Tailspin Tommy in The Great Air Mystery 1935

     This is a 12-episode serial shown in movie theaters.  Each week there was another episode and each episode had a cliffhanger at the end.  Tailspin Tommy evades volcanoes, anti-aircraft shells and time bombs.  He foils the plans by corrupt businessmen profiteers that want to steal an island’s oil reserves.  Manue Casmetto and Horace Raymore have come up with a scheme to make fast money.  Tommy and his fellow pilots get help from news reporter Milt Howe.

     The series is based on the adventure comic strip Tailspin Tommy that was syndicated to newspapers from 1928 to 1942.  It was the first aviation-related strip to appear after Charles Lindbergh’s historic solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1927.  The one complaint about this film is that it's very low budget.  A LOT of the background scenes are repeated so they didn't need to be filmed again.  Some scenes are very funny now.  3 1/2* (I liked this series)

3 hours 56 min, Action directed by Ray Taylor with Clark Williams, Jean Rogers, Noah Berry Jr., Delphine Drew, Bryant Washburn, Pat J. O’Brien, Herbert Heywood, Matthew Betz, Paul Ellis, Harry Worth, Manuel Lopez, Charles A. Browne, James P. Burtis, Helen Brown, Frank Mayo.

Note:  Imdb 6.6 out of 10, The Digital Bits Film B, Video B+, Audio B+, Extras F, Blue-ray.com 3 1/2* out of 5* 1 rating, Amazon 3* out of 5* with one review, Letterboxd average 2.5* out of 5*.

Special Note:  The aircraft carrier shown in some scenes is the USS Lexington (DV-2) nicknamed “Lady Lex.”  It is the 96^th of 137 serials released by Universal Pictures and the 28^th with sound.  In the first Episode, Wreck of the Dirigible, Tommy is flying out to the airship Fleet model 2, s/n 374, registration NC792V.  This plane also appears in Ace Drummond 1936, Sky Parade 1936 and Legion of Lost Flyers 1939.

Chapter Titles:  Wreck of the Dirigible, Roaring Fire God, Hurled From the Skies, Bolt From the Blue, The Torrent, Crash in the Clouds, Flying Death, Crossed and Double-Crossed, Wings of Disaster, The Dungeon of Doom, Desperate Chances and The Last Stand.