Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Adapted from his best-selling novel by Ernest K. Gann, produced by John Wayn'e sproduction company, and directed by William A. Wellman, the 1955 movie "The High and the Mighty" was long out of circulation and now has interest primarily for the quaintness of commercial air travel portrayed in it.

I thought the introduction of the many characters was astonishingly klunky, especially from an old hand like Wellman (contrast his masterful "The Story of G. I. Joe or "The Ox-Bow Incident".for instances). I'd have to admit that the flashbacks are plenty cheesy, but there is something like half an hour of telling rather than showing to establish an unbelievably diverse crew and set of caricatured types of passengers.

As co-pilot "Whistling Dan" Roman, John Wayne was excellent unerplaying in what was one of his many role of the aged warrior among strutting younger men ("Red River" made him a superstar, "True Grit" won him an Oscar, and the most extreme age disparity was in "The Cowboys"). Robert Stack logged many overstrun air miles during the 1950s (Tarnished Angels, Written on the Wind). I find it difficult to believe that Wellman's first choice for the part was Bob Cummings! (Spencer Tracy as someone who had been slogging since 1917 is easier to believe; Wayne was a bit young for the part, circa 1955.)

The movie runs way too long (147 minutes) without indicating what is eating the captain (Stack) and without much real suspense. (Can there be a viewer who fails to anticipate that just after "the point of no return" there will be problems when the commander (Stack) asks the navigator (Wally Brown) to be told when that point is reached?).

Part of my disappointment in seeing this long-unav avaliable movie, no doubt, is that I was expecting an action movie rather than a multi-character soap opera. I was mildly amused by Claire Trevor and William Campbell, and grateful that John Wayne's character did not forge a bond with the youngster (the director's son).

Dimitri Tiomkins musical score won an Oscar, and the theme was recognizable to me the first time someone whistled it for John Wayne. (Clearly, his whistling was dubbed, but he doesn't even lip synch it.) It is repeated many, many, many times, both whistled and with orchestral walls of sound.

Astonishingly, Ralph Dawon received an Oscar nomination for editing, though I'd say that editing was one of the worst aspects of making the movie. Jan Sterling and Claire Trevor were nominated for best supporting actress awards and Sterling won a Golden Globe in that category.

Almost everyone except Wayne overacts and plays types (blame Gann). The most hackneyed performances are given by John Qualen and Robert Newton (though I failed to recognize the latter as Gustave Pardee; I also failed to recognize that the rescue pilot was played by Alfalfa from "Our Gang"...).

Having flown from Honolulu to San Francisco earlier in the week that I saw the movie, I was interested that the flight (at 5K-9K) took more than twelve hours, had only 22 passengers with four flight-deck crew. That was long ago, but I refuse to believe that flights ever came in over Twin Peaks (I can see them from where I sit and have never, ever seen any plane coming over them), particularly from Honolulu. The alternatives were ocean or over the city of San Francisco, but the route of all commercial traffic (even flights coming from the north) is over the bay.

I don't know if there were ever stewardesses like Doe Avedon, though I doubt it. I do remember food service (being routine; I did have some on my recent flight. And I doubt if there are any Polynesians as hirsute as the one posing for a painting. And that there would be no effects (for the shooter. the other passengers, or the plane) of a gunshot at even the lower altitude that was the prop-plane's cruising altitude.

I'd readily acknowledge that the color restoration of the pioneer Cinemascope print is excellent. The movie is extremely widescreened, though there is no particular need for that inside the airplane and most of the exterior shots just have more clouds on both sides of the plane than a narrower lens sould have captured. Having finally been unlocked from the apparently very messy Wayne estate, the movie got a two-disc edition. I have not seen the disc of extras that includes an interview of the junior William Wellman and one on commercial air travel during the 1950s.

I prefer the later (1964) movie of another Gann melodrama about a veteran pilot (played by Rod Taylor), "Fate Is the Hunter," and am quite ready to believe Skbreese that the earlier (1953) Gann/Wellman/Wayne air drama was also superior (not least in that it ran considerably less long than H&M!)

I also prefer the other two pairings of Wayne and Trevor I've seen (Stagecoach and Dark Command).



Recommended: No