A Major Disappointment

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Blistering performances.

Anna Lee is a chorine on her last legs on Broadway, when she sort of witnesses a murder. Before she realizes it, she has been framed for theft and spent several years as a guest of His Majesty. When she gets out and realizes that they're about to hang an innocent man. So she goes to Scotland Yard, where Inspector John Loder is unconvinced by her vague memories and inability to identify the actual murder. Since there's only a couple of days left, she stows away on a flying clipper to New York, and guess who else is there? Not only Loder, but Francis Sullivan, the actual murderer.The story is put together in a fairly clever way, and it's all given an appropriately Mid-Atlantic sound, what with Sullivan affecting a Uruguayan accent for his own purposes. Frank Cellier has a nice role as a blackmailer looking for material and Robert Stevenson directs in his usual competent but non-individual manner. It was clearly produced by British-Gaumont for distribution on both sides of the Atlantic, but other than making a few British actors a bit more familiar to American audiences, it didn't set any house records at the time.

English and American characters and accents mingle in this lively thriller about a murder witness on the run.…from and then back to New York.Anna Lee is our heroine, a young English chorus girl; hungry and out of luck in New York and about to board ship for home, she is befriended by a young lawyer who invites her over for a meal. Once inside his apartment, however, the man is promptly murdered by a gang of thugs headed by big smoothy Francis L. Sullivan. Noting that Lee is "the only person alive who knows that we were in that apartment last night"—at least that's what he thinks at the time—Sullivan subtly trails her. The action moves to London, where the gang attempts to prevent Lee from returning to New York, where the imminent execution of an innocent fall guy will close the case. Will Lee's character realize the situation? And will she be able to reach America in time to save the innocent man's life? –This is where the story takes off: when all of the major characters board a trans-Atlantic airplane that is easily the most memorable element of this movie.The plane is like no other: ordinary airliner on the outside, on the inside it's more like an ocean liner—complete with staterooms instead of rows of seats. It's even got a sort of porch—an observation deck—for characters who care to step outside, mid-Atlantic Ocean, and get a breath of wind in the face.Among the cast, Anna Lee is quite dashing as the girl with a brain and some courage. John Loder is fine as a handsome young police inspector who is drawn into the case and onto the plane; Loder and Lee don't have a whole lot of scenes together but share a cute scene on the observation deck. Francis L. Sullivan is excellent as the boss gangster. With the looks of Sidney Greenstreet and a voice like George Sanders, he is indeed a memorable villain. Young Desmond Tester is also a lot of fun to watch—a violin prodigy traveling with a grumpy aunt, the kid is prone to snooping and illicit saxophone playing.A nice variety of characters, a decent plot, and that fantastic airliner make this one a winner.

Imagine this---it's 1937, and you can get from London to New York on the White Star Line of jets without stopping, unless of course you find a few delays on Cloud 9 to be stopping. Chorus girl Anna Lee has witnessed a murder, and a detective, the killer, and a blackmailer are also aboard, observing her. This plane is so glamorous, it has actual suites for its passengers, as well as a deck outside of the fast-moving air vehicle. Lee has stowed away on board, afraid of going to Scotland Yard on the fear she'll be made a suspect, and the detective secretly arranges for her to get the last available suite. There's also a saxophone playing brat on board who always ends up being around when danger is lurking, and he ends up being a hero of sorts.The first third of the movie is actually deadly dull, but once the passengers are on board and the plane has taken off, it picks up a bit of speed. Then, it becomes an eye-rolling account of movie fantasy that could never happen in air traffic. The only thing it is missing is a pool! The killer is not afraid of taking others out to get to Lee, so a few other bodies line up along the way. And once the plane is halfway over the Atlantic, the whole passenger list is in jeopardy. Of course, detective John Loder makes a daring attempt to turn things around, and this sequence is so far out there, you can't help but laughing out loud. The site of Athene Seyler as the little saxophone player's aunt waking up in the middle of it is another moment of unintended hilarity. Of course, Anna Lee, whom audiences adored as Lila Quartermain on "GH" and the sweet Sister Margaretta in "The Sound of Music" (as well as the well-intentioned but nosy neighbor in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?") is strikingly lovely. Only 24 when this film came out, she had a nice if not star making career as a leading lady, and is utterly charming. Francis L. Sullivan made a career out of playing nasty villains, and this is one of the most dastardly. This is a major curio for fans of British cinema, and an interesting follow-up to "The Tunnel" and "Things to Come".

I bought the video of Non-Stop New York on a whim when I saw it was about a double-decker airplane with an outside deck(!). However, the plane only comes into play during the last half of the film, and when it does, the design of it is so downplayed that we assume double-decker planes were mainstream travel in 1938. The plot involves a chorus girl trying to free an innocent man from death row while being pursued by the gangsters that did it. Yeah, we've all seen it before, but the plane, and the way the movie uses it, truly make this trip worth it.In my opinion, if you stumbled across a film as esoteric as this in the IMDb and actually are taking the time to read about it, you'll enjoy it. This is what all those Airport movies wish they were.