talisencrw Though I greatly dislike dogs (I'm a cat person), I have always admired their loyalty--definitely an underrated trait in the fickle, Johnny-come-lately environment of 2016 society. This film (which was titled 'Robot Pilot' in my Mill Creek 50-pack called 'Nightmare Worlds') started rather slowly, and I didn't think I was going to end up liking it. Though director Beaudine had made a ton of films (he has over 370 directing credits on IMDb), I had only previously seen his 'The Old Fashioned Way', from 1934 and starring W.C. Fields, which I had absolutely loved. So I was patient with it, even though Thornton Edwards' character 'Pedro' was crassly demeaning to Mexicans, and many early sequences that featured him were glaringly awful. I had also loved Evelyn Brent, who had IMHO been an outstandingly sexy and provocative presence in two of Josef von Sternberg's silent masterpieces ('Underworld' and 'The Last Command'), and it intrigued me to see her this much after those glory days.I am glad that I stuck with the film. The last two-thirds more than made up for the picture's slow start, and ended up combining a then-topical plot line of enemy foreign agents stealing an experimental plane with a fun, enjoyable and entertainingly comical subplot 'morality tale' of the airplane manufacturer's spoiled daughter being made a prisoner for stealing gasoline and getting her comeuppance. Beaudine's taut direction cleverly brought together the disparate threads into a satisfying whole--and the hilarious ending made my belly ache from laughter. If you can handle B-pictures from the 30's and 40's and the aforementioned slow start, it's well worth your time and you won't be disappointed.

Bezenby Let's not beat around the bush here. This film is chronic. Basically an inventor has invented a plane that can be controlled remotely and wants to sell it to some big wig with the help of his eight foot tall buddy, probably named buddy. Basically, there's a point in this when you realise that absolutely nothing is going to happen for the duration of this film except romantic misunderstandings, a crappy battle of the sexes, some slapstick and a healthy dose of racism. Not much action until the last few minutes. Jesus. Only saved from getting a one from the random appearance of Jimmy Krankie at the end.

classicsoncall "Robot Pilot" starts out like it might be positioning itself as an espionage thriller, but unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your disposition), never even comes close. There are probably more comic elements present than might have been originally intended, so if you approach the flick as a romantic comedy, you might be more pleasantly surprised. Even so, you'll have to endure some pretty stiff acting from then newcomer Forrest Tucker in the lead role of Jerry Barton, a pilot who's half of a team that's developed a remote control device for guiding aircraft. The first attempt at showcasing the new technology for the Lambert Aircraft Company ends in a nosedive, so with Jerry and Doc Williams (Emmett Vogan) sent off packing, they arrive at their desert cabin to start all over again.Most of the rest of the story consists of Barton teaching the women a lesson after catching them with some gasoline taken from a government fuel shed. Make that teaching Betty Lambert (Carol Hughes) a lesson, as her Aunt Maude (Evelyn Brent) eventually learns that Barton is in cahoots with Betty's father to take the wind out of her sails. Throughout the story, it appears that Aunt Maude is having the best time of it all, while casting a romantic eye in the direction of good old Doc.The espionage angle is brought back to the forefront when a Lambert test bomber is hijacked by veteran character actor I. Stanford Jolley. That plane crashes, but it brings Jolley hobbling along until he arrives at Doc's remote cabin. Think about it for a moment, and I know these old films relied on this kind of coincidence, but how is it that Betty and Maude, and then Lambert employee Karl (Jolley), make their way clear across the country from 'back East', and wind up virtually within a mile or two of a remote cabin in a desert, which just happens to be where former Lambert employee Barton is holed up with his partner. Sort of defies all the laws of probability, yet it happens all the time in flicks of the era.I guess that's why the presence of Billy Curtis in the finale is so surprising and bewildering. As the traveling midget circuit Judge, Curtis slaps the girls with a twenty dollar fine for 'stealing' twenty gallons of gasoline, prompting Aunt Maude to directly deadpan the camera - "Did you see what I saw?" I think it might have been just another way of asking the viewer what they thought of the picture.

wes-connors "A test pilot and his weather observer partner are trying to develop a robot-controlled plane they hope their employer can sell to the army. Foreign agents learn of their work and sabotage the plane, hoping to stop the inventors and allowing the spies to steal the invention. Our inventors hope to thwart the plans of the spies and deliver the robot plane to the army, thus saving the country," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.After making an impression in 1940's popular "The Westerner", young Forrest Tucker (as Jerry Barton) is piloted into a starring programmer role. "Emergency Landing" (inappropriately re-titled "Robot Pilot") is an unimpressive vehicle for Mr. Tucker, who would find later success in television's "F Troop". Listen for an amusing exchange between leading lady Carol Hughes (as Betty Lambert) and aunt Evelyn Brent (as Maude Marshall): on their way to tinsel town, Ms. Brent wonders what she will do in Hollywood. Ms. Hughes replies, "Barrymore is single again." Brent appeared with John Barrymore in "Raffles" (1917) and "Night Club Scandal" (1937); indeed, he had just received his fourth divorce.