Ceiling Zero (1936)
1h 35m | PG-13
War veteran pilots Dizzy Davis, Texas Clark and Jake Lee are working in an airline. Dizzy is fooling with one of the younger pilot's girl-friend and due to this he changes flights with Texas.
Director: Howard Hawks
Studio: Cosmopolitan Productions
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Video: 720p
Cast
James Cagney
as Dizzy Davies
Pat O'Brien
as Jake L. Lee
June Travis
as Tommy Thomas
Stuart Erwin
as Texas Clarke
Barton MacLane
as Al Stone
Henry Wadsworth
as Tay Lawson
Reviews
A trio of wartime pilots are working on the US Mail routes, flying in all weathers trying to keep the post moving across a nation where the weather can change with little, or no, notice. “Jake” (Pat O’Brien) leads the gang, “Tex” (Stuart Erwin) is the dependable type and the pencil-moustachioed “Dizzy” (James Cagney) is a bit of a loose cannon. It’s this latter guy who is constantly causing problems for his boss, but things take a more tragic turn when he swaps shifts so he can do some flirting and, well suffice to say that soon “Dizzy” is feeling exactly that. The story here is really quite a compelling one, depicting just how risky their jobs were when they couldn’t see the end of the plane’s nose, there were no lit landing strips (even at Newark!) and these brave guys flew by the seat of their pants. O’Brien is prone to a little over-acting but together with Cagney they create quite an intense drama that keeps the romance to a minimum and the characters to the fore.