"The High and the Mighty" has been hidden away in the John Wayne family vaults for many years. The recent DVD release remedies that and presents this near classic fully restored and uncut. I say near classic because although the film is an exciting and well acted drama, it is nonetheless a little dated and predictable.
The story involves the flight of a plane load of passengers from Honolulu to San Francisco. Along the way one of the engines fail and it becomes questionable as to whether the plane will make to San Francisco or have to be ditched in the open sea. The crux of the film is how the crew and the passengers react and interact with each other in dealing with the emergency.
Climbing aboard are the crew, Pilot John Sullivan (Robert Stack), Co-pilot Dan Roman (John Wayne), Second Officer Wheeler (William Campbell), Navigator Lenny Wilby (Wally Brown) and Stewardess Miss Spalding (Doe Avedon). Sullivan is a capable pilot, but can he handle the emergency he faces? Roman is an experienced pilot who was involved in a plane crash from which only he survived and where he lost his wife and child.
The passenger list includes Claire Trevor as May Holst a past her prime actress, David Brian as Ken Childs a womanizing executive who is attracted to May. Sidney Blackmer plays Agnew who has a score to settle with Childs. John Qualen plays Lacota who keeps an eye on Agnew. Jan Sterling is Sally McKee an aging former beauty queen who is going to meet her pen pal lover (William Hopper) but is unsure of how he will perceive her.
Laraine Day and John Howard play Lydia and Howard Rice, she an heiress and he the husband trying to make it on his own terms. Phil Harris and Ann Doran are the hapless Ed and Clara Joseph returning from a disastrous second honeymoon, Robert Newton and Julie Bishop as the Pardees, he a self centered theatrical man and she his skeptical wife. John Smith and Karen Sharpe are the newlywed Milo and Nell Buck and Paul Fix is Frank Briscoe a man preparing to die until he meets the quiet and unassuming Dorothy Chen (Joy Kim) with whom he strikes up a new friendship. Young Michael Wellman (the son of Director William Wellman) rounds out the passenger list as Toby Field a little boy on his way to meet his mother.
Others in the rather large cast are Pedro Gonzoles-Gonzoles as a ship board radio operator, George Chandler as an airport mechanic, Douglas Fowley as a ticket agent, Regis Toomey, William Schallert, Douglas Kennedy and Robert Easton as various airport officials, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer as a Coast Guard Co-pilot, Walter Reed as the young boy's father and Phil Van Zandt and Dorothy Ford as the annoying couple who ruin the Joseph's holiday.
This film was one of the early Cinemascope features. Director William Wellman uses the entire frame effectively and avoids close ups as much as possible. He keeps the story moving and provides us with several sub-plots among the characters. It was one of the first airline disaster movies and certainly the first in Cinemascope and color.
The DVD contains several behind the scenes documentaries hosted by Leonard Maltin and an interesting feature commentary with Maltin and William Wellman Jr. with contributions from cast members Karen Sharpe and Pedro Gonzoles-Gonzoles.
The story involves the flight of a plane load of passengers from Honolulu to San Francisco. Along the way one of the engines fail and it becomes questionable as to whether the plane will make to San Francisco or have to be ditched in the open sea. The crux of the film is how the crew and the passengers react and interact with each other in dealing with the emergency.
Climbing aboard are the crew, Pilot John Sullivan (Robert Stack), Co-pilot Dan Roman (John Wayne), Second Officer Wheeler (William Campbell), Navigator Lenny Wilby (Wally Brown) and Stewardess Miss Spalding (Doe Avedon). Sullivan is a capable pilot, but can he handle the emergency he faces? Roman is an experienced pilot who was involved in a plane crash from which only he survived and where he lost his wife and child.
The passenger list includes Claire Trevor as May Holst a past her prime actress, David Brian as Ken Childs a womanizing executive who is attracted to May. Sidney Blackmer plays Agnew who has a score to settle with Childs. John Qualen plays Lacota who keeps an eye on Agnew. Jan Sterling is Sally McKee an aging former beauty queen who is going to meet her pen pal lover (William Hopper) but is unsure of how he will perceive her.
Laraine Day and John Howard play Lydia and Howard Rice, she an heiress and he the husband trying to make it on his own terms. Phil Harris and Ann Doran are the hapless Ed and Clara Joseph returning from a disastrous second honeymoon, Robert Newton and Julie Bishop as the Pardees, he a self centered theatrical man and she his skeptical wife. John Smith and Karen Sharpe are the newlywed Milo and Nell Buck and Paul Fix is Frank Briscoe a man preparing to die until he meets the quiet and unassuming Dorothy Chen (Joy Kim) with whom he strikes up a new friendship. Young Michael Wellman (the son of Director William Wellman) rounds out the passenger list as Toby Field a little boy on his way to meet his mother.
Others in the rather large cast are Pedro Gonzoles-Gonzoles as a ship board radio operator, George Chandler as an airport mechanic, Douglas Fowley as a ticket agent, Regis Toomey, William Schallert, Douglas Kennedy and Robert Easton as various airport officials, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer as a Coast Guard Co-pilot, Walter Reed as the young boy's father and Phil Van Zandt and Dorothy Ford as the annoying couple who ruin the Joseph's holiday.
This film was one of the early Cinemascope features. Director William Wellman uses the entire frame effectively and avoids close ups as much as possible. He keeps the story moving and provides us with several sub-plots among the characters. It was one of the first airline disaster movies and certainly the first in Cinemascope and color.
The DVD contains several behind the scenes documentaries hosted by Leonard Maltin and an interesting feature commentary with Maltin and William Wellman Jr. with contributions from cast members Karen Sharpe and Pedro Gonzoles-Gonzoles.