Non-Stop New York (1937)

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Great Film overall

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

"Non-Stop New York" is a delightful film from 1937 starring Anna Lee, John Loder, and Francis L. Sullivan.Anna Lee (Lila Quartermaine on General Hospital) is pretty Jenny Carr, a young British actress in New York City with a flop play. So soon, she'll be on her way back to London. She meets a man who sees she's hungry and offers to buy her a meal. That man is later murdered, and a bum is arrested. He is due to be executed in a matter of days. He says that an English girl knows he didn't do it, but no one can find her. She's already home. Once she sees a headline that she's being searched for, she realizes she has to get back to the US immediately. She and her mother find a plane that goes London to NY in 18 hours, and her mother pretends to be drowning while Jenny boards the plane.Little does Jenny know but the real killers are out to stop her.This plane is something to behold. It's a clipper, and apparently this type of plane did exist. Wish it still did. The inside is more like a train, with sleeping compartments, dining room, and one can step out onto a terrace like thing outside the plane. It also flies rather low. Totally amazing.Francis L. Sullivan is excellent as the slimy gang head who wears different disguises in his quest to get rid of Jenny. Apparently - could this be true - he was 35 years old when he did this. If you'd told me he was 65 I would have believed you.John Loder, who was married at one time to Hedy Lamarr, is the handsome investigator who really doesn't believe Jenny.This film is available on youtube. Try and see it - it's very enjoyable.

*Spoiler/plot- Nonstop New York, 1937. An English performer is in the USA for work during her recent lay-off, she accidentally gets connected to a murder of a prominent mob lawyer and she sees who kills him. A unemployed man is arrested and convicted for the murder in New YorK. The innocent man is sentenced to death. A worldwide petition radio announcement asks for the English girl witness to contact the defense team to save this man's life from the death house. While she returns home, the crooks are sent to England to make sure she does not come back to the USA to testify. She enlists the help of Scotland Yardcomes back to the USA by airplane, and she saves the day.*Special Stars- John Loder, Anna Lee, Francis L. Sullivan.*Theme- good honest people helping other is it's own reward.*Trivia/location/goofs- B & W. British. The trans Altanic Clipper amphibious plane is similar to Howard Hughes 'Spuce Goose' aircraft design.*Emotion- Although this film is NOT science fiction, it is a first rate murder mystery. It has many twists and turns in it's plot and is well produced. This film is very much like some of the film noir Hitchcock films of this time.

I saw this film some years back on PBS and only wish I could find a copy of it now. A young woman witnesses a murder in New York, and promptly leaves for England. She sees the news in a London paper about a man in New York about to be executed for the murder, and she knows he is innocent. She has to get back to NY as fast as possible to save an innocent man from the electric chair, and so she stows on the Air Boat, Non-stop to New York. Some of the lines are so good that years later, they still echo in my head.Much of the movie takes place on this incredible aircraft, which takes off from the Thames in London, and is like a flying..., well, boat. Dining room, state rooms, close quarters, nasty travel companions. It's all here.Borders on Film Noir, but with a wry sense of humor.If you like the style of the 1940s, and slightly outlandish stories so characteristic of the period, I dare say you will enjoy this English trifle quite a bit!I won't reveal the ending, so you'll have to see the film to know if she arrives in time!

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.