ALL SCI-FI

[Maurice]

I've recently been poking around the Public Domain sci-fi and fantastical films on the Internet Archive and found this one (link). It's also on YouTube here (link)

Non-Stop New York (also known as Lisbon Clipper Mystery) is a 1937 British science fiction crime film in which a stranded English chorus girl is targeted for extermination because she can provide an alibi for a murder suspect. When Scotland Yard disbelieves her story, she seeks escape by becoming a stowaway aboard the Atlantic Airlines "Lisbon Clipper", a giant transatlantic flying boat, complete with an open-air balcony!

The plane gets airborne at about 40:25 if you want a sneak peek at the plane in flight, and go to about [EDIT] 53:00 if you want to see the aforementioned open-air balcony It's about 20 different on the two sources)!


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"The absence of limitations is the enemy of art."
― Orson Welles

[Bud Brewster]

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I looked at several scenes from the movie on YouTube and it looks like a very interesting film! The pace is rapid and the script has its fair share of witty dialog.

Concerning the "open-air balcony" scene Maurice mentioned at the 50:00 mark, it doesn't seem to be at that point in the YouTube version. There's a brief shot of the plane's cockpit, followed by a few seconds of the plane in flight, and then an extended scene of the characters in the dinning room.

That, by the way, calls attention to the fact that the plane is so big the passengers eat in a dinning room and spend the flight in private cabins!







But there is a romantic open-air balcony scene at the the 53:55 point —





— and the Wikipedia plot synopsis mentions a dramatic scene later in the film which also involves the open-air balcony.

Minor Spoiler: The climax involves the hero having to climb across the fuselage of the plane to reach the cockpit, and the scenes are exciting and well done. But the high wind that threatens to rip the man from the fuselage the plane makes me wonder how the passenger manage not to be blown off the open-air balcony!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Custer]

Thanks goodness nobody posted this picture, which would have been slightly shocking:




It reminds me of a certain Battle Beyond the Stars spaceship...

[orzel-w]

[Bud Brewster]

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It saddens me that well-photographed movies from the 30s and 40s have been allowed to deteriorate to the point where they're no longer watchable for anyone whose grown accustomed to good DVDs, better Blu-rays, and the awesome quality of 4K videos!

This wonderful movie deserves to be preserved more than most of the movies made in the last 50 years. It needs a champion who values the artistic works of the past, one who can give them a protected place where they can survive.

Gentlemen, I created All Sci-Fi back in 2006 to be a place like that, and I've kept it alive for that very reason.

Today's society is crumbling away, and there's nothing I can do about it . . . except to maintain this board and hope that the citizens of this country will come to their senses.

Our politicians are corrupt, and our half-literate kids only know how to type short messages by using their thumb, using abbreviations and no punctuation.

The 2nd graders which I taught during the last four years of my teaching career which ended in 2012 might be the last truly literate generation in America.

Well, folks . . . please enjoy this low-quality copy of a movie which was made back when America was a bright beacon of light and freedom to the world.

________ Non Stop New York 1937 Crime Thriller


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[scotpens]

In the 1920s and '30s, it was thought that ever-larger and more luxurious flying boats were the future of intercontinental air travel. The famed industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes designed a mammoth twin-hulled seaplane with a 528-foot wingspan, accommodations for 450 passengers and 115 crew, and amenities rivaling those of contemporary ocean liners.



Just imagine enjoying a hot shower after a refreshing night's sleep in your private stateroom, taking in the view from the promenade deck in the leading edge of the wing, and availing yourself of services like a barber shop and beauty salon, gymnasium, reading lounge, and a dance floor with a live 20-piece orchestra!

[Bud Brewster]

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Holy cow! That aircraft is amazing.

We often complain about the fact that in the 1950s we were promised an amazing future . . . which hasn't come to past.

But the spectacular aircraft shown above demonstrates that the promises of a high-tech world began several decades before the 1950s!

We knew this of course from movies like Things to Come.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)