No Highway in the Sky

• (Also known as No Highway)
• Directed by Henry Koster
• June 28, 1951 (UK) / September 21, 1951 (US)
• Based on the 1948 novel No Highway by Nevil Shute

An engineer predicts that a plane’s tail will fail after a specific number of hours and struggles to convince those around him.

I certainly wouldn’t count No Highway in the Sky among the greatest films of all time, but it is a very entertaining semi-disaster aviation film starring Jimmy Stewart with a notable appearance by Marlene Dietrich. Stewart plays engineer Theodore Honey who is convinced that after 1440 hours of flying the tail of a new type of plane will fail due to a unique type of fatigue that he has yet to prove will actually happen.

Honey is an absent-minded genius with a clear inability to connect with those around him. The only person he truly has any relationship with is his daughter Elspeth (Janette Scott) but that’s a bit stilted and awkward. I felt that got moved past far too quickly. A little exploration of their dynamic was warranted to use as a way to contrast it to how he interacted with others but it never really happened.

Marlene Dietrich is billed on the poster as essentially a costar in her part of Monica Teasdale, but truth be told she’s in a glorified extended cameo and not necessarily a major part. I’m not talking smack on what she did here. She is not as significant as one would believe by looking at a poster or the Blu-ray case. Her presence is really to show Honey is not a total robot as he shares with her and shows his human side.

Honey draws in his share of supporters-mostly because he genuinely believes what he is saying. His conviction convinces everyone he meets to one extent or another that he just might be onto something. He is even able to concern the captain of a plane he finds himself on.

While every film is a work of fiction, I found the willingness of Honey’s employer to stand by him and the gentle nature which they handled his actions and their consequences a bit unrealistic. They were rather fair and understanding which in the real world would not happen and strains credulity in a fictional one. Whether or not they were friends with him would be beside the point.

Be that as it may, No Highway in the Sky is an entertaining story. It’s more drama than action. And truth be told if it was anybody other than Jimmy Stewart starring in this the story wouldn’t work. His ability to play the everyman and just general talent and charm is what largely carries this movie. Not that it is a bad movie, but I don’t think it would have received a Blu-ray release if it wasn’t for the legend.

Aside from the right star in something like this the science used needs to sound plausible even if it is not. They explain enough of the idea they put forward to give it a veneer of realism but avoid going so deep that you see the flaws. I can almost buy the technobabble about crystallization and stress fractures. And that’s the main thing needed to make this work.

I found the new tail design a bit silly in appearance. Maybe it is book accurate or maybe it looked cutting edge on film in 1951 but it looks silly today. Why this was an improvement over something more conventional never gets explained and deserved something to cover its unusual appearance.

Ultimately No Highway in the Sky is an entertaining lesser-known film by Jimmy Stewart. I can’t say you will be raving about this, but you will certainly be entertained by it.