Give Me A Plane and a Song
Scott Lothrop | Tampa, FL, USA | 01/13/2006
(2 out of 5 stars)
"This is a very early serial that people still tend to talk about a lot. In my view it's famous mainly because the hero breaks out into a really dumb little song in the middle of an airplane in Chapter One, and again a couple of times later in the picture. "Ace Drummond" was a comic strip created by World War One flying ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker.
John King was better known for Westerns--he should have stuck to them. Jean Rogers, of course, was Dale Arden in the first two Flash Gordon serials, and also appeared in "Secret Agent X-9" (1937). Guy Bates Post, a great old character actor, is great as the Grand Lama. Lon Chaney, Jr. plays a small part as a henchman, which he often did in serials."
Takes Me Back
David James | South Bend, IN United States | 05/14/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I was one of those kids who walked or biked down to the neighborhood theater near Emory University on Saturday mornings to see John Wayne or Audie Murphy. Important parts of the presentation besides the cheap admission and popcorn were the News of the World, the Walter Lance cartoons and the Serials--two or three episodes in succession--that came before the feature. This brings it all back: the hero and heroine, both "pure" and strong, the wonderful old planes, the "prayer wheel," the exotic locations and improbable cliff-hangers. Can't be beat."