ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – NO HIGHWAY IN THE SKY (1951)

 

No Highway in the Sky, is a thriller written by Nevil Shute and directed by Henry Koster, in which aeronautical engineer Theodore Honey (James Stewart) is being sent to Labrador from London to examine the wreckage of a new Reindeer class passenger plane designed by his company, Rutland.

The absent-minded Honey boards the Reindeer class plane, and only realizes once on board, that the plane is due to fail catastrophically in a few hours after the plane is airborne when it has reached a specific number of flying hours, namely the tail section will separate from the fuselage, caused by metal fatigue after 1440 flying hours.

He decides to warn a member of the cabin crew, Marjorie Corder (Glynis Johns), who in turn informs Captain Samuelson (Niall MacGinnis) and Co-Pilot (Kenneth More). 

When they land at Gander Airport the tail section is thoroughly examined and deemed safe so Honey sabotages the plane by collapsing the undercarriage, so it has to be grounded.

On his return to England, he must set about proving his theory or face prosecution and dismissal and soon finds himself defending his sanity in an English courtroom.

Fortunately, a sympathetic actress, Monica Teasdale (Marlene Dietrich) and stewardess Marjorie Corder come to his defence.

As he is a widower with a 12-year-old daughter, Elspeth (Janette Scott), Monica and Marjorie take a liking to Mr Honey and Elspeth, and the latter is clearly lonely and isolated.

Monica Teasdale speaks to Honey's superiors on his behalf, claiming she believes in him and Marjorie stays on with Honey and his daughter as a nurse. 

There are also a host of household names of the British Cinema who add to the tension and authenticity of the tale, Jack Hawkins, Elizabeth Allan, Ronald Squire, Dora Bryan, Felix Aylmer, Maurice Denham, Wilfrid Hyde-White and Bessie Love, to name a few.

James Stewart is simply wonderful as the boffin Mr. Honey, and Marlene Dietrich, who casts a lasting light on proceedings, are the stars in this film masterpiece and the supporting actors are on top of their game, in particular Janette Scott as the daughter, and the wonderful Glynis Johns in a typically faultless performance and the ever-reliable Jack Hawkins.

A film definitely worth seeing, well scripted, well directed and well-acted, sadly, they don’t make movies like this anymore, and probably never will again.