First Film to Fly
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APEX Insight: Just Google “first in-flight movie” and you’ll see that even the behemoth search engine is perplexed, or perhaps apprehensive, of the flak attack that may come from any one answer.
There’s a stirring debate in the AvGeek community as to which film was the first shown on an airplane. The earlier of the two contenders is Howdy Chicago!, a silent movie that peddled the pros of Chi-Town. It was seen by 11 trade show attendees on board an Aeromarine Airways Model 75 amphibian while it circled 2,000 feet above the Windy City in 1921.
Then there’s The Lost World, shown on an Imperial Airways flight from London to Paris in 1925. This was a Hollywood movie adapted from the 1912 novel by Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It has since been revamped as Jurassic Park, among other movies and radio shows, and the original film holds a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 100 percent.
Taking all the facts into consideration, Howdy Chicago! was essentially a commercial shown at a press junket mid air. It’s also contestable whether the “flying boat” should even be considered an airplane. On the other hand, The Lost World was an actual film, shown on an actual route, on a converted Handley Page bomber (nonetheless an airplane), with Steven Spielberg-esque entertainment value.
(Gavel sound).