Many of the earlier comments are right on the money, but some, well, not so much.<br /><br />This Is hardly a 'B' movie...it's well produced, the live flying sequences are really superb, and the model sequences are first rate. It's no "cheapie".<br /><br />Ricard Barthelmess is quite good in this, and it makes a a nice companion piece for "Only Angels Have Wings".<br /><br />If you want to spot John Wayne, spot J. Carrol Naish first, they end up together.<br /><br />Tom Browne is juvenile enough (and somewhat dull), but when they saddle him with the most pathetic pencil-mustache in Hollywood history, it makes his character even less believable. Sally Eilers is much more so.<br /><br />As for later influences, this is Wellman in the early Airliner-in-Distress zone...the opening sequence of this film, with the Airline Operations guy arriving at the "Grand Central Airport" would have fit very nicely into "The High and the Mighty"...just imagine Regis Toomey...and a 1955 Buick.