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IMDbPro

China Clipper

  • 19361936
  • PassedPassed
  • 1h 28m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
563
YOUR RATING
Humphrey Bogart, Pat O'Brien, Ross Alexander, and Beverly Roberts in China Clipper (1936)
Official Trailer
Play trailer3:08
1 Video
17 Photos
  • Adventure
  • Drama
  • Romance
Dave Logan takes his regional Pan American airline and with vision and sometimes ruthless determination establishes pan-American and trans-Pacific routes.Dave Logan takes his regional Pan American airline and with vision and sometimes ruthless determination establishes pan-American and trans-Pacific routes.Dave Logan takes his regional Pan American airline and with vision and sometimes ruthless determination establishes pan-American and trans-Pacific routes.
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
563
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Ray Enright
  • Writers
    • Frank Wead(original screenplay)
    • Norman Reilly Raine(additional dialogue)
  • Stars
    • Pat O'Brien
    • Humphrey Bogart
    • Beverly Roberts
Top credits
  • Director
    • Ray Enright
  • Writers
    • Frank Wead(original screenplay)
    • Norman Reilly Raine(additional dialogue)
  • Stars
    • Pat O'Brien
    • Humphrey Bogart
    • Beverly Roberts
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 15User reviews
    • 4Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    China Clipper
    Trailer 3:08
    China Clipper

    Photos17

    Pat O'Brien in China Clipper (1936)
    Humphrey Bogart, Pat O'Brien, Ross Alexander, and Beverly Roberts in China Clipper (1936)
    Humphrey Bogart and Ross Alexander in China Clipper (1936)
    Humphrey Bogart, Pat O'Brien, Ross Alexander, and Henry B. Walthall in China Clipper (1936)
    Humphrey Bogart, Ross Alexander, Carlyle Moore Jr., Dennis Moore, and Lyle Moraine in China Clipper (1936)
    Humphrey Bogart, Ross Alexander, Owen King, Carlyle Moore Jr., and Dennis Moore in China Clipper (1936)
    Humphrey Bogart in China Clipper (1936)
    Humphrey Bogart, Ross Alexander, Carlyle Moore Jr., Dennis Moore, and Lyle Moraine in China Clipper (1936)
    Ross Alexander in China Clipper (1936)
    Humphrey Bogart and Pat O'Brien in China Clipper (1936)
    China Clipper (1936)
    Humphrey Bogart, Pat O'Brien, Ross Alexander, and Beverly Roberts in China Clipper (1936)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Pat O'Brien
    Pat O'Brien
    • Dave Logan
    Humphrey Bogart
    Humphrey Bogart
    • Hap Stuart
    Beverly Roberts
    Beverly Roberts
    • Jean Logan
    Ross Alexander
    Ross Alexander
    • Tom Collins
    Marie Wilson
    Marie Wilson
    • Sunny Avery
    Joseph Crehan
    Joseph Crehan
    • Jim Horn
    Joe King
    Joe King
    • Mr. Pierson
    • (as Joseph King)
    Addison Richards
    Addison Richards
    • Mr. B.C. Hill
    Ruth Robinson
    • Mother Brunn
    Henry B. Walthall
    Henry B. Walthall
    • Dad Brunn
    Carlyle Moore Jr.
    Carlyle Moore Jr.
    • Radio Operator on Clipper
    Lyle Moraine
    • Co-pilot on Clipper
    Dennis Moore
    Dennis Moore
    • Engineer on Clipper
    Wayne Morris
    Wayne Morris
    • Navigator on Clipper
    Alexander Cross
    Alexander Cross
    • Bill Andrews
    William Wright
    William Wright
    • Pilot
    Kenneth Harlan
    Kenneth Harlan
    • Department of Commerce Inspector
    Anne Nagel
    Anne Nagel
    • Secretary
    • Director
      • Ray Enright
    • Writers
      • Frank Wead(original screenplay)
      • Norman Reilly Raine(additional dialogue) (uncredited)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Henry B. Walthall collapsed on the set while filming and died shortly thereafter. The script of the unfinished film was rewritten so that his character would die off-screen, a heart condition having already been established in a previously filmed scene.
    • Goofs
      The character names of Lyle Moraine and Dennis Moore are switched in the end credits. Moore was the Co-pilot and Moraine the engineer.
    • Quotes

      Hap Stuart: [Offscreen] Watta yuh do when the wings fall off?

      Dave Logan: [Not knowing who's talking to him] Take a train, sucker.

    • Connections
      Edited into Fly Away Baby (1937)
    • Soundtracks
      The Stars and Stripes Forever
      (1896) (uncredited)

      Written by John Philip Sousa

      Played at the ceremony before the China Clipper's initial Pacific flight

    User reviews15

    Review
    Top review
    6/10
    Spig Wead's Justification
    Following the filming of Frank 'spig' Wead's successful Broadway play Ceiling Zero, Warner Brothers got one of the stars of that film Pat O'Brien, to star in a Wead screenplay about the creation of the famous China Clipper, the plane that made the first passenger run from San Francisco to the Orient. Back in the day it excited the American public no end.

    Wead based his lead character on a World War I aviation hero who went into the commercial flying business, Eddie Rickenbacker. But he invested a lot of himself in O'Brien's character as well.

    That's what struck me watching China Clipper today. The scenes with O'Brien and his estranged wife Beverly Roberts reminded me a whole lot of the plot for Wings of Eagles which is John Ford's biographical tribute to Spig Wead. It was like Wead himself through O'Brien was trying to justify his single minded attention to aviation to the neglect of wife and family.

    Humphrey Bogart, Ross Alexander and Henry B. Walthall are O'Brien's associates. This was Walthall's farewell screen performance. He collapsed on set and died shortly thereafter. I'm not sure if the film was rewritten to accommodate Walthall's demise or his death was originally part of the story. Whatever it is, it is spookily coincidental.

    Marie Wilson plays her usual dumb Dora with eyes for Ross Alexander, in this one she got a bit annoying I have to say.

    Bogart was not especially fond of this film though it was a change from the gangster thugs he was doing then. He plays another flier at loggerheads with O'Brien.

    The scenes involving the flights were well done, much better than in Ceiling Zero, though that had a better story.

    China Clipper is a routine action adventure film from Warner Brothers, yet viewed together with Wings of Eagles it does kind of take on a whole new meaning.
    helpful•4
    0
    • bkoganbing
    • Jul 10, 2007

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 22, 1936 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Titán del aire
    • Filming locations
      • Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • First National Pictures
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 28 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

    Related news

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    Humphrey Bogart, Pat O'Brien, Ross Alexander, and Beverly Roberts in China Clipper (1936)
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