''Without Orders'' is a 1936 American

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, ...

and starring

Sally Eilers Dorothea Sally Eilers (December 11, 1908 – January 5, 1978) was an American actress. Early life Eilers was born in New York City to a Jewish-American mother, Paula (or Pauline) Schoenberger, and a German-American father, Hio Peter Eilers ( ...

, Robert Armstrong, Frances Sage,

Charley Grapewin Charles Ellsworth Grapewin (December 20, 1869 – February 2, 1956) was an American vaudeville and circus performer, a writer, and a stage and film actor. He worked in over 100 motion pictures during the silent and sound eras, most notably portr ...

and Vinton Haworth. It was produced by RKO Radio Pictures, who released the picture on October 23, 1936. The screenplay was written by Samuel Briskin and Cliff Reid, based on the short story of the same name by

Peter B. Kyne Peter Bernhard Kyne (October 12, 1880 – November 25, 1957) was an American novelist who published between 1904 and 1940. He was born and died in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. Many of his works were adapted into screenplays star ...

, which had appeared in the February 8, 1936 edition of ''Collier's'' magazine.

Plot

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, playboy pilot Len Kendrick (Vinton Haworth) lands at the end of a cross-country record flight, met by his father J.P. Kendrick (Charley Grapewin) who owns Amalgamated Air Lines. Len is a media darling, adored by fans for his daring flights. He is in love with Amalgamated

stewardess A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are primar ...

Kay Armstrong (Sally Eilers) who is dating veteran pilot "Wad" Madison (Robert Armstrong). Len dates her sister Penny (Frances Sage) who learns that his hard-drinking and recklessness has caused the death of his co-pilot. Penny knows that he was drinking before the fateful flight and only escaped prosecution by bribing a bartender. She leaves Len who ends up at Amalgamated as a line pilot, being tutored by Wad. Len pursues Kay, and she falls for his charm but asks her sister for advice about marrying him. Realizing that marriage would be a mistake, Penny tells Len that she will expose him; he angrily reacts by knocking her down, fracturing her skull. On an outbound flight, Len attempts to rush Kay into accepting a proposal of marriage but she learns that her sister is seriously injured and in the hospital. Kay asks Wad to fly her back to Portland. On the same flight, Len locks his rival out of the cockpit, takes over the flight and after landing at the airline's home base, accuses Wad of cowardice and dereliction of duty, resulting in a fistfight between the two men. Wad is fired, but finds out from Penny that Len has a terrible secret to hide. On a flight to

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, Len's aircraft not only has been battling a blizzard for hours, but also experiences engine trouble. Instead of landing, in a repeat of the earlier tragic incident, Len knocks out his co-pilot, and again takes to a parachute, leaving Key and the passengers behind. This time, his parachute fails to open. Wad radios instructions to Kay who takes over the controls and successfully makes an emergency landing. Kay and Wad are hailed as heroes and, after the veteran pilot gets back his old job, take up where they had left off.

Cast

as Kay Armstrong * Robert Armstrong as "Wad" Madison * Frances Sage as Penny Armstrong *

as J.P. Kendrick * Vinton Hayworth as Len Kendrick *

Ward Bond Wardell Edwin Bond (April 9, 1903 – November 5, 1960) was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 200 films and starred in the NBC television series ''Wagon Train'' from 1957 to 1960. Among his best-remembered roles are Ber ...

as Tim Casey *

Frank M. Thomas Frank Marion Thomas (July 13, 1889 – November 25, 1989) was an American character actor of stage, screen and television. He and his wife, actress Mona Bruns, both lived to 100 years old. He died the day before her 90th birthday; she died 11 y ...

as Arthur Trueman *

May Boley May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

as Mrs. Maddy Overhose *

Arthur Loft Arthur Loft (May 25, 1897 – January 1, 1947) was an American film and stage actor. He appeared in more than 220 films between 1932 and 1947. Biography He was born in Denver, Colorado and died in Los Angeles, California. He is interred ...

as Air Controller Calkins * Walter Miller as Commerce Airline Inspector

Production

''Without Orders'' was directed by

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, who would eventually helm nine aviation films including '' Flight from Glory'' (1937), ''

Sky Giant ''Sky Giant'', also known as ''Ground Crew'' and ''Northern Flight'', is a 1938 drama film directed by Lew Landers. The film stars Richard Dix, Chester Morris and Joan Fontaine. The plot revolves around a love triangle with two pilots in love with ...

'' (1938), ''Air Hostess'' (1939) and ''Arctic Flight'' (1952). The stars of ''Without Orders'' also had appeared in many aviation-themed films, with Sally Eilers starring in three films and Robert Armstrong in eight films. ''Without Orders'' was primarily filmed from August 3 to late-August 1936, 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 ...

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 ...

which stood in for both the Portland and Salt Lake City airports. The aircraft that was featured as the Amalgamated Air Lines airliner was the first

Boeing 247 The Boeing Model 247 is an early United States airliner, and one of the first such aircraft to incorporate advances such as all-metal (Anodizing#Anodized aluminium, anodized aluminum) semimonocoque construction, a fully Cantilever#Aircraft, cant ...

D (NC2666), leased from Philips Petroleum Co. A Ryan ST-A was the aircraft seen as the record-breaking aircraft.Santoir, Christian
"Without Orders."
''aeromovies.fr'', October 21, 2008. Retrieved: November 7, 2014.

Reception

''Without Orders'' was reviewed by B.R. Crisler at ''

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 ...

''. He noted that the film "... deals with that previously celebrated conflict between stunt and transport piloting, nor exactly revolutionary in treatment, 'Without Orders' nonetheless, manages to be endurable and even fairly exciting aero-drama."Crisler, B.R
"Without Orders (1936); At the Rialto."
''The New York Times'', November 4, 1936. Aviation film historian James Farmer considered ''Without Orders'', "above average" although the plot was a hackneyed love triangle.Farmer 1984, p. 339.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation.'' Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Tab Books Inc., 1984. . * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. .

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0028512 1936 drama films 1936 films American aviation films American black-and-white films Films about aviation accidents or incidents Films set in airports Films set on airplanes Films produced by Cliff Reid RKO Pictures films American drama films 1930s English-language films Films directed by Lew Landers 1930s American films