Marine pilots Bill Keller (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) and Toodles Cooper (Frank McHugh) are shot down by bandits over Nicaragua. A desperate search party is launched, but they find the two pilots partying at a bar. After departing the military, their private flying jobs fall through. To save money, they share an apartment with fellow unemployed Patricia 'Alabama' Brent (Bette Davis). Bill performs a parachute stunt and gets hired by a rich couple as their driver. Later, he becomes a bodyguard to bootlegger Kurt Weber and starts flying with Toodles to smuggle booze from Canada.
The first act goes by so fast. It has too much plot when it should really concentrate on Bill and Alabama. They need a better meet-cute. The movie needs to build the characters rather than pile on the plot points. They don't use Bette Davis enough although she probably wasn't The Bette Davis back then. The movie just keeps going and the plot never stops. It's also good to see some of these big names. As for the flying sequences, I don't like the filming of the cockpits. It looks weak and the action is not compelling.
The first act goes by so fast. It has too much plot when it should really concentrate on Bill and Alabama. They need a better meet-cute. The movie needs to build the characters rather than pile on the plot points. They don't use Bette Davis enough although she probably wasn't The Bette Davis back then. The movie just keeps going and the plot never stops. It's also good to see some of these big names. As for the flying sequences, I don't like the filming of the cockpits. It looks weak and the action is not compelling.