safely in Rio. It is delivered by ambulance to the hospital. When a child's mother hears the siren and a doctor tells her that the medicine has been delivered, she weeps tears of joy over her child.
Cast rundown:
John Barrymore...............................Riviere
Helen Hayes....................................Madame Simone Fabian
Clark Gable.....................................Jules Fabian
Lionel Barrymore..............................Robineau
Robert Montgomery...........................Auguste Pellerin
Myrna Loy........................................Wife Of Brazilian Pilot
William Gargan.................................Brazilian Pilot
Dorothy Burgess...............................Pellerin's Girlfriend
Helen Jerome Eddy............................Worried Mother
And that's all for Night Flight. During production of this movie, John Barrymore was drinking heavily and reading all his lines from cue cards. However, when it came time for him to film his scene with Helen Hayes, he decided not to use the cue cards, because he said he didn't want to use them as a crutch in the presence of a real actress. Helen Hayes later said that it was the greatest review she ever received.
