Wednesday, August 21, 2024

The Great Air Mystery (Serial) (1935)

A superb follow-up serial continuing the adventures of daredevil aviator Tailspin Tommy.

Tommy (Clarke Williams) and Skeeter (Noah Beery Jr) head to Nazil in Latin America to help Betty Lou (Jean Rogers) and Inez Casmetto (Delphine Drew) with the setting up of infrastructure for oil extraction in country. 

However, Inez's father Manuel (Herbert Heywood) and Raymore (Matthew Betz) are two unscrupulous businessmen who want that oil wealth for themselves and concoct a series of schemes to stop Tommy and Skeeter with the help of his rogue squadron of fighters. Luckily, a mysterious aviator in a condor painted plane is often on hand to help Tommy out.

This is a great serial with a lot of amazing aerial stunts (including a crashing airship in episode 1). The serial is based on a comic strip (indeed the original Tailspin Tommy serial from 1934 was the first serial to be based on a comic strip.