The Sky Dragon

This film, along with The Shanghai Chest, is my favorite of the Roland Winters films. Here, Charlie is on board a late night flight home to San Francisco. He awakens to find that everyone on the plane has been drugged, $250,000 has disappeared, and a detective hired to guard the money has been murdered.

There are a couple of subplots that at first seem to be distractions, but ultimately tie in to the murder case. The cast is filled with familiar faces, including Iris Adrian, Elena Verdugo, Lyle Talbot, Milburn Stone, and John Eldredge. The skill of these character actors adds immeasurably to the film. There is a little less comedy in this one and that is fine by me. And the presence of number one son Lee (Keye Luke) is always welcomed.

There is no denying that these Monograms lack the technical expertise of the earlier Fox films. But if one accepts them for what they are, low budget B mysteries, you will enjoy the 65 minutes.