This 1937 silent independent movie was lost for eighty years. It only became known because of a on-line forum for movie fans. The film was discovered in the basement of the home of Richard Lyford in 2013 by his daughter. She then pursued having the film restored and released to the public. GT Recording did digital restoration. Music and video mixing was done by Clatter&Din (now Formosa Interactive Seattle). 8th Sense Productions released the movie in 2019.
Loosely based on the 1915 novel "The Man Who Rocked the Earth" by Robert Wood and Arthur Chesney Train.
Premiered on Turner Classic Movies on October 31 (Halloween), 2020. TCM broadcast it again on Halloween night in 2021.
In 1937, in Seattle, a 20 year old budding filmmaker, Richard Lyford, using his own equipment, had already created 58 plays and 9 never released, award-winning films, including this film. This director would go on to work for Disney Studios and direct and edit The Titan: Story of Michelangelo (1950), the 1950 Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, Features.
A replica of the stolen airliner with the registration number NC14262 is at the New England Air Museum. This is a repainted Lockheed Electra 10 A/B in Northwest Airlines livery. The original NC14262, made in 1935, was scrapped in 1965. The airplane in the museum was built for the U.S. Navy in 1936. It was sold to a private company after WW2 in 1945 as NC57573. It went through many other owners until it arrived at the museum in Connecticut in 1988.