AllMovie

Someone once remarked that Hollywood movies weren't so much made as remade, or words to that effect. One of the most often "remade" stories was the one about two friends in love with the same girl. Sometimes, as in Central Airport, they were brothers even, but whatever their familial relationship, they were always engaged in jobs calling for bravery and excitement: airline pilots, stevedores, linesmen, and even tuna fishermen. Usually star billing would denote the outcome, but not always, and Central Airport remains as one of the exceptions. Director William Wellman flew with the famous Lafayette Escadrille during World War I and the flying scenes are top-notch, as you would expect. The drama, however, comes to a screeching halt once the cast is back on solid ground, but that, too, is par for the course. An entire scene depicting the outcome of the crash of a passenger plane was omitted prior to release lest the public should doubt the safety of air travel, and such performers as Glenda Farrell and John Vosper consequently ended up on the cutting room floor.