The Mysterious Pilot (1937)

A 15-episode serial in which our hero, Jim Dorn helps hide Jean McNain from a man she can implicate in a murder.

Director:

Spencer Gordon Bennet

Writers:

George Rosener (screenplay), George M. Merrick (screenplay),

Stars:

Frank Hawks, Dorothy Sebastian, Esther Ralston

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Frank Hawks	...	RCAF Capt. Jim Dorn
Dorothy Sebastian	...	Jean McNain
Esther Ralston	...	Vivian McNain [Chs.10-11]
Rex Lease	...	RCAF Sergeant 'Kansas' Eby
Guy Bates Post	...	'Papa' Bergelot [Chs.1-4,6-8,15]
Kenneth Harlan	...	Carter Snowden
Yakima Canutt	...	Indian Luke [Chs.1-2,4-8,15]
George Rosener	...	Fritz [Chs.3-5,9,14-15]
Clara Kimball Young	...	Martha - Fritz's Wife [Chs.3-5,9,14-15]
Frank Lackteen	...	Henchman Yoroslaff
Harry Harvey	...	Henchman James 'Soft Shoe' Cardigan
Tom London	...	Henchman Kilgour [Chs.1,3-4,6-9]
Robert Walker	...	Henchman-Lumberjack Boyer [Chs.10-14] (as Bob Walker)
Ted Adams	...	Henchman Carlson [Chs.1,3-5,7,10-11,14-15]

Storyline

The second of Columbia's serials (between "Jungle Menace" and "The Secret of Treasure Island"), and all of the first three were outside productions from Louis Weiss, with the remaining 54 serials being in-house assigned to various Columbia contractee producers. While this one is basically filled with canoes chasing canoes down the river, and air-plane crashes galore (at least 10 times in 15 chapters), it is heads and shoulders above the three serials Weiss produced for Stage and Screen Distribution in 1935-36. All three of the Weiss-produced serials for Columbia, while padded beyond the needs of the story line, make more sense logically than the majority of the Larry Darmour serials directed by James W. Horne. Nowhere near as much fun to watch, though. While it had been over two years since the Weiss-Merrick crew had made a serial, they still managed to populate this cast with nearly every player that had appeared in their "Stage and Screen" serials. Esther Ralston, billed 3rd in the ...

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Plot Keywords:

serial | canoe | canadian | american | hero | 

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Taglines:

ZOOMING ACROSS THE SCREEN TO DOOM KILLERS OF THE AIR! (Original poster)

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Mystery | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 December 1937 (USA)

Also Known As:

O Piloto Misterioso

Filming Locations:

Bass Lake, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Weiss Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

300 min 300 min (15 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Chapter Titles: 1) The Howl of the Wolf, 2) The Web Tangles, 3) Enemies of the Air, 4)In the Name of the Law, 5) The Crackup, 6) The Dark Hour, 7) Wings of Destiny, 8) Battle in the Sky, 9) The Great Flight, 10) Whirlpool of Death, 11) The Haunted Mill, 12) The Lost Trail, 13) The Net Tightens, 14) Vengeance Rides the Air, 15) Retribution

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