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Pearl Stars: Elijah DeJesus, Andrew Sensenig, Angela Gair, Sean Cain, Isabel Archuleta, Tom Huston Orr, Tony Gregory and Cameron Rostami Director: King Hollis Scriptwriters: Donna Carlton, Margaret Reynolds and Tom Bailey Composers: Robert Allen Elliot and Kevin Afflack Cinematography: Chuck Hatcher Chickasaw Nation and Media 13 Rating: no rating but could be PG Running Length: 106 minutes Amelia Earhart captured the attention of the flying world in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Besides Earhart, there were other women in the U.S. who achieved flying fame and one of them was Pearl Carter Scott, the youngest licensed pilot in the United States at age fourteen. According to the story, Pearl’s father didn’t tell the truth about her age when applying for the license and everyone thought she was sixteen. Still, the license was granted and Pearl definitely had the flying experience. This is at the end of the 1920's. Pearl has wonderful aerial shots of vintage planes and the photography by Chuck Hatcher places the audience in the cockpit---open air cockpit, too. You read about people from small towns who have become car racers, mountain climbers, balloonists and all because they saw someone do it and imagined they could, too. In this case, it was flying. Pearl was a farm girl who wanted to fly---and did. It was fate that gave her a good teacher, too, and that was Wiley Post, who became forever linked with Will Rogers. They were from Oklahoma and that is where Pearl lived. The photography makes Oklahoma a family-friendly place to live and Pearl’s family, even through the Depression, lived comfortably. The story begins near Marlow, Oklahoma with the Carter family. Dad (Andrew Sensenig) was blinded as a child, but is a capable businessman. It is in the late 1920’s and there is a certain prosperity in the U.S. Dad has four children, and Pearl (Elijah DeJesus) is the second, and clearly Dad’s favorite. Sibling rivalry between Pearl and older sister, Opaletta (Isabel Archuleta) eventually will wound the family. Right now, Pearl, the tomboy and daredevil, immediately wants to fly when Wiley Post (Tom Huston Orr) comes to town. He takes her for a ride and is impressed by her intelligent questions. It isn’t long before Pearl is taking flying lessons from Wiley and others, has her own plane and hangar (compliments of Dad), and making money on the barnstorming circuit. She is all of fourteen years old. It is when Dad applies for a pilot’s license and disguises Pearl’s real age (must be sixteen) that the divisions in the family escalate. Mom (Angela Gair), who is part Chickasaw, is against this deception and Opal is jealous. Opal elopes with boyfriend, Arthur (Tom Gregory), and with the Depression on, the Carter family is not a happy one. Pearl finds love, too, and it is with a young farmer, Scottie (Sean Cain). Eventually, they also elope when Pearl is about seventeen or so. Scottie, through the beginning years of their marriage, objects to her barnstorming flying and is jealous of her fame, plus the fact that she still uses her maiden name as her professional name. What to do? Pearl unfolds slowly in front of the audience. You have time to see how a family gets together for meals, that going to town is an event and you can certainly learn in a one-room schoolhouse. Having your own plane is an extraordinary event. Pearl is used to getting her way. The rest of the townspeople treat her as a celebrity. This is what happens in the world of the gifted. The fact that Pearl Carter Scott had the life she did was unusual to the nth degree, plus that others with that gift (Wiley Post) recognized it in her and nurtured it. That is life in a rarified atmosphere. The photography of Pearl becomes another actor in the movie. Fields drift by under the plane that cruises at less than 100 mph, a shadow of the plane against the ground lazily follows the wingspread and thunderheads in the distance look engaging. Elijah DeJesus is an energetic teenage Pearl with a face that shows emotion only in the sky. Tom Huston Orr’s Wiley Post is the dashing cavalier, complete with jodhpurs, riding boots and white scarf. On the other hand, Andrew Sensenig’s Dad is a caring man and never misses his mark portraying a blind man. Isabel Archuleta’s Opaletta, the oldest daughter, is a troubled teen, trying to mature into another decade and having a younger sister getting more attention than she. You feel her frustration. Angela Gair’s Mom is best at the end of a scene, when the camera lingers on her face and you see the expression of a parent not knowing what to do. She wears it well. Pearl is a family-friendly film that could have a “G” or “PG” rating. Clips at the end of the film show the real Pearl Carter Scott and what happened to her as time went by. She had what Amelia Earhart, another famous woman barnstorming pilot from the Midwest did not have, and that was a long life. 
Copyright 2010 Marie Asner
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