Au seuil de l'inconnu

I assume this film won't appeal to everyone. It's a bit cerebral and a bit slow, but a very important movie historically. The title of the film refers to the experiments that made even the consideration of space travel possible. In other words, the film is NOT about early rockets or the space program, but experiments on the suitability of humans for the harsh demands this or ultra-high speed planes would put on their bodies. Two particular scientific programs run by the air force are featured here--high speed rocket sled trials as well as super high-altitude balloon flights combined with insanely dangerous parachute drops from as high at 100,000 feet! For folks like me who are fascinated by airplanes and space travel, this film is a must-see. And, instead of the typical science fiction film of the day, this is all based on scientific fact--feats that even today seem extraordinary. What I particularly liked, other than the story, is that the film did NOT rely on grainy stock footage--everything looked very real. And, on top of that, the acting and direction were excellent.

While teens and kids might not sit still for this sort of film, try to get them to. It's highly educational and makes you really appreciate these men and their brave deeds.

An air force doctor and air force pilots risk their lives in tests in the upper atmosphere. It is a good story of risky tests leading up to the goal of manned space flights. The pace is good and the acting is fine but it only minimally qualifies as science fiction as advertised. There are no extraterrestrials, no outer space expeditions, time travel or any other science fiction staples. Instead, it centers on methods of jumping from high altitude crafts.

This movie inspired me to enter the United States Air force in 1956. I spent 29 years in the Air Force and retired as a Chief Master Sergeant in 1985. It may not have a blockbuster film, but it did record the early attempts toward space flight. It is a record of the history of the high altitude parachute jumps of Col Joe Kittinger who actually made those jumps.

I met Col Kittinger when I was stationed at Udorn RTAFB, Thailand in 1972. He is my boyhood hero.

I saw this film in 1959 and again in the 1970's and it reminded me how much research and testing went into the space program before John Glenn made his historic entry into space. This film is a must for younger people to see what went on before they were born and how the space program began. Stand back and look at it today and see just how far we have come in just 42 years.

I was fortunate enough, along with my Air Force, Air Research, Balloon- Launch teammate's to be at Holloman AFB from 1953 to 1957 and took part in the actual making of the movie while they were shooting there for three months, July, August and September, 1955. I was in nine different scenes, working in the background and one "walk across" scene, handling the gondola for launch. Of course, we were not paid, however a Sargent in the outfit did because he had a "speaking line". I was "bigger than life" walking across that Cenimascope and Stereophonic Sound screen at the age of 22. My green '55 Chevy was in the crash scene of the gondola in the desert and I drove it across the sand dunes and mesquite bushes. The gondola was dropped from a crane in that scene and "catsup" was spread on Guy Madison's face and mouth to look like blood! I remember talking baseball and the World Series with Dean Jagger while lying on a mattress in a Quonset hut near the set. He was a "regular Joe". I passed football with Martin Milner, Warren Stevens and John Hodiak on the tarmac near the movie set and launch site...John Hodiak died suddenly one week before the film was finished. Scenes were also shot in Florida. Guy Madison would arrive in his black limousine, late, every morning, with his French wife and poodle. Guy was smoking his cigarette with a cigarette holder dangling in his mouth. Yes, he was very "snooty!" Virginia Leith could not remember her lines and we had to repeat the scenes with her 15 times or so before she would get it right! It was fun helping to make the movie and seeing the finished product at the premier showing on the base in 1956. I made a lot of good friend's including the set electrician while working around the set. He promised me that if I would come to Hollywood after I was discharged, that he could get me a job as Studio Projectionist at Twentieth Century Fox, as I was working part-time at the Frontier theaters in Alamogordo, New Mexico as a projectionist! My life took a different route and I never did take him up on the offer. Could have been a "movie star!" By today's standards it was a humdrum movie and kind of "corny", but it was a chance of a lifetime for me.

Ron K. Brown, Dayton, Ohio retired, now age 71 March 28, 2005