Tail Spin (1939) User Reviews (9)

Stage Door Takes To The Skies

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 1 May 2008]

I have absolutely no doubt that Frank 'Spig' Wead must have seen a production of the George S. Kaufman-Edna Ferber classic on stage or saw the screen version with Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers. He must have liked it because it certainly inspired his writing of the script of Tailspin.

My guess is that Wead who knew the world of aviation well as we all know from seeing Wings of Eagles, did not of course know it from a woman's point of view. Therefore I think he took what is a woman's story in Stage Door and adapted it for the screen in aviation.

The Katharine Hepburn part is played by Constance Bennett who is a socialite who takes up aviation as a lark to compete with her boyfriend army aviator Kane Richmond. She can afford the best and uses her money to build a custom job that can beat anything in the air. Her father Harry Davenport disapproves of his daughter's avocation the same way Hepburn's father did in Stage Door.

She's got a chief rival in Alice Faye, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who represents the rest of the woman so to speak. As Richmond tells Bennett, these other women are competing for coffee and donut money, their living is in the balance in the Depression Era America of the Thirties.

There is an Andrea Leeds equivalent played by Nancy Kelly and beautifully if I might add. She's married to another aviator Edward Norris and they are bonded together by their love of each other and of flying.

The men come up second best in this film. Surprising when you consider who wrote it, not surprising when you consider what Spig Wead might have used as the source. Because they come up second best you can understand why Fox leading men like Tyrone Power and Don Ameche probably weren't even offered this one. Charles Farrell is in the rather colorless role as the mechanic on Faye's plane who'd like to get something going with her if Richmond would get out of the way. You see he's romancing both Faye and Bennett.

Alice Faye gets one song to sing in Tail Spin, a number from her favorite songwriters, Mack Gordon and Harry Revel. She sings Are You In The Mood For Mischief in her familiar warm contralto and well.

The climax of all of this involves the air races in Cleveland. Tail Spin is an interesting feminine take on the aviation profession with a very familiar plot line.

Music

[emspace-wny · 7/10 · 27 November 2012]

Just in case you were trying, as I was, to name the song playing in the background, it is called "Beautiful Ohio" (I believe the Ohio state song), appropriate as the setting is the Cleveland Air Show.

As a "music person" I am always on the lookout for interesting and beautiful songs, and I'm usually the last person in any theater, watching the credits for every last detail.

The song is very well arranged and haunting throughout the movie, but never seen in the credits as listed here. I found that very disappointing.

Overall, I enjoyed seeing a movie of this vintage where the heroines are the lead characters.

Not at all formulaic, as the girl does not get the guy in the end.

Very unusual, indeed!

Bkoganging had a really good point about this film...

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 2 October 2015]

In their review of "Tail Spin", bkoganging described the film as if the writer, Spig Wead, had taken his inspiration from "Stage Door". At first I thought this sounded silly...then I watched the film. I think they were dead on--as the movie looks like a Wead film (after all, he was a pilot and often wrote about planes--and himself raced planes) combined with this famous RKO film where women are rivals-- but this time for trophies instead of acting parts. As such, the film sticks with the usual clichés. In addition, a HUGE cliché (and it annoyed me) was the husband who was about to go for the speed record. The very second I saw this scene, I KNEW exactly what would happen....just like what happened to DeadMeat in "Hot Shots"! Both of these detract from the movie a bit as it makes it rather easy to predict.

So despite this, is the film any good? Well, it is entertaining and the film features some decent acting. But as I said, the clichés prevent it from being anything more than just a pleasant time- passer. Worth seeing but certainly NOT a must-see movie.

A race to the finish

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 1 September 2022]

It was a race to the finish in more ways than one. Two Hollywood studios both had pictures about a women's air derby, but which one would get their entry into theaters first? I suppose it didn't really matter, since each production was competently made, modestly entertaining and featured a strong ensemble of studio starlets.

While Warner Brothers' WOMEN IN THE WIND had Kay Francis as the lead aviatrix with Eve Arden providing comic relief, 20th Century Fox's TAIL SPIN had Alice Faye and Joan Davis. It also boasted a second lead in the form of Constance Bennett.

Miss Bennett is cast according to type as a wealthy playgirl. She enters the race to prove something to her doting daddy (Harry Davenport) and an ex (Kane Richmond) who's also a flyer.

Bennett's affluence puts her at odds with the rest of the gals who are working class types, especially Miss Faye. It doesn't help that Faye's fallen for Richmond, which creates a tricky triangle in the air and on the ground. This was Alice Faye's first non-musical role at Fox, and she acquits herself nicely.

The producers have borrowed Jane Wyman from Warners. Why her home studio didn't just put her in their own female flyer saga is beyond me. We also have Fox contract player Nancy Kelly in a strong supporting role. Miss Kelly gives the best performance, certainly the most memorable one, as a pilot whose husband has died. In her absolute grief, she takes to the skies and commits suicide with her plane. It's heavy stuff and reminds this viewer of Andrea Leeds' suicide in STAGE DOOR (1937).

Some contemporary reviewers complained that there were too many crashes. Wyman's aircraft goes down, Kelly's blows up, and Bennett also has engine trouble and must parachute to safety. But these events keep us glued to the screen. Most of it is pretty formulaic, but the aerial photography is boffo. And it's always interesting to see a group of women take charge of their own destinies.

Improbable tale of female aviators headed by Alice Faye...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 27 November 2012]

If you can forgive the implausible casting of some of Fox's female stars caught up in a formula plot about lady aviators and their love lives, TAIL SPIN is easy enough to take.

Alice Faye and Constance Bennett share top billing, with Faye as the earthy waitress type who spends all her hard-earned money on flying lessons, while Bennett is a socialite with similar aspirations who has a hard time adjusting to the environment of gals jealous of her.

Lots of flying scenes and enough crashes to keep you awake while the plot unfolds in leisurely fashion. By the time it's over, you've more or less predicted the outcome.

Joan Davis provides a few laughs in comic support of Nancy Kelly, Jane Wymnan and others, but it's just a trifle that passes the time acceptably with Charles Farrell, Kane Richmond and Edward Norris in the leading male roles who wait patiently for the final clinch.

Tail Spin Spins Out of Control **

[edwagreen · 5/10 · 2 December 2012]

During a dramatic scene with Constance Bennett's lover, Alice Faye bursts into song.

This film about female aviators is all too familiar with their disagreements, competition for the air and men, and all that brought to the screen again.

Joan Davis brings her usual comic relief to the picture.

The story is saddened by the misfortune encountered by the flying couple who couldn't go on with each other. When she joins him in death, we hear the comment that it was such a beautiful thing. What were they advocating-suicide?

Constance Bennett is that high society dame who takes to flying to please her boyfriend. She comes into competition with Alice Faye and is deeply affected by the loss of our flying couple.

Don't take to the air with this film.

Alice Faye takes to the skies

[blanche-2 · 5/10 · 24 June 2021]

"Tail Spin" from 1939 is about a group of women pilots in competition. The film stars Alice Faye, Constance Bennett, Nancy Kelly, Joan Davis, Jane Wyman, Charles Farrell, and Kane Richmond.

Faye is a waitress, saving to pay for needed parts for her plane and to get to the competition. The Powder Puff Competition pays $100,000, good prize money even today! She's joined by friends and one outlier - Gerry Lester, who for some reason has her first name pronounced Gary (Bennett), a wealthy woman with a super-fast plane. Needless to say, everyone resents her.

You can see one of the subplots coming a mile away.

There isn't much to this film except a lot of planes in the air. Alice sings, "Are You in the Mood for Mischief?" Nancy Kelly has a very overwrought role - she was a good actress, but there wasn't much she could do with this part, given her dialogue and the way she was photographed (in closeup wearing a wistful look).

Davis is there for the comedy, and she's fun.

Love Alice, love Constance, love all of them, but for me this wasn't much of a film.

She's shooting high, but not for Broadway.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 15 April 2024]

A different kind of part for Alice Faye who after six years of singing and dancing in big budget Fox musicals puts on a helmet and gets behind the wheel. She's not a race car driver, but a pilot, entering a cross country race with funny girl Joan Davis at her side and finding a rival in society girl Constance Bennett.

With a name like Trixie Lee and a more gregarious, less than ladylike personality, Faye comes off closer to a Betty Hutton style of character. She tries several methods of sabotaging Bennett whom she's obviously jealous of, both in the air and on the ground, in a romantic triangle with Kane Richmond. Nancy Kelly and Charles Farrell also figure somewhere in this.

So-so for its formula plot and cardboard cutout characters, this may be an A list movie (rivaled by Warner Brothers' B variation, "Women in the Wind"), but it's not a great one. Faye's crack up scene isn't believable at all as the plane hits the ground with no explosion and she's only slightly disheveled. I could have done without the comic elements of the silly Wally Vernon. Davis does her typical drop gag girl with gusto, but she seems out of place like Faye does.

Entertaining Little Soaper

[JohnnyOldSoul · 8/10 · 9 October 2007]

Quite a change of pace for an Alice Faye film. Gone are the glorious gowns and exotic locales, but instead we find our Miss Faye as an aviatrix, trying to make ends meet and win the Cleveland Air Races. Her arch rival is the society belle Gerry Lester, played with an arched eyebrow by Constance Bennett.

The performances are a bit overwrought, but that's part of the fun. Faye only gets one song in the final cut, but it's a great sultry number called "Are You in the Mood for Mischief?" Throw in an awkward slap fight in the powder room, a dash of tragedy, and you've got a fun cinematic soapie/tearjerker/stand up and cheer kind of film.

Basically an A-picture that plays like a B, with all the entertaining trappings that implies.

Joan Davis is great fun as the comic relief. Nice rainy-Saturday entertainment.