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Murder in the Air
Murder in the Air
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Lewis Seiler
Screenplay by	Raymond L. Schrock
Produced by	Bryan Foy
Starring	Ronald Reagan; John Litel; Lya Lys; James Stephenson; Eddie Foy, Jr.; Robert Warwick; Victor Zimmerman
Cinematography	Ted D. McCord
Edited by	Frank Magee
Production; company	First National Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	June 1, 1940;
Running time	55 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Murder in the Air (aka The Enemy Within) is a 1940 American drama film with science fiction elements directed by Lewis Seiler and written by Raymond L. Schrock.^[1] The film stars Ronald Reagan, John Litel, Lya Lys, James Stephenson, Eddie Foy, Jr., Robert Warwick and Victor Zimmerman. Murder in the Air was released by Warner Bros. on June 1, 1940.^[2]

Plot

Agent Saxby (John Litel), the head of the Secret Service in the U.S. Treasury Department, assigns agent Lieutenant "Brass" Bancroft (Ronald Reagan) to impersonate deceased spy Steve Swenko. Gabby Watters (Eddie Foy, Jr.), Brass's assistant, finds a letter in the dead spy's shoe, addressed to Joe Garvey (James Stephenson), the leader of a group being investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Swenko's wife, Hilda Riker (Lya Lys) finds out her husband is dead and recognizes Bancroft as an imposter. Before she can alert Garvey that there is a federal agent about, Gabby, posing as a taxi driver, follows Brass to Hilda's apartment and comes to his rescue.

An unwitting Garvey assigns Bancroft to board the U.S. Navy dirigible USS Mason, which carries the newly invented "Inertia Projector", a sort of death-ray that can shut off an engine. Once aboard, Bancroft is to contact Garvey's henchman Rumford (Victor Zimmerman). Rumford is posing as an assistant to Dr. Finchley (Robert Warwick), a scientist working for the League of Nations, who invented the projector.

While he steals the plans for the inertia projector, Rumford orders Bancroft to destroy the dirigible, but Garvey and Rumford learn Bancroft is a government agent. When the dirigible crashes during a storm, Rumford takes the plans and leaves the unconscious Bancroft to die in the crash.

Brass is rescued and taken to a Navy hospital. Garvey tries to fly to Mexico with Rumford and the stolen documents. Brass alerts Saxby to Garvey's plan. In a spectacular air chase, the agents catch Garvey's aircraft. They bring it down with the inertia projector, sending both spies to their death in a burst of flames.

Cast

Ronald Reagan as "Brass" Bancroft/ Steve Swenko
John Litel as Saxby
Lya Lys as Hilda Riker
James Stephenson as Joe Garvey
Eddie Foy, Jr. as Gabby Watters
Robert Warwick as Doctor Finchley
Victor Zimmerman as Rumford
William Gould as Admiral Winfield
Kenneth Harlan as Commander Wayne
Frank Wilcox as Hotel Clerk
Owen King as George Hayden
Dick Rich as John Kramer
Charles Brokaw as Otto
Helen Lynd as Dolly

Production

The aircraft in Murder in the Air are:

Reception

Film reviewer Bosley Crowther, in his review for The New York Times, enjoyed 'Murder in the Air', "Ronald Reagan and the Warners' FBI agents have the situation well in hand. After some sixty minutes of highly incredible melodramatic incident, the government's prized 'inertia projector' is rescued from foreign hands and the saboteurs are either killed off or jailed. (The 'inertia projector' is an instrument which fouls electric current at the source; its amazing practicality is illustrated when it is focused on the plane in which the enemy agents attempt to flee the country.) Mr. Reagan, who had seen service previously with the Warners' FBI force, handles his role of counter-espionage agent with the customary daring. Eddie Foy Jr. has a few good comical moments, and Lya Lys of the golden tresses makes an attractive Mata Hari. The screen play by Raymond Schrock is compact, if not 'original', and the direction by Lewis Seiler is swiftly paced. All of which tends to make 'Murder in the Air' acceptable program fare."^[4]

Aviation film historian James H, Farmer in Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation (1984), described Murder in the Air as, "... an action-packed thriller."^[5]

Legacy

Footage from the film is used in the 2020 documentary The Reagans to illustrate President Reagan's support for the Star Wars defense program, which conceptualized the capabilities of a similar device from the film.

References

Notes

^ The scenes of the dirigible is the German Zeppelin "Hindenburg" filmed in flight in the United States and on the ground, at Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1936-1937.^[3]

Citations

^ Pendo 1985, p. 18.
^ "Overview: 'Murder in the Air' (1940)." TCM.com, 2019. Retrieved: July 14, 2019.
^ ^a ^b Santoir, Christian. "Review: 'Murder in the Air' (1940)." Aeromovies, September 17, 2011. Retrieved: July 14, 2019.
^ Crowther, Bosley. "Movie review: 'The Ghost Breakers', a comic thriller, at Paramount; Spy pictures at the Rialto and Palace." NYTimes.com, July 4, 1940.
^ Farmer 1984, p. 321.

Bibliography

Farmer, James H. Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation. Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Tab Books Inc., 1984. ISBN 978-0-83062-374-7.
Pendo, Stephen. Aviation in the Cinema. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. ISBN 0-8-1081-746-2.