The Fighting Pilot

The problem with some of the low end early sound films is that they feel like they are leadenly paced. Partly this was due to a lack of music and partly it was due to a lack of skill in putting together something special. In The Fighting Pilot its a combination of both, which proves almost deadly to a film thats suppose to be an action adventure flick.

The plot concerns the attempt to get the designs of a new plane by some bad guys. The boyfriend of the inventor's daughter finds that he has to run interference between the inventors and gangsters who are out to make a buck or two at the expense of everyone else. Its a proved story thats been done before both better and worse. The problem here is that the film was done on the cheap. Everything other than the planes look lack luster. There is an absence of music so the proceedings are slowed way down, even in the action scenes. The fights are more flailing affairs where the actors thrash about wildly in and attempt to look like they are really fighting, while attempting not to harm anyone or anything on the meager sets. It looks more silly then anything else. On the positive side the cast is mostly game with stalwart Richard Talmadge playing the pilot of the title. Talmadge was a solid actor who never really graduated to anything past the B movies, but was always good none the less.

Over all this is an okay movie that is overly creaky due to the passage of time and the lack of money in the budget. If it had been a tiny bit more engaging I'd say give it a shot, but there is something about the way the movie stands right now that is very likely to send you to Dreamland and not the "Wild Blue Yonder". Still if you're feeling adventurous and not too worried about possibly dozing off I'd give it a try. Somewhere between 4 and 5 out of 10.