A mysterious air-fighter named Pilot X is gunning down planes manufactured by the Goering Air Company. (That "Gore-ing," not "Gaer-ing.") Mr. Goering works with a scientist named Dr. Norris to divine that the maniac is probably a World War I pilot who desires to continue his killing spree even after the Armistice. To this effect, Goering gathers some of the best air pilots in the world to his mansion so that Norris can spy on and study them. One of these includes Jerry Blackwood, who is dating Goering's ward Helen. Slowly but surely, Pilot X turns his sights on his fellow pilots, keeping his identity a secret, until the '30s Post-Code Ending comes and all is happy and good.
I never know what I'm going to get when I throw on a B-programmer from the '30s, and so I'm always glad when they end up on my to-watch list from some recommendation or another. Initially, Pilot X started out pretty slow and dull, an almost Westernish thriller with wrecked planes swapping out for stolen cattle. But the presence of Dr. Norris changes that dynamic. His immediate theory--that Pilot X is an ordinary citizen with an evil split personality eager to relive Great War glory--is taken for granted and indeed, without any sort of fault, turns out to be absolutely correct. This exposes one of the things that brought me great joy in this film: indeed, Pilot X is nothing less than a weird alternate version of the noir Old Dark House flick Doctor X, from four years earlier. Both films concern scientists using modern equipment (and good old-fashioned bullshit) to interrogate a group of murder suspects in a creaky mansion. Just throw in tons of airplane stock footage and a more convincing romance angle and it's all complete. The idea of trying to combine an airplane thriller with an ODH movie, with peepholes and secret rooms and the like, is kind of brilliant and I wish there had been more experiments with ODH like this. Maybe there were, and they're still waiting out there.
There's tons of fun stuff in this movie, even outside of the general premise. For one thing, Helen insist on wearing what is probably the ugliest dress I've ever seen...and if you knew anything about my high school life you may know that's saying something. The only way I can describe it is that is vaguely reminiscent of the ridiculous high-collared Time Lord robes from Doctor Who. Except the front is clasped by buttons, and these buttons are made of googly eyes. I haven't anything like it before in any other '30s media I've consumed. I'm aghast to think of what that thing looked like in color.
Plus, we get a scene which is so unexpectedly dramatic and loud that it made my dog bark from the other side of the house. You'll know it when you'll see it. There are lots of good moments of characters screaming or otherwise spouting Mattei-esque dialogue. Take, for example, the scene where they find a survivor from one of Pilot X's downed aircraft, where we get this: "His plane was dark...dark...like it's getting for me now...ungh!" And he dies. They don't write 'em like that anymore, folks.
Yet another '30s short film--not as brief as the B-Westerns but pretty close. You've got nothing to lose! It's always wonderful to dig out old sci-fi pulp garbage like this and hold it up to the light. We even get the requisite "let's Red Herring the fuck out of the German guy" angle! Rack up a double feature with Doctor X and have yourself a blast. Science vs. Murderers is a tale as old as time--but putting it both in an Old Dark House and high in the skies makes it all roughly a thousand times better.
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