PARACHUTE JUMPER


US, 1933, 70 minutes, Black and white.
Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Bette Davis, Frank Mc Hugh, Leo Carillo.
Directed by Alfred E. Green.

So this is what films were like in 1933. There is more than enough plot for 70 minutes, Marines in Nicaragua, stunt pilots and air shows, the depression and difficulties in finding accommodation in New York City, gangsters and their wives, shootouts, smuggling drugs by plane and machine gun fire at police from one plane to another…

It is an opportunity to see Douglas Fairbanks Jr in his young days, Frank Mc Hugh, always the buddy, and Bette Davis in an early role as a secretary.

Direction by Alfred E.Green, a veteran of many films including the Al Jolson biographies.


1. 1930s films, their style, American, pace, characters, packed with plot?

2. The Marines, Nicaragua, pilots? Skilled stunt work? The depression, jobs hard to find? Poor apartments? Buddies, romance, the elements of the gangster film, the gangster, his wife, jobs? The jump and the air show? trafficking in drugs, the flights, the guns, the attack on the police plan, crashes, dangers?

3. Black-and-white photography, locations, New York City, studio work, flight sequences, the cast?

4. The buddies, the characters, life in the Marines, Nicaragua, Bill and his stunt, Patricia/Alabama and her fears? their personalities, the apartment, the scams, Alabama and her reaction? Toodles and his singing?

5. Alabama, sitting on the bench, talking to Bill, accepting the invitation, her caution about and harassment? Taking the job, secretary of the gangster, Bill and his reaction, the advances, combining with Bill and giving information, the happy ending?

6. The gangster, his type, the times, his wife, smuggling, the drugs, his partners, gangsters and setups for shootings? The police, the guns, the missions?

7. The men wanting their independence, their plan, planes? The sky and aerial acrobatics, their freedom?

8. Popular entertainment of the early 1930s?