YUKON FLIGHT (1940) James Newill, Louise Stanley & Warren Hull | Western, Adventure | B&W

Yukon Flight (also known as Renfrew of the Royal Mounted in Yukon Flight) is a 1940 American Western film directed by Ralph Staub and starring James Newill, Louise Stanley, Dave O'Brien and William Pawley. Released by Monogram Pictures, the film uses a musical/action formula, similar to the format of the "singing cowboy" films of the era.

SYNOPSIS
When a plane owned by the "Yukon and Columbia Mail Service" crashes, RCMP Sergeant Renfrew (James Newill) and Constable Kelly (Dave O'Brien) suspect murder. Their suspicions are confirmed when Renfrew discovers the control stick has been jammed, forcing the plane to fly in one direction until the gas ran out. Louise Howard (Louise Stanley), a mine owner, reports that her superintendent is missing. The Mounties find him murdered, and the scene is staged to look like an accident.

A new mail service pilot, Bill Shipley (Warren Hull), arrives. He had gone to training school with Renfrew but was expelled for misconduct. The Mounties discover that Raymond (Karl Hackett), who had been working for Louise, actually owns the airline managed by Yuke Cardoe (William Pawley). They find proof that all the gold from the mine isn't being turned over to Louise and suspect that Raymond and Yuke are stealing the gold and shipping it to Seattle by plane.

Renfrew sets a trap, and Yuke and Raymond try to escape in their plane. Renfrew and Shipley manage to bring them down. After the criminals are apprehended, Renfrew makes a recommendation for Shipley to join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a new pilot.

CAST & CREW
James Newill as Sgt. Renfrew
Louise Stanley as Louise Howard
Warren Hull as Bill Shipley
William Pawley as "Yuke" Gradeau
George Humbert as Nick
Karl Hackett as Raymond
Jack Clifford as "Whispering Smith"
Roy Barcroft as Lodin
Bob Terry as DeLong
Earl Douglas as "Smokey" Joe

Directed by: Ralph Staub
Written by: Edward Halperin, William Kernell
Produced by: Ralph Staub
Cinematography by: Jerome Ash
Edited by: Charles Henkel Jr.
Music by: William Lava
Production company: Criterion Pictures
Distributed by: Monogram Pictures
Release date: February 15, 1940
Running time: 58 minutes
Country: United States
Language: English

NOTES
All of the Renfrew pictures were made miles from the sheltered enclosure of Hollywood sound stages. Cameras were set up where there was tall timber and deep blue mountain lakes and no stage-door guards. Shooting pictures under such conditions very often led to unusual situations. According to a press release (to be taken with a grain of salt), “In the making of the latest Renfrew picture, Yukon Flight, the Monogram troupe had to stop working on the picture for several days to help forest rangers put out a forest fire. Then a few days later, James Newill saved a little girl from drowning.”

Yukon Flight was the first of three Renfrew movies to be directed by Ralph Staub, whose credits included producing a lengthy on-going series of film shorts known as Screen Snapshots (1930–1958) and a number of Gene Autry westerns at Republic. Three of Staub’s Screen Snapshots were nominated for an Academy Award, and he remains the only director in the Renfrew film franchise to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Sergeant Renfrew of the Royal Mounted flew a Waco biplane in a fight with the criminals, filmed in the air.

Sergeant Renfrew of the Royal Mounted was a character created by Laurie York Erskine in 1922 and continued in books, stories and on radio for many years. Yukon Flight was one of three films based on the Laurie York Erskine novel Renfrew Rides North. The others were Renfrew on the Great White Trail (1938) and Murder on the Yukon (1940).