Universal Weekly (1925-1933)

Dec. 3, 1932 UNIVERSAL WEEKLY 19 he AVIATION PICTURES, Says CAROL FINK m * "AIR MAIL" Chicago Daily Tribune November 5 By Mae Tinee Good Morning! That air mail stamp on your letter! What did it mean to you? "Well, foolish QUESTION!" you answer. "It meant to me that the letter came by air mail — of COURSE!" After you've seen the picture, "Air Mail," you're going to read a STORY into every air mail stamp you receive — and don't you forget it! This movie tells tersely an interesting, believable story of Uncle Sam's air mail pilots. It shows them at home, at airport and aflight, and lets you into the inner lives of three men whose destinies become strangely entangled. AIR MAIL" PROVIDES PLENTY OF THRILLS All the Perils of Fogs and Storms Set Forth in this Exciting Flying Movie See "Air Mail"; It Puts Story in Every Stamp The situation in which real personalities are revealed are presented with honesty, astuteness and a sense of dramatic value. The film has been excellently directed and cast. The photoplay is finely staged and photographed. Much of the action was taken in and around an out of the way western airport. The scenery is fascinating and there are storms to chill your bones. Don't miss "Air Mail"! AKE ANOTHER FORWARD STEP tween the living theater and the screen, could do this. Here was one stage play, at least, which Hollywood would not film. No producer would want it; none would risk it. Yet all guesses to the contrary, here comes Hollywood with "Once in a Lifetime" Weekly November 22nd, I932. ou plenty of success. "Back Street" was wonerful, as are all Universal picked productions. Theatrically yours, ROBERT B. WENNER, Manager, New Melrose Theatre, Melrose, Mass. SELF KIDDING MOVIES in pictures — not in a garbled version in no way resembling the original, but in a fairly faithful reproduction. The only major variation, it is said, is to draw a kindly concealing curtain over certain producers whose identity in the stage play was unmistakable. The movies have long been chided by the critics, but in the last year or two they have occasionally exhibited signs of the artistry for which they should be destined. It would seem that in filming "Once in a Lifetime," spite of its sarcastic jibes at the industry, they have taken another forward step. The professors have been telling us that the truly intelligent man is he with the wisdom to laugh at himself. The movies poking fun at themselves promise continued improvement of a great enteretainment and educational medium. By DORIS ARDEN "Come rain or snow, the mail must go" — so runs the tradition of the airmail service. And in this film, "Air Mail," you'll find out just how they go about fulfilling that large order — and just what sort of experiences they have as a result. It's a dramatic and suspenseful story which moves swiftly, keeps you genuinely interested with its "inside" picture of a job that's taken for granted by most of us. You'll find it ably-directed, smoothly-acted and completely convincing. As Mike Miller, Ralph Bellamy is seen as the conscientious and able chief pilot of Desert Airport — where flyers take off for the most dangerous hop of the entire trans-continental service, across the mountains to California. Treacherous winds, vicious storms make the flight particularly perilous just at the Christmas season when the mail is heaviest. In addition, Mike finds himself short-handed, decides to take the plane himself through a raging blizzard, in spite of a doctor's warning that his eyesight is too poor to make it safely. The finish of the flight is disastrous — but contributes suspense to the story, allows Pilot Talbot to make a spectacular and successful rescue. Those scenes at the end will have your heart in your mouth— or you're cooler-headed than this critic! You'll find that "Air Mail" makes satisfactory and absorbing entertainment, you'll like it because it's convincing, exciting and unusual.