Tonight's movie was a surprise find called "No Highway In The Sky"(1951), starring Jim-may Schtooart as an absent-minded scientist trying to prevent a plane crash. Wow - this flick was a genre-bending original! At first, you think it's gonna be a straight-up disaster movie (and it just might be, I can't tell you), but then it turns into something much deeper, a story about a man who cares so much about people's lives that he's willing to risk his professional credibility to save them. Here's the plot, in brief, without giving too much away. Stewart is an American engineer working in England at the flight test center of an aircraft company. He's a Rhodes Scholar and a mathematics genius, and he's discovered a problem in the tail section of a new airliner called the Raindeer. During stress tests on the tail, his equations lead him to the conclusion that it's design is faulty, and that it will break off from the fuselage after a certain number of hours in the air. There is also the fact that the Raindeer prototype has recently crashed in Newfoundland after months of test flights. Is this a coincidence? The airline executives hope so, because the Raindeer is their newest workhorse. If Stewart is right about the faulty tail section, it will cost the company millions.
But because he is so insistent ("the math can't be argued"!, he says in his most "Jimmy Stewart" of voices), the bosses agree to send him to Newfoundland to inspect the wreckage of the prototype. And of course, they fly him there in a Raindeer, which makes him very nervous. Once onboard, he introduces himself and asks for a tour of the airplane. The captain grudgingly agrees. He and the stewardess have observed Stewart's behavior and think he's eccentric to say the least. Then Jimmy spills the beans about his theory concerning the stress tests. He gets emphatic (as only Jimmy Stewart can do), and they think he's nuts. In reality, what he's saying goes right over their heads, technical as it is, but the captain understands enough of the math, and it's prediction for the tail section, to call for an emergency landing, especially after Stewart finds out that the plane they are riding in is at the limit of it's in-flight hours preceding a tail collapse.
This is the "disaster movie" portion of the film, and I shant tell you what happens.
In the aftermath, however, the story becomes one of human interest, and of the value of caring, and of the worth of the individual versus the corporate entity. Because Stewart's manner is so peculiar, the airline bosses want to have him tested by psychiatrists to see if he is insane. This will provide them with an easy excuse to avoid the loss of the Raindeer model, and to keep it flying. During this part of the movie I thought of math geniuses like Paul Dirac, who minds were in the stratosphere as far as physics were concerned, but who were withdrawn and possibly even autistic in social ways.
As the story continues, Jimmy Stewart finds an ally in the young stewardess (Glynis Johns) who tended to him during the "disaster flight" part of the film. She sees his humanity and wants to help.
Also, out of the blue there is a Movie Star on board. Marlene Dietrich plays a famous actress who just so happens to be on the flight. She is heading from England back to America. She too will become entwined in Jimmy's endeavor to stop the flight in progress, and a relationship will form between the two of them.
In Hollywood terms, Marlene is the "Lonely Movie Star", enormously famous but intimately aware of the isolation within her fame. Really, she's an ordinary person looking for connection, and she finds it in the moment of crisis aboard the airplane.
I said this was, in part, a disaster movie, and it is. But when that part is over, the recovery begins. Am I referring to a plane crash and emergency response? You'll have to see for yourself, because this is one of those multi-layered plots and deeply emotional stories where I can't give too much away.
"No Highway In The Sky" is yet another film from the Golden Age in Hollywood (in this case near the end), where the screenwriting rules the day. Folks, I could harp and tirade on this subject from now until doomsday, but the only way for you to understand the incredible talents of the screenwriters of that era is to watch the movies for yourselves. Those writers not only had a supreme facility for plot, and juggling multiple threads while keeping things nice and tight, but they also were able to fit in all the philosophical and moral points they wanted to make, in their entirety, without wasting any time, and without wasted scenes.
They were able to achieve this, in part, because they were working with some of the greatest actors of all time, like James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich, and Glynis Johns, who gives a strong supporting performance as the stewardess.
I know I have only hinted at the outlines of the story and usually I give you a lot more, but this is one of those intangible films dealing with the human psyche where it meets matters of the heart, where a book should not be judged by it's cover. Think of "The Enchanted Cottage" for another example, or even the recently reviewed "I'll Be Seeing You", both of which deal with damaged people. Add in elements of "A Beautiful Mind", and you've got the idea here. Two thumbs way, way up. ////
In football news, can you believe Brady is going to his tenth Super Bowl? Or that his first was 19 years ago? I used to hate the guy but it just isn't possible anymore. He's without a doubt the G.O.A.T., and now that he has done it again with Tampa Bay, in his first year with that team, and at age 43.........what more can you say?
See you in the morning. Watch "No Highway In The Sky", it's a 10/10 and the print was razor sharp.
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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