Flight to Nowhere

Flight to Nowhere is a 1946 American mystery film directed by William Rowland.

Plot summary

The film opens in Honolulu, showing an operative being gunned down. A map revealing secret uranium deposits in the South Pacific has apparently been stolen from him. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Hobe Carrington (Alan Curtis) tries to turn down Countess Maria de Fresca's (Micheline Cheirel) request to hire him as a pilot for a flight to Death Valley. She changes his mind by promising him a dinner date. Before they can depart, Carrington is approached by his former superior in the armed forces, Bob Donovan (Jack Holt), now an FBI agent. Donovan tells Carrington to keep an eye out for the missing map. The Countess and her party, including wealthy Catherine Forrest (Evelyn Ankers), Catherine's friend, James Van Bush (Roland Varno), Catherine's brother, Claude Forrest (John Craven), and mining engineer Gerald Porter (Jerome Cowan) are told they might need oxygen masks mid-flight because they may need to fly above a storm. Catherine and the Countess switch seats, and the oxygen mask at Catherine's new seat has been disconnected, forcing Carrington to dive to save Catherine's life. The Countess later tells Carrington she fears someone may have actually been meaning to kill her.

Agent Donovan beats the flight to Death Valley and explains to Carrington that his passengers may be international racketeers who likely have the map. The group meets up with Tom Walker (Gordon Richards), another mining engineer, who tries to bribe the Countess for a secret letter about Claude Forrest while separately trying to buy the map from Claude. As luck would have it, Carrington's ex-wife, Irene Allison (Inez Cooper) is also in Death Valley. By coincidence, she knows the Countess is really aspiring actress, Dolly Lorraine, as Irene worked with her in a magic show. Later, Carrington rescues Catherine from being mashed on by Van Bush by throwing Van Bush in the swimming pool, then discovers that Catherine has an unusual gold ring from Japan given to her by Claude. During the course of the evening, the secret letter is stolen five times, the fifth time stolen from Tom Walker, who is murdered.

The group are briefly questioned about the murder, and (having failed to sell the map), they have Carrington fly them to Las Vegas. As Irene lives in Las Vegas and wishes to return home, she asks to join them. In Vegas, Claude tries to sell the map to another engineer, Joseph Herman Ruehl (Michael Visaroff). Donovan tells Carrington that the secret letter revealed Claude committed treason, working with the Japanese to find uranium, and the two realize the map is actually Catherine's ring. Irene, a licensed pilot, borrows Carrington's plane, which has been sabotaged, and dies in a crash. Porter has been waiting for an opportunity to steal the map and, after a struggle, kills Claude at Ruehl's horse ranch. The Countess and Ruehl are detained by Donovan before they can leave town. Carrington, discovering that Van Bush is no more than a gold digger after Catherine's money, shoves Van Bush in a pool again. Carrington and Catherine arrive at the ranch, looking for Claude, and Porter demands Catherine's ring. Donovan arrives in time to shoot Porter before he can harm Carrington or Catherine. In the end, Catherine and Carrington will fly to Las Vegas to be married, with Donovan as the best man.

Cast

• Alan Curtis as Hobe Carrington
• Evelyn Ankers as Catherine Forrest
• Micheline Cheirel as Dolly Lorraine, aka Countess Maria de Fresca
• Jack Holt as FBI Agent Bob Donovan
• Jerome Cowan as Gerald Porter
• John Craven as Claude Forrest
• Inez Cooper as Irene Allison
• Roland Varno as James Van Bush
• Michael Visaroff as Joseph Herman Ruehl
• Gordon Richards as Tom Walker
• Hoot Gibson as Sheriff Bradley
• Donald Kerr (uncredited)

External links

• Flight to Nowhere at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Flight to Nowhere at the Internet Movie Database
• Flight to Nowhere is available for free download at the Internet Archive