On a transcontinental flight from California to New York, a police detective (Fred Kelsey), found slumped in his seat is, dead, poisoned. The passengers include Evelyn Vail (Florence Rice), a nurse on parole for a murder she did not commit. The victim had also died of poisoning. The elderly doctor she worked for is still in prison. Evelyn is attempting to clear her name and bring the real killer to trial, a convict on death row at Sing Sing who can confess to the killing, if only she can get there in time.
Another passenger is John Robinson Gordon (Conrad Nagel), a college instructor who becomes involved in Evelyn's plight. He is carrying a secret armament formula to deliver to the Secretary of the NavyinWashington, D.C. He protects the valuable secret formula, clutching a briefcase at all times. John begins to suspect Evelyn but other passengers appear suspicious; who, among the other passengers, is the real murderer?
Principal photography on Death Flies East took place from December 27, 1934 to January 15, 1935.[4]American Airlines loaned a Douglas DC-2 airliner that was featured in . Interiors and flight-deck scenes, however, were shot in a studio using a mock-up.[5][N 1]
Aviation historian Michael Paris equated Death Flies East as a progenitor of the "disaster film". He wrote, "... the stereotyped collection of passengers, essential in the disaster movie, were first created in the 1930s in films such as Thirteen Hours by Air and Death Flies East.[6]
Beck, Simon D. The Aircraft-Spotter's Film and Television Companion. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2016. ISBN9-781476-663494.
Paris, Michael. From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. ISBN978-0-7190-4074-0.
Parish, James Robert. Hollywood Character Actors. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1978. ISBN978-0-870-00384-4.
Pendo, Stephen. Aviation in the Cinema. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. ISBN0-8-1081-746-2.
