This is a typical romantic drama that audiences were used to seeing in the early days of the talkies. But this one shows a very young Humphrey Bogart in a early leading role as Jim Leonard, an aeronautical engineer working on a new airplane motor invention. He needs some investors. In the meantime he gives flying lessons to a heiress named Carol Owen ( Dorothy Mackail ) who's father has died & turned all his affairs over to her financial adviser & lover Bruce Hardy ( Hale Hamilton ) who is secretly courting Jim's sister who believes she's an actress & doesn't know. Carol & Jim fall in love & Carol wants to help Jim further his career financially so he can get a patent for his new airplane engine. But Carol learns from Hardy that he's been supporting her all these years & that she's broke & penniless & can't help Jim & feels she's not good enough for him & so she wants to end her life by going on her first solo flight. When Jim hears about all this he makes a dashing effort to chase her down at the hanger to stop her from flying & grabs hold of the plane as it is taking off & climbs into the cockpit to take over the controls.
The movie has some great scenes of some daredevil flying stunts which is kind of entertaining. This is a very different Bogart very early in his film career & one we're not used to seeing. But to audiences of the early 1930's it was not a surprise to see him in this type of role as a romantic lead. Bogart often played romantic Juveniles on the Broadway stage in the 20's & 30's. He shows no signs of what he would later become except for one scene when he discovers that Carol's suitor Hardy is also courting his sister. Enraged Jim confronts Hardy & punches him out. A sneak preview of his "tough guy" image established 3 years later on stage & screen as Duke Mantee in "The Petrified Forest" & later refined as Roy Earle in "High Sierra" leading to his stardom. Bogart was quite handsome as a young man & he looks like a matinée idol. This was at a time when movie stars had to be good looking & it's ironic that Bogart achieved stardom later when his features turned rather grim & rugged but as a handsome young man he didn't get noticed. Bogart's pre-star film career is interesting & fascinating because these movies show a different kind of Bogart unlike what he later became & what he's most remembered for. It looks like in this early stage the studio was trying to turn Bogart & George Raft & other "good looking" young men into Rudolph Valentino's, it didn't work.
Fans of pre-code cinema & Bogart fans should watch this at least once for it is an interesting curiosity & a revelation into Bogart's earlier acting career.
The movie has some great scenes of some daredevil flying stunts which is kind of entertaining. This is a very different Bogart very early in his film career & one we're not used to seeing. But to audiences of the early 1930's it was not a surprise to see him in this type of role as a romantic lead. Bogart often played romantic Juveniles on the Broadway stage in the 20's & 30's. He shows no signs of what he would later become except for one scene when he discovers that Carol's suitor Hardy is also courting his sister. Enraged Jim confronts Hardy & punches him out. A sneak preview of his "tough guy" image established 3 years later on stage & screen as Duke Mantee in "The Petrified Forest" & later refined as Roy Earle in "High Sierra" leading to his stardom. Bogart was quite handsome as a young man & he looks like a matinée idol. This was at a time when movie stars had to be good looking & it's ironic that Bogart achieved stardom later when his features turned rather grim & rugged but as a handsome young man he didn't get noticed. Bogart's pre-star film career is interesting & fascinating because these movies show a different kind of Bogart unlike what he later became & what he's most remembered for. It looks like in this early stage the studio was trying to turn Bogart & George Raft & other "good looking" young men into Rudolph Valentino's, it didn't work.
Fans of pre-code cinema & Bogart fans should watch this at least once for it is an interesting curiosity & a revelation into Bogart's earlier acting career.