Night Flight (1933) on Netflix
A. Rivière directs a South American airmail line hampered by mountains and dangerous weather. Auguste Pellerin brings a serum to Rio de Janeiro late, and Rivière orders another night flight.
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- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb6.1/101,080 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Plot summary
In South America, mountains and dangerous weather hamper Trans-Andean European Air Mail, a 1930s airline whose director, A. Rivière, wants its planes flying at night. Auguste Pellerin is charged with carrying a serum to Rio de Janeiro, where infantile paralysis has broken out. He masters his fear on the crossing and arrives late, and Rivière reprimands him. Rivière then sends pilot Jules Fabian and a wireless operator on another night flight to carry the mail.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Night Flight (1933)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- MGM withdrew Night Flight from circulation in 1942 after a legal dispute with author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, leaving the film unseen for 69 years; it only became available again in 2011, once the legal obstacles were settled.
- Director Clarence Brown and star John Barrymore clashed during shooting because Barrymore drank and read his lines from cue cards. Brown wanted to replace him, but studio head Louis B. Mayer overruled him.
- Helen Hayes felt intimidated by John Barrymore, but when they shot their scene together he set aside his cue cards, saying he did not want a crutch in front of a real actress. Hayes called that the greatest review she ever received.
- The story draws on aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's own flights on South American mail routes, recreating 24 hours of a fictional airline modeled on Aéropostale, the Trans-Andean European Air Mail.
- The mountainous region around Denver, Colorado stood in for the South American Andes, with the film shot both on studio sets and on location.
- Producer David O. Selznick thought Oliver H. P. Garrett's treatment was too grounded, so he brought in John Monk Saunders to add flying scenes; when Clarence Brown disliked that draft, Selznick had Wells Root tighten the final script.
