Barry Eldon runs an air service trying to get a government mail contract (what an original idea for an aviation film) who is having his planes crack up for some unknown reason. Victor Arnold, hiding behind the appearance of a respectable businessman, is the man behind the attacks who uses the services of Professor Schulter, who has created a destruction ray which is being used to bring the planes down. Facing ruin, Eldon plans to take his new speed plane on a round-the-world flight to show the country that he will risk flying his plane, but beforehand he plans to try to expose Arnold as well as find out who he is taking orders for, and this information may come sooner than he thinks when Eldon and Arnold are up in a plane targeted by Schulter's machine. Basically this B film used every cliché from every aviation movie made through that point and for a few years after so there is nothing special w/ the general plot, however the film actually uses a couple of nice plot devices of having a femme fatale whose ultimate purpose is unknown to us. The most fascinating part of the film is the appearance by famed aviator Wiley Post, only a few months before his fatal airplane crash. Enjoyable film, Rating, 6.
9 Reviews
Not Bad at All...
xerses133 July 2007
Pioneering airline runs up against competition that plays rough, using DEATH RAY to cut down the odds. Usual story told quickly (68 minutes) and well done by COLUMBIA (now thats a surprise). Ralph Bellamy (airline owner) leads competent cast that includes Douglas Dumbrille (sleazy villain) and Victor Kilian (reporter). Edward Van Sloan does his mad scientist act inventing what today would be called a Particle Beam Weapon. These airplane (or aeroplane) films done in the 1930's are usually very fun to watch because of the equipment which by todays standards seems ludicrous. You must admire after watching these films the early flight pioneers. One (1) featured in this film is Wiley Post who would die in a air crash soon after with Will Rodgers.
An enjoyable low-budget escapist film.
planktonrules20 March 2013
"Air Hawks" is a B-movie from Columbia Pictures. Yet, despite its very low budget and modest cast, it is entertaining--in a breezy and light way. In other words, as long as you aren't expecting magic, you'll probably be reasonably pleased with this one.
Ralph Bellamy stars as Barry Eldon--the head of a tiny air service. Yet, surprisingly, a much larger air transport company is afraid of the competition and try to buy him out. But, despite their very generous offer, Barry rejects it and has no intention of selling. Now here is were it gets very weird--his competitors find a goody mad scientist and pay him to create a death ray in order to knock Barry's planes out of the sky!! I saw a similar plot in several other low-budget films--perhaps influenced by Tesla's odd experiments with death rays and electricity.
Overall, this is a nice little adventure film--and makes a decent time-passer. However, it is also worth seeing for one odd reason--late in the film, Wiley Post plays himself! And, only three months later, this famous aviator would die in the same crash that killed Will Rogers. Fascinating coincidence, huh?
Ralph Bellamy stars as Barry Eldon--the head of a tiny air service. Yet, surprisingly, a much larger air transport company is afraid of the competition and try to buy him out. But, despite their very generous offer, Barry rejects it and has no intention of selling. Now here is were it gets very weird--his competitors find a goody mad scientist and pay him to create a death ray in order to knock Barry's planes out of the sky!! I saw a similar plot in several other low-budget films--perhaps influenced by Tesla's odd experiments with death rays and electricity.
Overall, this is a nice little adventure film--and makes a decent time-passer. However, it is also worth seeing for one odd reason--late in the film, Wiley Post plays himself! And, only three months later, this famous aviator would die in the same crash that killed Will Rogers. Fascinating coincidence, huh?
Far out plot packs a few surprises
csteidler27 May 2019
Ralph Bellamy runs a small fleet of mail planes but his company needs to land the big contract to outdo Consolidated, their powerful competitor. Some crooks from Consolidated want to buy out Bellamy's business--and when he refuses to sell, they turn to dirty work.
Douglass Dumbrille is enthusiastically nasty as the head bad guy. The plot of this aerial adventure veers into sci-fi when Dumbrille hires mad scientist Edward Van Sloan to build a working version of his experimental ray machine that can destroy bridges and airplanes. Van Sloan eagerly starts shooting down Bellamy's airplanes, jeopardizing the big contract.
Meanwhile, Bellamy finds time to exchange corny banter with beautiful Tala Birell, a club singer who is mixed up with the crooks. Bellamy explains to her how airplanes are like women: "They take you up in the skies and then without any warning they let you down with a crash." Birell's quick reply: "But aren't most of the crashes the cause of the men at the controls, who try to go too far or too fast?"
The plot has plenty of twists, some of which make little sense.... For example, when the beleaguered airline is about ready to fold under the mysterious attacks, Bellamy decides it's time for a publicity stunt: He will save his business by attempting a cross country speed record. This is baffling until a few minutes later, when famed pilot Wiley Post wanders into the picture and agrees to take the flight himself.
Bellamy looks uncomfortable during a couple of silly melodramatic scenes but he is generally easy to watch as the hero. Victor Kilian has a fun if predictable role as the newspaper reporter who has a hunch, sneaks into the crooks' hideout, and has a narrow escape. Douglass Dumbrille is just fine as the villain always ready with a dastardly scheme.
The story is kind of wild and sometimes it feels like it's just barely holding together...but the picture's second half is quite enjoyable and moves at a nice steady clip.
Douglass Dumbrille is enthusiastically nasty as the head bad guy. The plot of this aerial adventure veers into sci-fi when Dumbrille hires mad scientist Edward Van Sloan to build a working version of his experimental ray machine that can destroy bridges and airplanes. Van Sloan eagerly starts shooting down Bellamy's airplanes, jeopardizing the big contract.
Meanwhile, Bellamy finds time to exchange corny banter with beautiful Tala Birell, a club singer who is mixed up with the crooks. Bellamy explains to her how airplanes are like women: "They take you up in the skies and then without any warning they let you down with a crash." Birell's quick reply: "But aren't most of the crashes the cause of the men at the controls, who try to go too far or too fast?"
The plot has plenty of twists, some of which make little sense.... For example, when the beleaguered airline is about ready to fold under the mysterious attacks, Bellamy decides it's time for a publicity stunt: He will save his business by attempting a cross country speed record. This is baffling until a few minutes later, when famed pilot Wiley Post wanders into the picture and agrees to take the flight himself.
Bellamy looks uncomfortable during a couple of silly melodramatic scenes but he is generally easy to watch as the hero. Victor Kilian has a fun if predictable role as the newspaper reporter who has a hunch, sneaks into the crooks' hideout, and has a narrow escape. Douglass Dumbrille is just fine as the villain always ready with a dastardly scheme.
The story is kind of wild and sometimes it feels like it's just barely holding together...but the picture's second half is quite enjoyable and moves at a nice steady clip.
Mild Fun
Michael_Elliott27 February 2008
Air Hawks (1935)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Really weird Columbia "B" picture about a small, independent airline company, ran by Ralph Bellamy, who are competing for a contract against a major company. The major company fears they're going to lose the contract so they hire a mad scientist (an uncredited Edward Van Sloan) to build a death ray so they can shoot down the rivals planes. The business and romance side of this film are certainly routine but the sci-fi/horror elements are what really makes this film unique. Bellamy is good in his role bringing his usual charm to the screen but Van Sloan is downright over the top as the mad scientist but this brings a few laughs. I'm somewhat shocked this film got past the code back in the day since some of the violence, which includes pilots burning and crashing their planes, is pretty strong. Another interesting note is that real life pilot Wiley Post has a role here and we would die in a real crash soon after with Will Rogers.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Really weird Columbia "B" picture about a small, independent airline company, ran by Ralph Bellamy, who are competing for a contract against a major company. The major company fears they're going to lose the contract so they hire a mad scientist (an uncredited Edward Van Sloan) to build a death ray so they can shoot down the rivals planes. The business and romance side of this film are certainly routine but the sci-fi/horror elements are what really makes this film unique. Bellamy is good in his role bringing his usual charm to the screen but Van Sloan is downright over the top as the mad scientist but this brings a few laughs. I'm somewhat shocked this film got past the code back in the day since some of the violence, which includes pilots burning and crashing their planes, is pretty strong. Another interesting note is that real life pilot Wiley Post has a role here and we would die in a real crash soon after with Will Rogers.
The road to hell is paved with dynamite.
mark.waltz8 September 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Death comes to all villains in the movies, even if it's only hinted at. Ralph Bellamy is the owner of a small airline company whose mail planes seem to suddenly burst into flames in the same spot in the middle of nowhere. A strange light appears like a spotlight right before the sudden burst of flames, only one pilot managing (along with the cute pooch he has aboard) to escape alive. With the help of smarmy reporter Victor Kilian, Bellamy tracks information to a glamorous nightclub and thanks to nightclub singer Tala Birell, finds out the truth.
Great photography, editing, montage sequences and special effects helps this pre-World War II adventure (with a little bit of sci-fi) rise above its B film trappings, and great villainous performances by Douglas Dumbrille and Edward Van Sloan aid the tension. The brief presence of an overly cute little girl, played with cloying precociousness by Marianne Edwards (daughter of one of the victims) is only a slight distraction, and Wiley Post's cameo adds historical value. Post was killed in a plane crash just a few months later, along with Will Rogers, adding a poignant postscript to his sole appearance on screen.
Great photography, editing, montage sequences and special effects helps this pre-World War II adventure (with a little bit of sci-fi) rise above its B film trappings, and great villainous performances by Douglas Dumbrille and Edward Van Sloan aid the tension. The brief presence of an overly cute little girl, played with cloying precociousness by Marianne Edwards (daughter of one of the victims) is only a slight distraction, and Wiley Post's cameo adds historical value. Post was killed in a plane crash just a few months later, along with Will Rogers, adding a poignant postscript to his sole appearance on screen.
High-flying entertainment
F Gwynplaine MacIntyre13 February 2004
Warning: Spoilers
'Air Hawks' is a rousing good adventure story, starring Ralph Bellamy in one of his rare outings as a two-fisted action hero. (Bellamy was more typically cast in romantic comedies, as the guy who lost the girl to a better man.) Here, he plays a former Army pilot who sets up his own low-budget air-courier service. Bellamy hopes to get a lucrative federal contract, flying bags of mail cross-country. A previous air service lost the contract because their 'planes kept mysteriously crashing.
Veteran movie villain Douglass Dumbrille is in this movie, cast as a 'respectable businessman', so it's obvious who's behind the air crashes ... and that's not a spoiler. The action cuts back and forth between Bellamy's good-guy flyboys and Dumbrille's secret hideout, so the audience know the reason for those 'plane crashes well ahead of Bellamy. Hoping to get the mail contract for himself, Dumbrille has engaged the services of an eccentric professor named Schulter ... who has invented an 'electrical ray': a gigantic unwieldy device that he points into the air, which conveniently bollixes any electrical motor that passes overhead. I would have thought that most 1930s aircraft were powered primarily by internal combustion, with electricity being only secondary. But Schulter's gizmo works a treat, and pretty soon the pretty aeroplanes are dropping like stones. Professor Schulter (a very brief role) is played by Edward Van Sloan, who famously played the ethically-responsible scientist in several monster movies, so it's very interesting to see him here as a scientist who uses his knowledge for evil purposes. The presence of Schulter's electrical ray makes 'Air Hawks' technically a science-fiction movie, but the whole film has the feel of a Saturday-morning adventure serial, with the emphasis on thrills rather than gadgetry.
The most interesting name in this cast list is that of Wiley Post, who is now remembered only as the pilot in the fatal 'plane crash that killed Will Rogers. (Matters were not helped by the Broadway musical 'The Will Rogers Follies', which reduced Wiley Post's entire life to a cheap plot device.) It's unfortunate that Post is so poorly remembered. In the 1930s, most Americans knew of Post for his record-setting exploits as a pioneer of high-altitude flight. He invented a pressure suit designed to keep an aviator alive at high altitudes. Post was also the first pilot to fly around the Earth, and the first person to experience jet lag.
Many 1930s films (especially those made at Warner Bros) featured a useful cinematic device, in which brief clips of the principal actors are shown during the opening credits, with the actors' names (and the names of their roles in the film) superimposed on these images. This very helpful practice enabled filmgoers to match an actor's name to a face. That device is used in the opening credits of 'Air Hawks', with Wiley Post prominently listed as playing himself. After that brief clip, however, we see no more of the great aviator until more than halfway through this film, when Wiley Post ambles onto the screen very briefly to offer a few words of encouragement to Bellamy's beleaguered pilot. It's clear that the filmmakers worship Post, and rightly so. Except for newsreel footage, 'Air Hawks' is Wiley Post's only film appearance, so it's regrettable that his participation is so brief. (Maybe he had to catch a flight.) I also enjoyed a brief appearance by Elise Cavanna, the tall and gawky (yet attractive) comic actress who performed so memorably in a couple of WC Fields movies at this time.
'Air Hawks' is a delight from start to finish, one of those movies that nostalgia enthusiasts talk about when they say that Hollywood "doesn't make 'em like that any more". I'll rate this movie 10 out of 10.
Veteran movie villain Douglass Dumbrille is in this movie, cast as a 'respectable businessman', so it's obvious who's behind the air crashes ... and that's not a spoiler. The action cuts back and forth between Bellamy's good-guy flyboys and Dumbrille's secret hideout, so the audience know the reason for those 'plane crashes well ahead of Bellamy. Hoping to get the mail contract for himself, Dumbrille has engaged the services of an eccentric professor named Schulter ... who has invented an 'electrical ray': a gigantic unwieldy device that he points into the air, which conveniently bollixes any electrical motor that passes overhead. I would have thought that most 1930s aircraft were powered primarily by internal combustion, with electricity being only secondary. But Schulter's gizmo works a treat, and pretty soon the pretty aeroplanes are dropping like stones. Professor Schulter (a very brief role) is played by Edward Van Sloan, who famously played the ethically-responsible scientist in several monster movies, so it's very interesting to see him here as a scientist who uses his knowledge for evil purposes. The presence of Schulter's electrical ray makes 'Air Hawks' technically a science-fiction movie, but the whole film has the feel of a Saturday-morning adventure serial, with the emphasis on thrills rather than gadgetry.
The most interesting name in this cast list is that of Wiley Post, who is now remembered only as the pilot in the fatal 'plane crash that killed Will Rogers. (Matters were not helped by the Broadway musical 'The Will Rogers Follies', which reduced Wiley Post's entire life to a cheap plot device.) It's unfortunate that Post is so poorly remembered. In the 1930s, most Americans knew of Post for his record-setting exploits as a pioneer of high-altitude flight. He invented a pressure suit designed to keep an aviator alive at high altitudes. Post was also the first pilot to fly around the Earth, and the first person to experience jet lag.
Many 1930s films (especially those made at Warner Bros) featured a useful cinematic device, in which brief clips of the principal actors are shown during the opening credits, with the actors' names (and the names of their roles in the film) superimposed on these images. This very helpful practice enabled filmgoers to match an actor's name to a face. That device is used in the opening credits of 'Air Hawks', with Wiley Post prominently listed as playing himself. After that brief clip, however, we see no more of the great aviator until more than halfway through this film, when Wiley Post ambles onto the screen very briefly to offer a few words of encouragement to Bellamy's beleaguered pilot. It's clear that the filmmakers worship Post, and rightly so. Except for newsreel footage, 'Air Hawks' is Wiley Post's only film appearance, so it's regrettable that his participation is so brief. (Maybe he had to catch a flight.) I also enjoyed a brief appearance by Elise Cavanna, the tall and gawky (yet attractive) comic actress who performed so memorably in a couple of WC Fields movies at this time.
'Air Hawks' is a delight from start to finish, one of those movies that nostalgia enthusiasts talk about when they say that Hollywood "doesn't make 'em like that any more". I'll rate this movie 10 out of 10.
Suggestions Of A Secret Weapon Make "Air Hawks" A Lively Fiction
Patriotlad@aol.com3 July 2007
There is no doubt that "Air Hawks" moves at a rather quick pace, and I suppose it could be classified as a "B" movie by the standards of its day, but the rather formulaic pioneering-aviator plot is enlivened considerably. That's done by the engagement -- by the bad hombres in the competition to Ralph Bellamy's ITL transport company -- of a German accented scientist who has developed an invisible ray to set aircraft engines on fire. What could have been a really dim-witted "mad scientist" movie was short-circuited -- no pun intended -- by keeping the science-fiction element restrained, and by a focus on the personality of Bellamy's character. He's a "Tom Swift" kind of go-getter, but not a goody-goody, and this hero-type had no small appeal to the audiences of the mid-1930s. Love interest Tala Birell ( Natalie Bierl, also known as Talusha ), is also excellent.
Even as the Great Depression was continuing, people in this country continued to hunger for the heroics of air pioneers and other men ( and some women ), who seemed to stand for "can do" as an answer to any question or problem. In that regard, "Air Hawks" gains a large measure of Q or "likability", both for Bellamy and for his erstwhile ally in the newspaper business. In many ways this is more of "a yarn" than a really deep motion picture story, but that's OK, and it works well even now. Seventy-three years have passed since this film was released but the concept wrapped into this movie, that of there being a secret weapon which can bring down an aircraft from a distance without using a rocket or a missile, and without leaving any traces of its use, is an important and intriguing notion. One only has to look back at the destruction of TWA 800, and the controversy surrounding it, or the crash of Swissair 111, to know that the secret weapon concept is not something purely out of the realm of Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers.
Fast-paced, well-edited, and with lively performances by all concerned, this "Air Hawks" action / adventure production gets a vote of eight and would have notched a nine if Wiley Post had been given a little something more to do than to say "hello".
Even as the Great Depression was continuing, people in this country continued to hunger for the heroics of air pioneers and other men ( and some women ), who seemed to stand for "can do" as an answer to any question or problem. In that regard, "Air Hawks" gains a large measure of Q or "likability", both for Bellamy and for his erstwhile ally in the newspaper business. In many ways this is more of "a yarn" than a really deep motion picture story, but that's OK, and it works well even now. Seventy-three years have passed since this film was released but the concept wrapped into this movie, that of there being a secret weapon which can bring down an aircraft from a distance without using a rocket or a missile, and without leaving any traces of its use, is an important and intriguing notion. One only has to look back at the destruction of TWA 800, and the controversy surrounding it, or the crash of Swissair 111, to know that the secret weapon concept is not something purely out of the realm of Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers.
Fast-paced, well-edited, and with lively performances by all concerned, this "Air Hawks" action / adventure production gets a vote of eight and would have notched a nine if Wiley Post had been given a little something more to do than to say "hello".
Very entertaining old B movie
usfanforever20 January 2018
If you like old movies, this one is pretty entertaining, it has an interesting plot, that is suspenseful enough to keep you watching. Ralph Bellamy is as good in this as in any of his other movies. Also pretty funny because of it's age, lot's of smoking which is always a gas these days! In full disclosure, my great aunt Grace was one of the writers, but I've given it 8 stars, and it is worth the watch.
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