Johnny Comes Flying Home
Cast & Crew
Benjamin Stoloff
Richard Crane
Faye Marlowe
Martha Stewart
Charles Russell
Roy Roberts
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
When Army pilots Johnny Martin, Miles Cary and Joe Patillo undergo their discharge medical, Johnny is told he is suffering from nerve exhaustion and should not fly for at least a year. Johnny is devastated but pretends to make light of the situation. While Joe goes to California, Johnny returns with Miles to their hometown of Grantville, Iowa. There, Miles reunites with his wife Sally and young son Butch and finds work as a bank clerk, and Johnny becomes a bus driver. As the months pass, Miles and Johnny grow bored with their civilian jobs, and one day, Johnny quits in frustration. He and Miles then go to the Cary home, where the pregnant Sally prepares lunch. Miles receives a letter from Joe, who announces that he has an option on a surplus war plane and wants Johnny and Miles to join him in an air freight business. Despite her anxiety about Miles flying again, Sally realizes how unhappy he is at the bank, and soon the Carys and Johnny go to California. Johnny secures the new company's first job, and when Miles and Joe leave for New York, Sally wonders why Miles is flying instead of Johnny. Still sensitive about being grounded, Johnny lies, telling Sally that he must handle the managerial aspects of the business, then leaves to drum up publicity. When Miles and Joe return, Johnny is infuriated to learn that they have brought back a passenger, Anne Cummings, who tries to assuage Johnny's anger by assuring him that she paid for her transport. The next day, Johnny is further annoyed to learn that Miles and Joe have hired Anne as their mechanic. Johnny then tries to persuade oil tycoon J. P. Hartley to give the company a contract to carry his freight, but Hartley refuses to consider the proposition until they acquire another plane. Miles and Joe complete more flights, but at the end of the month, Anne insists that the profits be put into repairs on the aging plane. Without the partners' knowledge, Anne contracts with garage owner Harry to overhaul the plane, as she fears that Sally will be left a widow if it is not repaired. With the plane out of commission, the partners lose a lucrative contract with a growers' association, and Johnny fires Anne. Without the money to pay Harry, the partners then lose their plane to him. One night, however, they learn that Hartley has crash-landed in Arizona, and, after stealing back their plane from Harry, they rescue Hartley. The grateful businessman gives them enough money to clear their debts, although Miles continues to worry about Sally, who is due to enter the hospital soon. Needing money for Sally and another plane, Miles agrees to test a new jet for Briggs Aeronautics for a fee of $10,000, and Johnny reluctantly agrees not to tell Sally. On the day of the test, however, Sally goes into labor, and Johnny locks Miles in a phone booth and takes his place in the jet. When Anne learns about Johnny's nerve exhaustion, she begs him not to do the test dive. Johnny declares his love for Anne but asserts that the test is the only way to prove to himself that he is healthy. He then safely conducts the test flight. Soon after, Johnny and Anne visit Sally and Miles, who welcome them happily, although Butch declares that he would rather have gotten a dog than twin baby sisters.
Director
Benjamin Stoloff
Cast
Richard Crane
Faye Marlowe
Martha Stewart
Charles Russell
Roy Roberts
Henry Morgan
Charles Tannen
Elaine Langan
Marietta Canty
Anthony Sydes
Selmer Jackson
John Hamilton
Harry Tyler
Frank Meredith
Tom Dugan
Grayce Hampton
Hugh Beaumont
Bernie Sell
Walter Baldwin
Will Wright
Jimmy Cross
Les Clark
Ted Jordan
Richard Shaw
Bert Hicks
Nora Cecil
Brooks Hunt
Max Wagner
Eula Guy
Mae Marsh
George Melford
Frank Johnson
Crew
Lt. John W. Adams
Jack Andrews
Jack Andrews
James Basevi
Arthur Berthelet
George Bricker
David Buttolph
Richard Day
James Earle
Bryan Foy
Chester Gore
Sol Halprin
Edwin Hammeras
Lillie Hayward
Harry Jackson
R. A. Klune
Harry M. Leonard
George Leverett
Thomas Little
John Mccafferty
James V. Monaco
Arthur Morton
Paul Neal
Emil Newman
Fred Niblo Jr.
Ben Nye
Frances C. Richardson
Fred J. Rode
Irving Rosenberg
Bob Saunders
Aubrey Schenck
Fred Sersen
J. O. Taylor
Yvonne Wood
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to Hollywood Reporter news items, Herbert I. Leeds was originally set to direct this film. According to a November 13, 1945 Hollywood Reporter news item, the Lockheed Aircraft Corp. loaned the studio 1,500 feet of "military film of the spin tests of the Shooting Star," a new jet, for inclusion in the picture. The sequences in which "Johnny" tests the new plane do include actual footage of a jet. Studio publicity notes that some sequences were shot on location at the Metropolitan Airport in Van Nuys, California.
