Emergency Landing (1941)

A test pilot and his weather observer develop a "robot" control so airplanes can be flown without pilots, but enemy agents get wind of it and try to steal it or destroy it.

Director:

William Beaudine

Writers:

Martin Mooney (screenplay), Martin Mooney (story)

Stars:

Forrest Tucker, Carol Hughes, Evelyn Brent

Cast

Credited cast:
Forrest Tucker	...	Jerry Barton
Carol Hughes	...	Betty Lambert
Evelyn Brent	...	Maude Lambert
Emmett Vogan	...	'Doc' Williams
William Halligan	...	George B. Lambert
George Sherwood	...	Jones
Thornton Edwards	...	Pedro (as Joaquin Edwards)
I. Stanford Jolley	...	Karl (as Stan Jolley)
Stanley Price	...	Otto (as Stanford Price)
Jack Lescoulie	...	Capt. North (as Joe Hartman)
Paul Scott	...	Col. Lemon
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Billy Curtis	...	Midget Judge (as Little Billy)

Storyline

Because of a back-log of war orders, the Lambert Airplane factory is unable to try-out the robot-controlled plane developed by test pilot Jerry Barton and weather bureau observer, "Doc" Williams. The pair lie in wait for factory owner George B. Lambert while he is playing golf with his spoiled débutant daughter, Betty, and send up their radio-controlled model where Lambert cannot fail to notice it. But Jerry sets the model down in a pool of water and douses Betty. Lambert authorizes Jerry and Doc to test their remote-controlled robot pilot on one of his planes for the Army. Jerry flies the plane up, bails out and Doc is to land the plane using his remote control box. But foreign agents, wishing to hamper the development of the robot pilot, have tampered with the controls, and Doc is unable to pull the plane out of a spin, and it crashes. Lambert fires Jerry and he and Doc return to the remote weather outpost to do more work on their invention. Betty, on her way to Hollywood to be a ...

---

Plot Keywords:

pilot | robot | test pilot | model | airplane | 

---

Taglines:

Daredevil Test Pilot vs. Society's Dizzest Deb!

---

Genres:

Action | Drama | Romance | War

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 March 1941 (USA)

Also Known As:

Robot Pilot

Company Credits

Production Co:

Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

64 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

There Is Indeed a High Price for Gasoline!

Emergency Landing, a film I saw under the title Robot Pilot, is essentially a romantic comedy disguised by a story of war production of planes, an invention of a new navigational remote control system, and foreign spies and intrigue. Forrest Tucker , a very young Forrest Tucker, plays Jerry Barton, a pilot trying to convince a big airplane producer to see his friend's navigational remote control system. The test fails and Barton goes home with Doc - only to soon both become "wardens" to the pretty daughter of the fly tycoon and his sister Aunt Maude - for their complicity in stealing gasoline. You get then a bunch of scenes of the two- Tucker and the spoiled brat Carol Hughes fighting against each other only to fall in love and the same for Maude and the inventive Doc. As far as romantic comedies made on the real cheap, you could do far worse. Director William "One Shot" Beaudine has some skill with the camera and all of the actors are engaging - something you seldom see in these kind of movies. Tucker is amiable if nothing else, Hughes does a believable job, Emmett Vogan plays his part as Doc with great gusto, and Evelyn Brent does the best job as Aunt Maude with great style and a wonderful sense of humour. Even the worst actor, Thornton Edwards playing Pedro - a Mexican stereotype that would have every civil liberties group out against you today, has moments that are funny. The real problem with this film is that is is advertising to be what it is obviously not - a spy thriller or war picture or science fiction film even. It really is nothing close to any of those things. It is a simple little comedy that is cheaply made and has some good scenes working with the materials at hand. I was entertained at the very least although I was expecting something else. A minor bonus: Midget extraordinare Billy Curtis makes a brief cameo as a hard-dealing, justice-giving judge of the West. Funny and cute!