AIR HOSTESS

 

AIR HOSTESS is a 1933 Columbia film, directed by Albert Rogell. 

The title role is played by Evalyn Knapp. She is Kitty, who works on the TWA airline out west. Kitty's dad was killed serving as a fighter pilot in WWI, and the airplane pilots and mechanics who are her friends are overly protective of her. Kitty rebels by getting married to Ted Hunter (James Murray), a nefarious stunt pilot who flew with her father during the war. The devil-may-care Ted tries to reform for Kitty by designing a new airplane, but he needs financial backing. He gets it from the sultry Sylvia Carleton (Thelma Todd), a woman who has gotten rich due to alimony from her numerous ex-husbands. Sylvia puts the moves on Ted, causing distress with Kitty, but an emergency brings them back together. 

The main reason I watched this film was for Thelma Todd. This is another one of Thelma's "Other Woman" roles, but she's really in home wrecker mode here, flirting to the max with James Murray. The problem is that Murray just isn't all that charismatic or exciting as Ted, and one wonders why a rich sexy woman like Thelma's Sylvia would go to so much trouble over him. 

James Murray is best known for starring in the silent film classic THE CROWD, and for how his career faltered when sound came in. AIR HOSTESS was one of Murray's last leading roles before alcoholism ruined his career. The role of Ted should have been played by someone like Clark Gable, or a lovable bad-boy type. Murray as Ted comes off as a bit dense. 

Usually in a movie where Thelma Todd plays the "Other Woman", the actual leading lady gets overshadowed, but Evalyn Knapp shows some spunk and is quite appealing as Kitty....so much so that one wonders why she would be so smitten with Ted. Knapp's acting career started to fade later in the decade, but at least she didn't have the personal problems that James Murray did. J.M. Kerrigan and Jane Darwell have supporting roles. 

The climax of the film goes away from the Knapp-Murray-Todd triangle and deals with Kitty as a passenger on a train that is heading toward a washed-out bridge, with Ted and his pilot rival taking off in planes to try and stop a wreck from happening. The sequence is very well done, but it feels as if it was randomly dropped into the story to provide an exciting ending. 

Aviation buffs will enjoy the various 1930s planes and airfields, while Pre-Code fans will appreciate seeing Evalyn Knapp and Thelma Todd in lingerie.