Mercy Plane

Mercy Plane is a 1939 American aviation drama film directed by Richard Harlan and starring James Dunn, Frances Gifford and Matty Fain. The plot of Mercy Plane involves military aircraft being stolen by "hot plane" thieves, to be re-sold to new owners, with most of the world at war, presumably to war-torn countries.[1][N 1]

Mercy Plane
Directed byRichard Harlan
Produced byBen Judell
Written byWilliam Livley
StarringJames Dunn
Frances Gifford
Matty Fain
Music byDavid Chudnow
CinematographyJack Greenhalgh
Edited byHolbrook N. Todd
Production
company
Coast Pictures Corp.
Distributed byProducers Pictures Corporation
Release date
  • December 4, 1939 (1939-12-04)
Running time
72 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

As a front for their stolen aircraft operation, Big Jim Gordon (William Pawley) and his partner, Rocco Wolf (Matty Fain), purchase the Criterion Aircraft factory. Gordon's sister Brenda (Frances Gifford) is an air racer, shares a friendly rivalry with fellow racer "Speed" Leslie (James Dunn), who finds his aircraft are continually being sabotaged by Gordon's men. Brenda takes advantage.

Needing money to support air racing, Speed becomes a test pilot for the Benson Aircraft Company, where the "Mercy Plane" is built. The new aircraft is a revolutionary flying ambulance capable of landing in small places, said to "land on a quarter". On the eve of the maiden flight, Rocco runs Speed's car off the road, steals his credentials and next morning, steals the Mercy Plane.

Believing he is involved, Speed is fired and his pilot license is taken away. Brenda asks her brother to give Speed a job at Criterion. Speed soon becomes suspicious of the company's large production output and uncovers the illegal operation. Rocco sets a trap for Speed, but now Speed is convinced there is a theft ring.

Speed and Brenda plan to uncover the stolen aircraft operation by crashing and forcing Gordon to send out the Mercy Plane. After Gordon and Rocco land the hospital aircraft, an argument and gun play ensues, allowing Speed and they argue and shoot it out with each other, thus enabling Speed to take control of the Mercy Plane. After Speed is exonerated, he announces plans to marry Brenda.

Cast

Production

Production on Mercy Plane began in mid-November 1939, with location photography taking place at Alhambra Airport, California.[3][4] The aircraft used in the production were:

  • Travel Air 4000-Waco RNF c/n 3263, NC853V
  • Fisk 11 (archive footage)
  • Emsco B7 C c/n 1, NC969Y
  • Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior c/n 1216, NC17342
  • Fairchild 24C-8C c/n 2664, NC14792
  • Ryan STA c/n 129, NC16040 (in a hangar)
  • Aeronca K c/n 209, NC19341 [2]

Reception

Aviation film historian James H. Farmer in Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation (1984) described Mercy Plane as a "low-budget tale of a mob stealing new military planes."[5]

References

Notes
  1. Mercy Plane appeared just two years after the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. Frances Gifford's character remotely resembled that of the lost aviatrix.[2]

Citations
  1. Pendo 1985, p. 19.
  2. Santoir, Christian. "Article: 'Mercy Plane'." Aeromovies, August 13, 2012. Retrieved: June 13, 2019.
  3. Wynne 1987, p. 174.
  4. "Original print information: 'Mercy Plane'." TCM, 2019. Retrieved: June 13, 2019.
  5. Farmer 1984, p. 320.

Bibliography
  • Farmer, James H. Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation (1st ed.). Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: TAB Books 1984. ISBN 978-0-83062-374-7.
  • Pendo, Stephen. Aviation in the Cinema. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. ISBN 0-8-1081-746-2.
  • Wynne, H. Hugh. The Motion Picture Stunt Pilots and Hollywood's Classic Aviation Movies. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1987. ISBN 978-0-93312-685-5.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.