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.
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