Air Hawks

Cameo by famed aviator Wiley Post
"Air Hawks" is a 1935 black and white action drama about a rival airplane company using a mad scientist's "death ray" to bring down the planes of a competitor. Throw in a little romance and some slapstick and this is another mid 30s unremarkable little film, whose biggest claim to famed is a cameo by famed aviator Wiley Post (1898-1935).

Post was the first pilot to fly solo around the world. He also invented the high pressure suit used to fly at extremely high altitudes (he uses the suit in this film). This was his only film appearance. The film was released in May 1935 and Post died in August while piloting humorist Will Rogers.

Ralph Bellamy (1904-91) plays a former ace pilot trying to build a new airplane company. Bellamy is best remembered for his role as the greedy stock manipulator from "Trading Places" (1983). He was nominated for an Emmy 3 times over a 30 year period, from 1953 ("United States Steel Hour") to 1983 ("The Winds of War") and was Oscar...

Wiley Post
I bought this as a historical curiosity to see the pilot who crashed with Will Rogers, but it turns out the movie is watchable if a little confusing.

Vintage Flying Drama will appeal to Sci-Fi Buffs!
The bad guys in this film have come up with a good way to put Ralph Bellamys
air mail franchise out of business;they employ a (very) mad scientist with
a death-ray.

This is a very entertaining little film with the Sci-Fi stuff giving
it an added boost. Its very similar at times to a vintage serial.

As always from Sony the film is beautifully restored in stunning high
definition. Sony really blow away the competition with the love and care
that they treat their vintage films with on their top-notch MOD series.

An absolute treat.........HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!

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