''Sky Giant'', also known as ''Ground Crew'' and ''Northern Flight'', is a 1938

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Lew Landers Lew Landers (born Louis Friedlander, January 2, 1901 – December 16, 1962) was an American independent film and television director. Biography Born as Louis Friedlander in New York City, Lew Landers began his movie career as an actor. In 1914, ...

. The film stars

Richard Dix Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...

Chester Morris John Chester Brooks Morris (February 16, 1901 – September 11, 1970) was an American stage, film, television, and radio actor. He had some prestigious film roles early in his career, and received an Academy Award nomination for ''Alibi'' ( ...

and

Joan Fontaine Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was a British-American actress who is best known for her starring roles in Hollywood films during the "Golden Age". Fontaine appeared ...

. The plot revolves around a

love triangle A love triangle or eternal triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with so ...

with two pilots in love with the same woman.

Plot

Upon reaching retirement age, Colonel Cornelius Stockton (

Harry Carey Harry Carey may refer to: *Harry Carey (actor) (1878–1947), American actor * Harry Carey Jr. (1921–2012), American actor * Harry Carey (footballer) (1916–1991), Australian rules footballer See also * Henry Carey (disambiguation) * Harry Car ...

) is forced to leave the US military, accepting a job running the Trans-World Air Lines School of Aeronautics in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...

. "Stag" Cahill (Richard Dix), an old friend from the war, is the pilot on the commercial airliner taking him to Glendale. The colonel asks him to join the school staff, but Stag would rather fly. When the colonel arranges for Stag, a reservist, to be recalled to active duty, he orders him to take the assignment as his assistant. Stag reluctantly complies. Stockton imposes military discipline on the civilian school. Two trainee mechanics are dismissed on the spot for being too slow. Stag warns his boss that he is pushing the men too hard, but Stockton disagrees. When Stockton inspects the newest batch of students, he is greatly displeased to find his own son, Ken (Chester Morris), among them. He would rather have him stay in the diplomatic service, but Ken wants to design aircraft. Ken and Stag become rivals for the affections of Meg Lawrence (Joan Fontaine), the cousin of fellow school pilot and friend "Fergie" Ferguson (

Paul Guilfoyle Paul Vincent Guilfoyle () (born April 28, 1949) is an American television and film actor. He was a regular cast member of the CBS crime drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', on which he played Captain Jim Brass from 2000 to 2014. He retu ...

). Despite only seeing Meg a couple of times, Stag impulsively proposes to her, only to find she has already agreed to marry Ken. Stag and Fergie are assigned a dangerous pioneering mapping flight from California to Alaska to Russia. Stockton pays them an awkward visit, observing that their aircraft could carry three. It is obvious that he wants his son to go along. Stag obliges. Ken has a falling out with Meg over his flying, and she breaks off their engagement. When Stag finds out, he proposes again; she accepts after he agrees this will be his last flight. They get married in Yuma immediately, although there is no honeymoon as the mapping expedition departs within hours. The flight becomes uncomfortably awkward after Stag informs Ken about his marriage. During the flight, the rudder becomes jammed, forcing an emergency landing in the Arctic wilderness to effect repairs. When they try to take off, the landing gear proves too weak, and the aircraft flips over. Ken and Stag are unharmed, but Fergie's legs are broken. They devise a

travois A travois (; Canadian French, from French , a frame for restraining horses; also obsolete travoy or travoise) is a historical frame structure that was used by indigenous peoples, notably the Plains Aboriginals of North America, to drag loads ov ...

to carry Fergie on the 300 mile trek to the coast. When it becomes apparent that they will not make it with the injured man as a burden, Fergie insists they leave him behind, but they refuse. After Ken and Stag fall asleep, however, Fergie drags himself out of their tent to freeze to death. Eventually, Stag becomes too exhausted to go on. Ken is glad to leave him behind, but then recalls the time Stag stood up for him against his father after a near crash. He turns around, gets Stag to his feet and supports him as they trudge along. Shortly afterward, they stumble upon a settlement. When they return to the school, Meg rushes into Ken's arms. Seeing how she feels, Stag tells her to get their marriage annulled.

Cast

as Captain W. R. "Stag" Cahill *

as Kenneth "Ken" Stockton *

as Meg Lawrence *

as Colonel Cornelius Stockton *

as "Fergie" Ferguson * Robert Strange as Joe R. Weldon * Vickie Lester as Edna (credited as Vicki Lester) * James Bush as Cadet Thompson * Eddie Marr as Cadet Austin (credited as Edward Marr)

Production

Under the working titles of ''Ground Crew'' and ''Northern Flight'', principal photography took place in 1938, at the

Grand Central Air Terminal Grand Central Airport is a former airport in Glendale, California. Also known as Grand Central Air Terminal (GCAT), the airport was an important facility for the growing Los Angeles suburb of Glendale in the 1920s and a key element in the devel ...

. At the time, media attention had been focused on the record-breaking

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circ ...

al flight of the globe in 1938 by

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

. RKO had considered incorporating newsreel footage of the flight by Hughes in the trailer for ''Sky Giant''.

B-movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

specialist Lew Landers, was very familiar with aviation and would eventually helm nine aviation films including ''

Without Orders ''Without Orders'' is a 1936 American drama film directed by Lew Landers and starring Sally Eilers, Robert Armstrong, Frances Sage, Charley Grapewin and Vinton Haworth. It was produced by RKO Radio Pictures, who released the picture on October 2 ...

'' (1936), '' Flight from Glory'' (1937), ''Air Hostess'' (1939) and ''Arctic Flight'' (1952).

Aircraft

In order of appearance: * Opening scene, a

Northrop Gamma The Northrop Gamma was a single-engine all-metal monoplane cargo aircraft used in the 1930s. Towards the end of its service life, it was developed into the A-17 light bomber. Design and development The Gamma was a further development of the su ...

2D-2 (s/n 12, NC2111) * American Airlines Douglas DST-217 "Flagship Washington" (s/n 1976, N18144) *

Ryan ST The Ryan STs were a series of two seat, low-wing monoplane aircraft built in the United States by the Ryan Aeronautical Company. They were used as sport aircraft, as well as trainers by flying schools and the militaries of several countrie ...

-A (NC16039) *

Fairchild 24 The Fairchild Model 24, also called the Fairchild Model 24 Argus and UC-61 Forwarder, is a four-seat, single-engine monoplane light transport aircraft designed by the Fairchild Aviation Corporation in the 1930s. It was adopted by the United Sta ...

C-8C (NC15346) * Lockheed Model 12A Electra Junior (sc/n 1207, NC58Y) *

Lockheed Sirius The Lockheed Model 8 Sirius was a single-engined, propeller-driven monoplane designed and built by Jack Northrop and Gerard Vultee while they were engineers at Lockheed in 1929, at the request of Charles Lindbergh. Two versions of the same basic ...

8A (s/n 151, NC117W) * final scene (front view only), Stinson SR-9.Santoir, Christian
"Review: 'Sky Giant'."
''aerofiles'', October 22, 2011. Retrieved: July 25, 2019.

Reception

''Sky Giant'' was an unpretentious

low-budget A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced or ...

film, but, according to RKO records, the production made a profit of $165,000. ''Turner Classic Movies'' reviewer Rob Nixon noted that, "... producers at RKO put the aerial drama 'Sky Giant' (1938) into production and turned out a rather entertaining B-picture with some exciting action sequences."Nixon, Rob
"Articles: 'Sky Giant' (1938)."
''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: November 8, 2014. Reviewer Nicole Gagne saw ''Sky Giant'' as a successful use of the aviation film genre. "Handsome aerial footage highlights this rousing RKO adventure tale that combines a frozen-North survival drama with a romantic-triangle love story."Gagne, Nicole
"Review summary: 'Sky Giant' (1938)."
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Retrieved: November 8, 2014. Aviation film historian James H. Farmer in ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation'' (1984) considered, ''Sky Giant'', "... a top-drawer RKO salute to commercial aviation."Farmer 1984, p. 326.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation''. Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Tab Books Inc., 1984. . * Jewell, Richard B. "RKO Film Grosses: 1931–1951". ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio & Television'', Vol. 14, No 1, 1994. ISSN 0143-9685. * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. .

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 0030760, Sky Giant American romantic drama films American black-and-white films 1938 romantic drama films 1938 films American aviation films Films about aviation accidents or incidents Films set in airports Films set on airplanes RKO Pictures films 1930s English-language films Films directed by Lew Landers 1930s American films