wes-connors

(2012-04-19 22:41:23)

Steer Clear

"A test pilot and his weather observer partner are trying to develop arobot-controlled plane they hope their employer can sell to the army.Foreign agents learn of their work and sabotage the plane, hoping tostop the inventors and allowing the spies to steal the invention. Ourinventors hope to thwart the plans of the spies and deliver the robotplane to the army, thus saving the country," according to the DVDsleeve's synopsis.After making an impression in 1940's popular "The Westerner", youngForrest Tucker (as Jerry Barton) is piloted into a starring programmerrole. "Emergency Landing" (inappropriately re-titled "Robot Pilot") isan unimpressive vehicle for Mr. Tucker, who would find later success intelevision's "F Troop". Listen for an amusing exchange between leadinglady Carol Hughes (as Betty Lambert) and aunt Evelyn Brent (as MaudeMarshall): on their way to tinsel town, Ms. Brent wonders what she willdo in Hollywood. Ms. Hughes replies, "Barrymore is single again." Brentappeared with John Barrymore in "Raffles" (1917) and "Night ClubScandal" (1937); indeed, he had just received his fourth divorce.

classicsoncall

(2012-04-19 15:59:53)

"Aw, now don't tell me you fell out of that little old plane this time."

"Robot Pilot" starts out like it might be positioning itself as anespionage thriller, but unfortunately (or fortunately depending on yourdisposition), never even comes close. There are probably more comicelements present than might have been originally intended, so if youapproach the flick as a romantic comedy, you might be more pleasantlysurprised. Even so, you'll have to endure some pretty stiff acting fromthen newcomer Forrest Tucker in the lead role of Jerry Barton, a pilotwho's half of a team that's developed a remote control device forguiding aircraft. The first attempt at showcasing the new technologyfor the Lambert Aircraft Company ends in a nosedive, so with Jerry andDoc Williams (Emmett Vogan) sent off packing, they arrive at theirdesert cabin to start all over again.Most of the rest of the story consists of Barton teaching the women alesson after catching them with some gasoline taken from a governmentfuel shed. Make that teaching Betty Lambert (Carol Hughes) a lesson, asher Aunt Maude (Evelyn Brent) eventually learns that Barton is incahoots with Betty's father to take the wind out of her sails.Throughout the story, it appears that Aunt Maude is having the besttime of it all, while casting a romantic eye in the direction of goodold Doc.The espionage angle is brought back to the forefront when a Lamberttest bomber is hijacked by veteran character actor I. Stanford Jolley.That plane crashes, but it brings Jolley hobbling along until hearrives at Doc's remote cabin. Think about it for a moment, and I knowthese old films relied on this kind of coincidence, but how is it thatBetty and Maude, and then Lambert employee Karl (Jolley), make theirway clear across the country from 'back East', and wind up virtuallywithin a mile or two of a remote cabin in a desert, which just happensto be where former Lambert employee Barton is holed up with hispartner. Sort of defies all the laws of probability, yet it happens allthe time in flicks of the era.I guess that's why the presence of Billy Curtis in the finale is sosurprising and bewildering. As the traveling midget circuit Judge,Curtis slaps the girls with a twenty dollar fine for 'stealing' twentygallons of gasoline, prompting Aunt Maude to directly deadpan thecamera - "Did you see what I saw?" I think it might have been justanother way of asking the viewer what they thought of the picture.