Yukon Flight (1940) User Reviews

"Don't look now but the law just rolled in."

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 30 December 2012]

I can't believe this is the fifth James Newill/Sgt. Renfrew flick I've seen already. "Renfrew of the Royal Mounted" kicked off the eight picture series in 1937 and the stories ranged from passable to downright hokey. This one comes down on the hokey side, with a whole slew of unbelievable elements that begin right with the opening scene. How is it, one might ask, that a one-seater plane can be rigged to crash with a pilot bound and immobile at the controls? The picture answers the story later, but the explanation takes it on faith that you can simply rev up a plane's engine and let it go to take off on it's own. Are you buying that?

Or how about when Sgt. Renfrew takes on the pair of thugs in the cabin early in the picture and they make their getaway through the main door. Not a couple of seconds later, Miss Louise Howard (Louise Stanley) enters the cabin by the same entrance, but she never saw the bad guys getting away? But the best has to do with the earlier plane crash. Initially, we see it go down directly into a large tree, but when the Mounties, Renfrew and Constable Kelly (Dave O'Brien) investigate the scene, the tree is gone, and there's no body!!! Just a pile of rubble.

So notwithstanding earlier comments on this picture by other reviewers, this programmer has little to offer fans looking for a solid story with a murder mystery at it's center. There are a couple of light spots with a character named Whispering Smith (Jack Clifford) doing a hard of hearing gimmick, but it gets a bit over done. The Mounties get their men in convincing fashion at the finale as Renfrew shoots villains Raymond (Karl Hackett) and Yuke Gradeau (William Pawley) out of the sky, but if you stay attentive, you'll note that it's a toy airplane that winds up crashing into the ground below. With everything else that happened, it seemed pretty logical to me.

Here comes the Mountie who never got his script....

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 19 August 2015]

It seems like all James Newill has to do is break into song to try and get the audience to forget how ultimately ludicrous this film is, but all he does is remind them even more. It's not the main plot of an attempt to steal gold and the killing of the pilots who seem to know too much. An opening scene of the boss of this mail service business is truly chilling as the bound pilot heads to certain death and the fear in his eyes explodes. Then along comes Renfrew, the singing Mountie, and definitely no rival to Nelson Eddy. He's suspicious that something's up but every time he gets a clue, he breaks into song. Even the old children's song "Go tell Aunt Rhoadie" gets a re-writing here, becoming just preposterous with each verse. The third of a 5 feature series, the "Sergeant Renfrew" films were obviously cheaply made, written rather quickly, and even more quickly, forgotten. Newill's basically a clown in mounties' clothing, and that makes him rather forgettable as a hero. Louise Stanley is an adequate heroine, while the group of villains have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Basically, the whole story is a big joke and the punchline ain't all that funny.

Downright silly as well as forgettable.

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 19 June 2013]

"Yukon Flight" is a very forgettable and often silly little B-movie from Monogram Studios. It's even sillier than their normal fare—very silly indeed. It's a Renfrew of the Royal Mounted film (the last of three) starring James Newell—a handsome actor who seemed incapable of going very long without breaking into song! As for the plot, it's an escapist mystery film—common for this studio.

The film, not surprisingly, is set in the Canadian wilderness. Along with Renfrew, he has a very dim assistant and together (but mostly due to Renfrew), they manage to bring a gang to justice that is stealing gold shipments and claiming the planes were lost. What they really were doing was deliberately crashing their planes (along with the pilots) and substituting sand in the bags intended for gold. This IS odd, as gold would NOT be burned up in the crash, it would just melt and it would become obvious the switch was made.

Overall, this is a silly and tedious film. Tedious because the characters are all very one-dimensional and the plot isn't particularly engaging—especially since Renfrew keeps insisting on serenading everyone—even in the most ridiculous situations. Odd and forgettable.

Excellent, exciting, exceptional entry for Monogram & Criterion

[morrisonhimself · 9/10 · 1 November 2008]

This is an exciting blend of cowboy and pilot, of horse and airplane.

Tex O'Brien is in it and that would be enough for me, but in fact there is an exceptional cast, with some colorfully named characters who add some weight and who flesh out the story.

My copy of "Yukon Flight" is pretty bad, with some godawful dark scenes that make it hard to follow. As a result of the poor quality picture, I have had to extrapolate a bit, and I still loved this movie.

It is part of the Great American Western series from Echo Bridge Entertainment, Volume 35 of "over 30 Volumes," as it says on the case and "over 40" as it says on the other case in the box.

James Newill is the nominal star and is the title character, Sergeant Renfrew, who also sings. He is more Nelson Eddy than Gene Autry in style, so anyone who doesn't like operetta might feel like fast-forwarding. That's not a problem for me, though.

Roy Barcroft is one of the minor bad guys, in a different kind of role for him.

Jack Clifford plays a character named "Whispering Smith," but he has no resemblance to any other "Whispering Smith," such as that of Alan Ladd, Richard Carlson, or Audie Murphy. Apparently his character shows up in two other Renfrew films.

This is fun. I only hope you find a better copy than mine, which is still fun.

Added 17 January 2015: There is a copy at YouTube that seems to be much better.

Great little movie

[guguwich-74-51579 · 8/10 · 5 November 2011]

A fun little romp in the tradition of B-westerns, but with a Canadian spin. My copy is the same source as above, but they seemed to have addressed the dark spots (guess they check IMDb). Don't want to spoil it for anyone, but definitely worth a look for "old movie" buffs. I'm glad to have it in my permanent collection, because I will watch it again, just don't know when...but its good to know I can.

The RCMP uniforms are accurate for the day. Also, the bi-planes were state of the art at the time. For any film history buff, my opinion is this is a must see.

While I am more familiar with Sgt Preston, it is nice to see the base from which he "sprung."