Tailspin Tommy Danger Flight (1939) / Mystery Plane (1939) (2-DVD)

Danger Flight (1939, B&W): Tailspin Tommy Thompkins is a high-flying hero with a reputation for daring recklessness. He ignores everyone's warnings and insists on flying through a dangerous storm to make a weekly delivery to a remote mining company in the mountains. Crashing in the wilderness, Tommy is rescued, but news of the crash has reached a band of crooks who have their eyes on the payroll shipments Tommy is carrying. On the very next run, the outlaw gang kidnaps Tommy and steals the money, but the pilot's ingenuity and a young friend's model plane are factors the gang hasn't counted on.

Danger Flight was one of a series of films based on the very popular comic strip of the 20s and 30s, "Tailspin Tommy," a contemporary of "Prince Valiant" and "Terry and the Pirates." The strip was drawn by Hal Forrest, who also wrote the stories on which the series is based. The role of Tommy's co-pilot Skeeter was handled by character actor Milburn Stone, best known as Doc Adams on the "Gunsmoke" TV series of the 50s and 60s.

Mystery Plane (1939, B&W): Ace pilot Tailspin Tommy has invented a groundbreaking new bomb targeting system that will revolutionize the Air Force. On the eve of the system's delivery, a treasonous group of spies kidnaps Tommy to force the plans out of him. When the villains threaten Tommy's girlfriend, the pilot is forced to choose between his country and his love. Unable to turn his back on either, Tailspin Tommy risks everything on a heart-stopping plan.

The first of four Monogram films based on Hal Forrest's comic strip, "Tailspin Tommy," Mystery Plane was a showcase for some talented people who went on to greater acclaim. Director George Waggner directed The Wolf Man (1941) and Marjorie Reynolds appeared opposite Boris Karloff in Monogram's Mr. Wong series and starred in Holiday Inn and Fritz Lang's Ministry of Fear.