Island in the Sky (1953 film)

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This article is about the 1953 John Wayne film. For the 1938 film, see Island in the Sky (1938 film). For the 1960 Donald Duck cartoon, see Island in the Sky (cartoon).

Island in the Sky
Image:IslandInTheSky.jpg
Directed by	William A. Wellman
Produced by	Robert Fellows John Wayne
Written by	Ernest K. Gann
Starring	John Wayne Lloyd Nolan James Arness Andy Devine Harry Carey Jr.
Music by	Emil Newman
Cinematography	Archie Stout
Editing by	Ralph Dawson
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	September 5, 1953
Running time	109 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Island in The Sky is a 1953 disaster film released through Warner Brothers. The film starred and was co-produced by John Wayne, directed by William A. Wellman, and written by Ernest K. Gann, who also wrote the novel (Island in the Sky) on which the film is based.

1 "Island in the Sky" and "The High and the Mighty" Similarities
2 Plot
3 Review
4 Cast
5 External links

[edit] "Island in the Sky" and "The High and the Mighty" Similarities

Island in the Sky and The High and the Mighty are film oddities as they are two of the first all-star disaster films, which paved the way for Airport and its sequels twenty-plus years later. Both films are also two of the early John Wayne co-productions and starred Wayne. This production practice would not become widespread until the 1980s and 90s, when stars from Robert Redford to Sandra Bullock took control of productions. Both films also had many of the same crew members: producers, director, writer, cinematographer, and editor.

"Island in the Sky" and "The High and the Mighty" were out of circulation for about a quarter-century due to legal issues. Finally, they were rebroadcast on television in July 2005, the first broadcasts in twenty years, and also released as special edition DVDs that August.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Plot

"Island in the Sky" follows the personal drama of a pilot and crew of a World War II-era DC-3 trying to survive after a crash landing in the uncharted wildlands of Labrador, Canada. The plane's pilot, Dooley, is a former airline pilot who, like many others, was pressed into duty hauling war supplies across the northern route to England. Weather, combined with the immense difficulty in navigating the northland, force the plane to land in an unknown location. After escaping death by finding a lake for a landing field, Dooley must keep his men alive in deadly conditions while waiting for rescue. Fellow airmen (Lloyd Nolan, James Arness, Andy Devine, Paul Fix) are determined to find them before hunger and the 70-below winter do them in. Wellman provides the narration for the stoic characters that tells us what is going on inside their minds. There is tension and fear-filled war council among the search pilots when no one's quite sure what to do next — the wrong decision could doom the missing crew — and so no one looks anybody else in the face.

Details such as the ice pick kept handily embedded in a barracks wall so that pilots can break the ice sheet on their morning wash water add to the sense of reality provided by the film.

This script was based on the true story of a flight on February 3, 1943, though the co-pilot did not actually die.

[edit] Review

The director, Wellman, was an aviation-movie veteran whose Wings won the first-ever Academy Award (1927–28). This film is atypical of Wayne as he does not display the machismo for which he was often criticized. His portrayal of the downed plane's captain is believable and realistic. The black-and-white cinematography by Archie Stout (dramatic scenes) and William H. Clothier (flying scenes) are excellent. The restorations done for the DVD version released on August 2, 2005 are superb.

[edit] Cast

John Wayne as Captain Dooley
Lloyd Nolan as Captain Stutz
James Arness as Mac McMullan, pilot
Andy Devine as Willie Moon, pilot
Harry Carey Jr. as Ralph Hunt, Moon's co-pilot
Walter Able as Colonel Fuller
Paul Fix as Wally Miller
Louis Jean Heydt as Fitch, pilot
Fess Parker as Fitch's co-pilot (uncredited)