Night Flight (1933)

Set in the early days of aviation when night flying was not the routine business it is today. A pilot (Clark Gable) takes off from Chile with a destination to Argentina, flying over the Andes, but gets lost when a storm throws him off course. His fate is tensely awaited by both his wife (Helen Hayes) and the cold hearted company manager (John Barrymore), who pushes his pilots to the brink. Based on the novel by Antoine De Saint Exupery and directed by Clarence Brown (NATIONAL VELVET). The film was out of circulation for 68 years due to a rights problem with the Antoine De Saint-Exupery estate. The movie works best when dealing with the aviation side of the story. Brown manages to keep a disquieting tension through out especially in the Gable (who plays his role with very little dialogue) storyline. The women don't fare as well with Hayes and Myrna Loy as fretting wives who wait while their men fly dangerous routes, though Hayes has one good scene when she tells off Barrymore. The cinematography (credited to three different men) is very good and the flight images often more than that. A must for fans of aviation movies and even if you're not, it's often quite gripping. The solid score is by Herbert Stothart. With Robert Montgomery, Lionel Barrymore and William Gargan.