The Phantom of the Air

The Phantom of the Air is a 12-episode 1933 Pre-Code Universal film serial directed by Ray Taylor. The film stars Tom Tyler, who was cast most often in Westerns. Other actors include Gloria Shea, LeRoy Mason, Craig Reynolds and William Desmond.

Plot

Scientist Thomas Edmunds and his daughter Mary attend the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio to find a pilot. They select pilot Bob Raymond from the U.S. Border Patrol, to demonstrate an anti-gravity device called the "Contragrav". At the air meet, Mortimer Crome, a friend of Mary, is his main rival and has his henchman "Skip" sabotage Raymond's aircraft prior to the air race. Raymond crashes but survives.
Edmunds' invention is sought after by a gang of smugglers led by Crome who owns the International Import & Export Company, who wants the invention. The inventor has a secret airfield in a desert region. Raymond comes to the inventor's aid, using another of Edwards' inventions, the superplane, the "Phantom." Able to control the aircraft remotely from an underground headquarters, Bob foils Crome's plans. Gloria has become Bob's love interest.
A last attempt to get at the inventor's work leads to an explosion at his workshop that kills the criminals. Edmunds escapes and is reunited with Gloria and Bob.

Chapter titles

The Great Air Meet
The Secret of the Desert
The Avenging Phantom
The Battle in the Clouds
Terror of the Heights
A Wild Ride
The Jaws of Death
Aflame in the Sky
The Attack
The Runaway Plane
In the Enemy's Hands
Safe Landing

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Cast

Tom Tyler as Captain Bob Raymond
Gloria Shea as Mary Edmunds
LeRoy Mason as Mort Crome, head of a gang of smugglers
Craig Reynolds as Blade, Raymonds' sidekick
William Desmond as Mr Thomas Edmunds
Sidney Bracey as Munsa
Walter Brennan as "Skip"
Jennie Cramer as Marie
Cecil Kellogg as Joe
Edmund Cobb as Bart, one of Crome's henchmen
Bud Osborne as Spike, one of Crome's henchmen
Nelson McDowell as Scotty
Tom London as Jim
Ethan Laidlaw as Durkin, one of Crome's henchmen
Al Ferguson as Al, one of Crome's henchmen

Production

The numerous aircraft in The Phantom of the Air include:

Travel Air 2000 c/n 456, NC4958
Travel Air B-4000 c/n 1177, NC631H
Travel Air 16K c/n 16K-2001, NR446W
Standard J-1
Curtiss JN-4
Stearman C3B
Emsco B7-C c/n 1, NC969-Y
Travel Air R Mystery Ship, R-2002, NR613K
Wedell-Williams 44, c/n 109, NR61-Y

The race at the beginning of Chapter 1 in The Phantom of the Air was the 1932 Cleveland Air Race where Bob Raymond's Wedell-Williams Model 44 racer competed with Crome's Travel Air R Mystery Ship. The Edmunds "Phantom" was an Emsco B7-C, fitted with radio control.
Both Roscoe Turner and "Pancho" Barnes flew in the 1930 National Air Races in Chicago, and their aircraft appear in The Phantom of the Air.

Reception

Aviation historian Christian Santoir in Aeromovies described the impact of The Phantom of the Air as embodying the spirit of the early barnstorming era in Hollywood. "... several sequences of aerial stunts, realized, among others, by Art Goebel, Frank Clarke and Ivan Unger in the twenties. We thus witness the passage from one plane to another, the change of a wheel in full flight. We also go from an airplane to a car, from a fast boat to a plane, in the best tradition of 'stuntmen' in Hollywood."