''Arctic Flight'' is a 1952 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Lew Landers Lew Landers (born Louis Friedlander, January 2, 1901 – December 16, 1962) was an American independent film and television director. Biography Born as Louis Friedlander in New York City, Lew Landers began his movie career as an actor. In 1914, ...

and starring

Wayne Morris Wayne Morris (born Bert DeWayne Morris Jr. February 17, 1914 – September 14, 1959) was an American film and television actor, as well as a decorated World War II fighter ace. He appeared in many films, including '' Paths of Glory'' (1957), ' ...

Alan Hale Jr. Alan Hale Jr. (born Alan Hale MacKahan; March 8, 1921 – January 2, 1990) was an American actor and restaurateur. He was the son of actor Alan Hale Sr. His television career spanned four decades, but he was best known for his secondary lead ro ...

and

Lola Albright Lola Jean Albright (July 20, 1924 – March 23, 2017) was an American singer and actress, best known for playing the sultry singer Edie Hart, the girlfriend of private eye Peter Gunn, on all three seasons of the TV series ''Peter Gunn''. Early ...

. It was produced and distributed by

Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...

. ''Arctic Flight'' depicts

bush pilot Bush flying refers to aircraft operations carried out in the bush. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain where there are often no prepared landing strips or runways, frequently necessitating that bush planes be equipped with abnormal ...

flying in the Arctic on the edge of the

International Date Line The International Date Line (IDL) is the line extending between the South and North Poles that is the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific Ocean, roughly following the 180.0° line of longitude and de ...

, involving Soviet intrigue.

Plot

In a small plane, bush pilot Mike Wien (

) flies his friend Dave Karluck (Thomas Richards Sr.) over a reindeer herd Dave owns in Alaska. From the plane, Dave shoots a wolf that was preying on the deer. Returning to his base at

Kotzebue Kotzebue ( ) or Qikiqtaġruk ( , ) is a city in the Northwest Arctic Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the borough's seat, by far its largest community and the economic and transportation hub of the subregion of Alaska encompassing ...

, Mike expects his next customer to be a John Wetherby, who wants to hunt polar bears. Opening a door without knocking, he walks in on Martha Raymond (

), in her underwear. She is expecting Mike to fly her to

Little Diomede Island Little Diomede Island or Yesterday Island (, formerly known as Krusenstern Island, ) is an inhabited island of Alaska. It is the smaller of the two Diomede Islands located in the Bering Strait between the Alaskan mainland and Siberia. The islan ...

, where she is expected to start work as a schoolteacher and nurse in the local

Eskimo ''Eskimo'' () is a controversial Endonym and exonym, exonym that refers to two closely related Indigenous peoples: Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Canadian Inuit, and the Greenlandic Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Sibe ...

village. But only two miles from Little Diomede across frozen

Bering Strait The Bering Strait ( , ; ) is a strait between the Pacific and Arctic oceans, separating the Chukchi Peninsula of the Russian Far East from the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. The present Russia–United States maritime boundary is at 168° 58' ...

(and across the

) is the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-owned

Big Diomede Big Diomede Island or Tomorrow Island (; Ratmanov Island, ; ) is the western island of the two Diomede Islands in the middle of the Bering Strait. The island is home to a Russian military base which is located midway along the island's North sh ...

Island, and Mike tries to refuse the trip, as the trigger-happy Soviet border guards may shoot at them. But no other pilot is available, and Martha has paid for a ticket, so Mike's government contract requires him to take her. So he flies her most of the way, then borrows a dog sled to transport her to her destination. A romance between the two is kindled. When Martha arrives, she is welcomed by local Catholic priest Father François ( Kenneth MacDonald) and local resident Miksook (Anthony Garson). They tell her that the teacher she is replacing wandered too close to Big Diomede and was shot and killed. Next, Mike does meet Wetherby (Alan Hale Jr.), first flying him from

Nome Nome may refer to: Country subdivision * Nome (Egypt), an administrative division within ancient Egypt * Nome (Greece), the administrative division immediately below the ''peripheries of Greece'' (, pl. ) Places United States * Nome, Alaska ...

to Kotzebue. Bad weather delays the polar bear hunt and Wetherby expresses an interest in visiting Little Diomede. Wetherby wonders if Saranna (

Carol Thurston Carol Thurston (born Betty Lou Thurston; September 27, 1920 – December 31, 1969) was an American film and television actress who played the fictitious Emma Clanton in eight episodes (1959–1961) of the ABC/ Desilu western television series ...

), an Eskimo girl in Kotzebue, is Mike's fiancee. Mike says he would not mind marrying an Eskimo but happens not to love Saranna. After some days, Saranna tells Mike that Dave has been mauled in a bear attack. Mike and Wetherby find the polar bear and Wetherby kills the animal and proceeds to take its skin as a trophy. About to leave, Wetherby's wallet drops out and Mike sees a Soviet identity card inside. Wetherby injures Mike with his skinning knife, ostensibly accidentally, and himself flies Mike to Little Diomede where Martha can treat the wound. Mike confides in Martha that his client did not stab him by accident, and is not who he is claiming. Martha is afraid that Mike is delirious, but finds Wetherby's identification card herself, leading to a confrontation. Mike comes to her rescue, but is knocked out. However, in his haste to head out over the ice to the Soviet base on Big Diomede, Wetherby not only leaves behind his photos of U.S. defense installations, but also his identification card. When he reaches Big Diomede without it, he is shot and killed by the sentries. Martha and Mike realize that Wetherby was a spy and their efforts have stopped his plan to deliver military secrets to an enemy power.

Cast

as Mike Wein *

as John W. Wetherby *

as Martha Raymond *

as Saranna Koonuk *

Phil Tead Phillips Tead (September 29, 1893 – June 9, 1974) was an American character actor in film and television, sometimes billed as Phil Tead. Biography Born in Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1893, among his many roles, Tead might be best reme ...

as "Squid" Tucker * Thomas Richards Sr. as Dave Karluck (credited as Tom Richards) * Anthony Garson as Miksook * Kenneth MacDonald as Father François *

Paul Bryar Paul Bryar (born Gabriel Paul Barrere; February 21, 1910 – August 30, 1985) was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly half a century, he appeared in numerous films and television series. Career Bryar appeared in nearly 220 fil ...

as "Happy" Hogan *

Dale Van Sickel Dale Harris Van Sickel (November 29, 1907 – January 25, 1977) was an American college football, basketball and baseball player during the 1920s, who later became a Hollywood motion picture actor and stunt performer for over forty years. Van ...

as Joe Dorgan

Production

Principal photography for ''Arctic Flight'' took place from late February to early April 1952 at Little Diomede Island in Alaska and at

KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned a ...

Studios in Los Angeles. Writer Ewing Scott directed most of the Alaskan footage, but was replaced by Lew Landers after a flare-up of an old leg injury. A Cessna 170B (N1470D) appeared as the bush plane the lead character flew.

Reception

''Arctic Flight'' 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 ...

. Aviation Film Historian Stephen Pendo characterized the Monogram films as unpretentious but with Lew Landers directing, the experienced specialist in low-cost filmmaking, there was always a good product turned out. Noted

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

cinematographer

Richard H. Kline Richard Howard Kline (November 15, 1926 - August 7, 2018) was an American cinematographer, known for his collaborations with directors Richard Fleischer and Michael Winner. He was nominated twice for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, f ...

considered Landers "... the most prolific of all directors", adept in many genres.Weaver 2010, p. 113.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. . * Weaver, Tom. ''A Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde: Interviews with 62 Filmmakers''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2010. .

External links

* * * {{Lew Landers 1952 films 1950s spy drama films Monogram Pictures films American aviation films 1950s English-language films American spy drama films American black-and-white films Cold War spy films Films set in Alaska Films set on islands Films shot in Alaska Films shot in Los Angeles Films directed by Lew Landers 1952 drama films 1950s American films English-language spy drama films