The Great Plane Robbery (1940)
Directed by Lewis D. Collins
Genres - Drama, Crime |
Sub-Genres - Action Thriller |
Release Date - Dec 9, 1940 (USA - Unknown) |
Run Time - 55 min. |
Countries - United States |
MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson
It's ironic that leading man Jack Holt, who in real life was deathly afraid of flying, should appear in so many aviation-oriented pictures. In The Great Plane Robbery, racketeer Joe Colson (Noel Madison) is released from jail three months before the expiration of his $500,000 life insurance policy. The plane on which Colson's flying home is hijacked by several of his old underworld cronies, who hope to collect on the policy by killing Joe-and, of necessity, everyone else on board. But insurance investigator Mike Henderson (Jack Holt), another passenger, isn't about to let that happen. The first half of the film is a mini-"Grand Hotel", giving way to three climactic reels of nonstop action and suspense. The heroine is played by Vicki Lester, who "borrowed" her screen name from the character played by Janet Gaynor in the original A Star is Born (1937).
Characteristics
Themes
Keywords
airplane, accident, bad-guy, con/scam, courage, crash, gangster, good-guy, hijacker, insurance, insurance-investigator, investigator, life-insurance, passenger, policy, rackets [corruption], robbery, plans
