The Sky Skidder (1929)
Directed by Bruce M. Mitchell
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson
Real-life aviator Al Wilson starred in a series of popular silent actioners, of which 1929's Sky Skidder was among the last. Hero Al Simpkins (Wilson) invents a revolutionary fuel that will enable pilots to clock 1000 miles on a single pint. The villain, surprisingly enough, is not an oil magnate who hopes to suppress the invention, but instead a run-of-the-mill mustache-twirler (Walter McGaugh) who wants to steal the fuel for himself. Caught in the middle of all this is heroine Stella Hearns (Helen Foster), who ends up being kidnapped by the heavy. In the film's climactic "money scene," hero and villain duke it out on the wing of a plane in flight (a specialty of star Al Wilson).
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Keywords
danger, barnstorming, damsel-in-distress, inventor, on-the-run, rescue, robbery