Director: LEWIS SEILER. Screenplay: Raymond Schrock. Photography: Ted McCord. Film editor: Frank Magee. Art director: Stanley Fleischer. Gowns: Howard Shoup. Music: William Lava. Dialogue director: Harry Seymour. Assistant director: William Kissell. Sound recording: Robert B. Lee. Producer: Bryan Foy.Copyright 17 April 1940 by Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. A Warner Brothers-First National picture. New York opening at the Palace: 3 July 1940. U.S. release: 1 June 1940. Australian release: 14 March 1940 (sic). 5,027 feet. 55 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Spies attempt to make off with the plans for the U.S. Navy's "inertia projector". COMMENT: This follow-up to Smashing the Money Ring (1939) is adequate enough as a support, although the promised sci-fi "inertia projector" (which supposedly turns off all machinery including trains, cars and street lamps) turns out to be rather tame. Never mind, Miss Lys makes an attractive femme fatale, while Mr Reagan plays the all-American hero for rather more than the part is worth. The scenes on the dirigible are worth waiting for. Mr Foy, of course, is a pain, but at least he drops out of the action for a spell. The film's chief disappointment lies in the casting of that fine actor James Stephenson who is forced to make the best of a rather silly role as chief of a foreign spy ring.

Murder In The Air marked the conclusion of future president Ronald Reagan as two fisted, hard hitting Secret Service agent Brass Bancroft with Eddie Foy, Jr. as his sidekick. It's got every ingredient a B film for the Saturday matinée crowd should have, spies with tattoos, a secret weapon, and a two timing double crossing dame who nearly ends it for our hero.Although the spies are never outrightly identified as German, the head guy talks with a Teutonic accent, all the bad guys have German sounding names, and they all have the same tattoo on the arm. When a body turns up Philadelphia with a lot of cash and a letter in invisible ink to a guy the US government has been looking to nail for espionage, Ron is sent in undercover taking the dead guy's identity.These spies have something big in mind, to steal the plans of a secret weapon, a ray that can paralyze electrical currents. The weapon is called the Inertia Projector and its years in advance before the term laser came into general use. The femme fatale in the plot is Lya Lys who is best remembered for being robbed of all her blood in The Return Of Doctor X by Humphrey Bogart. She's the wife of the dead guy Reagan is masquerading as and she nearly cooks Reagan's act. Good thing Ron was thinking fast on his feet here.The film was written around some real footage of the USS Macon dirigible crash and incorporated in Murder In The Air. It's the best thing about the movie, the way Warner Brothers skilfully edited the disaster film footage into this movie.My big question is how come the ray wasn't used the following year at Pearl Harbor against the Japanese?

Starting with SECRET SERVICE OF THE AIR (1938), Ronald Reagan made four B-movie series film with the character of "Brass Bancroft". I have seen all but SMASHING THE MONEY RING. The first film, despite its very low budget and modest pretense, was an exceptional film for the genre. The second, CODE OF THE SECRET SERVICE was just awful--with an extremely poorly written script that wasn't worthy of the franchise. This final film, MURDER IN THE AIR, isn't quite as good as the first film but it sure comes close--making a nice conclusion to this series.Reagan is given a special assignment to infiltrate a mob of spies who are seeking to destroy American. Oddly, like in his other films, the exact countries involved never are alluded to, though in this one Communists are mentioned. These evil rats have a big plan, but Reagan and the rest of his fellow agents have no idea what it will be. Fortunately, one of the spies is accidentally killed and Reagan assumes his identity. I'd rather not discuss exactly what happens next, as it might spoil the surprise, but I was excited to see that the film was set partially on board a US Navy dirigible and the scene involving it crashing was pretty exciting.All in all, this is not a film that you'll long remember--it's a B-film through and through. But for a B, it's an excellent one and stand above the crowd of many B series films.

Murder In the Air was the fourth movie to star future President Ronald Reagan as agent Ross Bancroft. This is at present the only one of this series I've seen and was rather impressed.A man with a tattoo of a circle and arrow is found dead after a rail crash and he turns out to be hobo with £50,000 on him. Bancroft and his sidekick are sent to investigate. The investigation eventually sends them onto an airship, Mason, which could be blown up...Murder in the Air is worth catching if you get the chance as it is rather hard to get hold of. A good way of spending just under an hour.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.