''Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery'' is a 12-episode 1935

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...

movie serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...

based on the

Tailspin Tommy ''Tailspin Tommy'' was an air adventure comic strip about a youthful pilot, "Tailspin" Tommy Tomkins (sometimes spelled Tompkins). Originally illustrated by Hal Forrest and initially distributed by John Neville Wheeler's Bell Syndicate and the ...

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

Hal Forrest Hal Forrest (Philadelphia, July 22, 1895 - 1959) was an American comic strip artist best known for his work on ''Tailspin Tommy''. Biography When he was 16, he drew a comic strip, ''Percy the Boy Scout'', for the ''Philadelphia Telegraph'', and ...

and starring Clark Williams,

Jean Rogers Jean Rogers (born Eleanor Dorothy Lovegren, March 25, 1916 – February 24, 1991) was an American actress who starred in serial films in the 1930s and low–budget feature films in the 1940s as a leading lady. She is best remembered for ...

and Noah Beery, Jr. The picture was the 96th of the 137 serials released by the studio (the 28th of which to be made with

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

Plot

"Tailspin" Tommy (Clark Williams) and his fellow pilots, Betty Lou Barnes (

) and Skeeter Milligan ( Noah Beery, Jr.) prevent a group of corrupt businessmen from stealing Nazil Island's oil reserves. The

villain A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

s are Manuel Casmetto (Herbert Heywood), the half-brother of Don Alvarado Casmetto, Nazil Island's ruler and villainous oil tycoon Horace Raymore (

Matthew Betz Matthew Betz (September 13, 1881 – January 26, 1938) was an American film actor. Betz was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1881. Following an extended career in the U.S. Cavalry, Betz spent eight years in Vaudeville. His first stage play w ...

). Tommy and his friends are aided in their efforts by news reporter Bill McGuire (James P. Burtis). Milt Howe (Pat J. O'Brien), a masked mystery plot known as The Eagle and El Condor stands in their way. When Tommy is triumphant, he also finds he has a movie contract.

Chapter titles

# Wreck of the Dirigible # The Roaring Fire God # Hurled from the Skies # A Bolt from the Blue # The Torrent # Flying Death # The Crash in the Clouds # Wings of Disaster # Crossed and Double Crossed # The Dungeon of Doom # Desperate Chances # The Last Stand _Source:

Cast

* Clark Williams as "Tailspin" Tommy Tompkins *

as Betty Lou Barnes, one of "Tailspin" Tommy's companions * Delphine Drew as Inez Casmetto * Noah Beery, Jr. as Skeeter Milligan, one of "Tailspin" Tommy's companions * Bryant Washburn as Ned Curtis, Betty's uncle and a heroic oil tycoon * Pat J. O'Brien as Milt Howe * Herbert Heywood as Manuel Casmetto *

as Horace Raymore *

Paul Ellis Brian Paul Ellis is a New Zealand record producer, talent manager, manager, and radio host. He is most known to audiences for being the former judge of ''New Zealand Idol'' and a former judge of the reality series ''New Zealand's Got Talent''. E ...

as Enrico Garcia, Don Casmetto's secretary and Manuel Casmetto's henchman * Harry Worth as Don Alvarado Casmetto * Manuel López as Gomez * Charles A. Browne as Paul Smith * James P. Burtis as Bill McGuire, a reporter * Frank Mayo as the

Dirigible An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

Captain * Frank Clarke as a flyer, (billed as "Air Ace Frank Clark")

Production

''Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery'' used a number of aircraft including a

Fleet biplane Fleet Aircraft was a Canadian manufacturer of aircraft from 1928 to 1957. In 1928, the board of Consolidated Aircraft decided to drop their light trainer aircraft and sold the rights to Brewster Aircraft. Reuben H. Fleet founded Fleet Aircraft i ...

, a

Stearman C3 Stearman is a surname. Notable people with the name include: * Lloyd Stearman (1898–1975), American aviation pioneer * Richard Stearman (born 1987), English footballer * William Stearman (1813–1846) English cricketer * William L. Stearman (b ...

and a

Fairchild Fairchild may refer to: Organizations * Fairchild Aerial Surveys, operated in cooperation with a subsidiary of Fairey Aviation Company * Fairchild Camera and Instrument * List of Sherman Fairchild companies, "Fairchild" companies * Fairchild Fa ...

cabin monoplane. A

mock-up In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale model, scale or physical model, full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a ''protot ...

of a

dirigible An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

included an interior section. Although Nazil was in South America, all the location shooting took place in California with the Wilson airport as a staging area.

Stunts

* Frank Clarke, stunt pilot *

George DeNormand George DeNormand (1903 – 1976) was an American actor and stuntman. DeNormand was an amateur middleweight boxer in the 1920s. He was a prolific though often uncredited actor and stunt double in movies such as ''The Raven'' and ''Bride of Fran ...

Reception

''Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery'' is considered to be an improvement on the previous ''

'' serial. In the review for ''Turner Classic Movies'', the author wrote, "'Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery '(1935) sees our three cheerful pilots foiling a conspiracy in the Latin American country of Nazil, where American gangsters have conspired with an usurper to steal the country's oil reserves. Making use of considerable new flying footage, the serial opens with an impressive dirigible crash. Tommy (Clark Williams), Betty Lou (Jean Rogers) and Skeeter (Noah Beery, Jr.) must fight a masked flier called the 'Double-X Pilot,' who leads a rogue fighter squadron based from a secret jungle fortress. Our heroes are occasionally aided by a mysterious aviator known as 'El Condor,' whose 'Eagle Plane' appears and disappears into an artificial cloud.""Articles: 'Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery'."
''TCM'', 2019. Retrieved: July 9, 2019.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Cline, William C. "Filmography". ''In the Nick of Time''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1984. . * Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation''. Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Tab Books Inc., 1984. . * Harmon, Jim and Donald F. Glut. ''The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury''. London: Routledge, 1973. . * Weiss, Ken and Ed Goodgold. ''To be Continued ...: A Complete Guide to Motion Picture Serials''. New York: Bonanza Books, 1973. . * Wynne, H. Hugh. ''The Motion Picture Stunt Pilots and Hollywood's Classic Aviation Movies.'' Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1987. .

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tailspin Tommy In The Great Air Mystery 1935 films 1935 adventure films American aviation films American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films Films based on comic strips Films directed by Ray Taylor Universal Pictures film serials American adventure films Films with screenplays by George H. Plympton 1930s American films