Lost in the Stratosphere is a 1934 American aviation drama film directed by Melville W. Brown and starring William Cagney, Edward J. Nugent, and June Collyer.

2nd Lt. Tom Cooper (William Cagney) gets the nickname "Soapy", from his friend, 1st Lt. Richard "Dick" Wood, "Woody" (Edward J. Nugent).

The two pilots are picked to go on a dangerous balloon mission launched into the stratosphere, to evaluate high altitude flight capability.

Dick, finally realizing Tom's innocence, knocks him out and throws him off the balloon, so he can come down safely by parachute, thereby jeopardizing his own chances of survival.

He wrote: "Note, at the beginning of the film, the mention of the cancellation by Franklin D. Roosevelt of contracts for the carriage of mail by private companies, in February 1934.