No Highway [No Highway in the Sky] **** (1951, James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Glynis Johns, Jack Hawkins, Kenneth More) – Classic Movie Review 5,795

The excellent 1951 British aviation drama film No Highway [No Highway in the Sky] is loosely based on a novel by Nevil Shute, and stars James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Glynis Johns, Jack Hawkins, and Janette Scott.

Director Henry Koster’s 1951 British black-and-white aviation drama film No Highway [No Highway in the Sky] is loosely based on the 1948 novel No Highway by Nevil Shute, freely adapted for the screen by R C Sherriff, Oscar Millard and Alec Coppel. It stars James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Glynis Johns, Jack Hawkins, Janette Scott, Elizabeth Allan, Ronald Squire, and Kenneth More.

Marlene Dietrich stars as a beautiful film star who is told half way across the Atlantic Ocean that the plane she is on is going to crash because of an inherent metal-metal fatigue meltdown failure in the design by its manufacturing company.

James Stewart plays one of the company’s employees, an absent-minded professor kind of aeronautical engineer, Theodore Honey, who is on the aircraft and has figured out the timing of this disaster scenario that the plane’s structure will collapse and all aboard will be die unless the pilot turns back. But, at first, no one will believe him – except for Dietrich’s character Monica Teasdale.

The eccentric American scientist Theodore Honey has been testing his theory that the new (fictional) Rutland Reindeer aircraft is susceptible to structural failure of the tailplane, by running a fatigue test on the fin and tailplane with a high vibration rate dynamic shaker. He finds that, eventually, it will fall off.

Koster’s 20th Century Fox movie is an excellent suspense drama, with lots of tension and convincing aircraft detail, interspersed with a touch of gentle comedy and even some romance.

It is very well played by the two stars, who make it a memorable occasion, as well as by Glynis Johns (playing a lovesick air stewardess, Marjorie Corder), Jack Hawkins (as Dennis Scott), Janette Scott (as Elspeth Honey), Elizabeth Allan (as Shirley Scott) and Kenneth More (as co-pilot Dobson), who lead the fine team of British stalwarts.

Also in the cast are Niall MacGinnis, Ronald Squire, Jill Clifford, David Hutcheson, Ben Williams, Maurice Denham, Wifrid Hyde White, Hector MacGregor, Basil Appleby, Michael Kingsley, Pete Murray, Dora Bryan, Felix Aylmer, Karel Stepanek, John Salew, Marcel Poncin, Cyril Smith, Philip Ray, Arthur Lucas and Tom Gill.

In the UK, it retained the novel title No Highway, changed to No Highway in the Sky for other English-speaking countries.

R C Sherriff was the first writer who worked on the script. Then Oscar Millard spent six months writing the script, he claimed without looking at Sheriff’s work. Alec Coppel rewrote some scenes based at the Farnborough Aircraft Establishment.

No Highway [No Highway in the Sky] is directed by Henry Koster, runs 98 minutes, is written by R C Sherriff, Oscar Millard and Alec Coppel, based on a novel by Nevil Shute, is shot in black and white by Georges Périnal, and is produced by Louis D Lighton.

Unimpressed by her studio costumes and fur stole, Dietrich chose her own wardrobe from the latest Christian Dior collection and made the studio pay. She was every inch the star.

Stewart with Dietrich starred together in 1939’s Destry Rides Again.

It was shot in 1950 at Denham Studios, and on location at the Blackbushe Airport in Hampshire, England.

It was released on 28 June 1951 (UK) and 21 September 1951 (US).

Stewart and Dietrich reprised their roles in a radio adaptation of No Highway in the Sky before a live studio audience on the CBS Lux Radio Theatre on 28 April 1952.

Stewart had an emergency appendectomy in London while the film was being made.

Glynis Johns was born on 5 October 1923.

Pete Murray was born on 19 September 1925. He was among the first regular presenters of Top of the Pops when it began in January 1964. In 1961, he co-starred with Dora Bryan in a TV sitcom about two newly weds entitled Happily Ever After.

Janette Scott was born on 14 December 1938.

The cast are James Stewart as Theodore Honey, Marlene Dietrich as Monica Teasdale, Glynis Johns as stewardess Marjorie Corder, Jack Hawkins as Dennis Scott, chief of metallurgy at RAE, Janette Scott as Elspeth Honey, Elizabeth Allan as Shirley Scott, Ronald Squire as Sir John, director of RAE, Jill Clifford as stewardess Peggy, Niall MacGinnis as pilot Captain Samuelson, Kenneth More as co-pilot Dobson,  Dora Bryan as barmaid Rosie, Felix Aylmer as Sir Philip, member of the Board of Directors of BAE, Maurice Denham as Major Pearl, Wilfrid Hyde-White as inspector of accidents Fisher, John Lennox as Farnborough director, Bessie Love as aircraft passenger, Arthur Lucas as Farnborough director, and Pete Murray as radio operator.

The fictional Rutland Reindeer airliner was shown by using a full-size, non-flying mock-up and a studio scale model for use in special effects mattes.

Six years after the publication of the novel, there were two fatal crashes of the world’s first jet passenger airliner, the de Havilland Comet. Investigation found that metal fatigue was the cause of both accidents, though in the main fuselage and not in the tail section, as in the story.

Destructive testing was revolutionary in 1951, but became standard operating procedure in aircraft development.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5,795

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