The High and the Mighty
Directed by	William A. Wellman
Produced by	Robert Fellows John Wayne
Written by	Ernest K. Gann
Starring	John Wayne Claire Trevor Laraine Day Robert Stack Jan Sterling
Music by	Dimitri Tiomkin
Cinematography	Archie Stout
Editing by	Ralph Dawson
Distributed by	Warner Brothers
Release date(s)	3 July 1954
Running time	147 min. William Augustus Wellman (29 February &ndash19 December) was an American Movie director, noted for directing the film which received the first Academy Award John Wayne ( May 26, 1907 &ndash June 11, 1979) was an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award -winning American Ernest Kellogg Gann ( October 13, 1910 - December 19, 1991) was an Aviator, Author, filmmaker, Sailor John Wayne ( May 26, 1907 &ndash June 11, 1979) was an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award -winning American Claire Trevor ( March 8, 1910 - April 8, 2000) was an Academy Award -winning American actress Laraine Day ( October 13 1920 &ndash November 10 2007) was an American actress. Robert Langford Modini Stack ( January 13, 1919 &ndash May 14, 2003) was an Emmy Award -winning and Academy Award - nominated Jan Sterling ( April 3 1921 – March 26 2004) was an Academy Award -nominated and Golden Globe -winning American Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (Дмитрий Зиновьевич Тёмкин Dmitrij Zinov'evič Tëmkin, sometimes translated as Dmitri Tiomkin) ( May Archie Stout, ASC was a Second unit Photographer whose career spanned from 1921 to 1954 Warner Bros Entertainment Inc (or Warner Bros, Warner Bros Pictures) is one of the world's largest producers of Film and Events 324 - Battle of Adrianople Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium. Year 1954 ( MCMLIV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1954 Gregorian calendar)
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The High and the Mighty is a 1954 Cinemascope drama adventure film^[1] with a star laden ensemble cast released through Warner Brothers. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Year 1954 ( MCMLIV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1954 Gregorian calendar) CinemaScope was a Widescreen movie format used from 1953 to 1967 An ensemble cast is a cast in which the principal performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance in a dramatic production Warner Bros Entertainment Inc (or Warner Bros, Warner Bros Pictures) is one of the world's largest producers of Film and The film starred and was co-produced by John Wayne, directed by William A. Wellman, and written by Ernest K. Gann who was also the author of the novel on which the film was based. John Wayne ( May 26, 1907 &ndash June 11, 1979) was an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award -winning American William Augustus Wellman (29 February &ndash19 December) was an American Movie director, noted for directing the film which received the first Academy Award Ernest Kellogg Gann ( October 13, 1910 - December 19, 1991) was an Aviator, Author, filmmaker, Sailor The High and the Mighty is a 1953 Novel by Ernest K Gann based on a real-life trip that he flew as a commercial Airline ^[2] Composer Dimitri Tiomkin won an Academy Award for his original score while his title song for the film also was nominated for an Oscar but did not win. Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (Дмитрий Зиновьевич Тёмкин Dmitrij Zinov'evič Tëmkin, sometimes translated as Dmitri Tiomkin) ( May "The Oscar" redirects here for the film see The Oscar (film. "The High and the Mighty" is a song by Ned Washington and Dimitri Tiomkin from the movie of the same name. The film follows the lives and interactions among the passengers and crew on board a Douglas DC-4 airliner while making a trans-Pacific flight during which a catastrophic prop failure and engine fire leads all to the brink of disaster. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The High and the Mighty served as a template for later "disaster" themed films such as the Airport series (1970-79), The Towering Inferno (1974), and Titanic (1997). A disaster film is a movie genre that has an impending or ongoing Disaster (such as a damaged Airliner, Fire Airport is a 1970 film based on the 1968 Arthur Hailey novel of the same name. The Towering Inferno is a 1974 Disaster film starring Steve McQueen and Paul Newman and directed by John Guillermin Titanic is a 1997 Disaster film directed written co-produced and co-edited by James Cameron about the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'' ^[3]

Plot

"Digital watercolor" image of DC-4 N4726V in TOPAC livery prior to moving to "Gate 4" for passenger boarding (from a screenshot)

While The High and the Mighty is often categorized as both an adventure/drama as well as an early example of the Hollywood "disaster" film,^[3] it also very much fits the additional genre of the complex, heavily character driven ensemble cast picture. A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set An ensemble cast is a cast in which the principal performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance in a dramatic production The film explores the personal dramas and increasingly strained interactions that develop among the 17 passengers, as well as the self-doubts and professional conflicts among the five crew members on board an unpressurized DC-4 commercial airliner operating as "Trans-Orient-Pacific (TOPAC) Flight #420" on a fictional overnight hop from Honolulu (T.H.) to San Francisco. Honolulu is the Capital and most populous Census-designated place (CDP in the U The Territory of Hawaii, abbreviated officially as TH, was established on July 7, 1898 and dissolved on August 21, 1959 when The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city Just past its midway point, the flight is suddenly transformed by mechanical failure into a tense, nerve-wracking, and life changing ordeal for everyone aboard. The first half of the unusually long (2:27) motion picture is devoted to the careful development of the film's 22 principal characters through both extensive interactive dialogue and many long, expensively produced flashback sequences before the life threatening crisis occasioned by the film's in-flight "disaster" begins. In history film television and other media a flashback (also called analepsis) is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current These 22 "souls on board" the flight are:

Passengers

• May Holst (Claire Trevor): a loquacious, overly dressed, self-described "broken-down old broad" who seems to always be on the lookout for a man;
• Ken Childs (David Brian): an avuncular, middle aged, silver-haired playboy and TOPAC investor/board member who soon receives the attentions of May Holst;
• Humphrey Agnew (Sidney Blackmer): an unctuous Honolulu "snake oil" manufacturer ("Agnew's Aides") and insanely jealous husband who is convinced that Childs is having an affair with his wife, Martha, and brings a revolver (there was no TSA then) with him on the airliner to help "discuss" the matter with Childs;
• Sally McKee (Jan Sterling): a platinum blond, overly made up, self-doubting mail-order bride going to meet her as yet sight-unseen future husband;
• Prof. The Transportation Security Administration ( TSA) is a US government agency that was created as part of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act Mail-order bride is a label applied to a woman who publishes her intent to marry someone from another - usually more developed - country Donald Falherty (Paul Kelly): an alcoholic U.S. Atomic Energy Commission scientist and amateur painter who has become conscience-stricken about his work on nuclear missiles;
• Lydia Rice (Laraine Day): a rich, shrewish, and aloof social climber from New York City who is not at all happy with, and intends to divorce, her husband. The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control . .
• Howard Rice (John Howard): who has infuriated Lydia because he wants to sell the New York advertising agency she bought for him ("as a new toy") and use the money to leave New York to buy and operate "a broken down old mine in Canada;"
• Gustave Pardee (Robert Newton): a philandering, self-centered, English accented (although New York-born) theatrical producer who is terrified of flying ("the original Frightened Freddie") and just about anything else he can't control, and. . .
• Lillian Pardee (Julie Bishop): Gustave's placating, much younger wife who, despite all her husband's faults, still loves him;
• Ed Joseph (Phil Harris): an exuberant, overweight, loud mouthed tourist from New Jersey who is returning home from a nothing-went-right "vacation from hell" with. . .
• Clara Joseph (Ann Doran): his overly emotional Utah-born wife;
• Nell and Milo Buck (Karen Sharpe and John Smith): a misty eyed young couple returning from their honeymoon;
• Frank Briscoe (Paul Fix): an ailing, wheelchair bound, grandfatherly gentleman who, although constantly in pain and having "signed over" virtually all his possessions to others, is still gracious and generous to a fault;
• Dorothy Chen (Joy Kim): a soft spoken, self effacing young Korean refugee looking to start a new life in America;
• José Lacota (John Qualen): a heavily accented, soft spoken, harmonica-playing commercial fisherman who is flying for the first time in his life;
• Toby Field (played by the director's son, Michael Wellman): a cap pistol-toting seven-year old who, returning to his mother from a visit to his father, sleeps through all the excitement;

Crew

• Captain John Sullivan (Robert Stack): while an experienced, sober, and no-nonsense pilot, nevertheless he is also one whose "nerves are getting rusty";
• First Officer "Whistling" Dan Roman (John Wayne): a troubled 20,000+ hour veteran flyer ("I've been flying since 1917. ") who a few years earlier was the captain and only survivor of a DC-3 that crashed on takeoff in Colombia killing, among others, his wife and young son;
• Second Officer Hobie Wheeler (William Campbell): the flight's smart aleck young relief pilot;
• Lenny Wilby (Wally Brown): the rumpled, often logorrheic navigator upon whose skills all will soon depend for their survival;
• "Miss Spaulding" (Doe Avedon): a young, rookie flight attendant ("I've only been with the company for four months. Takeoff is the phase of Flight in which an Aircraft goes through a transition from moving along the ground ( Taxiing) to flying in the air usually Logorrhoea or logorrhea ( Greek λογορροια, logorrhia, “ Word - Flux ” is defined as an “excessive flow of words” "), and the airliner's only cabin crew member. ^[4]

In aviation and maritime parlance, souls on board (SOB) refers to the total number of persons (passengers and crew) on board an aircraft or vessel. ^[5][6] Although the TOPAC dispatcher in Honolulu advises Capt. Sullivan that there are to be "21 souls on board (16 passengers, five aircrew), the rest cargo, 73,000 pounds gross" on the flight at take off, shortly before departure (but after the dispatch paperwork has been signed off by the captain and the aircrew have boarded the airliner), one unexpected last minute passenger (Humphrey Agnew) purchases passage on the flight without a previous reservation thus increasing the actual passenger count to 17 when the airliner leaves the gate. In the Physical sciences weight is a Measurement of the gravitational Force acting on an object ^[4]

Soon after departing Honolulu (HNL) for the scheduled 2,393^[7] statute mile trip over the vastness of the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco (SFO), an intermittent yet almost imperceptible shudder alerts First Officer Roman to a potential problem with the airliner. Honolulu International Airport is the principal aviation gateway of the City & County of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii and is identified as one of the busiest The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions San Francisco International Airport is a major international Airport located south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States adjacent to the In Commercial aviation, the first officer is the second pilot (sometimes referred to as the "co-pilot" of an Aircraft. None of the other aircrew and passengers seem to notice anything amiss at this time, however, except for Flight Attendant Spaulding who is alarmed when she looks into the flight deck mirror and sees it shake. Flight attendants or cabin crew (historically known as stewards air hosts/hostesses or stewardesses) are members of an Aircrew A short time later Capt. Sullivan is resting in the crew bunk when he senses a problem with the propeller "on either #1 or #3" which he perceives is slipping out of "sync" with the other three, but the cause can not be found. In Aviation, propeller synchronization is a mechanism that automatically synchronizes all Propellers of a Multiengine, propeller-driven Aircraft

View of the fire in Engine #1 (as created by special effects) that emperiled the fictional TOPAC Flight #420 just after it passed the "point of no return" between Honolulu and San Francisco. The illusions used in the Film, Television, Theater, or Entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called (screenshot)

Shortly after passing the point of no return at an altitude of 9,000 ft (MSL) on a trip anticipated to last 12 hours and 16 minutes ("exactly"), the left outboard engine (#1) seizes causing its three-bladed propeller to separate and a serious engine fire ensues. The point of no return is the point beyond which someone or some group of people must continue on their current course of action either because turning back is physically impossible Altitude is the Elevation of a point or object from a known level or datum (plural data Mean sea level (MSL is the average (mean height of the Sea, with reference to a suitable reference surface Although quickly extinguished, the engine nacel has become badly twisted in its mounts which greatly increases aerodynamic drag, and the airliner loses 4,000 ft of altitude ("and still sinking") before the aircrew regains full control. In Fluid dynamics, drag (sometimes called fluid resistance) is the force that resists the movement of a Solid object through a Fluid (a What proves to be of greater concern, however, is the damage caused by a separating propeller blade which has breached the left wing's outboard fuel tank (#1) resulting in the loss of a critical 200 gallons of the less than 1,300 of fuel that remained from the original 3,050 gallon load which the DC-4 had taken on at Honolulu.

With more than a thousand miles yet to go, the crew does not know if they can nurse the crippled airliner to a safe landing at San Francisco or will be forced to ditch at night in a storm-tossed Pacific. Each of the 17 passengers and five crew members on board react differently to the stress of this uncertainly. In the cabin, several personal crises were already brewing among the passengers. Agnew brought a chrome plated revolver on board with which to confront Childs whom he suspects of having an affair with his wife, Martha, who once worked for Childs. Just as Agnew made his move, however, engine #1 seized beginning the hours of terror for all on board.

The flight crew, left to right: First Officer Dan Roman (John Wayne), Navigator Lenny Wilby (Wally Brown) and Captain John Sullivan (Robert Stack)

The passengers and crew face this impending doom by reevaluating their lives. Navigator Wilby at first believes the airliner has enough fuel to make land, but then finds an error in his calculations and realizes they will run out "11 minutes short" of the airport unless the winds change. Meanwhile an air-sea-rescue (ASR) effort by the United States Coast Guard has also been launched in case the aircraft is forced to ditch. For the TV series of this title see Search and Rescue (TV series. Capt. Sullivan becomes resigned to the inevitability of the ditching option despite the extreme risks involved until Roman, the far more experienced First Officer, finally rebels against the Captain's orders and literally "slaps some sense" into the Captain and convinces him to try to make the airport even though the crippled airliner may not have enough altitude to clear a hill on their approach path.

After more than six hours of terror, the airliner ultimately just makes it to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) but touches down with only two of its four engines still operating as Roman had been forced to feather #4 (right outboard) when it also failed owing to fuel starvation shortly after passing the outer marker on its instrument landing system (ILS) approach to that field's Runway 28R. San Francisco International Airport is a major international Airport located south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States adjacent to the The Instrument Landing System (ILS is a ground-based Instrument approach system that provides precision guidance to an Aircraft approaching a Runway The Instrument Landing System (ILS is a ground-based Instrument approach system that provides precision guidance to an Aircraft approaching a Runway A check of all the tanks on the tarmac shows them to be effectively bone dry ("just 30 gallons left, too little to really measure") thus revealing how really very close the flight had come to not reaching the airport. The film ends with Dan Roman whistling as he walks off alone into the darkness while TOPAC's operations manager, Tim Garfield (Regis Toomey), says "So long. John Regis Toomey ( August 13, 1898 - October 12, 1991) was an American Film and Television actor So long, you ancient pelican. "

Cast

Casting problems plagued the production. After the originally chosen lead Spencer Tracy "ankled the project" shortly prior to preproduction,^[8] a surprisingly reluctant John Wayne agreed to take on the role. Spencer Tracy ( April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was a two-time Academy Award -winning Actor of stage and For the other major male lead, Wayne had promised the role to his friend, "Bob" Cummings who was a pilot and had Wellman's recommendation as well. Robert Cummings ( June 10, 1908 – December 2, 1990) also known as Bob Cummings, was an American Motion picture The interview with Robert Stack eventually convinced Wellman that a non-pilot could effectively portray the drama of a cockpit conflict. ^[4] After Trevor and Sterling were nominated for Academy Awards, Wellman revealed that Joan Crawford, Ida Lupino, Barbara Stanwyck, Ginger Rogers and Dorothy McGuire, in turn, declined the roles, apparently unwilling to essay the parts of "a broken-down broad" (Holst) or "a mess" (McKee). Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; ( March 23, 1905 - May 10, 1977) Crawford was signed to a motion picture Ida Lupino (4 February &ndash 3 August) was an English film actress, director, and a pioneer among women filmmakers Barbara Stanwyck ( July 16, &ndash January 20,) was an American actress, a star of film and television known during her 60-year career as a Ginger Rogers ( July 16, 1911 &ndash April 25, 1995) was an Academy Award -winning American film and stage actress Dorothy Hackett McGuire ( June 14, 1916 – September 13, 2001) was an Academy Award -nominated American actress ^[4] Stanwyck's refusal was especially galling as the director had always treated her as a "pet. " ^[9]

Credited cast members (in order of on-screen credits) and roles:^[4]

Production

William Wellman on location during filming for The High and the Mighty

The High and the Mighty and Island in the Sky (which was released a year earlier in 1953) both depict dramatic situations in a civil transport aviation context. Robert Easton (born November 23, 1930) is an American actor whose career in film and television spans more than 55 years Island in The Sky ( is an Aviation adventure / Drama film written by Ernest K William Wellman had reservations about the "intimate" storylines which dominated both productions, preferring to focus more on aircraft and pilots, yet after script deliberations set out the final screenplay, he endorsed the novel approach that harkened back to films such as the Grand Hotel. Grand Hotel is a 1932 MGM Pre-Code Art Deco Film that won the Best Picture Oscar. ^[11][9]

Wellman's films were produced two decades before Airport and its sequels (along with the later Airplane spoofs). Airport is a 1970 film based on the 1968 Arthur Hailey novel of the same name. Overview Fixed-wing aircraft range from small training and recreational aircraft to Wide-body aircraft and military cargo aircraft. They were early John Wayne co-productions in which he also starred, a practice which would not become widespread until the 1980s and 1990s. The High and the Mighty and Island in the Sky shared many of the same cast and production crew. Along with Wayne, six other actors appear in both films: Regis Toomey, Paul Fix, Carl Switzer, Ann Doran, George Chandler and Michael Wellman. Ernest K. Gann wrote the original novels on which both films were based along with both screenplays.

After their original theatrical runs and many years as a television staples, both films were withdrawn from circulation for about a quarter-century because of legal issues. Significant portions of the film stock of The High and the Mighty also showed color fading which was dealt with through a restoration process. ^[4] In July 2005, both films returned to public view when they were broadcast on television for the first time in two decades and also released in a DVD two disc edition that August. DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is

Aircraft feature prominently in The High and the Mighty, including two unusual aviation events: the U. S. Coast Guard's short-lived use of the B-17/PB-1G "Dumbo" rescue aircraft along with a brief launch clip of experiments with the U.S. Navy JB-2 version of the V-1 (an early kind of cruise missile) at an atomic missile test site. The following is an extensive catalogue of the variants and specific unique elements of each variant and/or design stage of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber The Fieseler Fi 103, better known as V-1 (German Vergeltungswaffe 1 was an early Cruise missile used during World War Two A cruise missile is a guided Missile that carries an explosive payload and uses a lifting wing and a propulsion system usually a Jet engine, to allow The postwar use of piston engine aircraft in oceanic flights was a key element of the film which required the use of a then-modern airliner. ^[12]

Douglas DC-4 N4726V

N4726V in fictional TOPAC colors as its passengers wait at "Gate 4 in Honolulu" to board "Flight 420" to SFO (screenshot)

The DC-4 (N4726V; ex-N66694, ex-LV-ABR) used to film the tarmac, passenger boarding (at "Gate 4"), takeoff, and daylight flying sequences was a former C-54A-10-DC (c/n 10315) built as a military transport in 1942 at Long Beach, California by Douglas Aircraft Company under U.S. Army Air Force contract (USAAF s/n 42-72210). San Francisco International Airport is a major international Airport located south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States adjacent to the Long Beach is a city located in southern California, USA, on the Pacific coast The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American Aerospace manufacturer, based in Long Beach California. The United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF) was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II. ^[13]

When the exterior and flying sequences were filmed in mid-November, 1953, the airliner was being operated by Oakland, California-based non-scheduled carrier Transocean Airlines (1946–1962), the largest civil aviation operator of recycled C-54's in the 1950s. Oakland (ˈoʊklənd founded in 1852 is the eighth-largest city in the U Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying representing all non- Military aviation, both private and commercial Novel and screenplay author Ernest K. Gann wrote the original book while he was flying C-54s for Transocean over the Hawaii-California routes. The airliner was named The Argentine Queen and had once been the personal aircraft of Juan Perón, the controversial three-time President of Argentina. Juan Domingo Perón (October 8 1895 &ndash July 1 1974 was an Argentine Colonel and Politician, elected three times as President of Argentina It was later operated by Slick Airways before being acquired by Transocean in 1953. Slick Airways was founded in 1946. It later acquired California Eastern in 1948, then sold out to Airlift International in 1968. The film's fictional airline's name "TOPAC" was painted over the Transocean's red, white and yellow color scheme for filming. ^[14]

Originally acquired by Transocean in 1953, N4726V was transferred just two years later to Airwork which in turn leased the aircraft to a variety of operators. Airwork is an Airline based in Auckland, New Zealand. It operates a joint venture airline Air Post, which is 50% owned by Airwork and It was subsequently acquired and operated by World Airways and finally by Facilities Management Corp. World Airways Inc is an American non-scheduled Airline currently headquartered in Peachtree City Georgia. , a charter air carrier. ^[15]

Transocean Airlines director of flight operations Bill Keating did the stunt flying for the movie. Keating and Gann had flown together and the author recommended his friend for the work. ^[16] During preproduction filming, Keating was involved in a near-incident when simulating the climactic night emergency landing. After several approaches, Wellman asked for "one more take" touching down even closer to the runway's threshold. Keating complied, taking out runway lights with his nose landing gear before "peeling off" and executing a go-around. A go-around is an aborted landing of an Aircraft which is on final approach. Wellman quipped that the crash would look good in another film. ^[17]

The "damaged engine" installed on the second "TOPAC DC-4" on a specially built mount with a 30º "droop" (screenshot)

In addition to this aircraft, a second Transocean C-54/DC-4 equipped with a large double cargo door^[18] used to accommodate the loading of freight on pallets, was employed for all shots of the damaged airliner on the ground at San Francisco in the film's closing sequences. A pallet (ˈpæːlɨt (sometimes called a skid) is a flat transport structure that supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a Forklift, Pallet A propellerless, fire-scorched engine on a distorted mount with a 30º "droop" was installed on the left wing of this aircraft to represent the damage which had emperiled the flight. Exterior airport scenes were filmed at the Glendale Grand Central Air Terminal, east of Burbank, California, where an outdoor movie set was constructed to replicate the terminal gates at SFO in the early 1950s. Glendale ( is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County California, United States. Additional exteriors utilized Oakland International Airport for all boarding, engine run-up, taxiing and takeoff scenes used in the opening sequences. Oakland International Airport ( also known as Metropolitan Oakland International Airport, is a public Airport located ten miles (15 km) south of ^[19] The external night and damaged in-flight sequences were filmed in a studio where a large scale miniature was photographed against backdrops. Passenger cabin and flight deck interior scenes were all filmed on sets built on a Warner Bros. sound stage.

Loss of N4726V

Unlike the fictional engine fire in the film in which the stricken DC-4 airliner portrayed by The Argentine Queen survived its ordeal and reached San Francisco safely, ironically a decade after its appearance in the motion picture this same aircraft suffered a similar engine fire during an overnight trans-Pacific flight and was lost with no survivors. At 8:47 PM (HST) on 27 March 1964, N4726V took off on a charter flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles with a crew of three and six passengers on board. Events 196 BC - Ptolemy V ascends to the throne of Egypt. 1309 - Pope Clement V excommunicates Year 1964 ( MCMLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the 1964 Gregorian calendar. Honolulu is the Capital and most populous Census-designated place (CDP in the U Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West A few minutes before 6 AM (PST), eight hours into the anticipated 11 hour, 40 minute flight, a Mayday call from the pilot was heard reporting its position as about 700 miles west of San Francisco with a serious fire in engine #2 (left inboard), and saying that ". Mayday is an emergency Code word used internationally as a Distress signal in Voice procedure radio communications The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city . . we may have to put it in" (aviation jargon for ditching in the ocean). No further transmissions were heard.

The United States Coast Guard conducted a five-day search for the missing DC-4, but no traces of either the airliner or its occupants were ever found. Later investigation revealed engine #2 had a recurring oil leak in its propeller governor assembly on an earlier flight that had resulted in its temporary grounding. The cause of the in flight fire remained undetermined. ^[20]

Original release and reception

The High and the Mighty received considerable critical acclaim when it was released in July 1954, and although the choice of the new Cinemascope format limited theater use, it was also one of the most commercially successful films that year. ^[2]Within two months of its release, it was ranked No. 1 in box-office receipts and set the record for the "fastest return of negative cost" (screen jargon for making back production costs). ^[9] John Wayne provided a critically praised role "against type" while supporting actresses Claire Trevor and Jan Sterling earned 1954 Academy Awards nominations for Best Supporting Actress. "The Oscar" redirects here for the film see The Oscar (film. Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS The film earned additional Oscar nominations for director William Wellman and film editor Ralph Dawson, along with composer Dimitri Tiomkin and lyricist Ned Washington for the film's title song. A lyricist is a Writer who specializes in Song Lyrics, usually paid for by a band to write a custom song(s Ned Washington ( 15 August, 1901, Scranton Pennsylvania – 20 December, 1976 in Beverly Hills California) was an Tiomkin received the film's only academy award, for the film's original score. The popular title song by Tiomkin and Washington was included on only one print of the film so as to qualify it for an Oscar nomination. It is not heard on the prints issued for general theatrical release. ^[21]

Restoration and re-release

DVD re-release of the film

By the 1960s and 1970s, The High and the Mighty became a television staple, but due to tighter broadcast schedules and several royalty disputes, however, the film's last appearances on broadcast television were in 1982 on the TBS cable channel, and on Cinemax in March/April 1985. The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. TBS is an American Cable television network that shows sports and a variety of programming with a focus on comedy One crucial element in the The High and the Mighty's resurrection was the extensive restoration required after decades of languishing in the Wayne film vault where the film suffered major water damage and one reel was lost for a period of time, making the possibility of such a pristine restoration seemingly unlikely. ^[1]

As a result of the film's rarity, it developed a cult following, which led to petitions to get the film released in home video formats. A cult following is a group of fans devoted to a specific area of Pop culture. The estate of John Wayne, through Gretchen Wayne, the widow of the actor's late son, Michael, made a deal in the early 2000s with Cinetech (film) and Chace Productions (sound) to update and restore both The High and the Mighty and another "lost" Wayne film, Island in the Sky. John Wayne ( May 26, 1907 &ndash June 11, 1979) was an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award -winning American Island in The Sky ( is an Aviation adventure / Drama film written by Ernest K ^[22]This led to a distribution agreement with Batjac Productions (Wayne's production and distribution company) and both American Movie Classics (for TV rights) and Paramount Pictures (home video rights). AMC is a cable television network that primarily airs movies The letters originally stood for American Movie Classics. Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and Distribution company, based in Hollywood California. ^[2] Following the recovery of the lost reel, The High and the Mighty, after its meticulous restoration, was rebroadcast on television in July 2005, the first broadcasts in 20 years. ^[1] Together with Island in the Sky, the film was released as a "special collector's edition" DVD in August of the same year by Paramount Home Entertainment. DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is It was also broadcast on Turner Classic Movies on 27 October 2007. Turner Classic Movies ( TCM) is a cable television channel featuring commercial -free classic movies mostly from the Turner Entertainment and Warner Events 312 - Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.

Awards

Academy Awards

Won:

• Original Music Score -Dimitri Tiomkin

Nominated:

• Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Jan Sterling
• Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Claire Trevor
• Best Director - William A. Wellman
• Best Film Editing - Ralph Dawson
• Best Music, Original Song - Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington for the film's title song

Golden Globes

Won:

• Best Supporting Actress - Jan Sterling

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

• Catastrophe in the Movies
• The High and the Mighty at the IMDb.
• New York Times Review, 1 July 1954
• Transocean Airlines