The picture starts out auspiciously as the story of the first flyers who took the airmail, back in the "Twenties. The scene is a circus, complete with a rudimentary chorus line and four brothers who put on a daredevil air show. The audience is set for an hour and a half of rare entertainment, when the story collapses with a whimper into the worst kind of homey, ineptly-handled drama. One of the brothers, a self-styled ladies' man, marries, and brings his wife to live with his brethren, all of whom fly the mail. Inevitably, one of them (the kid) is killed, and another (strong and silent) is crippled, all with the background of Anne Baxter's rather mystifying marital problems.

But within the dull plot, which seems to have been doped out by two cynical script-writers over a short beer, is some worthwhile stuff. The photography is for the most part excellent, especially a scene of a biplane disintegrating in the air in a thunderstorm. In fact, the parts of the movie that concern the flying are all good. Howard Da Silva, playing the worried owner of the airlines, is natural and convincing. William Bendix takes over every scene in which he is, as a hedgehopping pilot and a friend of the family. One wishes that the movie had stuck to the flying story and left out the drab plot surrounding Anne Baxter, who is unpleasantly water-eyed almost all the time.

Right at the beginning, a sultry blonde appears in front of the chorus line. A little is seen of her then, and everyone begins to sit up, hoping for more. She has a hoarse voice and she is not much of an actress, but she is entertainment--good, old-fashioned cheesecake. She appears only once again, and the audience is left nostalgically thinking of the first scene, which, if corny, has more personality than is supplied by Sonny Tufts, his three brothers, and the girl, all rolled into a neat airmail package.