Spies of the Air (1939)

65% User Rating

1h 18min

Set just before the outbreak of WWII, this is the story of a test pilot who works for the (unnamed) enemy. Made in 1939, by the time it was released in 1940, war had been declared.

David MacDonaldDirector

Cast

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Barry K. Barnes

Peter Thurloe

Joan Marion

Dorothy Houghton

Roger Livesey

Charles Houghton

Basil Radford

Bill Madison

Everley Gregg

Emily Madison

Felix Aylmer

Col. Cairns

Wallace Douglas

Agent Hooper

Henry Oscar

Porter

John Turnbull

Sir Andrew Hamilton

Edward Ashley

Stuart

Santos Casani

Foreigner

Hal Walters

Kingswell

David Davies

Detective (uncredited)

Reviews (1)

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CinemaSerf

Rating 60%

June 22, 2022

Not much to say about tis rather routine, short, pre-war espionage drama. Roger Livesey is an aeronautical engineer working with his team (Basil Bradford and Barry Barnes) on a top secret design for a test aircraft. Meantime Felix Aylmer ("Col. Cairns") is in charge of security and when he suspects the plans are being copied we have to try and suss out who the traitor is - and discover it's not just the nation that might be being betrayed. It's got an efficient script, the story doesn't hang about and there is some enjoyable aerial photography (interspersed with some rather fun toy aircraft-on-a-wire type shots too) with quite a good ending. David MacDonald does fine with what must have been a tiny budget, and it has a certain, enjoyable, generosity of spirit about it.