I paid $2.99 to watch "Night Flight" on Amazon Prime because of the all-star cast. "Night Flight" featured John and Lionel Barrymore, Helen Hayes, Clark Gable, Robert Montgomery, Myrna Loy, and Irving Pichel--all headliners. For the second time Clark and Hayes played a couple in which he was a pilot.
John Barrymore's character, Riviere, was the managing director of an air mail company that operated out of South America. He was a brutally efficient boss who demanded a lot from his pilots, mechanics, and other workers. He had routes mapped out and flights scheduled to the minute. To be efficient with deliveries the pilots would have to fly at night, a relatively new thing. He was determined to fly mail from Chile to Rio de Janeiro and beyond regardless of the weather conditions and what the pilots had to say about it.
Unbeknownst to him was a batch of polio vaccine that was desperately needed in Rio. They had to have the vaccine in twenty-four hours or a child was going to die. Riviere was going to make sure all flights made it to their destinations on time for the sake of the company, it just so happened that it was going to benefit a child, even if it adversely affected some pilots and their wives.
"Night Flight" was good, but it could've been so much better. I think they fell short in establishing the suspense and I don't think they featured Gable and Montgomery enough. Still, it's an early glimpse at what could be called a thriller.
John Barrymore's character, Riviere, was the managing director of an air mail company that operated out of South America. He was a brutally efficient boss who demanded a lot from his pilots, mechanics, and other workers. He had routes mapped out and flights scheduled to the minute. To be efficient with deliveries the pilots would have to fly at night, a relatively new thing. He was determined to fly mail from Chile to Rio de Janeiro and beyond regardless of the weather conditions and what the pilots had to say about it.
Unbeknownst to him was a batch of polio vaccine that was desperately needed in Rio. They had to have the vaccine in twenty-four hours or a child was going to die. Riviere was going to make sure all flights made it to their destinations on time for the sake of the company, it just so happened that it was going to benefit a child, even if it adversely affected some pilots and their wives.
"Night Flight" was good, but it could've been so much better. I think they fell short in establishing the suspense and I don't think they featured Gable and Montgomery enough. Still, it's an early glimpse at what could be called a thriller.