Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen - Maltin, Leonard [42]
58. ISLAND IN THE SKY
(1953)
Directed by William A. Wellman
Screenplay by Ernest K. Gann
Based on the novel by Ernest K. Gann
Actors:
JOHN WAYNE
LLOYD NOLAN
WALTER ABEL
JAMES ARNESS
ANDY DEVINE
ALLYN JOSLYN
JIMMY LYDON
HARRY CAREY JR.
HAL BAYLOR
SEAN MCCLORY
WALLY CASSELL
REGIS TOOMEY
LOUIS JEAN HEYDT
BOB STEELE
DARRYL HICKMAN
TOUCH (MIKE) CONNORS
GORDON JONES
FRANK FENTON
PAUL FIX
CARL (ALFALFA) SWITZER
FESS PARKER
ANN DORAN
GEORGE CHANDLER
How could a movie starring John Wayne possibly be considered obscure? Be patient; I’ll explain.
In the 1950s, Wayne, like many other top stars, began producing his own films, first with Robert Fellows as Wayne-Fellows Productions and then under the name Batjac (named for the shipping firm in his 1948 movie Wake of the Red Witch). Although Warner Bros. and United Artists distributed the films, the rights and negatives reverted to Batjac after a certain period of time. Thus, Batjac wound up owning such films as Hondo, The High and the Mighty, McLintock!, and Island in the Sky outright. They were all sold to television at one time or another, but were withdrawn in the 1970s and with rare exceptions went into limbo for more than thirty years.
In the early 1980s, the home-video market boomed and demand for those titles was high but Wayne’s son Michael held out. Ironically, it was only after his untimely demise in 2003 that his widow, Gretchen, began to investigate the possibility of restoring and reissuing those films.
All during that limbo period the one picture people asked to see most often was The High and the Mighty. This wasn’t hard to understand. It had been an enormous hit in 1954—in fact, the sixth-highest-grossing movie of the year—and it was considered the forerunner of Airport and other such multicharacter sagas. Shot in color and the new CinemaScope process, it was directed by William A. Wellman and written by Ernest K. Gann, based on his best-selling book.
Just one year earlier, the same powerful team worked with Wayne on another aviation saga. Island in the Sky was filmed in black and white, didn’t boast an all-star cast as The High and the Mighty did, and told a very different kind of story, with bittersweet drama and only a qualified happy ending. Perhaps for these reasons it was not a resounding hit, and to this day it stands in the shadow of its more popular successor.
But in my opinion it’s a better film—and director Wellman thought so, too.
Island in the Sky was inspired by a real-life story about a cargo plane that was forced to crash-land in snowy Newfoundland, where its small crew fought the elements (and a broken radio) in a desperate struggle to survive until they could be located—and rescued. In those days before sophisticated radar and tracking devices, their plight galvanized virtually every pilot who was familiar with their route.
In this fictionalized version of the tale, it is up to the captain (Wayne) to maintain morale as one day melts into another. He cannot give in to despair, lest his crew lose the will to live. Meanwhile, back at base camp every available pilot takes to the air in search of the downed plane and its men.
Wellman plays all of this for its humanity and never allows the film to descend into melodrama. There are highly dramatic moments, to be sure, and one scene in which Wayne uncharacteristically has to portray genuine fear (not, perhaps, his strongest suit as an actor). But it’s the character vignettes and flashbacks that give this film its color, and the authenticity of the crew’s valiant struggle, furiously turning the handle of a hand-cranked radio, that gives it bite.
The cast couldn’t be better, filled with veterans both young and old. The crew members are played by Hal Baylor, Sean McClory, Wally Cassell, and Jimmy Lydon (who