Island in the Sky

source: Island in the Sky

I found this on TMC and was attracted by the prospect of watching a John Wayne movie previously unknown to me. Also I was drawn to the great cast, including so many fine character actors. Unfortunately my hopes were dashed. The film is tedious and unconvincing, and suffers from some structural flaws. The attempt to portray the private lives and characters of the rescuers detracts, in the end, from the plight of the stranded fliers. The acting level is far from top-notch in too many cases. The story line simply rises and falls too much, and does not have the direct urgency of - to take a movie of similar circumstances - "The Flight of the Phoenix". Speaking for myself, the film suffers from the flaw of not making us care sufficiently about the central characters, who never seem to rise above "character types" to become real people. The production values, including the photography of the frozen north country, are great, but that was not enough to make me rate the film highly. I'm sorry to be the "turd in the punchbowl" of these generally positive comments, but that's how I see it.

This proved to be an unjustly neglected gem, especially in view of the overrated THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY (1954) – which I watched in conjunction with it – from the same team. As with John Wayne's other Batjac productions, the film hasn't been seen in decades but, hopefully, it will be rediscovered now via Paramount's SE DVD. It features one of Wayne's more interesting roles, and his performance is accordingly impressive. Director Wellman and Wayne (in his capacity as executive producer) managed to make a low-key and unusually realistic film, which celebrates camaraderie, amid the studio system – with very little concession to typical Hollywood trappings (unlike its glamorized and inflated follow-up!). Ernest K. Gann, who spent his life in aviation and who followed this with THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY, for the first time adapted his own novel to the screen and this gave the script a definite ring of authenticity: consequently, we find here any number of wonderful human (and often humorous) vignettes – but especially poignant are Sean McClory's death scene and the finale where the downed airmen are, at long last, spotted by their comrades who form the search party. Besides, the black-and-white cinematography (by Archie Stout and William H. Clothier, both of whom shot many a John Wayne picture) is remarkable and, done with little or no special effects, was – by all accounts – seminal in its field. The cast, too, is peppered with familiar faces (either established – and reliable – character actors or upcoming stars) but, more importantly, solid performers all around. Wellman, a flying aficionado as well, made 11 films on the subject and numbers this one among his favorites (I tend to agree with him, given that I was slightly let down by some of his more renowned work like BEAU GESTE [1939], BATTLEGROUND [1949] and THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY itself!). The director's long career in films, tackling all kinds of subjects, was undoubtedly an interesting one: though he never quite achieved the reputation of, say, John Ford or Howard Hawks, he was of the same breed (and, indeed, this particular film has the feel of these two giants' work – both of whom, obviously, also proved crucial to John Wayne's career – and especially Hawks' CEILING ZERO [1935] and ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS [1939], with which ISLAND IN THE SKY shares some of its plot line).

This is a superb film, told by a director who understood his subject. Well-acted throughout, by an outstanding cast of support players, but this is simply the best bit of acting John Wayne ever did. The scene when Wayne realizes that they may have just missed their final chance of being rescued is nothing short of Oscar-worthy. It is so rare to see John Wayne cracking, and breaking down mentally, and this scene will always stay with me. One of the very best stars of the film is the Douglas C-47, several of which are featured throughout the film. Shot from every conceivable angle, it is a real treat to see so much of this legendary aircraft. It's hard today to remember how important it was to commercial aviation, but it is the "George Washington" of airliners, and Wellman gives us a no-special-effects, and shot-on-location look at her. Batjac has finally given us the goods!

Having never seen this film and waiting for the concurrent release of The High And The Mighty, I finally got to view it. I thought it was mediocre at best. The acting was very inconsistent and the scenes were not realistic (at times). They should have been freezing, but seemed quite comfortable at times. In most scenes there was no sign of winter as you did not see their breath in the "cold" air. During the search and rescue no one seemed too concerned or serious. John Wayne's family could have kept this one in the vault. I'm hoping that the High And The Mighty is much better. I last saw that one about forty years ago. Rating this on a one to four stars scale - this gets 1.5.

During World War II, in an ice storm, Captain John Wayne (as Dooley) and his small crew crash land their airplane over unpopulated, freezing North America. Can friends and colleagues like Walter Abel (as Fuller), Lloyd Nolan (as Stutz), James Arness (as McMullen), and Andy Devine (as Willie Moon) locate the downed crew before they succumb to the cold winter's wrath? "Island in the Sky" is a survival story which spends far too much of its time concentrating on the various rescuers, and not enough time on the struggling crew. Moreover, the time spent on the downed crew isn't satisfying. Although the temperature is said to be forty or seventy degrees below zero (at Fahrenheit, no less), the crash survivors seldom look really cold or uncomfortable. At times, it's painfully obvious they are "acting cold" while a wind machine blows "snow" at the camera. Mr. Wayne performs some William A. Wellman-directed scenes very well, however; especially during a missed rescue attempt. Mike Connors, Darryl Hickman, Fess Parker, and Alfalfa Switzer lend some occasional support. Also look for Mr. Devine in a poolside bathing suit, with what must be Wellman's children, Michael and Tim. *** Island in the Sky (9/3/53) William A. Wellman ~ John Wayne, James Arness, Andy Devine

This is one of my husband's favorite films, but he won't write reviews so it's up to me. Wayne and his crew crash in a bitterly cold mountainous region, and spend the rest of the film trying to contact someone to rescue them. Their radio is out, and all they have is a hand-cranked signal device that must be continuously operated if they have a chance of being found. They slowly lose crewmen as the hours go by to injuries and the cold. Will they be rescued? We've got an old copy of "Island in the Sky" on tape or I would never have been able to write this review since it was made before I was born. This film is one of the Wayne estate's hostage's; it's mired in legal battles and who knows when it will ever be out. The same used to be true of "McClintock", but that eventually came out, so there is hope.

Free at last. AMC Channel is showing Island in the Sky & The High and the Mighty the weekend of July 16 & 17. Get your recording equipment ready. I have been waiting almost fifty years to see this movie again. I think it was the first time I ever saw John Wayne in a movie. I was about 13. As the hero he was bigger than life to me at the time. He never gave up even if the situation looked hopeless. As I grew older and thought of the movie at times I was even more impressed with his actions. I hope now that the Wayne family has released it to TV they will also release it with a new set of DVDs. I have checked this web site often to see if there were any new info on the release or showing of this movie.

This is based on a true story and I had the priviledge to fly with the co-pilot of that trip of Feb 3, 1943. His comment was that he didn't like the movie because they showed the co-pilot dieing in the movie. On Feb. 3, 1993,50th annaversary of the downing of the B-24 liberator/cargo version, I flew directly over Lac O'connor flying a trip from Frankfurt, Germany to Chicago, Ill. The Lat. and Long. is roughly N54:20 and W74:30. The movie didn't tell the whole story;although, very well done. There was a Northeast Airlines DC-3 down also. When they first found O'Connor and his crew, the NE Airline pilot thought he could just land and pick them up. When he touched down, he was buried in snow. They spent exactly 2 mos on the lake. They were flown out on April 3, 1943. If you can find a book by James Mangan called westward....... something or other, has a very factual run down. Try the C.R. Smith museum in Ft. Worth, TX.

As a big John Wayne fan, I was eager to see this lost film from the 1950's. I'm sorry to say that I felt it was very poor. John Wayne gave one of his best performances in the service of a corny and poorly executed film. There were so many glaring mistakes, that I found distracting. For instance, the pilots can't see out of the windows because of all the ice, but when the planes are shown in flight, the windows are clear. Near the end of the film, a huge storm is approaching at night, but in the shots of the next day, it is still and the sun is shining. During a blizzard, the snow is blasting down and the wind is howling, but behind them, the tree branches aren't even moving. So much for attention to detail. The script was talky and the third party voice-over narration was corny even by 1950's standards. By the 50's,that kind of narration had been relegated to educational films shown in the public schools. All in all, one of the "Dukes" weakest films.