Trapped in the Sky (film)

1939 American film

Trapped in the Sky

Film poster

Directed by| Lewis D. Collins
Written by|

* Eric Taylor
* Gordon Rigby

Produced by| Larry Darmour
Starring|

* Jack Holt
* Ralph Morgan
* Katherine DeMille

Cinematography| James S. Brown Jr.
Edited by| Dwight Caldwell

Production
company

Larry Darmour Productions

Distributed by| Columbia Pictures

Release date

* June 1, 1939 (1939-06-01)

Running time

| 61 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English

Trapped in the Sky (aka Army Spy and Sabotage) is a 1939 American thriller film directed by Lewis D. Collins and produced by Larry Darmour for Columbia Pictures.[1] The film stars Jack Holt, Ralph Morgan and Katherine DeMille.[2] Holt is the "flyboy" who is trying to find the saboteurs of a "silent" aircraft. The plot device of a "noiseless" or stealthy aircraft is a familiar theme in aviation films of the period, including The Sky Ranger (1921), The Silent Flier (1926) and Eagle of the Night (1928).[3][N 1]

## Plot

[edit]

Inventor Walter Fielding (Holmes Herbert) has been developing a new type of aircraft that is "noiseless". He offers the United States government first option on his invention. When William Fornay (C. Henry Gordon), a foreign agent, offers him three times the army's price, Fielding decides to sabotage the government tests, thus enabling him to sell his patent to the highest bidder.

After the initial test flight ends in a crash and the death of its pilot, Lieutenant Gray (Regis Toomey), United States Army Air Corps flyer Major Roston (Jack Holt) begins to suspect sabotage. Roston decides to go under cover to catch the culprits. He first stages a court martial and fakes his resentment of the army and soon Roston is contacted by enemy agent Carol Rayder (Katherine DeMille). The trail soon goes cold when Carol and her employer, Joseph Dure (Ivan Lebedeff), are found murdered.

While investigating Carol's murder, Roston learns that Fornay may be involved in the aircraft's mysterious failure. Deducing that Fielding must also be implicated in the sabotage of the test flight, Roston lures Fielding into taking a test flight with him. In the air, he threatens to crash the aircraft, forcing a confession from the inventor.

## Cast

[edit]

* Jack Holt as Major Roston
* Ralph Morgan as Colonel Whalen
* Paul Everton as General Mooyp
* Katherine DeMille as Carol Rayder
* C. Henry Gordon as William Fornay
* Sidney Blackmer as Mann
* Ivan Lebedeff as Joseph Dure
* Regis Toomey as Lt. Gray
* Holmes Herbert as Walter Fielding
* Guy D'Ennery as Henry

## Production

[edit]

The working titles of Army Spy and Sabotage reflected a heightened atmosphere of international intrigue in the immediate period before World War II.[5] Principal photography on Trapped in the Sky, took place from December 16 to December 30, 1938.[6]

## Reception

[edit]

Aviation film historian Michael Paris in From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema (1995) considered Trapped in the Sky, a re-working of The Great Air Robbery (1919) a silent two-reel feature.[7]

Aviation film historian James H. Farmer in Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation (1984) dismissed Trapped in the Sky as a "low-budget action mystery" film.[8]

## References

[edit]

### Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Reviewer Hal Erickson noted, "For a man who was reportedly deathly afraid of flying, Jack Holt certainly made more than his share of aviation pictures." [4]

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ Pendo 1985, p. 14.
2. ^ Hischak 2017, p. 138.
3. ^ Farmer 1984, pp. 303, 325, 333
4. ^ Erickson, Hal. "Review: 'Storm Over the Andes' (1935)." Allmovie.com, 2019. Retrieved: July 29, 2019.
5. ^ "Review: 'Trapped in the Sky' (1939)." AFI, 2019. Retrieved: July 30, 2019.
6. ^ "Original print information: 'Trapped in the Sky' (1939)." TCM, 2019. Retrieved: July 30, 2019.
7. ^ Paris 1995, p. 64.
8. ^ Farmer 1984, p. 333.

### Bibliography

[edit]

* Farmer, James H. Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation. Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Tab Books Inc., 1984. ISBN 978-0-83062-374-7.
* Hischak, Thomas S. 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. ISBN 978-1-44227-804-2.
* Paris, Michael. From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0-7190-4074-0.
* Pendo, Stephen. Aviation in the Cinema. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. ISBN 0-8-1081-746-2.

## External links

[edit]

* Trapped in the Sky at IMDb
* Trapped in the Sky at the TCM Movie Database
* Trapped in the Sky at AllMovie

* v
* t
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Films directed by Lewis D. Collins

* Under the Southern Cross (1929)
* Young Desire (1930)
* The Law of the Tong (1931)
* Guns for Hire (1932)
* Gun Law (1933)
* Trouble Busters (1933)
* Ship of Wanted Men (1933)
* Skyway (1933)
* Via Pony Express (1933)
* Public Stenographer (1933)
* Sing Sing Nights (1934)
* Ticket to a Crime (1934)
* The Man from Hell (1934)
* The Brand of Hate (1934)
* Manhattan Butterfly (1935)
* Make a Million (1935)
* The Desert Trail (1935)
* The Hoosier Schoolmaster (1935)
* The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935)
* The Leavenworth Case (1936)
* The Return of Jimmy Valentine (1936)
* Doughnuts and Society (1936)
* Down to the Sea (1936)
* Lucky Corrigan (1936)
* Under Suspicion (1937)
* The Mighty Treve (1937)
* The Wildcatter (1937)
* Trapped by G-Men (1937)
* Flight Into Nowhere (1938)
* Reformatory (1938)
* The Strange Case of Dr. Meade (1938)
* Crime Takes a Holiday (1938)
* Making the Headlines (1938)
* Whispering Enemies (1939)
* Fugitive at Large (1939)
* Trapped in the Sky (1939)
* Hidden Power (1939)
* Outside the Three-Mile Limit (1940)
* Passport to Alcatraz (1940)
* Fugitive from a Prison Camp (1940)
* The Great Plane Robbery (1940)
* Borrowed Hero (1941)
* The Great Swindle (1941)
* Danger in the Pacific (1942)
* Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground (1943)
* Raiders of San Joaquin (1943)
* Oklahoma Raiders (1944)
* Trigger Trail (1944)
* Sweethearts of the U.S.A. (1944)
* The Old Texas Trail (1944)
* Danger Woman (1946)
* Killer Dill (1947)
* Heading for Heaven (1947)
* Jungle Goddess (1948)
* The Fighting Redhead (1949)
* Cowboy and the Prizefighter (1949)
* Roll, Thunder, Roll! (1949)
* Ride, Ryder, Ride! (1949)
* Law of the Panhandle (1950)
* Cherokee Uprising (1950)
* Hot Rod (1950)
* Colorado Ambush (1951)
* Abilene Trail (1951)
* Oklahoma Justice (1951)
* Man from Sonora (1951)
* Nevada Badmen (1951)
* Stage to Blue River (1951)
* Canyon Raiders (1951)
* Stagecoach Driver (1951)
* Lawless Cowboys (1951)
* The Longhorn (1951)
* Texas Lawmen (1951)
* Texas City (1952)
* The Gunman (1952)
* Wild Stallion (1952)
* Kansas Territory (1952)
* Fargo (1952)
* Dead Man's Trail (1952)
* Canyon Ambush (1952)
* Waco (1952)
* Montana Incident (1952)
* The Marksman (1953)
* Vigilante Terror (1953)
* Texas Bad Man (1953)
* The Homesteaders (1953)
* Two Guns and a Badge (1954)

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