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MURDER IN THE AIR |
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Warner Bros., 1940. Directed by
Lewis Seiler. Camera: Ted McCord. With Ronald Reagan, John
Litel, Lya Lys, James Stephenson, Eddie Foy, Jr., Robert Warwick, Victor
Zimmerman, William Gould, Kenneth Harlan, Frank Wilcox, Owen King, Dick
Rich, Charles Brokaw, Helen Lynd, Jeffrey Sayre, Carlyle Moore, Jr., Cliff
Clark, Ed Stanley, Selmer Jackson, John Hamilton, Alexander Lockwood,
Garland Smith, Alan Davis, Jack Mower, Claude Wisberg, John "Skins" Miller,
Julie Stevens, Frank Mayo. |
As a wave of sabotage threatens the
security of the country, Saxby, the head of the U.S. Secret
Service, assigns agent Brass Bancroft to impersonate the deceased
spy Steve Swenko. Gabby Watters, Brass's assistant, finds a
letter in the dead spy's shoe, addressed to Joe Garvey, the leader
of a patriotic society that is being investigated by the Rice
Committee on Un-American Activities. Consequently, Brass,
posing as Swenko, sets out to contact Garvey.
Brass's task is complicated when Hilda
Riker, Swenko's wife, appears at his hotel looking for her husband.
Brass tells Hilda that Steve is dead and he is carrying out his
mission, but Hilda recognizes him as a federal agent and alerts Otto
Brennerman, one of Garvey's operatives, to set a trap for Brass at
her apartment. Luckily, Gabby, posing as a taxi driver,
follows Brass to the apartment and comes to his rescue, arresting
Hilda and Otto before they can notify Garvey about the deception.
An unwitting Garvey then assigns Brass
to board a dirigible on which an inertia projector, a defense weapon
capable of paralyzing electical currents at their source, has been
installed. Once aboard Brass is to contact Rumford, a spy
posing as secretary to Dr. Finchley, a member of the League of
Nations. Rumford orders Brass to destroy the dirigible while
he steals the plans for the inertia projector, but before Brass can
act, Otto escapes and warns Garvey and Rumford that Brass is really
a government agent.
Soon afterward, the dirigible crashes
during a storm, and Rumford steals the plans and leaves the
unconscious Brass to perish in the crash. After Brass is
rescued and taken to a Navy hospital, Rumford discovers that he is
still alive and warns Garvey, who prepares to fly Rumford and the
stolen plans across the border. Before they can escape, Brass
regains consciousness and tells Saxby about Rumford. Saxby
then alerts the airports to watch for Garvey's plane, and in a
spectacular air chase, Garvey's plane is shot down by the inertia
projector, sending both spies to their death in a burst of flames.
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