Review of Flight to Nowhere

Donovan is listed on this site as FBI but clearly his character harks back to Wild Bill Donovan of what is always referred to as "the old wartime OSS" that gave rise to the CIA in 1947. Just after the war counter espionage etc was under the War Dept. This isn't about atomic secrets, just a uranium deposit, and it isn't about a couple on a plane but about a former OSS man. And it isn't about terrorists but business people making money illegally and immorally. If our hero was Donovan's best operative, I don't know how we won the war. He's so useless this might have been played as a romantic comedy and been more successful. He can't do anything without everyone knowing about it, can't hold onto what he thinks is the map (which he inaccurately describes as an envelope with papers written in Japanese when he actually never opened it), gets bashed over the head twice when the thin envelope was stolen, seems to have the passion of a dead fish and no sense of caution, and doesn't bother to make sure the bad guy is incapacitated before turning his back and walking away so Donovan has to save him. He doesn't even seem particularly upset when his ex, who stole for him twice and lied for him once, saving the day for him because of his ineptness, and his plane are blown up--I guess his insurance covered sabotage or maybe the US govt paid for a new one. He even has to have it explained to him that the explosion was meant for him! Donovan obviously knew his boy when he kept shoving him along and looking after him. Normally I don't like summing up scenes in mysteries but this contrived mess could have used one. I , egads, watched it twice and I still don't know the answers. Was the oxygen thing just a ploy to make the countess seem in danger over something else to rope in our halfwitted hero to help and protect her? Why did the heroine's brother owe the countess money? Why did the heroine act like an ATM for her brother? What did the countess mean when she said that Walker wanted to buy the letter from her so he could name his own price for the map from Claude? She also said that Walker wanted to buy her information to trade to Claude for the map. All I can think of is something was left on the cutting room floor about the letter which we are supposed to assume is the map. Didn't the countess notice the weird ring Claude gave his sister? Why did they travel en masse? Did the mysterious letter tie Claude to the countess and then everyone else stuck to them like glue? Couldn't they shake this circus? And was the boyfriend just an arrogant parasite? Did the ex happen to drop in after over four years and just happen to know the countess and just happen to have the skills needed to lift items from others? Did Donovan arrange for her to come the way he arranged for the man to confess to the murder and we weren't told about it. I particularly liked the way the group reacted when someone else confessed. They missed a bet not making this into a comedy.

LOVE IN HER HEART...BUT DISASTER IN HER HAND! Whoever wrote the tagline should have written the movie.

Is Hobe short for something?

My favorite line, from the ex with a smile, "No wonder people go around beating you over the head." My feeling exactly!

Hoot Gibson does a nice turn as the sheriff in his rather ill-fitting cowboy garb which went well with the rest of the largely unflattering costumes. The locations were lovely although not as interesting historically as scenes of downtown Las Vegas would be. Unfortunately recording in restrooms and great rooms of lodges was a problem for the sound people. I give it a star for scenery and for unintentional belly laughs.