L'isola nel cielo

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.

I'll admit I wasn't expecting much here - I'd seen the tail-end of the movie a while back, and it didn't look too hot, but I'm a wannabe John Wayne completest, so I took it upon myself to watch this 1953 effort as an outward and visible sign of my devotion.

It's a stunning film, for those who appreciate such things. The Duke plays against type to a degree here. He's a WWII-era transport pilot in this one whose plane goes off-course and crashes in an uncharted region of Labrador in -70F (-56C) temperatures. He's not exactly a hopeless neurotic - this is John Wayne, after all - but you can see his confidence falter as it becomes increasingly likely that he and his men aren't going to make it out alive. This is paralleled by the story of the search pilots, whose confidence also wanes as they poke around the confusing landscape trying to find the proverbial needle in a haystack. Great performances on that side of the story, too, most notably by Andy Devine of all people - the veteran John Wayne fan keeps waiting for the comic relief from this fine character actor, and its absence adds to the overall tension. The juxtaposition of the two stories underscores the importance of friendship, devotion, courage, cooperation, and creativity. For the history-minded among you, it is also piques one's interest in radio and aviation technology of the WWII period - in ways the Duke's "fighter jock" movies like "The Flying Tigers" and "Flying Leathernecks" really do not. This is a remarkable film, well written in Hemmingwayesque sparse, masculine prose and effectively photographed in stark black and white. Highly recommended, especially for the odd duck who still believes that John Wayne couldn't act. 8/10

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.

Despite the movie being confined to the frozen north of Canada and the narrowness of the plot (rescuing a downed plane), this movie was able to keep my interest and avoided the "claustraphobic-feel". That's because the movie, though very simple, is written and directed so well. It manages to throw in little moments of drama into the story whenever there is a chance for a lull and in the process pulls the viewer into the story. Plus, on top of that, the acting and supporting cast is excellent. PLUS, for you lovers of oddness out there, look closely at the adult Alfalfa Switzer (yes, from OUR GANG shorts) in an adult role (shortly before he got himself killed).

John Wayne made a number of movies with an aviation theme in the 1950's including another-The High and The Mighty -based like this effort on an Ernest K Gann novel.Add his turn as aviation pioneer Spig Weed in The Wings of Eagles and you have the basis for an interesting mini-festival .

Gann co-scripted this movie and it was directed by another aviation buff in William "Wild Bill" Wellman . Wayne plays a civilian pilot whose ATC plane crashes in a remote part of Labrador .The movie cross cuts between the downed plane with Wayne striving to keep up the morale of his crew in bone freezing ,stamina sapping conditions as they cope ,or try to ,with scanty rations ,communication equipment failure and internal dissension, and the rescue attempt .The "rescue" scenes ,in turn, alternate between ground search co-ordination and scenes on board rescue aircraft as the search the vast and unchartered terrain in inhospitable conditions for some sign of the downed plane The movie is in black and white and benefits from two very sharp cameramen .William Clothier handles the airial scenes while Archie Stout endows the ground scenes with a chilly poeticism that greatly aids the movie . Wayne is fine in a role where he eschews the macho posing of so many of his movies and the cast of dependable supporting actors -including Fess Parker ,James Arness,Andy Devine and Lloyd Nolan -all give sterling performances the voice overs are a tad tiresome and sententious but are only a minor defect in a worthwhile movie that owes its title to the notion that pilots are a breed apart from their earthbound compatriots

and the movie would question John Donne's assertion that "no man is an island" clearly endorsing the view that pilots are in some way detached from other men

This well worth watching and deserves to be much better known than it is