''Bombay Clipper'' is a 1942 aviation

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 John Rawlins and starring

William Gargan William Dennis Gargan (July 17, 1905February 16, 1979) was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1967, and in 1941, was nominated for the Academy Award for Be ...

and Irene Hervey. The film features

Maria Montez María África Gracia Vidal (6 June 1912 – 7 September 1951), known professionally as Maria Móntez, was a Dominican actress who gained fame and popularity in the 1940s starring in a series of filmed-in-Technicolor costume adventure fil ...

in an early role.

Turhan Bey Turhan Bey (born Turhan Gilbert Selahattin Şahultavi, 30 March 192230 September 2012). was an Austrian-born actor of Turkish and Czech-Jewish origins. Active in Hollywood from 1941 to 1953, he was dubbed "The Turkish Delight" by his fans.. Aft ...

also appears. The film was based on the exploits of oceanic flyers, flying for

Pan American World Airways Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and more commonly known as Pan Am, was an airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States for ...

Plot

Foreign correspondent Jim Montgomery (

) agrees to quit his job when his fiancée Frankie ( Irene Hervey) threatens to return home to San Francisco without him, tired of his profession always coming first. He remains in

Bombay, India Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12.5& ...

for one more assignment, investigating a report of missing jewels, valued at four million dollars. A mysterious man called Chundra (

) continues to observe him. With the case still unsolved, Jim and Frankie board a flying boat to

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

, unaware that the gems are aboard. A passenger is mysteriously killed, but not before the jewels are hidden in Frankie's case. George Lewis (

Lloyd Corrigan Lloyd Corrigan (October 16, 1900 – November 5, 1969) was an American film and television actor, producer, screenwriter, and director who began working in films in the 1920s. The son of actress Lillian Elliott, Corrigan directed films, usually ...

), another passenger, admits to being a courier for the diamonds, saying they are meant to be a gift to a foreign dignitary. Lewis, too, is then killed. Montgomery encounters the culprit and is in danger of being thrown from the aircraft, but he is rescued by Chundra, who is actually a government agent. Frankie can not blame Jim this time for being in a hurry to get back to work and report the story.

Cast

as Jim Montgomery * Irene Hervey as Frankie *

Charles Lang Charles Bryant Lang Jr., A.S.C. (March 27, 1902 – April 3, 1998)''In Memoriam''
from the ...

as Tex Harper *

as Sonya Dietrich Landers * Mary Gordon as Abigail McPherson *

as George Lewis * Truman Bradley as Dr. Landers *

as Chundra * Peter Lynn as Bland * Riley Hill (credited as Roy Harris) as Steward Boeing 314 Clipper-cropped

Production

Universal announced the film in February 1941. Stanley Rubin and Roy Chanslor started writing the script in April. Filming on ''Bombay Clipper'' started in June 1941. Much of the movie was shot on a set made to simulate the Boeing Clipper's interior.

Reception

The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' called the film an "excellent melodrama." Aviation film historian James M. Farmer in ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation'' (1984), indicated that ''Bombay Clipper'' was "Low-minded mystery fare." In ''Aviation in the Cinema'' (1985), aviation film historian Stephen Pendo considered ''Bombay Clipper'', a "routine" drama that pits reporter, detective and spies against each in solving a murder mystery on a flight across the Pacific Ocean.Pendo 1985, p. 21.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation''. Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Tab Books Inc., 1984. . * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. .

External links

* *
Review of film
at ''Variety''
Bombay Clipper
at Letterbox DVD {{John Rawlins American aviation films 1941 films 1940s adventure films American adventure films American black-and-white films Films set in Mumbai Films directed by John Rawlins 1940s American films