Charter Pilot
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Eugene Forde
Lynn Bari
Lloyd Nolan
Arleen Whelan
George Montgomery
Hobart Cavanaugh
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
King Morgan, ace pilot for W. J. Brady Charter Pilots, Inc., flies through rough weather with his mechanic, Charlie Crane. While his bosses worry whether he'll survive the flight, King worries about arriving late at his girl friend's apartment that evening. While King battles foul weather in real life, his girl friend, Marge Duncan, writes the radio show that bears his name and ballyhoos his daring deeds. When King finally arrives at Marge's, she is upset that he would risk his life flying 1,600 miles from Galveston to Los Angeles just to deliver soft-shell crabs. She is softened, however, when King presents her with a new fur coat and reservations at the Mirrado. As she prepares for dinner, King practices his marriage proposal. Marge takes so long getting ready, however, King drinks a pitcher of martinis and passes out. Marge then makes a date with another suitor, using King's reservations. Waking at eleven o'clock, King goes to the Mirrado and makes front-page headlines with the mayhem that ensues. After Marge bails him out of jail the next morning, King finally proposes, but Marge refuses to accept him unless he gives up flying. When King arrives at work, he shocks his boss Brady by asking for a desk job. Needing King in the air, Brady puts him in Horace Sturgeon's accounting office, knowing it will drive King crazy. While King drives Sturgeon to distraction, Charlie is sent to Rico, Honduras as King's replacement. Charlie meets and instantly falls for Raquel Andrews, who runs Brady's troubled office there. In town, Charlie meets Faber, a German who runs a competing service, and offers his assistance. While King and Marge become officially engaged, Charlie meets with nothing but bad luck in Rico, enough to threaten Brady's contract with mine owner Owens. To get King to Rico, Sturgeon plants Charlie's termination notice on his desk. King gets Brady to keep Charlie by promising to go to Rico to help. King tricks Marge into making the trip by calling it a honeymoon, but Brady's call informs her the trip is for six months, not two weeks. Alone, King goes to Rico, where he immediately suspects sabotage. He orders oxygen tanks put in the large cargo plane so that he can fly more direct routes over the 18,000 foot mountains. After receiving a letter from King telling her about a new romance, Marge convinces her bosses to take the radio show to Rico and report the real adventures of King Morgan. When she arrives, she discovers Raquel and Charlie together, and King confesses his plan to make her jealous. King, however, walks out on Marge when he discovers that she came down to get him on the radio show. Marge hires Faber to follow King in a chase plane during his first flight over the mountains. After getting drunk, King is arrested and spends the night in jail. Meanwhile, Faber has sabotaged the oxygen tanks in King's plane. When King fails to show up, Charlie is forced to take his place. Bailed out of jail by Marge, King arrives and discovers the sabotage. Unable to contact Charlie by radio, Marge and King take off with Faber to chase his plane. As Marge broadcasts the flight overseas, King tries to signal Charlie to turn around, and Faber pulls out a gun. Marge sees this and knocks Faber out with her microphone. With King now at the controls, Charlie finally is forced to turn his plane around. Faber awakes and attacks King. Marge stabs Faber with a pin, allowing King to knock him out for good. Signing off the air, King and Marge make up as the plane spins off in the Hondurian skies.
Director
Eugene Forde
Cast
Lynn Bari
Lloyd Nolan
Arleen Whelan
George Montgomery
Hobart Cavanaugh
Henry Victor
Etta Mcdaniel
Andrew Tombes
Charles Wilson
Chick Chandler
Robert Spindola
Sherry Hall
Cyril Ring
Steve O'brien
Mary Field
James Blaine
Henry Roquemore
Paco Moreno
Andre Cuyas
Bert Moorhouse
George Chandler
Hector Sarno
Chris-pin Martin
William B. Davidson
Hank Mann
Jack Pennick
Crew
Fred Allen
Lucien Andriot
J. Robert Bren
Johnny Burke
Lewis Creber
Richard Day
Herschel
Norman Houston
Harry M. Leonard
George Leverett
Thomas Little
Paul Mantz
James V. Monaco
Emil Newman
Stanley Rauh
Sam Schneider
Sol M. Wurtzel
Lester Ziffren
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The print viewed for this film was missing the opening credits. According to a Twentieth Century-Fox press release, this was the first film that Lloyd Nolan made with the company after signing a studio contract. Previously, he had worked on three films for Fox as a freelance actor. Nolan and Lynn Bari had previously been paired in the studio's Pier 13, and George Montgomery and Arleen Whelan had been paired in Young People. Part of the film was shot on location at the Santa Anita Racetrack.
