Trixie is a female pilot looking to win a big race to advance her career. During one race, however, her plane becomes damaged, and she needs help to repair it. She meets a Navy pilot named "Tex" Price and tries to gain his aid. Tex soon meets another pilot, Gerry, a novice who seeks to win an important upcoming race. Tex, concerned for Gerry's safety, tries to convince her not to race. But Gerry, now a rival of Trixie's, is determined to fly.
Acting
Alice Faye's grittier than her musicals ever let her be.
Production
Actual aerial footage—no green screens in 1939, baby.
Costume
Leather jackets and silk scarves: vintage aviation porn.
Director
Roy Del Ruth
Alice Faye
Trixie Lee
Constance Bennett
Gerry Lester
Nancy Kelly
Lois Allen
Joan Davis
Babe Dugan
Charles Farrell
Bud
Jane Wyman
Alabama
Kane Richmond
Lieutenant Dick 'Tex' Price
Wally Vernon
Chick
Joan Valerie
Sunny
Harry Davenport
T.P. Lester
Edward Norris
Speed Allen
J. Anthony Hughes
Al Moore
Mary Gordon
Mrs. Lee
Robert Allen
Charlie
Irving Bacon
Storekeeper (Uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released months before WWII, it captures the last gasp of civilian aviation romance before women pilots became wartime propaganda tools. The real 'Powder Puff Derby' pilots were furious at this fictionalized catfighting.
Jane Wyman appears so briefly as 'Alabama' you'll miss her—she'd win an Oscar eight years later while this film collected dust.
US
