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Tuesday, November 14, 2017

ZERO HOUR! (1957)

Famous (well, infamous) as the principle source for the hit spoof AIRPLANE!/’80, this little Canadian-based indie is, on its own terms, hokey, suspenseful thru the snickers & good fun. Pieces of business & dialogue used almost verbatim in the classic parody ricochet in your brain and can give you a case of the giggles as Dana Andrews’ distressed ex-bomber pilot takes the controls of a passenger plane after both pilots (plus half the cabin) choose tainted halibut over lamb chops as their entrée. (Halibut? Only in Canada.) Andrews replayed these terror tropes to risible effect in THE CROWDED SKY/’60, but here the inadvertent laughs almost feel integral under Hall Bartlett’s hack megging.* Sterling Hayden’s the tough-talking ground liaison guy; Linda Darnell the runaway wife, with halibut eating son, trusting Andrews to bring them in; and Jerry Paris makes like Senor Wences with a sock puppet to distract the sick kid. Some model plane effects are anything but special, while simple suspense elements (a dash panel from hell; knocked-out radio frequency) do most of the work. And it doesn’t hurt to be in-and-out in a speedy 80 minutes.

DOUBLE-BILL: Obviously, AIRPLANE! But which to watch first? Hint: ZERO is much funnier seen second.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Novelist Arthur Hailey, of AIRPORT/’70 fame, and not exactly known for his sense of humor, co-scripted. Any laughs are definitely inadvertent.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Dana Andrews’ speech sounds crisp & clear compared with last year’s BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT where his drinking problems made for difficult afternoon shoots. Was he newly on the wagon?

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