gridoon2018 Marjorie Reyolds has one pleasing song ("By The Look Of Things"), and Mantan Moreland has one delightful scene where he dances - surprisingly well! Other than that, "Up In The Air" comes straight off the mystery-comedy assembly line (the cut-rate production department). The lead, Frankie Darro, is a non-entity, and at the end the killer seems to be chosen at random (no clues are given to the viewer). ** out of 4.

Case B-movie star Frankie Darro and everyone's favorite bug-eyed comic relief Mantan Moreland made several murder mystery comedies together around 1940 (with some other more-or-less recurring cast members, including Tristram Coffin) for Monogram Pictures. In this one, the guys work at a radio station (Frankie as a bell-boy as usual) when they get mixed up in the murder of the station's popular, but problematic singing star, Rita Wilson (played by Lorna Gray) who is shot during a rehearsal. As usual, the police detective who handles the case is quite arrogant and incompetent, but he ends up working together quite fine with Frankie. And Mantan. Who, while doing his regular scared-of-everything act, is definitely much more than a mandatory comic relief here: he gets top billing, proves again that he is an excellent comedian and also takes part in the detective work quite effectively and in general, his role is more similar to what we usually see from Lou Abbott. So even the people who are extra-sensitive about the racial stereotypes of classic Hollywood are safe with this one. And talking about Abbott and Costello: they actually did their own version of the "murder mystery at the radio station" theme two years later in Who Done It? (1942), while Monogram remade the story in 1945 as There Goes Kelly.Up In The Air has a little bit of everything: mystery, action, comedy, musical and the mixture works pretty well, but as the hour-long entry has several musical numbers, comedy acts and even a dance performance by Mantan, you can imagine how thin the plot is. But it is actually nothing more than a tool to keep the story going and to hold the movie together and at that, it does a pretty fine job and makes this a rather enjoyable little time-passer, complete with car chase, Frankie and Mantan's black face comedy act and a mysterious singing cowboy.

kidboots Frankie Darro did pretty well for a child actor. Starting off in the silents, he appeared in "The Public Enemy" (1931) and was the star of William Wellman's heart wrenching tale of the depression "The Wild Boys of the Road" (1933). By the mid 30s he had his own series at Conn Pictures Corp and by the late 30s he was teamed with Mantan Moreland for a Monogram series of comedy mysteries with plenty of music and up and coming female talent. He was once co-starred with Gale Storm in "Let's Go Collegiate" (1941) but usually it was with the very pretty Marjorie Reynolds.Frankie (Frankie Darro) is a page at the local radio station. He has an eye for the ladies and he spies pretty receptionist Ann (Marjorie Reynolds) who yearns to be a singer. He "arranges" an audition and finds she really has a voice - she sings "By the Look of Things" and really swings it. By the song's end she realises that Frankie is not a big wig but a lowly page. Meanwhile the station's top singer Rita (Lorna Grey) throws one tantrum too many and the station is on the look out for a new talent. Not before Rita begins a sultry rendition of "Doin' the Conga" - suddenly the lights go out, a shot rings out and when the lights go on - Rita is found dead!!!Mantan Moreland is always great and here he is Jeff, Frankie's amiable sidekick. He does a soft shoe shuffle to "By the Look of Things" only to be told that it won't go down on radio!!! The suspects mount - a suspicious cowboy, Tex (Gordon Jones), drops into the broadcast - Rita seems scared of him - he disappears in all the commotion. Frankie has overheard Farrell (Tristram Coffin) having words with Rita before the broadcast - he says he will help Ann with her career if Frankie doesn't mention the fight to the police. Frankie (in blackface) and Jeff audition for the comedy spot on the radio, when they decide to show Hastings (Dick Elliot) the manager, they find Tex Barton dead!!!Ann gets another chance and really puts over "Somehow or Other" - "mmmm not bad" - a radio technician sums her up. Frankie thinks he has solved the mystery. He thinks Gladys Wharton, a girl that Tex was previously involved with, is really Ann, because he found Ann's picture in Tex's belongings. It is pretty plain that Rita is really Gladys. Rita and Tex had a singing act at a Cheyenne radio station but left due to a shooting scandal. Frankie finds this all out by sending a wire - he is just about to find out the executive's name in the scandal when the line goes dead.Who did it???? I didn't guess and I thought it was one of Darro's and Moreland's better pairings - even though Frankie didn't do any stunts!!! Darro and Moreland had an easy rapport and a great friendship that really comes through the film. The film ends with Marjoie Reynolds singing "Doin' The Conga" and really giving it her all.Recommended.

dbborroughs Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland made several movie together in the 1930's and 40's where they were pretty much on equal footing with each other despite everything that was going on around them. They were the stereotypical buddies of the buddy film. Normally that wouldn't mean much except that Darro was white and Moreland was black and in every other film of their time no one could be as they were unless they both were white.Race has absolutely nothing to do with the plot of Up in the Air, which concerns a series of murders at a radio station. I mention the fact notion of race simply because the script for this movie was used two or three more times with out nary a change for white co-stars. The fact that the script was re-used is also an very good indication that the film is a very good one. No its not flawless, there are little bumps here and there and a couple of jumps in logic, but as excuse for murder and silliness in the typical Hollywood style one need not look much farther than this film.