A Dash Through the Clouds (1912)
** (out of 4)
A woman (Mabel Normand) is out on a date (Fred Mace) when a pilot (Phillip Parmalee) offers to take her up in the plane. She jumps at the chance but this of course makes her date jealous who heads off to a Mexican town where he angers some of the locals and needs help escaping. A DASH THROUGH THE CLOUDS really isn't a very good film but I think there are some interesting moments in it that will make film buffs want to check it out. One such thing are the early shots taken up in the plane, which certainly look pretty good even by today's standards. The cinematography was actually impressive all things considered and I think these shots make the film worth sitting through. Another good addition is that the three leads are all entertaining and especially Normand who comes across very charming. The problem I had with the movie is that it simply wasn't that funny. The majority of the jokes fall flat on their faces and in reality there's simply not too much going on for the majority of the running time.
