Refusing to marry the count that her uncle has found for her a young lady flees her wedding and is pursued by her uncle and fiancé. Making her way to the airport she climbs in to a mail plane unaware that its a decoy for bunch of bandits who are using some unknown means to crash the planes so they can steal the mail. Good variation on what has to be some sort of sub-genre of the 1930's namely the "electronic device that crashes planes genre" I think this is the fourth or fifth one that I've run across and they are all basically the same, with some differences. I think I've liked most of these films for one reason or another. This one works because of the witty repartee and the fact that its more than just flying planes over the spot so the villains can crash them. Actually there really is only the one crash and the film spins out from there. The film is also unique in that where many films have singers in the night clubs where they are set this one has comedians, which is something I've not seen before. Worth a look if you come across it.
3 Reviews
One of the better death ray knocks planes out of the sky films
dbborroughs29 January 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Compared to most "B's", the sky's the limit on this one!
mark.waltz20 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
A great setup with a witty screenplay and chew engaging Stars helps to turn this poverty roll action film into something a little better than usual. The typical spoiled socialite (Joan Barclay) runs out on a marriage to obvious gigolo (Duncan Renaldo), stowing away in the two-seater plane piloted by Herman Brix, AKA Bruce Bennet of "Mildred Pierce". together, they share romance and Adventure, especially when he comes across a plot to blow airplanes out of the sky with a secret death ray. It's silly, but clever, showing the two stars having fun, Barclay nearly going to jail for her various schemes. Monte Blue and Hattie McDaniel are super in supporting parts, although McDaniel only gets to appear in several scenes at the beginning as Barclay's companion.
Not as bad as the plot might suggest!
planktonrules21 January 2014
"Sky Racket" stars Herman Brix--an Olympic athlete who wisely changed his name to Bruce Bennett after starring in a few films. While neither are household names today, Bennett had a very long career and appeared in a ton of films and TV shows. Here he stars in a silly B-movie with a plot only 1930s Bs could use. Imagine--some crooks are using a death ray to knock airplanes out of the sky and Brix is sent to investigate. Believe it or not, it's the third movie with such a plot device that I've seen--and I am sure there were a few more, as death rays and airplanes were fair game in the wacky 1930s! And, incidentally, Brix starred in another film with a death ray in 1938!! With such a plot, you know you are not watching Shakespeare or a Merchant-Ivory production. However, I really think that this sort of escapism is nice for a change of pace and I love a kitschy B-movie now and again.
So the bottom line is, is it any good or worth your time? Well, for the average viewer, it's probably not worth seeing and will be a hard sell. But, for people who love old films, it is not bad at all. In fact, like dbburroughs said in their clever review, it IS '...One of the better death ray knocks planes out of the sky films'. I sure wish I'd said that first!! Decent, silly and entertaining. Plus, it does offer something unusual--a screwball woman who actually is pretty smart and does NOT keep getting in the way!
So the bottom line is, is it any good or worth your time? Well, for the average viewer, it's probably not worth seeing and will be a hard sell. But, for people who love old films, it is not bad at all. In fact, like dbburroughs said in their clever review, it IS '...One of the better death ray knocks planes out of the sky films'. I sure wish I'd said that first!! Decent, silly and entertaining. Plus, it does offer something unusual--a screwball woman who actually is pretty smart and does NOT keep getting in the way!
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