Atlantic Flight
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
William Nigh
Dick Merrill
Jack Lambie
Paula Stone
Weldon Heyburn
Milburn Stone
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Dick Bennett, an ace transport pilot, runs low on gas but brings his plane carrying a sick girl to a safe landing during a fierce storm. At the airport coffee shop, blonde heiress Gail Strong overhears Bill Bennett, who built the plane Dick plans to fly in the upcoming Stanley Cup races, make insulting remarks about her. Gail, who owns a famous foreign plane that she will enter in the races, spills sugar on him. Later, at a party, Bill tells Gail that he disapproves of her because of the way she spends money, that she has no real interest in aviation and that she does not have the nerve to fly. He then tries to flirt and she leaves. To prove Bill wrong, Gail asks his mechanic and roommate, Henry Wadsworth Schultz, known as "Pokey," to teach her to parachute jump. Bill finds them together and accuses her of trying to steal his mechanic. Pokey and Dick see that behind the animosity, Bill and Gail are fond of each other. Once Gail learns to jump, she hides in Bill's plane and parachutes out after he takes off. Terrified, Bill lands and races in his car to find her hanging in her parachute from a tree. As he helps her down, they kiss, but they are interrupted by Gail's pilot, Baron Heygard, who reveals that Gail is his fiancée. Before she can explain that she agreed in a weak moment to marry Heygard if he wins the race, Bill leaves in disgust. On the day of the race, Heygard knocks Dick out after Dick finds him tinkering with Bill's plane. Unable to find Dick, Bill flies the plane himself and suffers a crash landing. Four days later, when the doctor tells Dick that Bill will die in forty-eight hours unless he gets a serum developed by a doctor in England, Dick volunteers to fly there and back with his partner, George Carter. Although they are feared lost because of a storm, they bring the serum in time. As he recovers, Bill calls for Gail, who embraces him.
Director
William Nigh
Cast
Dick Merrill
Jack Lambie
Paula Stone
Weldon Heyburn
Milburn Stone
Ivan Lebedeff
Lyle Moraine
Wilbur Mack
Buddy Messinger
Gertrude Messinger
Donna Harlan
Earl Dwire
Billie Van Every
Crew
William Berke
Clarence Bricker
Scott Darling
Scott R. Dunlap
E. R. Hickson
Paul Ivano
Fred Jackman Jr.
Erna Lazarus
Roy Livingston
Abe Meyer
Lyle Moraine
W. D. Smith
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
It is possible that a working title for this film was Squadron B, which was listed in Motion Picture Almanac release charts as opening on September 15, 1937, with Margaret Morris as Bill Edward's co-star. In a foreword, the film is dedicated to Dick Merrill, whose two round trip flights to England established a new milestone in aviation. The foreword also notes that the plane used in the film is the one flown by Merrill and his co-pilot Jack Lambie, who also appears in the film, on their historic Coronation flight. According to a Film Daily news item, stunt flier Dick Grace was signed in June 1937 to do the screenplay for this film. As he did not receive screen credit and his name does not appear in reviews, it is not known if any of his material was used in the final film. Although the release date listed in release charts is August 25, 1937, the film was not previewed until September 14, 1937 in Hollywood and September 16, 1937 in New York.
