Emergency Landing (1941)

Director:

William Beaudine

Writers:

Martin Mooney (screenplay)
Martin Mooney (story)

Release Date:

7 March 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

Daredevil Test Pilot vs. Society's Dizzest Deb!

Plot:

A test pilot and his weather observer develop a "robot" control so airplanes can be flown without pilots, but enemy agents get wind of it and try to steal it or destroy it.

Plot Keywords:

Pilot | Robot | Desert | Test Pilot | Model

Cast

Forrest Tucker	...	Jerry Barton
Carol Hughes	...	Betty Lambert
Evelyn Brent	...	Maude Lambert
Emmett Vogan	...	'Doc' Williams
William Halligan	...	George B. Lambert
George Sherwood	...	Jones
Thornton Edwards	...	Pedro (as Joaquin Edwards)
I. Stanford Jolley	...	Karl (as Stan Jolley)
Stanley Price	...	Otto (as Stanford Price)
Jack Lescoulie	...	Captain North (as Joe Hartman)
Paul Scott	...	Colonel Lemon
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Billy Curtis	...	Midget Judge (as Little Billy)

Also Known As:

Robot Pilot (USA) (TV title)
Il segreto del p 22 (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

64 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:Approved (PCA #7316)

Company:

Producers Releasing Corporation

There Is Indeed a High Price for Gasoline!

Emergency Landing, a film I saw under the title Robot Pilot, is essentially a romantic comedy disguised by a story of war production of planes, an invention of a new navigational remote control system, and foreign spies and intrigue. Forrest Tucker , a very young Forrest Tucker, plays Jerry Barton, a pilot trying to convince a big airplane producer to see his friend's navigational remote control system. The test fails and Barton goes home with Doc - only to soon both become "wardens" to the pretty daughter of the fly tycoon and his sister Aunt Maude - for their complicity in stealing gasoline. You get then a bunch of scenes of the two- Tucker and the spoiled brat Carol Hughes fighting against each other only to fall in love and the same for Maude and the inventive Doc. As far as romantic comedies made on the real cheap, you could do far worse. Director William "One Shot" Beaudine has some skill with the camera and all of the actors are engaging - something you seldom see in these kind of movies. Tucker is amiable if nothing else, Hughes does a believable job, Emmett Vogan plays his part as Doc with great gusto, and Evelyn Brent does the best job as Aunt Maude with great style and a wonderful sense of humour. Even the worst actor, Thornton Edwards playing Pedro - a Mexican stereotype that would have every civil liberties group out against you today, has moments that are funny. The real problem with this film is that is is advertising to be what it is obviously not - a spy thriller or war picture or science fiction film even. It really is nothing close to any of those things. It is a simple little comedy that is cheaply made and has some good scenes working with the materials at hand. I was entertained at the very least although I was expecting something else. A minor bonus: Midget extraordinare Billy Curtis makes a brief cameo as a hard-dealing, justice-giving judge of the West. Funny and cute!