Gallant Journey

This nice biopic from Columbia stars Glenn Ford as John Montgomery, a man whose ideas about gliders and aerodynamics lead to the creation of the first airplane. The studio has assigned Janet Blair to costar as Ford's love interest, with Selena Royle playing his mother. As expected, there are some excellent aviation scenes with a great deal of suspense. Several sequences depict both the heartbreak and the triumphs involved in an invention of this kind. Ford gives a soaring performance, in a role that seems to draw on his sensitivities as an actor and his feelings about portraying the man as honestly as possible.

I viewed this picture many years ago and acquired a crush on - was it Glenn Ford or John Montgomery? Don't know..... he played the role so well. With Glenn Ford's passing yesterday, that was the first picture that emerged from my recollections, other than Stolen Life, in which he held his own so well with Bette Davis. It is, indeed, unfortunate that Hollywood did not fully tap the dramatic abilities of this fine actor. His comedic ability was evident in Pocketful of Miracles, which could have opened a whole new genre for him had it been further utilized in his career. As for Gallant Journey, it is an inspiring film of early aviation and of the caliber so well suited to family viewing.

It is amazing how little has appeared in motion pictures about early attempts at flight before the Wright Brothers. There are no films about Sir George Cayley (the founder of aeronautics), the Montgolfier Brothers, Otto Lilienthal, or Samuel Langley. Actually, except for a television film that starred Michael Moriarty as Wilbur Wright, there is no film about the Wright Brothers. Only two films (that I know of) deal with early aviation pioneers. One is a film with Don Ameche and Myrna Loy about the life of inventor Hiram Percy Maxim (inventor of the Maxim machine gun and the lawn sprinkler - he designed a cumbersome flying machine that almost flew a little in 1895). The other is this film, about John Montgomery.

John Who?

John J. Montgomery was a professional acrobat who had an act concerning gliding in his own glider. It involved some degree of tightrope style balancing and looked very impressive. Less impressive than Montgomery and his fans have made it sound in the last century. To his fans, Montgomery almost flew a plane before the Wrights. Actually the glider he designed was basically stationary, and only went aloft due to a balloon above it. It would detach and drift (or be steered) to go softly to the ground. Otto Lillienthal and Percy Pilcher flew real gliders in the 1890s (both were killed eventually in their gliders), but they flew in the outside air. Montgomery never achieved the results of those two real pioneers*.

But he was a local boy from California, so he had a fan base. And William Wellman tapped it for this very good movie (alas, not shown as often as it should be shown), dealing with his career, up to his tragic death in 1911 (killed, ironically, when trying to fly an early motorized aircraft). It has a typically first rate performance by Ford. Catch it if it is offered on the Turner network.

*Since I originally put this on the Board I have looked a bit deeper into Montgomery's work. He apparently was more experimental than I credited him for, but still it doesn't convince me that he could have beaten the Wright Brothers to powered man-made flight.

Gallant Journey is a curious and not a very good biopic of an early aviation pioneer.

John Montgomery (Glenn Ford) was a man whose father wanted to enter the clergy. He had plans to fly gliders, only his health meant that flying gliders was dangerous. John suffered from dizzy spells.

Later John comes across Dan Mahoney. Another aviation enthusiast who launches the glider from a hot air balloon. Things seem to be going well until Dan crashes and dies.

Eventually John sells his possessions to keep going. Then ending up in a costly lawsuit.

All the while he still has the love from his girl Regina. As well as the support from several priests who share his enthusiasms about flight.

Director William Wellman has some good flying sequences. All too often this movie fails to soar and is never too life affirming. John is plagued with miserable luck.

Depending on whether you believe the plot of Gallant Journey verbatim or not, John J. Montgomery may have been the first man to make a heavier than air flight and he did it in 1883, twenty years before the Wright Brothers did their thing at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Whether you do or not there is no denying that Glenn Ford gave a wonderful performance as the earnest young man, consumed as so many were at that time of the dream of manned flight. Janet Blair played the ever helpful and supportive wife of Ford and does it well.

The film is directed by William Wellman, one of many he did in his career combining his two great loves, film and aviation. Of course Wellman reached the pinnacle of his aviation success with the first Academy Award winning Best film, Wings.

The film is narrated by Charlie Ruggles to a group of post World War II kids and he's Montgomery's brother who has outlived him by a considerable period. Montgomery when he wasn't doing his aviation glider experiments, earned a living teaching science at Santa Clara College where a couple of supportive priests are played by Arthur Shields and Charles Kemper. Best in the supporting parts in the film however is Jim Lloyd who plays the balloonist daredevil who helps pilot Ford's experiments when an inner ear problem forces him to stop doing the actual flying.

Aviation historians still debate Montgomery's actual contributions to the saga of manned flight. But I think Montgomery himself would have been well pleased with how Bill Wellman and Glenn Ford told his tale.