''Criminals of the Air'' (aka ''Guardians of the Air'' and ''Honeymoon Pilot'') is a 1937 American
action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include l ...
, directed by
Charles C. Coleman. It stars
Rosalind Keith,
Charles Quigley
Charles Quigley (February 12, 1906 – August 5, 1964) was an American actor.
Early years
Born in New Britain, Connecticut, Quigley was the son of Charles P. Quigley, who was sales manager for a hardware business. He was a 1924 graduate o ...
and
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer and producer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in 61 films over 37 years. The press coined th ...
.
[Mavis 2011, p. 119.] The film marked "Rita Hayworth"'s first onscreen credit; the actress, born Margarita Carmen Cansino, had previously used the stage name "Rita Cansino" or was uncredited in her prior 17 film appearances.
Plot
In the border town of
Hernandez, New Mexico
Hernandez is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. Hernandez is approximately northwest of Española on highway US 84 / US 285.
Geography
Within the unincorporated ...
, undercover agent Mark Owens (Charles Quigley) is assigned to help the
United States Border Patrol break up a well-organized band of smugglers. Hernandez also has a reputation for "quick marriages", just across the border in Mexico, so Mark soon signs on as a pilot on "The Honeymoon Express."
"Hot Cake Joe" (
Herbert Heywood), who runs a sandwich stand, is an informant for the smugglers and recognizes Mark is a "
G-Man
''G-man'' (short for "government man", plural ''G-men'') is an American slang term for agents of the United States Government. It is especially used as a term for an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
''G-man'' is also a term ...
". Reporter Nancy Rawlings (Rosalind Keith), looking for a good story, wants to feature Mark as the pilot of the marriage service, but he is very reluctant to be photographed. She begins to suspect that flying is only a cover for smuggling. When Nancy sees him accepting money from cafe owner Kurt Feldon (
Russell Hicks), whom she is sure is the head of the smugglers, her suspicions are confirmed. When Joe tells Feldon that Mark is an undercover government agent, he orders "Blast" Reardon (
Marc Lawrence), one of his gang, to kill Mark and arranges for Mark to fly "Blast" and his girlfriend to Mexico to get married. Hoping to catch the smugglers in the act, Nancy hides in Mark's aircraft but, along with Mark, is captured when the aircraft is forced to land at the smugglers' hideout, the same place that Mark had photographed from the air earlier.
Nancy's editor becomes worried when she does not show up at the newspaper and calls the Border Patrol, who send a rescue team using Mark's aerial photographs of the hideout. Nancy and Mark manage to escape in his aircraft, but are quickly followed by "Blast". The Border Patrol intercept "Blast" and shoot him down in an aerial dogfight. The smugglers attempt to make a getaway by car, but are also intercepted and gunned down by the Border Patrol. After realizing that they are attracted to each other, Mark and Nancy decide to get married.
Cast
*
Rosalind Keith as Nancy Rawlings
*
Charles Quigley
Charles Quigley (February 12, 1906 – August 5, 1964) was an American actor.
Early years
Born in New Britain, Connecticut, Quigley was the son of Charles P. Quigley, who was sales manager for a hardware business. He was a 1924 graduate o ...
as Mark Owens
*
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer and producer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in 61 films over 37 years. The press coined th ...
as Rita Owens
*
John Gallaudet
John Beury Gallaudet (August 23, 1903 – November 5, 1983) was an American film and television actor.
Career
Gallaudet was born in Philadelphia and attended Williams College. His Broadway credits included ''Good Men and True'' (1935), ''Lost ...
as Ray Patterson
*
Marc Lawrence as "Blast" Reardon
*
Patricia Farr as Mamie
*
John Hamilton as Captain Wallace
*
Ralph Byrd
Ralph Byrd (April 22, 1909 – August 18, 1952) was an American actor. He was most famous for playing the comic strip character Dick Tracy on screen, in serials, films and television.
Early life and career
The son of George and Edna ...
as Williamson
*
Walter Soderling as "Camera-eye" Condon
*
Russell Hicks as Kurt Feldon
*
John Tyrrell as Bill Morris
*
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 ...
as "Trigger"
*
Herbert Heywood as "Hot Cake Joe"
Production
Principal photography for ''Criminals of the Air'' took place from February 8–25, 1937. "The Honeymoon Express" in the film was an obvious reference to the air service provided by
Paul Mantz
Albert Paul Mantz (August 2, 1903 – July 8, 1965) was a noted air racing pilot, movie stunt pilot and consultant from the late 1930s until his death in the mid-1960s. He gained fame on two stages: Hollywood and in air races.
Early years
Ma ...
, noted for flying for
Hollywood films. Mantz called his charter airline, ''Paul Mantz Air Services'', based at United Airport in
Burbank, California, offering a "discretion assured" flight to
Yuma, Arizona
Yuma ( coc, Yuum) is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 93,064 at the 2010 census, up from the 2000 census population of 77,515.
Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, M ...
,
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
and
Reno, Nevada
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
(Reno was the then "honeymoon capital" of the United States).
Reception
Film reviewer Hal Erickson noted, "Columbia's 'Criminals of the Air' is another entry in the "alien-smuggling" movie cycle—and as such includes the obligatory scene in which the airborne smugglers escape detection by pulling a lever and disposing of their human cargo." Aviation film historian Stephen Pendo observed: "Rita Hayworth did a dancing number which caused ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' to speculate that '... she seems to have possibilities for straight talking roles'."
[Pendo 1985, pp 15–16.]
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
* Dwiggins, Don. Hollywood Pilot: The Biography of Paul Mantz. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1967.
* Mavis, Paul. ''The Espionage Filmography: United States Releases, 1898 through 1999''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland& Company, 2011. .
* Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. .
External links
*
*
{{Charles C. Coleman
1937 films
1930s crime action films
American crime action films
American aviation films
Films directed by Charles C. Coleman
Films set in Mexico
American black-and-white films
Columbia Pictures films
1930s English-language films
1930s American films