Non-Stop New York (1937)

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

This unknown classic is a must see. It is fast paced in the Hitchcock style and well acted with a lot of droll sequences intertwined between. Anna Lee couldn't be prettier or more charming. The entire cast including the villain Francis Sullivan are great. The British attempt at American slang is slightly noticeable but otherwise the direction is top notch. I just love that luxury aeroplane and wish that it was a reality to the present air traveller to rid him of the monotony of long travel. The storyline may be a little slow paced but is offset by the acting. Certainly a movie far before its period and not necessarily a curio but most interesting to watch.

An epitome of a nice long-forgotten filmie from the 1930s. Most of the cast and the crew also appeared in some of Hitchcock's flicks (especially in Sabotage), so be ready for some justified deja vu. Of course, you may find it very similar to Hitch's carefree yet gripping thrillers of that period, but it definitely has some charm of its own. The humour here still works, especially in the scenes with fake eyewitnesses. The cast is also solid, as is the script. I also enjoyed the amusing plan of Jennie's getting on a boat. The reason why I give it a 3/5 is that at times it lacks logic (as it always happens with thousands of thrillers) and the flying boat seems to be a paradise for criminals. And, of course, it'd have been a far well-known film that it is, if it was somehow connected with Alfie.Available on YouTube and Archive.org.

Imagine this---it's 1937, and you can get from London to New York on the White Star Line of jets without stopping, unless of course you find a few delays on Cloud 9 to be stopping. Chorus girl Anna Lee has witnessed a murder, and a detective, the killer, and a blackmailer are also aboard, observing her. This plane is so glamorous, it has actual suites for its passengers, as well as a deck outside of the fast-moving air vehicle. Lee has stowed away on board, afraid of going to Scotland Yard on the fear she'll be made a suspect, and the detective secretly arranges for her to get the last available suite. There's also a saxophone playing brat on board who always ends up being around when danger is lurking, and he ends up being a hero of sorts.The first third of the movie is actually deadly dull, but once the passengers are on board and the plane has taken off, it picks up a bit of speed. Then, it becomes an eye-rolling account of movie fantasy that could never happen in air traffic. The only thing it is missing is a pool! The killer is not afraid of taking others out to get to Lee, so a few other bodies line up along the way. And once the plane is halfway over the Atlantic, the whole passenger list is in jeopardy. Of course, detective John Loder makes a daring attempt to turn things around, and this sequence is so far out there, you can't help but laughing out loud. The site of Athene Seyler as the little saxophone player's aunt waking up in the middle of it is another moment of unintended hilarity. Of course, Anna Lee, whom audiences adored as Lila Quartermain on "GH" and the sweet Sister Margaretta in "The Sound of Music" (as well as the well-intentioned but nosy neighbor in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?") is strikingly lovely. Only 24 when this film came out, she had a nice if not star making career as a leading lady, and is utterly charming. Francis L. Sullivan made a career out of playing nasty villains, and this is one of the most dastardly. This is a major curio for fans of British cinema, and an interesting follow-up to "The Tunnel" and "Things to Come".

I bought the video of Non-Stop New York on a whim when I saw it was about a double-decker airplane with an outside deck(!). However, the plane only comes into play during the last half of the film, and when it does, the design of it is so downplayed that we assume double-decker planes were mainstream travel in 1938. The plot involves a chorus girl trying to free an innocent man from death row while being pursued by the gangsters that did it. Yeah, we've all seen it before, but the plane, and the way the movie uses it, truly make this trip worth it.In my opinion, if you stumbled across a film as esoteric as this in the IMDb and actually are taking the time to read about it, you'll enjoy it. This is what all those Airport movies wish they were.