Rent No Highway in the Sky (1951)

3.7 of 5 from 70 ratings
1h 34min
Rent No Highway in the Sky (aka No Highway) Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
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Synopsis:
Considered a bit eccentric and therefore a tad unreliable, a Royal Aircraft Establishment metallurgist is still respected for his work on the company's newly designed Reindeer, aircraft. Unfortunately, the off-beat scientist has discovered that the new plane has a fatal flaw and that after spending 1,440 hours airborne, the metal in the rear will buckle and the tail will shear off. Now he must somehow convince skeptical executives that a terrible catastrophe will occur if they do not immediately ground all Reindeers.
Actors:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Gerald Kent
Directors:
Producers:
Louis D. Lighton
Writers:
Nevil Shute, RC Sherriff, Oscar Millard, Alec Coppel
Aka:
No Highway
Studio:
Screenbound Pictures Limited
Genres:
Classics, Drama, Thrillers
Collections:
Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: Kenneth More, Getting to Know: Marlene Dietrich, Glynis & Angela: Ninetysomething Marvels, Top 10 British Actresses of the 1940s, Top 10 Films About Planes and Pilots, Top Films
BBFC:
Release Date:
31/10/2016
Run Time:
94 minutes
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono
Subtitles:
None
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
Colour:
B & W

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Reviews (1) of No Highway in the Sky

Disaster thriller. - No Highway in the Sky review by Steve

Spoiler Alert
26/05/2023

This stands apart from most suspense thrillers because it draws quite realistically on scientific theory. The author of the 1948 source novel, was Nevil Shute, who had previously been an aeronautical engineer, and the hazard of metal fatigue to aircraft safety would result in a real life tragedy a few years later.

James Stewart plays a research scientist concerned about the sustainability of the aluminium frames of a new line of commercial aircraft. He predicts the tails will fall off after 1440 flight hours. And then it happens. While traveling to Canada to examine the crash debris, he discovers the plane he has boarded is approaching the crucial time span...

So for all the boffinry, this settles down into a disaster film. Stewart is a complex character; autistic, a widower, and a loner. But essentially a loose screw on a commercial flight which he claims is about to fall out of the sky. Meanwhile head office insist there's nothing to see, fearful of the bottom line.

Among the fellow flyers, Marlene Dietrich packs some incidental glamour, but Glynis Johns' flat performance is a negative. Stewart is solid as a shy, unheroic man made eccentric by his extreme intelligence, and suffering from his own stress fatigue. While there's a thoughtful production, its best factor is Shute's exciting plot premise.

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