Night Flight (1933 film)

Night Flight
Theatrical poster
Directed byClarence Brown
Screenplay byOliver H.P. Garrett
John Monk Saunders
Based onVol de nuit
1931 novel
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Produced byDavid O. Selznick
StarringJohn Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore
Clark Gable
Helen Hayes
Robert Montgomery
Myrna Loy
CinematographyElmer Dyer
Charles A. Marshall
Oliver T. Marsh
Edited byHal C. Kern
Music byHerbert Stothart
Charles Maxwell
(orchestrator)
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • October 6, 1933 (1933-10-06)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$499,000
Box office$1 million

Night Flight (also known as Dark to Dawn) is a 1933 American pre-Code aviation drama film produced by David O. Selznick, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Clarence Brown and starring John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Clark Gable, Helen Hayes, Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy.

The picture is based on the 1931 novel of the same name, which won the Prix Femina the same year, by French writer and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Based on Saint-Exupéry's personal experiences while flying on South American mail routes, Night Flight recreates a 24-hour period of the operations of a fictional airline based on Aéropostale, Trans-Andean European Air Mail.

In 1942, Night Flight was withdrawn from circulation as a result of a legal dispute between MGM and Saint Exupéry. The film was unavailable for 69 years and could not be seen until 2011, when the legal obstacles were finally settled.