''Johnny Comes Flying Home'' is a 1946 American

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

directed by

Benjamin Stoloff Benjamin Stoloff (October 6, 1895 – September 8, 1960) was an American film director and producer. He began his career as a director of short films, and he moved into directing and producing feature films. Director filmography 1940s–1950s *' ...

and starring Richard Crane and Faye Marlowe; the supporting cast features

Harry Morgan Harry Morgan (born Harry Bratsberg; April 10, 1915 – December 7, 2011) was an American actor whose television and film career spanned six decades. Morgan's major roles included Pete Porter in both '' December Bride'' (1954–1959) and '' Pet ...

. The plot involves postwar pilots starting a small aviation company.

Plot

U.S. Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

fighter pilot Johnny Martin ( Richard Crane) is diagnosed with nerve exhaustion at his discharge medical and is prevented from flying for a year. Instead he goes home with one of the other pilots, Miles Cary ( Charles Russell), to his hometown in Iowa. While Miles returns to his family and his job at the bank, Johnny has a hard time adapting to the tedious ordinary life in the small town and starts working as a bus driver. One day he quits his job. Joe Patillo (

Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan (; – 25 August 1688) was a Welsh privateer, plantation owner, and, later, the lieutenant governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he and those under his command raided settlements and shipping ports o ...

), his other pilot buddy from the Army, is planning to start flying again, using a surplus

Douglas C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for troo ...

transport aircraft. Johnny and Miles both agree to join Joe in California where Joe lives, and get their first job, to fly to New York. Since Johnny is forbidden to fly, Miles and Joe fly the C-47 to New York. Miles's wife Sally ( Faye Marlowe) is anxious about him flying again and asks why Johnny is not flying. Ashamed over his inability to fly. Johnny lies, telling Sally that he needs to work with the administration and marketing of the company. Joe and Miles return with a passenger in the aircraft, Anne Cummings (

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail business woman, writer, and television personality. As the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, focusing on home and hospitality, she gained success through a variety ...

). Johnny is upset since he was not informed, and does not calm down knowing Anne paid for the trip. He is further upset when he finds out that Anne is hired as the new company mechanic. Johnny keeps trying to get business for the company and works hard to get a contract with oil tycoon J.P. Hartley (

Roy Roberts Roy Roberts (born Roy Barnes Jones; March 19, 1906 – May 28, 1975) was an American character actor. Over his more than 40-year career, he appeared in more than nine hundred productions on stage and screen. Life and career Born in Tamp ...

). He fails because Hartley considers their operation too small to carry out the work. Instead they continue flying for other companies. After a while Anne demands they use the earnings on repairing the aircraft. Since the men do not follow her advice she takes matters in her own hands and talks to the owner of a garage, Harry ( Charles Tannen), about the repairs and the aircraft is transported there. Johnny is furious when he finds out, since the company is prevented from flying a mission and loses its commission. Since they don't have the money to pay Harry, the aircraft remains at the garage. Anne is subsequently fired. Soon after they hear that Hartley's aircraft has crash landed in the middle of nowhere. The men decide to steal their aircraft back from the garage and fly out there to fetch Hartley. As gratitude for saving him, Hartley pays their debts to the garage and they are in business again. Miles is beginning to worry about his own finances, since Sally is about to give birth to their second child any day. He accepts a job test flying a new

jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by one or more jet engines. Whereas the engines in Propeller (aircraft), propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much ...

, to earn $10,000. He makes Johnny swear not to tell Sally, since she would be too worried for his safety. The same day as the

Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star is the first jet fighter used operationally by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II. Designed and built by Lockheed in 1943 and delivered just 143 days from the start of design, two p ...

test flight, Sally goes into labor. To prevent Miles from flying, Johnny locks him into a phone booth and takes his place as pilot on the test flight. Anne finds out and pleads with him not to fly, knowing his medical condition. Johnny admits his love for Anne as they speak, but insists on flying to save his friend and prove his own capability as a pilot. He successfully flies the P-80 and returns to Anne on the ground.

Cast

* Richard Crane as Johnny Martin * Faye Marlowe as Sally Cary *

as Anne Cummings * Charles Russell as Miles Cary *

as J. P. Hartley *

as Joe Patillo * Charles Tannen as Harry * Elaine Langan as Peggy-Lou Robinson * Marietta Canty as Jennie *

Anthony Sydes Thomas Anthony Sydes (May 4, 1941 – June 20, 2015) was an American child actor on film and television. Biography Sydes was born May 4, 1941, in North Hollywood, California. He was the son of Thomas and Ruth Sydes, and he had a brother, Jonath ...

as Butch Cary *

Selmer Jackson Selmer Adolf Jackson (May 7, 1888 – March 30, 1971) was an American stage film and television actor. He appeared in nearly 400 films between 1921 and 1963. His name was sometimes spelled Selmar Jackson. Jackson was born in Lake Mills, Iowa ...

as Dr. Gunderson * John Hamilton as C. H. Metters

Production

The sequences in which "Johnny" tests the new aircraft do include actual footage of the new P-80 jet fighter. Lockheed Aircraft Corp. loaned the studio 1,500 feet of "military film of the spin tests of the Shooting Star", shot in 1945. Studio publicity noted that some sequences were shot on location at the Metropolitan Airport in Van Nuys, California.

Reception

''Johnny Comes Flying Home'' was primarily a

B film A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

, and although aerial scenes were notable, fell short in other aspects. In a later appraisal, film historian Stephen Pendo in ''Aviation in the Cinema'' (1985) noted that the film was "unimaginative".Pendo 1985, p. 23.

References

Bibliography

* Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. .

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 0038658, Johnny Comes Flying Home American drama films 1946 films 1946 drama films 20th Century Fox films Films directed by Benjamin Stoloff Films scored by David Buttolph American aviation films American black-and-white films 1940s American films