Hop Harrigan America's Ace of the Airways (1946) User Reviews

Limp Harrigan

[essers · 5/10 · 30 September 2010]

Let me start by stating that Hop Harrigan was my all time favorite radio program while I was growing up. I started during WWII and stayed with it when Hop and Tank moved out of the AAF and to a civilian airport. I even ate a fair amount of dreaded Grape-Nuts Flakes in order to send away for "premiums" like the Hop Harrigan "PARA-PLANE."

http://www.hakes.com/images.asp?ItemNo=54582&ImageNo=002

Let me say that this serial is slow, old, disjointed and pretty bad. Its cliffhangers aren't even too exciting.

William Bakewell is too old and slow to play Hop. He seems quite disinterested in what is going on. In fact a lot of the cast seems much older than their parts Sumner Getchell is okay as Tank but at times moves and acts more like Curley Howard (of the Three Stooges) than the two fisted gifted mechanic that he is supposed to be portraying.

Jennifer Holt as Gail Nolan (Hop's girlfriend) does a good job as does Buzz Henry who plays her young brother. In fact Henry is quite convincing along with being good, as well as, interested in what is going on. He went on to a fair career as a stuntman until his life ended on a motorcycle outside of the cemetery where he is buried.

For the most part the rest of the cast seemed much too old and disinterested for their parts. I wondered if Colombia took a group of actors that they had under contract who needed something to do.

Up We Go ...

[skallisjr · 5/10 · 9 May 2005]

Prior to widespread television, the primary entertainment medium in the United States was radio. Besides the evening shows, there were 15-minute serials running in the 5:00 - 6:00 PM time period, called "The Children's Hour" by media types after a Longfellow poem. Among the serials was Hop Harrigsn, billed as "America's Ace of the Airways." Plot line contains minor spoilers.

As with other radio shows, comic books, and the like, Hop Harrigan became a serial. Released in 1946, Hop Harrigan, a pilot, and his mechanic, Tank Tinker, have left the Army Air Corps, and are operating out of a small airport as a charter air service. They are hired to fly an inventor, Dr. Tabor, to his secret laboratory. Tabor has developed a new power unit, and insists on secrecy (to the point that Hop has to fly a part of the route blindfolded (!!!), (An aside: even instrument-rated pilots have to be able to see the panel to fly with no visibility. But serials often overlook basics.) And there's some reason for the secrecy: a mysterious person named The Chief Pilot is interested in the invention, and manages to kidnap Tabor.

Solid spoiler follows: At one point, this serial has a cheat. At the close of one chapter, we see the aircraft Hop is piloting crash, not *quite* gaining sufficient altitude to clear a natural barrier. The beginning of the following chapter, the aircraft doesn't crash at all, but *barely* clears the barrier. This sort of cheat is rare, but does pop up once in a while.

Later on, Tabor goes around the bend, and decides to destroy the world with his power source. He issues orders, and his assistant carries them out without question. I dunno: if someone told *me* to destroy the world, which would include myself, I don't think I'd obey such a command.