Flight for Freedom is a 1943 drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by Lothar Mendes

Lothar Mendes

Lothar Mendes was a German screenwriter and film director. His most important work was Jew Suss- Personal life:...

. Film historians and Earhart scholars consider Flight for Freedom an "a clef" version of the Amelia Earhart life story concentrating on the sensational aspects of her disappearance during her 1937 world flight.The film's ending speculated that the main character's disappearance was connected to a secret mission to aid the U.S. government.

Plot

Tonie Carter (Russell) is a well-known aviatrix who is fighting the entrenched aviation establishment of the 1930s which has a built-in prejudice against women pilots. After setting flight records, she embarks on a top-secret mission. Although she is in love with fellow aviator Randy Britton (MacMurray), he does not approve of the flight, nor does her flight instructor, Paul Turner (Marshall), as it involves flying over Japanese held territory in the Pacific. Carter vanishes during the latter part of the world flight, triggering a massive search which proves fruitless.

Cast

As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):

Actor	Role
Rosalind Russell Rosalind Russell Rosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame...	Tonie Carter
Fred MacMurray Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....	Randy Britton
Herbert Marshall Herbert Marshall Herbert Marshall , born Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall, was an English actor.His parents were Percy F. Marshall and Ethel May Turner. He graduated from St. Mary's College in Old Harlow, Essex and worked for a time as an accounting clerk...	Paul Turner
Eduardo Ciannelli Eduardo Ciannelli Eduardo Ciannelli, sometimes credited as Edward Ciannelli, , was an Italian baritone and character actor with a long career in American films, mostly playing gangsters and criminals.-Early life:...	Johnny Salvini
Walter Kingsford Walter Kingsford Walter Kingsford was a British stage, film and television actor born in Redhill, Surrey, England. He was born Walter Pearce and had several sisters...	Admiral Graves
Damlan O'Flynn	Pete
Jack Carr	Bill
Matt McHugh	Mac
Richard Loo Richard Loo Richard Loo was a Chinese American film actor who was one of the most familiar Asian character actors in American films of the 1930s and 1940s. A prolific actor, he appeared in over 120 films between 1931 and 1982....	Mr. Yokohata
Charles Lung	Flyer

Production

Reportedly based on a screenplay submitted by Amelia Earhart's husband, George P. Putnam

George P. Putnam

George Palmer Putnam was an American publisher, author and explorer. Known for his marriage to and being the widower of Amelia Earhart, he had also achieved fame as one of the most successful promoters in the United States during the 1930s.-Early life:Born in Rye, New York, he was the son of John...

, Rosalind Russell's characterization of the Earhart-like aviatrix Tonie Carter, shows Carter establishing a reputation as "the Lady Lindbergh" and setting numerous aviation records. Other characters are loosely drawn from real life, such as Earhart confidant and instructor, Paul Mantz

Paul Mantz

Albert Paul Mantz was a noted air racing pilot, movie stunt pilot and consultant from the late 1930s until his death in the mid-1960s. He gained fame on two stages: Hollywood and in air races.-Early years:...

 as well as Fred Noonan

Fred Noonan

Frederick Joseph "Fred" Noonan was an American flight navigator, sea captain and aviation pioneer who first charted many commercial airline routes across the Pacific Ocean during the 1930s...

, albeit in the role of pilot Randy Britton.

Flight for Freedom was produced for RKO by Floyd Odlum, whose wife Jacqueline Cochran

Jacqueline Cochran

Jacqueline Cochran was a pioneer American aviator, considered to be one of the most gifted racing pilots of her generation...

, one of Earhart's close friends, was a renowned aviatrix, in her own right.

Reception

Bosley Crowther of the New York Times in his contemporary review, echoed the popular notion that the film was based on the life of Amelia Earhart. His lukewarm review touched on the central theme as being tacitly untenable.

Awards

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction

Academy Award for Best Art Direction

The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...

 (Albert S. D'Agostino

Albert S. D'Agostino

Albert S. D'Agostino was an American art director. He was nominated for five Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction...

, Carroll Clark

Carroll Clark

Carroll Clark was an American art director. He was nominated for seven Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction. He worked on 173 films between 1927 and 1968...

, Darrell Silvera

Darrell Silvera

Darrell Silvera was an American set decorator. He was nominated for seven Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction...

 and Harley Miller

Harley Miller

Harley Miller was an American set decorator. He was nominated an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film Flight for Freedom.-External links:...

).