Fly high with the fun girls of Polar Atlantic Airways! These three girls (Pamela Tiffen, Lois Nettleton and Dolores Hart) are foot loose and fancy free on the New York, Paris, Vienna route. They each meet a special someone and each go through turbulence with them in the high flying world of being an airline stewardess. Carol (Tiffen) falls in love with a co-pilot (Hugh O'Brian), Donna (Hart) with an Austrian baron who turns out to be a smuggler and Hilda (Nettleton) with a shy, unassuming millionaire who flies coach (Malden). Will these girls be able to make their romances work when the wheels are on the ground?
This film is beautifully shot in New York and Europe and though the story is stock and soapy (sort of a high flying The Best of Everything without the suicide) the performances are charming and the characters are enjoyable. For those of you who know New York's Kennedy Airport, look for it in its architectural hey day during the opening credits.
This was the first of the films to glamorize the lives of stewardesses in the 1960's. It's somewhat known for that distinction. It's not available on DVD yet, and somewhat hard to find. You can, however, watch the whole film on YouTube. Part one is above, uploaded by heapsoflovenozomi. The poster above is available at MoviePosterShop.com.
Obscurity factor: 5 (known for being a "first", not on DVD, otherwise obscure, available on YouTube)
The married byatch is Dawn Addams, a Brit who was to Joan Collins what Joan Collins was to Elizabeth Taylor. Still, she was also attractive in a cruel sort of way. And one of the F/As in coach is... Miss Moneypenny! But the sexiest thing in this film is the classic line of the 707: phallic engines, and the high-heel like VHF antenna at the top of the tail: never equalled. And the sound of those pre-turbofan engines, a dream.
ReplyDeleteGlad you recommended this. Never had seen it, worried it was just too giddy-girly and that the aviation aspects would be inaccurate (a pet peeve of mine: when the outside shots and the cabin mockup do not match). For the 707 lover, it goes near the top of the list (tops are Bullitt and The April Fools).
I'm glad you approve of how they portray the airliner. It is beautiful, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this movie when I saw it a couple years ago. That three girls in search of romance and marriage genre was always enjoyable. I can't think of any examples in recent years, but from the 1930s-1960s it was very popular. I think my favorite is "How to Marry a Millionaire." 20th-Century-Fox seemed to make more of these than the other studios.
ReplyDeleteNever thought I'd see the day when a show made in 1963 could be considered a period piece. But times have so changed! Consider how politically incorrect it is for a young woman to aspire to such outre' concepts as romance and marriage. You couldn't make this movie today! In a modern film the only way a girl could aspire to love and marriage is if she was secretly a hooker or a serial killer!
ReplyDeleteI see your point. Aspirations of love and marriage to take you away from your career are very much the old paradigm, however films still feature them, but in a different way - now female characters in films aspire to love and marriage in a "having it all" kind of way. There are still all sorts of subtle and not so subtle (Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada) references to career woman being hard as nails.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the promo for the new ABC fall series "Pan Am?" It looks like it could be the TV version of this movie.
ReplyDeleteIt does, doesn't it? Looks like fun. I'm glad some other networks are getting on the Mad Men bandwagon...
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