sol-
Keen on saving the neck of a burglar who has been framed for a mob murder she witnessed overseas, a penniless London chorus girl stows away on a non-stop flight to New York and has to evade the mobsters who have also boarded in this crime thriller directed by Robert Stevenson in his pre-Disney days. As one might be able to deduce from such a complicated plot description alone, the movie is rife in convenient coincidences and implausible events, but it makes for relatively amusing viewing, provided one does not think about it too much. There are some great supporting turns, particularly from Francis L. Sullivan as the daunting main mobster, Desmond Tester in a comic relief part as a music student with too much spare time on his hands and Athene Seyler as his overbearing aunt. The real star of the show though is the titular aircraft that the protagonist boards and while the film is rather slow leading up to the reveal of the craft (35 minutes in), it is worth the wait. Spanning two floors with balconies and cabins that make the interiors look more like a ship than a plane, it has to rate as one of the most imaginative aircrafts ever conceived for a motion picture, adding some delightful to kookiness to what otherwise might be a rather ordinary tale. The special effects are pretty remarkable for 1937 too - both inside and outside of the plane. Of course, it feels a little odd to talk so much about the plane and so little about the rest of the movie, but given the choice of title, it seems clear that the producers also knew that the plane was their best asset here.
blanche-2
"Non-Stop New York" is a delightful film from 1937 starring Anna Lee, John Loder, and Francis L. Sullivan.Anna Lee (Lila Quartermaine on General Hospital) is pretty Jenny Carr, a young British actress in New York City with a flop play. So soon, she'll be on her way back to London. She meets a man who sees she's hungry and offers to buy her a meal. That man is later murdered, and a bum is arrested. He is due to be executed in a matter of days. He says that an English girl knows he didn't do it, but no one can find her. She's already home. Once she sees a headline that she's being searched for, she realizes she has to get back to the US immediately. She and her mother find a plane that goes London to NY in 18 hours, and her mother pretends to be drowning while Jenny boards the plane.Little does Jenny know but the real killers are out to stop her.This plane is something to behold. It's a clipper, and apparently this type of plane did exist. Wish it still did. The inside is more like a train, with sleeping compartments, dining room, and one can step out onto a terrace like thing outside the plane. It also flies rather low. Totally amazing.Francis L. Sullivan is excellent as the slimy gang head who wears different disguises in his quest to get rid of Jenny. Apparently - could this be true - he was 35 years old when he did this. If you'd told me he was 65 I would have believed you.John Loder, who was married at one time to Hedy Lamarr, is the handsome investigator who really doesn't believe Jenny.This film is available on youtube. Try and see it - it's very enjoyable.
MartinHafer
"Non-Stop New York" is a British film that has lapsed into the public domain. However, despite this, it is well made and quite enjoyable. However, I strongly hesitate calling it 'Hitchcockian' like some of the other reviewers.The film begins with a hungry and out of work actress (Anna Lee) being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A man is murdered and she's lucky she wasn't killed. And, she's completely unaware of the killing! Because she then is out of circulation for some time, she is unaware that a man was convicted of the murder--and she can exonerate him because she knows he wasn't involved. But the gang behind the killing isn't about to let her go to the police about it and they throw impediments in her way. So, she takes off from England--a stowaway on a clipper plane bound for New York where the man is waiting on death row. She intends to tell the authorities in the States what she knows--the gang plans on murdering her aboard this plane.This film has a few plot holes and bad performances here and there. But, it IS entertaining. I particularly liked the ending--improbable but exciting to watch. Overall, this is a better than average British film and one that will keep you on the edge of your seat at times.
Yelisey
An epitome of a nice long-forgotten filmie from the 1930s. Most of the cast and the crew also appeared in some of Hitchcock's flicks (especially in Sabotage), so be ready for some justified deja vu. Of course, you may find it very similar to Hitch's carefree yet gripping thrillers of that period, but it definitely has some charm of its own. The humour here still works, especially in the scenes with fake eyewitnesses. The cast is also solid, as is the script. I also enjoyed the amusing plan of Jennie's getting on a boat. The reason why I give it a 3/5 is that at times it lacks logic (as it always happens with thousands of thrillers) and the flying boat seems to be a paradise for criminals. And, of course, it'd have been a far well-known film that it is, if it was somehow connected with Alfie.Available on YouTube and Archive.org.
AD
