Jet Storm

This is basically a disaster movie prototype, from before there were such things. It wasn't the first film made about a flight in peril, but it was one of the first to feature a jet aircraft. This film is chock-a-block with fine acting talent and the claustrophic confines of the aircraft make for a good 'plot pressure cooker' that eventually brings things to a head.

Actually the confines of the aircraft are not anywhere near as small as they ought to be; the aircraft cabin set is eerily quiet, and incredibly spacious, having eight foot plus ceilings, wide seats and a huge gangway. There is a downstairs lounge too, with a second row of windows (unseen in any external shots), a bar and a luggage hold that you can wander around in. Jet aircraft were certainly not like that at the time and in fact never really have been. The camera work has just a hint of sway to it; enough to suggest the aircraft is actually flying, but without making you feel seasick watching it. The aircraft used in the film vary; in long shots prior to and during take-off a medium-haul Aeroflot Tu104A (CCCP-42390) is used, however they are seen boarding G-AOYM (actually a BEA Vickers Viscount, with no jet engine exhaust in the trailing edge of the wing root of course) and announce themselves using a different call sign (G-AJOR) to the control tower. A Tu104-esque model is used too, which is also marked G-AJOR. Near the end of the film a completely different aircraft, a turboprop of some kind, is seen in twilight.

The film was released in 1959; the only passenger jet aircraft flying for most of the previous three years had been the Tu104. Both the Boeing 707 and the DH Comet IV had been flying transatlantic since October 1958, but portraying either type in a disaster movie would have been a political hot potato; effectively the US and UK aircraft industries were busy duking it out for the long haul jet aircraft market. Choosing the Tu104 to represent a fictional type flying the equally fictional 'Atlantic Queen' service was a neat way out of any controversy that might so be caused.

It is a pretty good film, this, all told; an interesting period piece, a proto-disaster movie, a hothouse of acting talent.

The most entertaining aspect of this film is watching it through a 2025, American culture / air travel lens. It is a good solid drama, with strong acting, and dialog - hence 7 stars - but it's also amusing for showing us how different we are today.

In Jet Storm we have what looks to be a 24-seat jet aircraft, 2X2 seating, with one class of service: obviously first (love the name: the Atlantic Queen Service). Route: London to New York. The plane looks like a Russian Tupolev 104 in exterior shots but the cheesy model looks more like an early DeHavilland Comet. Very spacious and unusually wide interior.

The passengers? All upper middle class, upper class types, mostly British. And all, save for two or three, very polite and talky. All, of course, are in their very best dress, suit and ties for the men, even the child; day dresses for the women.

And of course there are all the stereotypes. The hysterical older woman; the cynical businessman; the aloof, glamorous aristocrat; the practical cool-headed American; the aging rock star and his girlfriend; the divorcing couple; the old dowager and her borscht belt comedian seat mate; the sleeping child; the heroic, level-headed captain; the novice stewardess; the "good girl" character. Reminds me of a John Wayne movie the High and the Mighty. Or pretty much any close-quarters disaster movie. This could have been "Airplane 1959."

The problem is that one of the passengers, an ex-mental patient, has possibly planted a bomb somewhere and one of the passengers overhears his "plan" and becomes hysterical.

From there we have a talk fest. The captain, other passengers, even a child, all try and get Mr. Bomber (a 35-year old Richard Attenborough!) calmed down and in a mood to locate and disarm the device. The captain is more psychiatrist than aviator. Attenborough is made to stay in the downstairs bar and lounge (like something you would have on an early jet age 747) while he cycles through some crazy fits and hallucinations. All the while the white-coated steward searches all the bags in the pressurized, walk-in baggage hold.

Meanwhile passengers upstairs calmly play cards. Given the need to keep the passengers in a good mood, despite possible death at any minute, the stewardess starts serving unlimited, free champagne. Miss Good Girl helpfully suggests the bubbly be laced with some of her feel good pills (which knocks out an especially troublesome woman, who never returns to the movie). So British. So passive aggressive.

Fast forward to 2025. Can you imagine this in an American aircraft? Attenborough's character would have been hit on the head with a metal coffee pot then taped in to a seat, with hands bound with cable ties. The passengers - many in gym attire, wife beaters, and flip flops - would be complaining about missed connections, and no meal service. The FA would be some tired old 60-year old harridan running up and down the aisle barking orders. The plane would have dived from 40,000 feet to 10,000 and diverted to Iceland causing garbage to be strewn about the cabin. Passengers would be snarling about missed connections, and texting lawyers who are all on social media trolling for business. Lots of iPhone video action too.

But here in the transatlantic skies of 1959 we have polite conversation among the nicer passengers and games of gin and poker. No one gets mussed or wrinkled even after a mild tussle or two. Aristo woman even thumbs through her fashion magazine.

Ahh for the good old days of aircraft disasters.

A British aviation thriller; A story about a former scientist aboard a commercial airplane flying from London to New York who threatens the safety of the passengers in his plan to confront a man who he believes is responsible for the hit-and-run death of his young daughter. An intelligent script provides some tension as well as melodrama and humour but it is a touch naive with constant moralising and the eventual payoff which is contrived. With many of the tropes of the disaster movie genre, the plot is interesting as the alarmed passengers soon divide into groups: reactionary and liberal. Richard Attenborough brings a convincing complexity to the role of bereft father, and danger which maintains the danger throughout, and the film boasts a starry British cast delivering good character-driven performances.

Ernest Tilley (Attenborough) has discovered the identity of the man who drunkenly killed his baby daughter in a hit-and-run, and armed with a bomb boards the same flight as him. Tilley is deeply depressed and obsessed with killing this man at any cost, even if it means killing his own family and everyone on board. Attenborough plays Tilley very quietly, a man hollowed out by his depression and hatred, not only for the hit-and-run driver, but for the whole world. As the film progresses, it is very easy to feel real sorrow for him. The writer and the director keep the lid firmly on for most of the time, only allowing the anger and fear to burst out in small doses. The other seats on board are occupied by many faces of the time, including Dame Sybil Thorndyke and Harry Secombe, who sit together and do a grand job of lightening the mood with their witty and charming performances. Husband and wife Bernard Braden and Barbara Kelly don't do much and neither does Marty Wilde. Very nice to see Stanley Baker playing against the usual 'thick ear' parts he normally gets, and he turns in a very good part. This film will not appeal to modern audiences who need an explosion or slanging match every five minutes. It's a character study, and a very British one at that. If you like your thrillers with a bit of humanity and depth, I can thoroughly recommend this impressive film. DVD from Simply.

Following the success of 'The League of Gentlemen', Dickie Attenborough began mobilising his own films and appeared in other films to raise the money to continue making his own (in the same way that Laurence Olivier was acting in films in order to finance his own stage productions at the National Theatre). This film is one of them.