No Highway in the Sky
1951  NR  DRAMA  1h 38min
CAST— James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Glynis Johns, Jack Hawkins, Jeanette Scott
MUSIC— Malcolm Arnold  DIRECTOR— Henry Koster  BASED ON— No Highway (novel), by Nevil Shute

     Another opportunity for James Stewart to shine in a pitch perfect performance. Here he plays an absent minded mathematician working for the British government as an aviations engineer. He has begun to form a theory that may throw a monkey wrench into the company’s ongoing plans. His theory suggests that after so many hours of flight the tail-end on their newest fleet of passenger planes will collapse, sending the plane to a ghastly end. Stewart continues to “aw, shucks” his way through the film until they put him on one of these potential death traps. He then pleads his case, urging the crew to land the plane before it’s too late. A nail-biter to be sure, but one laced with wit and charm from Stewart and flight attendant Glynis Johns. This one may now be under the radar, but one viewing and it feels like you’re going at Mach 2 with your hair on fire. Oh, wait; that’s another movie about planes… AKA: No Highway.
OUR RATING— ***