It was originally planned to show Clark Gable's character parachuting from his abandoned plane at an altitude of 25,000 feet. However, stuntman Ivan Unger, who was doubling for Gable, passed out at 20,000 feet due to lack of oxygen and the shot was never captured.
The first MGM film to carry a producer's credit on screen and in promotional materials.
This was the third film in which Clark Gable appeared with a mustache. Up until this point, the majority of his films showed him clean shaven (with the notable exception of Red Dust (1932)), but the phenomenal success of his next two films, Dancing Lady (1933) and It Happened One Night (1934), solidified the mustache as a trademark of his appearance, and from that point forward he would shave it only when necessary, i.e. for period pieces such as Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). In some cases --- Parnell (1937) and Gone with the Wind (1939) come to mind --- he kept the mustache despite the anachronous implications.
The aircraft flown in the movie are de Havilland DH-4s. They were actual air mail planes having been recently retired from the US Postal Service.
Smarting from some critics' reviews of his novel, and professing that he hated the film adaptation, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry refused to renew his author's rights, which he had granted to MGM only for a 10-year period. In 1942, Night Flight (1933) was pulled from circulation when MGM's agreement with Saint Exupéry expired.
The impasse involving the copyright was finally resolved in 2011. That same year, without fanfare, Warner Home Video released Night Flight on DVD, and it has since aired periodically on Turner Classic Movies. After many years of speculation by those who had heard of it but had never seen it, audiences were largely disappointed to find Night Flight a rather commonplace, disjointed effort, despite its starry cast and original promo tag that likened it to "Grand Hotel in the sky!"
The impasse involving the copyright was finally resolved in 2011. That same year, without fanfare, Warner Home Video released Night Flight on DVD, and it has since aired periodically on Turner Classic Movies. After many years of speculation by those who had heard of it but had never seen it, audiences were largely disappointed to find Night Flight a rather commonplace, disjointed effort, despite its starry cast and original promo tag that likened it to "Grand Hotel in the sky!"