Island in the Sky (1953)

Director:

William A. Wellman

Writers:

Ernest K. Gann (screenplay)
Ernest K. Gann (novel)

Release Date:

5 September 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Plot:

A transport plane crash-lands in the frozen wastes of Labrador, and the plane's pilot, Dooley, must...

Plot Keywords:

Husband Wife Relationship | Radio | Navigation | Morse Code | Navigator

Cast

John Wayne	...	Capt. Dooley
Lloyd Nolan	...	Captain Stutz
Walter Abel	...	Col. Fuller
James Arness	...	Mac McMullen, pilot
Andy Devine	...	Willie Moon, pilot
Allyn Joslyn	...	J.H. Handy, pilot
Jimmy Lydon	...	Murray, Dooley's navigator (as James Lydon)
Harry Carey Jr.	...	Ralph Hunt, Moon's co-pilot
Hal Baylor	...	Stankowski, Dooley's engineer
Sean McClory	...	Frank Lovatt, Dooley's co-pilot
Wally Cassell	...	D'Annunzia, Dooley's radioman
Gordon Jones	...	Walrus
Frank Fenton	...	Capt. Turner
Robert Keys	...	Maj. Ditson
Sumner Getchell	...	Lt. Cord
Regis Toomey	...	Sgt. Harper
Paul Fix	...	Wally Miller
Jim Dugan	...	Gidley
George Chandler	...	Rene
Louis Jean Heydt	...	Fitch, pilot (as Louis Heydt)
Bob Steele	...	Wilson, Moon's radioman
Darryl Hickman	...	Swanson, McMullen's radioman
Mike Connors	...	Gainer (as Touch Connors)
Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer	...	Sonny Hopper, Stutz' co-pilot (as Carl Switzer)
Cass Gidley	...	Stannish, pilot
Herbert Anderson	...	Breezy, Stannish's co-pilot (as Guy Anderson)
Tony De Mario	...	Ogden
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dawn Bender	...	Murray's wife (uncredited)
Gene Coogan	...	Stutz's Navigator (uncredited)
Ann Doran	...	Moon's wife (uncredited)
Ed Fury	...	Server in Officer's Mess (uncredited)
John Indrisano	...	Mechanic (uncredited)
Tom Irish	...	Dusty, McMullen's co-pilot (uncredited)
Fess Parker	...	Fitch's co-pilot (uncredited)
Richard Walsh	...	(uncredited)
Michael Wellman	...	Mike Moon (uncredited)
Tim Wellman	...	Jim Moon (uncredited)
Phyllis Winger	...	Margaret, Girl in flashback (uncredited)

Directed by
William A. Wellman

Writing credits
Ernest K. Gann		(screenplay)
Ernest K. Gann		(novel "Island in the Sky")

Produced by
Robert Fellows	....	producer (uncredited)
John Wayne	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Emil Newman
Hugo Friedhofer		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Archie Stout		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Ralph Dawson

Art Direction by
James Basevi

Set Decoration by
Ralph S. Hurst		(as Ralph Hurst)

Makeup Department
Web Overlander	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Nate H. Edwards	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Andrew V. McLaglen	....	assistant director (as Andrew McLaglen)

Art Department
Joe LaBella	....	property man (as Joseph La Bella)

Sound Department
Ed Borschell	....	dialogue recording
Earl Crain Sr.	....	dialogue recording
William A. Mueller	....	sound: WarnerPhonic (as William Mueller)

Special Effects by
Alex Weldon	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Don Christy	....	stills
William H. Clothier	....	aerial cameraman (as William Clothier)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Carl Walker	....	wardrobe

Music Department
Arthur Lange	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Emil Newman	....	musical director (uncredited)
Herbert W. Spencer	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Lloyd Young	....	music editor (uncredited)

Other crew
Sam Freedle	....	script supervisor
Ernest K. Gann	....	technical advisor

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures (presents)
• Wayne-Fellows Productions (as A Wayne-Fellows Production)
• Batjac Productions (uncredited)

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1953) (USA) (theatrical) (as Warner Bros.)
• Warner Bros. (1955) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Paramount Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

William A. Wellman's Island in the Sky (UK) (complete title) (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (WarnerPhonic/RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | West Germany:12 (f) | UK:U | UK:U (video rating) (2007) | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #16574) | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Donner Lake, Truckee, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The little yellow radio shown in the movie was a actual radio. Its design is based on a WWII German emergency transmitter. It is a BC-778/SCR-578/AN-CRT3 emergency transmitter (it could not receive) affectionately called 'Gibson Girl', a name taken from the narrow-waisted female drawings of 1890s fashion artist Charles Gibson. Its shape allowed the operator to hold it between the legs while cranking it the necessary 80 RPM to produce enough electricity to operate. It could be set to automatically send an SOS signal or switched to send Morse Code signals. Early models transmitted only on 500kHz, later models also could transmit on 8280kHz (later modified to 8364kHz). It was notorious for being tough to crank.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the crewman is lost in the blizzard, you can see some white fabric in the "snowbank" behind him flapping in the wind.

Quotes:

Capt. Dooley: I know you're down in the middle of a big nowhere. They're all dependant. I ate today and it's still strong. But tomorrow. So find food, that's number one. Find out where nowhere is, that's number two. And you can help the others find nowhere. They'll come, they won't leave you alone waiting on a pin point of nowhere.

Movie Connections:

Version of Fate Is the Hunter (1964)

A Must For Old Aviators

This was shown on AMCs afternoon movie on Thursday, 11/30/2006. It was the first time I had seen it in many years and it brought back a lot of memories to an old Military Air Transport Service pilot. Gann was an early airline pilot and flew, as a civilian pilot with the Air Transport Command (ATC) in WWII. The novel and the movie was based on the experiences from this time in his life. Excellent aviation accuracy, with one minor goof only an old timer would catch. In the period depicted there was no United States Air Force and the planes would have been marked Army Air Force. See it if you can! Gann wrote a number of books based on his flying experiences. Many of his books were made into motion pictures and he usually wrote the screen play and served a technical consultant on the filming. At one time he claimed to be the highest paid author per word in history, because of his ability to get paid so many time for the same work. Try and find his excellent "Fate is the Hunter". It is a largely autobiographical account of his life as and airman.