Non-Stop New York (also known as Lisbon Clipper Mystery) is a 1937 British science fiction crime film directed by Robert Stevenson and starring John Loder, Anna Lee and Francis L. Sullivan.[N 1] It is based on the 1936 novel Sky Steward by Ken Attiwill.[2] A woman who can clear an innocent man of the charge of murder is pursued by gangsters onto a luxurious transatlantic flying boat.
On New Year's Eve 1938 in New York, lawyer Billy Cooper notices stranded English showgirl Jennie Carr (Anna Lee) gazing hungrily at other diners' plates in a restaurant and offers to buy her a meal. However, the restaurant has run out, so he invites her to his apartment. Before they arrive, Abel, another hungry, unemployed person, sneaks in for a chicken leg. Hearing them coming, he hides in a bedroom. When Jennie enters to remove her coat, he begs her not to cause trouble. She sympathizes with his plight and says nothing to Cooper.
Just then, Hugo Brant (Francis L. Sullivan), Cooper’s gangster employer, and his men barge in. They make Jennie leave. When Cooper admits that he is quitting, Brant shoots him dead. To get rid of loose ends, Brant sends Jennie aboard the ocean liner for Southampton, escorted by his sidekick Harrigan. He frames Jennie for robbery.
Meanwhile, Abel, who was caught by the building watchman as he tried to leave, is tried and sentenced to death for Cooper's murder. The woman he insists can exonerate him is in prison, unaware of his plight. Brant and gang member Mortimer travel to England to deal with Jennie.
When Jennie is released from her prison sentence for robbery, her mother introduces her to her new tenant, a priest named Mr. Mortimer. After reading in the newspaper about Abel's impending execution, she goes to Scotland Yard, despite Mortimer's warning that she might become a suspect. She finds that other women have turned up, all claiming to be the missing witness. Inspector Jim Grant is skeptical, and that turns into certainty when Mortimer shows up and discredits her.
Meanwhile, Brant, under the alias of would-be Paraguayan dictator "General Costello", receives a message informing him of developments. The messenger, Spurgeon (Peter Bull), later sneaks back and collects the torn-up pieces to sell to blackmailer Sam Pryor (Frank Cellier). Spurgeon also sells to Inspector Grant the information that Pryor will be flying to New York for blackmail.
With only days before Abel’s execution and insufficient money for airfare, Jennie stows away on the Atlantic Airlines "Lisbon Clipper", a giant transatlantic flying boat. Paying passengers include Brant, 14-year-old violin prodigy Arnold James (Desmond Tester) and his aunt Veronica (Athene Seyler), Pryor and Inspector Grant. Jennie finds an empty compartment which turns out to be Grant's; while he is deciding what to do with her, the aircraft takes off. After she leaves, he informs a crewman he will pay her fare.
When Pryor tries to blackmail Costello, the latter bluffs him into leaving...
