Associate producer: Raymond Griffith. Executive producer: Daryl F. Zanuck.
Copyright 14 January 1933 by Warner Bros Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Strand: 25 January 1933. U.S. release: 27 January 1933. Australian release: June 1933. 8 reels. 73 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Two unemployed pilots, Bill Kellett and Toodles (Fairbanks and McHugh), are looking for work. Bill lands a job as chauffeur for a racketeer's moll (Claire Dodd), who makes up to him. The mobster (Leo Carillo) catches them in an embrace but, impressed by Bill's coolness under fire, hires him as a bodyguard.
COMMENT: Bette Davis absolutely loathed this movie. That fact alone should be enough to recommend it to connoisseurs. Those of us who know Bette are well aware that the films she hates are confined to those in which she thinks her part was not big enough or important enough. That's certainly true enough in this case. Although billed third, after the junior Fairbanks and camera-hogging comic, Frank McHugh, Miss Davis actually comes in at number five so far as the plot is concerned.
But never mind Bette. Parachute Jumper more than fills the entertainment bill as a thrilling, extremely fast-paced drama with excellent stunt-work.
Leo Carillo gives one of his finest performances as a double-crossing racketeer, whilst Claire Dodd provides an equally superb study of her rich nymphomaniac. Frank McHugh has most of the witty dialogue and makes the best of it.
Breezily directed by Alfred E. Green, also at his best.
Copyright 14 January 1933 by Warner Bros Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Strand: 25 January 1933. U.S. release: 27 January 1933. Australian release: June 1933. 8 reels. 73 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Two unemployed pilots, Bill Kellett and Toodles (Fairbanks and McHugh), are looking for work. Bill lands a job as chauffeur for a racketeer's moll (Claire Dodd), who makes up to him. The mobster (Leo Carillo) catches them in an embrace but, impressed by Bill's coolness under fire, hires him as a bodyguard.
COMMENT: Bette Davis absolutely loathed this movie. That fact alone should be enough to recommend it to connoisseurs. Those of us who know Bette are well aware that the films she hates are confined to those in which she thinks her part was not big enough or important enough. That's certainly true enough in this case. Although billed third, after the junior Fairbanks and camera-hogging comic, Frank McHugh, Miss Davis actually comes in at number five so far as the plot is concerned.
But never mind Bette. Parachute Jumper more than fills the entertainment bill as a thrilling, extremely fast-paced drama with excellent stunt-work.
Leo Carillo gives one of his finest performances as a double-crossing racketeer, whilst Claire Dodd provides an equally superb study of her rich nymphomaniac. Frank McHugh has most of the witty dialogue and makes the best of it.
Breezily directed by Alfred E. Green, also at his best.