The High and the Mighty (1954)

Director:

William A. Wellman

Writers:

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

Release Date:

3 July 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The 2-year best seller blasts to the screen with every kind of love there is!

Plot:

When a commercial airliner develops engine problems on a trans-Pacific flight and the pilot loses his nerve...

Plot Keywords:

Disaster | Navigator | Widower | Mutiny | Cigarette Smoking

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

John Wayne	...	Dan Roman
Claire Trevor	...	May Holst
Laraine Day	...	Lydia Rice
Robert Stack	...	John Sullivan
Jan Sterling	...	Sally McKee
Phil Harris	...	Ed Joseph
Robert Newton	...	Gustave Pardee
David Brian	...	Ken Childs
Paul Kelly	...	Donald Flaherty
Sidney Blackmer	...	Humphrey Agnew
Julie Bishop	...	Lillian Pardee
Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez	...	Gonzales (as Gonzalez Gonzalez)
John Howard	...	Howard Rice
Wally Brown	...	Lenny Wilby, navigator
William Campbell	...	Hobie Wheeler
Ann Doran	...	Clara Joseph
John Qualen	...	Jose Locota
Paul Fix	...	Frank Briscoe
George Chandler	...	Ben Sneed
Joy Kim	...	Dorothy Chen
Michael Wellman	...	Toby Field
Douglas Fowley	...	Alsop
Regis Toomey	...	Tim Garfield
Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer	...	Ensign Keim (as Carl Switzer)
Robert Keys	...	Lieutenant Mowbray
William Hopper	...	Roy (as William Dewolf Hopper)
William Schallert	...	Dispatcher
Julie Mitchum	...	Susie Wilby
Doe Avedon	...	Miss Spalding
Karen Sharpe	...	Nell Buck
John Smith	...	Milo Buck
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Scotty Beckett	...	Coast Guard Navigator (uncredited)
John Close	...	Mechanic (uncredited)
James Conaty	...	Mrs. Joseph's Doctor (uncredited)
Robert Easton	...	Cargo Clerk (uncredited)
Dorothy Ford	...	Mrs. Wilson (uncredited)
Al Hill	...	San Francisco Ground Crewman (uncredited)
William Hudson	...	Reporter (uncredited)
John Indrisano	...	Radar Operator (uncredited)
Douglas Kennedy	...	Boyd, Reporter (uncredited)
David Leonard	...	Scientist (uncredited)
Al Murphy	...	Lighthouse Dispatcher (uncredited)
William H. O'Brien	...	Restaurant Cook (uncredited)
Walter Reed	...	Mr. Field (uncredited)
Philip Van Zandt	...	Mr. Wilson (uncredited)

Directed by
William A. Wellman

Writing credits
Ernest K. Gann		(screenplay)
Ernest K. Gann		(novel "The High and the Mighty")

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

Original Music by
Dimitri Tiomkin

Cinematography by
Archie Stout		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Ralph Dawson

Art Direction by
Alfred Ybarra		(as Al Ybarra)

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

Makeup Department
Loren Cosand	....	makeup artist
Margaret Donovan	....	hair stylist
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)
Patrick Wayne	....	props assistant (uncredited)

Sound Department
John K. Kean	....	sound recording

Special Effects by
Robert A. Mattey	....	special effects (as Robert Mattey)

Stunts
Tom Hennesy	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bill Keating	....	DC-4 stunt pilot (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
William H. Clothier	....	aerial photography (as William Clothier)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Gwen Wakeling	....	wardrobe designer
Joan Joseff	....	costume jeweller (uncredited)

Music Department
Dimitri Tiomkin	....	conductor
Manuel Emanuel	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Paul Marquardt	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Charles Maxwell	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
George Parrish	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
John Qualen	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
David Tamkin	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Herbert Taylor	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Dimitri Tiomkin	....	music arranger: "Aloha Oe", "Kaua I Ka Hua Hua'i" and "The Barber of Seville" (uncredited)

Other crew
Wm. H. Benge	....	technical advisor
Robert C. Cannom	....	technical advisor: U.S.C.G. (as Lt. Commander Robert M. Cannom)
Sam Freedle	....	script supervisor
Loren Riebe	....	camera plane pilot
Muzzy Marcellino	....	whistler: dubbing for John Wayne (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Warner Bros (presents)
• Wayne-Fellows Productions (as A Wayne-Fellows Production)

Distributors

• Warner Bros (1954) (USA) (theatrical) (as Warner Bros.)
• Warner Bros. Films (1955) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1954) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1954) (France) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1979) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Paramount Home Entertainment Finland (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Post Logic Studios  digital restoration (uncredited)
• Transocean Air Lines  our sincere appreciation for the technical advice and cooperation given us by (as Transocean Air Lines, Oakland, California)
• United States Coast Guard  we wish to thank: for their cooperation and advice (as the United States Coast Guard)

Also Known As:

"William A. Wellman's The High and the Mighty" - UK (complete title), USA (complete title)

Runtime:

141 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (WarnerColor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo | Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-8 | USA:Approved (PCA #16801) | Sweden:15 | Australia:PG | West Germany:12 (f) | Australia:M (TV rating) | UK:U | UK:U (video rating) (2007) | Netherlands:AL (orginal rating)

Filming Locations:

Samuel Goldwyn Studios - 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros

Trivia:

The lyrics to the famed title song are only heard at the very end, are sung by a large choral group, and are different than the familiar lyrics heard in the popular-song record releases of the time.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the flashback story her husband tells, Clara Joseph falls down some stairs and kicks a waiter's tray in the process. However, when they cut from the closeup of her feet, she is obviously sitting on the bottom step. She then leans back, takes aim, and kicks the tray. She then lies back like it was all one continuous motion.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Ben Sneed:Hey fella, ain't you Dan Roman?
Dan Roman:Yeah.
Ben Sneed:I heard you whistlin' and I said to myself only one guy does that just so.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Hollywood Hist-o-Rama: John Wayne" (1961)

Soundtrack:

The High and the Mighty

Not the classic everyone "remembers"

I went to the DVD premiere screening of THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY tonight (12 June 2005) at Paramount studios. It was a big red-carpet event, and I saw a number of people associated with the film there, though there are a scant handful of the cast still surviving. Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez, William Campbell, and Robert Easton were there, and from bits of applause during the screening, I suspect that a few others were there as well. Of course, all of the major character players are gone: Wayne, Stack, Trevor, Day, Sterling, Harris, Newton, Brian, Kelly, Blackmer, and Qualen. Other than Karen Sharpe and William Schallert, I'm not certain whether anyone yet unmentioned is still alive. Doe Avedon probably is (she was really lovely as the flight attendant).

As some have speculated, there's no way for this film to live up to the hype that has grown up because of its near-forty year unavailability. It's been beautifully restored. The picture quality seems to my uneducated eye to be impeccable, and the sound is really magnificent. And there are some moments of nice performance, particularly by Wayne, Robert Stack, Jan Sterling, and John Qualen. But as much as I would love to say this is a resurrected masterpiece, it simply isn't possible for me to do so honestly. After AIRPLANE!, I'm not sure it's reasonable to expect people to take a Fifties airliner disaster movie seriously. But the level of corn and hokum and treacle and syrup in which the film wallows (especially in the primary sections dealing with the passengers rather than the crew) is simply intolerable in today's world. I'm not referring to the fact that it's a different practical world now, one in which it would be ludicrous to show a passenger pulling a gun on another passenger on an airliner of today. I'm referring rather to the simple unbelievability of the human behavior exhibited. I'm willing to accept a passenger getting aboard a trans-Pacific airliner with a gun in his pocket in 1954. I'm not willing to accept him pulling that gun, threatening other passengers with it, having it taken from him, and later having it handed back to him just because he says, "I'm all right now, I've calmed down." Phil Harris, fifty at the time and looking sixty, plays a 38-year-old, and 43-year-old Ann Doran plays his 30-year-old wife. Laraine Day berates her husband and demands a divorce, and good ol' Phil says to the husband, "You think you got problems?" and proceeds to tell him about how rain and crummy hotels ruined his vacation, and the husband (John Howard) thus sees his own life in a new perspective. Every cliché imaginable comes into play, and rarely is there a moment that can be easily swallowed, even with Herculean efforts to place oneself mentally in the zeitgeist of the film.

Only in the cockpit are things comparatively realistic and believable, and even there big pills must be swallowed. One of the reasons John Wayne comes off so well in this film is he has relatively little to say. It's probably the lowest line-count of any of Wayne's leading roles, and thus unsaddled with the maudlinities and sappiness of the dialog the passengers are stuck with, he comes off better than anyone in the picture. Spencer Tracy was supposed to play Wayne's role but turned it down (according to various stories) either because he thought the script was lousy or he didn't want to work for taskmaster William Wellman. I'm betting on the former reason.

There are still things to like in THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY (Dimitri Tiomkin's Oscar-winning score among them), but an awful lot of people have been waiting forty years to see this "masterwork" again, and an awful lot of them are going to be either seriously disappointed or forced to convince themselves that it's not as bad as it seems.