Murder in the Clouds

Some pretty big names in this plain little story. Lyle talbot and ann dvorak in their prime. When a hotdogger pilot gets in a fight, his friends try to fill in for him by taking his plane route. But the boss is on to them. And when tragedy strikes, now they need to figure out who-dunnit. The pilot and his sister are caught up in something huge. It's all pretty bland and straight forward. No big mystery, no real detective work. There is some stunt work in the airplanes, so that was interesting. Directed by ross lederman. Odd.. as of today, his imdb entry shows his spouse was doris warner, but wikipedia dot org says his wife was june. Dvorak had been around since the silent films as a toddler, but she really hit her stride in the 1930s, with "three on a match", and "merrily we live".

Murder in the Clouds (1934)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Bob "Three Star" Halsey (Lyle Talbot) is suspended due to his dangerous stunts as a pilot but he's given a second chance when the government needs to transport a scientist carrying explosive material. Three Star gets jumped in a bar so that he misses the flight and the bad guys blow the plane up in order to get the material. This film has some of the biggest plot holes I've ever seen but the screenplay tries to explain them, which leads to one of the dumbest stories ever. There's one terrific bar fight but that's about all this film has going for it as Talbot is pretty poor here as is the supporting players.

Daredevil pilot Bob Halsey (Lyle Talbot) is in love with stewardess Judy Wagner (Ann Dvorak), both working in Trans-America Airlines. Her brother Tom is also a pilot. Clement Williams had invented a new explosive and needs to transport it to DC. Federal agent Brownell arranges the secret flight with the company head, but the assistant overhears the conversation and passes it onto his spy contact.

The plot is convoluted. The characters have trouble keeping up and the audience is the same. The flying does save it for me. I really like the real flying sequences. I care less about the convoluted spy thriller story.

A Mickey Finn saves Lyle Talbot from "Murder in the Clouds" in this 1934 B movie from Warner Brothers. Talbot plays a daring pilot named 3-Star, who is capable of great stunts in the air. His boss chooses him to transport a secret weapon; but the situation is manipulated so that his harmless drink is spiked, and two other men go up in his place, one of whom is the brother of his girlfriend (Ann Dvorak).

Not very realistic but some really fun aerial scenes and a good cast. The film moves quickly and isn't overly long. I remember Lyle Talbot from his TV days when I was growing up, and I love seeing him in these early films. He lived to be 94 years old, which is pretty impressive. A long and prolific career.

Enjoyable.

This is a 7 if compared with other hour-long B features of the day, not when compared with the A features of the same time period. There are plot holes big enough for ace pilot 3-star (Lyle Talbot) to fly his plane through, but that's OK, because the pace is brisk and the film is full of action. I won't list all of the questions that the characters - not to mention the screenplay writer - should have been asking, because I'd give too much away.

Suffice it to say that pilot Bob 'Three Star' Halsey gets himself grounded for hot-shotting in the air near the airport where he is based. His boss would love to fire him, but both the boss and Three Star know he's too good a pilot for him to lose him to another airline. Of course Halsey has a girl, Judy Wagner (Ann Dvorak), and Judy has a brother who is also a pilot based out of the airport. Up to now Judy has been having to share Bob with his love of the air, but along comes an espionage plot centering around an important invention needed by the military that is to be transported by the airline that soon changes everything.

There are some great aerial scenes here, and although the laws of reason - and sometimes physics as well as the limitations of human eyesight - are being violated left and right, it turns out to be fun although somewhat formulaic without being corny.