''Blaze of Noon'' is a 1947 aviation adventure film directed by John Farrow and based on writer and aviator

Ernest K. Gann Ernest Kellogg Gann (October 13, 1910 – December 19, 1991) was an American aviator, author, sailor, and conservationist. He is best known for his novels and memoirs about early aviation and nautical adventures. Some of his more famous aviation ...

's best-selling novel ''Blaze of Noon'' (1946), a story about early air mail operations. The screenplay was from well-known writer and aviator Frank "Spig" Wead and Arthur Sheekman and starred

Anne Baxter Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress, star of Hollywood films, Broadway productions, and television series. She won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, and was nominated for an Emmy. A granddaughter of Frank ...

William Holden William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...

, Sonny Tufts and William Bendix.

Plot

Early in the 1920s, the four McDonald brothers are performing in a carnival as a stunt flying team, when they are hired by Mercury Airlines in Newark, New Jersey, to fly the national

air mail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...

for the US Air Mail Service. One of the brothers, Colin (William Holden), instantly falls in love with Lucille Stewart (Anne Baxter), the nurse giving him a physical. After less than a day, he proposes and she accepts. They marry and Colin starts flying for the company along the east coast. Lucille soon becomes irritated by the brothers' extreme dedication to their work, but Colin promises that his efforts will make it possible for them to buy a home. When the youngest McDonald, Keith (

Johnny Sands Johnny Sands (born Elbert Harp Jr., April 29, 1928 – December 30, 2003) was an American film and television actor. He worked in over a dozen films, and on television, before he retired from show business in 1971. He then worked as a real estat ...

), crashes his aircraft and dies, Ronald (Sonny Tufts) feels guilty over causing his brother's death, since he was the one who taught him to fly. He quits flying and becomes a car salesman instead. When their friend and colleague "Porkie" (William Bendix) is fired for flying recklessly over a passenger train, he also becomes a car salesman. The next brother to crash is Tad ( Sterling Hayden). Even though he survives, he is unable to fly again. Colin's former girlfriend, Poppy (

Jean Wallace Jean Wallace (born Jean Walasek or Wallasek; October 12, 1923 – February 14, 1990) was an American television and film actress. Early life Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois to John T. Walaszek and Mary A. Walaszek (''née'' Sharkey). ...

), pays him a visit and tries to win him back, but he stays true to Lucille. Soon afterwards, their first child, a son, is born. Colin has promised to stop flying once he becomes a father, but when he is offered a raise by the company, he still continues to fly. During his first passenger flight, the wings ice over, and Colin crashes and dies. Colin's boss and Tad are the ones who have to break the news to Lucille, who is hosting their housewarming party. She decides to name her son Keith.

Cast

as Lucille Stewart *

as Colin McDonald * Sonny Tufts as Ronald McDonald * William Bendix as "Porkie" * Sterling Hayden as Tad McDonald *

Howard Da Silva Howard Da Silva (born Howard Silverblatt, May 4, 1909 – February 16, 1986) was an American actor, director and musical performer on stage, film, television and radio. He was cast in dozens of productions on the New York stage, appeared in mo ...

as Gafferty *

as Keith McDonald *

as Poppy * Edith King as Mrs. Murphy * Lloyd Corrigan as Reverend Polly *

Dick Hogan Dixon Howard "Dick" Hogan (November 27, 1917 – August 18, 1995) was an American actor of the 1930s and 1940s. During his 12-year career he appeared in over three dozen films, in roles which varied from unnamed bellhops to featured and starring ...

as Sydney * Will Wright as Mr. Thomas *

Lester Dorr Lester Dorr (born Harry Lester Dorr; May 8, 1893 – August 25, 1980) was an American actor who between 1917 and 1975 appeared in well over 500 productions on stage, in feature films and shorts, and in televised plays and weekly series. Even a ...

as Sam

Production

In pre-production, director John Farrow gathered research by flying on

American Airlines American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passeng ...

' cargo flights. Principal photography for ''Blaze of Noon'' took place at both Paramount Studios and the Paramount Ranch, beginning on November 1, 1946, and ending in early January 1947."Original print information: Blaze of Noon (1947)."
''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: August 13, 2014. Noted Hollywood movie pilot Paul Mantz flew a

Pitcairn Mailwing The Pitcairn Mailwing family was a series of American mail carrier and three-seat sport utility biplane aircraft produced from 1927 to 1931. Design and development The Pitcairn Mailwings were developed to carry air mail for the United States ...

in the film; he also served as the aerial coordinator."Blaze of Noon."
''Aerofiles''. Retrieved: August 13, 2014. The film was able to gain national and international notoriety when Mantz flew his war-surplus North American P-51C Mustang fighter that he named "Blaze of Noon" to a first-place finish in the 1946

Bendix Trophy The Bendix Trophy is a U.S. aeronautical racing trophy. The transcontinental, point-to-point race, sponsored by industrialist Vincent Bendix founder of Bendix Corporation, began in 1931 as part of the National Air Races. Initial prize money f ...

cross-country air race.

Reception

Although ''Blaze of Noon'' could have been dismissed as out-of-date and more 1930s than 1940s fare,

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

noted in his favourable review in '' The New York Times'', "... youthful filmgoers who were mere babes in Lindbergh's salad days (and we were talking to a youngster recently who didn't even know who Lindbergh was) will probably find this aerial romance an agreeably entertaining thing."Crowther, Bosley
"Blaze of Noon" The screen in review."
'' The New York Times'', March 5, 1947.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Dwiggins, Don. ''Hollywood Pilot: The Biography of Paul Mantz''. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1967. * Schiller, Gerald A. "Hollywood's Daredevil Pilot." ''Aviation History,'' Vol. 13, no. 6, July 2003.

External links

* * * {{John Farrow 1947 films 1940s adventure drama films American adventure drama films American aviation films American black-and-white films Films scored by Adolph Deutsch Films based on American novels Films directed by John Farrow Films set in the 1920s Paramount Pictures films 1947 drama films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films