This is the story of the historic 1938 flight of Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan who starred as himself in this film, which chronicled his infamous flight. On July 17, 1938, he loaded 320 gallo... Read allThis is the story of the historic 1938 flight of Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan who starred as himself in this film, which chronicled his infamous flight. On July 17, 1938, he loaded 320 gallons of gasoline (40 hours' worth) into the tiny, single engine plane. While expressing his ... Read allThis is the story of the historic 1938 flight of Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan who starred as himself in this film, which chronicled his infamous flight. On July 17, 1938, he loaded 320 gallons of gasoline (40 hours' worth) into the tiny, single engine plane. While expressing his intent to fly west to Long Beach, CA, he flew out of Floyd Bennett Field heading east over... Read all
Photos
- Maybelle - a Waitress
- (uncredited)
- Bettor
- (uncredited)
- Henry Corrigan - 7 Years Old
- (uncredited)
- Russian Commentator
- (uncredited)
- Edith - as a Little Girl
- (uncredited)
- New York Airport Gas Attendant
- (uncredited)
- Mr. Smedley
- (uncredited)
- Teenager Taking Photograph
- (uncredited)
- Sally - a Waitress
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDouglas Corrigan was nicknamed "Wrong Way" in 1938 after flying from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, to Baldonnel Aerodrome, County Dublin, Ireland on July 18 though his flight plan was filed to return to Long Beach, California. He had been denied permission to make a nonstop flight from New York to Ireland and claimed his unauthorized flight was due to a navigational error. However, Corrigan, one of the builders of Charles A. Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis had made several modifications to his plane in preparation for the transatlantic flight. This, among other factors, suggests the "mistake" was deliberate although Corrigan never admitted this.
- Crazy creditsDuring the opening credits, an airplane flies through the names, erasing each screen, and a new screen of credits is displayed.
- ConnectionsSpoofed in Gilligan's Island: Wrongway Feldman (1964)
- SoundtracksWearin' of the Green
(uncredited)
Traditional Irish folk song
Part of the score when the title is shown
'The Flying Irishman' is a quickie film, cashing in on Corrigan's exploit and starring himself in the lead role. A sizeable number of the supporting roles in this film are played by veteran character actors, which in this case is a disadvantage: we're supposed to see this film as a factual enactment of real events, but the presence of familiar faces Robert Armstrong, Paul Kelly, Donald MacBride, Charles Lane, Frank Faylen, &c, constantly remind us that we're watching a movie. Corrigan is no actor, so his interaction with these old pros is jarring. He does nicely enough in a brief scene with blonde Joyce Compton as a blowsy waitress.
The film attempts to tell Corrigan's entire life story up to his wrong-way flight, depicting his early days and his relationship with his brother Henry. None of this material is very interesting, especially as it appears to be the usual Hollywood bio-pic confabulation. We're really here to see Corrigan's flight and what happened afterwards. Since I already knew Corrigan's story before I saw this film, there were no surprises for me here. When this movie was made, in 1939, practically everyone in America knew Corrigan's story ... so, my criticism on that point is valid. Still, modern viewers - who have heard of Corrigan but don't know anything about him - might enjoy watching this movie. Also, I admire Corrigan for his real-life nerve (risking his life to prove he was right and the aviation officials were wrong). I admire him for breaking the rules in a context that jeopardised no-one but himself, and I admire him for getting away with it afterward. I wish that screenwriter Dalton Trumbo had spent more time writing movies like this, and less time in some of his other activities. (Guess which ones, comrade.) I'll rate this movie 6 out of 10. Cleared for take-off!
- F Gwynplaine MacIntyre
- May 7, 2004
- Permalink
Details
- Runtime1 hour 11 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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