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Decision Against Time ()

The Man in the Sky (original title)
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The efforts of test pilot John Mitchell to make a better life for his wife Mary and their two children seem doomed to failure and he blames himself.
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Cast verified as complete

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John Mitchell
...
Mary Mitchell
Jeremy Bodkin ...
Nicholas Mitchell
Gerard Lohan ...
Philip Mitchell
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Conway
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Peter Hook
...
Ashmore
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Joe Biggs
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Keith
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Crabtree
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Mary's Mother
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Mrs. Snowden
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Maine
Raymond Francis ...
Jenkins
Russell Waters ...
Sim
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Ingrams (as Howard Marion Crawford)
Esme Easterbrook ...
Launderette Assistant
Ann Johnson ...
Cyclist
Anne Dobson ...
Cyclist
Janet Davis ...
Cyclist
Jennifer Cuff ...
Cyclist
John Baddeley ...
Cyclist
Tom Elwell ...
Cyclist
S.K. Andrews ...
Cyclist
Derek Butler ...
Station Fire Officer
Gerry Cuff ...
Hollingsworth
Reginald Slater ...
Ambulance Man
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Glynn Davies ...
Cyclist (uncredited)
Mary Mackenzie ...
Betty Harris (uncredited)

Directed by

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Charles Crichton

Written by

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William Rose ... (an original story by)
 
William Rose ... (screenplay) and
John Eldridge ... (screenplay)

Produced by

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Michael Balcon ... producer
Seth Holt ... associate producer

Music by

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Gerard Schurmann ... (as Gerbrand Schürmann)

Cinematography by

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Douglas Slocombe ... director of photography

Editing by

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Peter Tanner

Editorial Department

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Harry Aldous ... assembly cutter (uncredited)
Robin Clarke ... first assistant editor (uncredited)

Art Direction by

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Jim Morahan

Makeup Department

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Harry Frampton ... makeup artist

Production Management

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Hal Mason ... production supervisor
Norman Priggen ... unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

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Tom Pevsner ... assistant director
Michael Birkett ... second assistant director (uncredited)
John Meadows ... second assistant director (uncredited)
Ron Purdie ... third assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department

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Kenneth McCallum Tait ... draughtsman (uncredited)
Alan Withy ... assistant art director (uncredited)

Sound Department

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Stephen Dalby ... sound supervisor
Norman King ... recordist
Alastair McIntyre ... sound editor
J.B. Smith ... recordist
John Bramall ... dubbing crew (uncredited)
W. Carr ... dubbing crew (uncredited)
Cyril T.R. Jones ... dubbing crew (uncredited)
Eric Stockl ... sound camera operator (uncredited)
Cyril Swern ... boom operator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department

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Chic Waterson ... camera operator
Gordon Dines ... director of photography: second unit (uncredited)
Roy Gough ... still photographer (uncredited)
Michael Sarafian ... clapper loader (uncredited)
Herbert Smith ... focus puller (uncredited)
Hugh Wilson ... camera operator: second unit (uncredited)

Music Department

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Dock Mathieson ... conductor

Script and Continuity Department

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Jean Graham ... continuity
Lee Turner ... assistant continuity (uncredited)

Additional Crew

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Eric Swiss ... technical adviser
Daphne Paice ... production secretary (uncredited)
John Jack Lewis Worrow ... publicity director (uncredited)
Crew believed to be complete

Production Companies

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Distributors

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Special Effects

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Other Companies

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Storyline

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Plot Summary

The efforts of test pilot John Mitchell to make a better life for his wife Mary and their two children seem doomed to failure and he blames himself. At the Conway Aero-Manufacturing Company of Wolverhampton, Mitchell is to take the company's new rocket-propulsion transport plane up for tests, fully loaded and carrying two important passengers - Ministry official Crabtree and buyer's representative Ashmore. Mitchell learns from his boss, Reg Conway, that if Ashmore does not recommend the plane, the company will be out of business and Mitchell out of a job, since the plane is not even insured as the firm's entire capital is tied up in the plane. Aloft, an engine catches fire and the passengers and other crew bail out, but Mitchell refuses to obey orders to jettison the plane in the Irish Sea. Written by Les Adams

Plot Keywords
Taglines A PILOT'S DECISION! (original print ad for U.S. release "Decision Against Time" - all caps) See more »
Genres
Parents Guide View content advisory »
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Additional Details

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Also Known As
  • Test Pilot (United Kingdom)
  • Decision Against Time (United States)
  • Flammes dans le ciel (France)
  • Flammes dans le ciel (Canada, French title)
  • De våger livet (Norway)
  • See more »
Runtime
  • 87 min
Country
Language
Color
Aspect Ratio
Sound Mix
Filming Locations

Box Office

Budget $486,000 (estimated)

Did You Know?

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Trivia Although the flying scenes were filmed at Wolverhampton, practice for the single-engine landing was carried out at Lydd Ferryfield in Kent (now London Ashford Airport). Filming was not without problems and on 15 May 1956 the aircraft overshot the runway, causing quite extensive damage to the nose and wing sections. See more »
Goofs The cockpit scenes show the port engine propeller slowly turning. The outside scenes show the propeller in a stationary position. See more »
Movie Connections Referenced in The Alpine Holiday (1957). See more »
Quotes [John Mitchell has successfully landed the stricken plane that he was test-flying, despite being urged by senior management to abandon the plane and save himself by bailing out]
Mary Mitchell: You didn't *have* to do it. They didn't *want* you to do it. They even begged you not to *try* to do it, and *still* you did it. Why? What in heaven's name were you thinking about? Didn't you give a single thought to what it would mean to us if you were killed? Didn't you *care* whether you were killed? Were you trying to kill yourself?
[Mary runs out of the room and John follows her]
John Mitchell: For thirty-five minutes. For thirty-five bloody minutes I sat up there thinking of *nothing* but you and the boys, and saving my own skin so that I could go *on* having you and the boys. How *dare* you say a thing like that to me! Now listen to this. I admit it was stupid to try to pretend it wasn't bad. In fact I'll tell you how bad it was. It was the worst thing I've ever known. I've never wanted anything so much in this life as I wanted to get out of that aircraft. For the last ten minutes I thought that the chances were a hundred-to-one against pulling it off. The instant I touched down, I felt only one thing: surprised at being alive. You asked me if I thought of you and the boys. I only *did* it for you and the boys. Now listen to this. Let's get this clear. There were plenty of reasons for me to stay with that aircraft - good reasons. It was my duty to try that landing so long as there was a chance in a hundred. I don't give a *damn* what any other man would have done. It was a question of loyalty, of loyalty to Reg, the company and a hundred and twenty other people who've built the aircraft. And I didn't stay with it for those reasons. Not for *any* of those reasons. I stayed with it because the alternative was to come home and tell you I'd got into trouble in the air today so I'd abandoned the aircraft, and the company's out of business. Is *that* what you would have had me do? Well that would have been the end. I should have spent the rest of my life never quite looking you or the boys in the face again - or myself, that that matter. A man who quit when there was still a chance - that's what I would have been. And that's what you and the boys would have had. If I had been killed, it would have been better for the three of you than if I'd bailed-out and quit. Can't you understand that? The man who said "better a live coward than a dead hero" *was* a live coward. Can't you understand that?
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