China Clipper

China Clipper (1936)

THRILL TO A NEW TRIUMPH! LOVE SPANS THE PERILOUS PACIFIC!

An aviator ignores skeptics to make the first commercial flight from San Francisco to China.

Date of release
1936-08-11
TMDB
5.8 / 10 (12)
Runtime
1h 28m
Genres
Drama
Director
Ray Enright

Casting

Interesting facts

China Clipper is a 1936 American drama film directed by Ray Enright, written by Frank Wead and starring Pat O'Brien, Ross Alexander, Beverly Roberts, Humphrey Bogart and, in his final motion-picture appearance, veteran actor Henry B. Walthall. Walthall was gravely ill during production and his illness was incorporated into his character's role. He died during production.

Production

Screenwriter Frank "Spig" Wead wrote the film as a thinly disguised biography of aviation pioneer Juan Trippe, especially Trippe's life around the period of the founding of Pan American Airways. Filmed with the cooperation of Pan Am, actual newsreel and production footage of the Martin M-130 is used throughout the film to emphasize the story just as it was happening for Trippe in real life.

The flying sequences in China Clipper were filmed with famed Hollywood stunt pilot Paul Mantz, who worked with veterans Elmer Dyer and H. F. Koenekamp to create realistic aerial photography. Some scenes depict the aircraft flying over the incomplete San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge while it was still under construction.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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