Posted on 11/22/2017 6:17:13 PM PST by Simon Green
It's just an obscure but entertaining B movie from RKO, the story of the crew and passengers of a small airplane crashed in the South American jungle. Will they be able to repair the plane in time to escape before being attacked by natives?
(Um, given the spoilerrific title...yes. Yes they will. Five of them, at any rate.)
I enjoy watching older films that are set contemporaneously. It's almost like having a time machine.
Remade by the same director in 1956 with a slightly less give-it-away title, "Back From Eternity". My thoughts:
1) The characters arrive at the airport 10 minutes before flight time. "We've got plenty of time".
2) Lucille Ball is a hottie in 1939.
3) Speaking of Ball, she's playing a hooker with a heart of gold (never explicitely stated, this is the 30's). The other character's reactions to her range from strained formality to outright hostility.
4) When on the plane, passengers think nothing of strolling into the cockpit and striking up a conversation with the pilots.
5) Two out of a dozen passengers are carrying concealed handguns.
6) The cabin is way too quiet. That kind of plane was noisy.
7) The pilot shamelessly flirts with a passenger.
8) Landing a plane in the middle of the jungle. On one engine. In a storm. At night. No problem.
9) After a week, the camp will look like Gillgian's Island.
Reminds me of “Flight of the Phoenix,” a great film.
I enjoy watching older films that are set contemporaneously. It’s almost like having a time machine.
Same here. Even contemporary films set in the 1940’s works for me. Am watching ‘ Flag’s of our Father’s ‘ right now. But it does make me sad for how much has been lost in this country.
I only saw it that one time, but I still remember it. It was one of my favorite movies for a long time, mainly because I never got to see many movies.
I vaguely remember watching that movie on TV many years ago.
It wasn’t bad but not great either.
1939 was probably the greatest year for movies ever.
Sounds interesting. The title is similar (the same?) as a documentary on NetFlix about five(?) great directors that worked for the military during WWII creating “propoganda” films. training films, etc. (Capra, etc.) Was a very interesting series. Two of the directors iirc did comedies and stuff beforehand. After seeing the war up close and personal they did more serious stuff (like “It’s a Wonderful Life”)
And C. Aubrey Smith, they don't have character actors like him anymore.
If I recall right, the plane used in that movie was an oddball prototype passenger plane that never received FAA approval because it was put together with screws instead of rivets. So the movie studio bought it as a movie prop for pennies on the dollar.
Do films today or from the 1940’s depict the the reality or the time, or are they fiction that misrepresents the time period?
“Lucille Ball is a hottie in 1939.”
She was hot well into the late 1960s.
L
Jungle fever movie.
Thanks for sharing. I remember arriving to the airport ten minutes before departure time in the 1980s!
-PJ
They did a remake in 1956 Back From Eternity with Rod Steiger and Robert Ryan
Ditto. Tonight we watched “Donovan’s Reef”. Tomorrow night one of my old favorites “Green Dolphin Street”.
Must have seen it 50 times...
Kiss Of Death (1947) - Victor Mature, Richard Widmark, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXsb266Vm7I
I remember seeing a Hawaii 5-0 episode in which McGarret goes to the airport and immediately gets on the plane carrying his own luggage — no checks, no security measures, nothing.
Life was certainly more free in those days...
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