During WW1, an alcoholic American biplane pilot is hired by the spoiled daughter of an industrialist to find her father who disappeared in Asia.
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Title: High Road to China (1983)
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2 nominations.
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Edit
Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Tom Selleck | ... | ||
| Bess Armstrong | ... | ||
| Jack Weston | ... | ||
| Wilford Brimley | ... | ||
| Robert Morley | ... | ||
| Brian Blessed | ... | ||
| Cassandra Gava | ... | ||
| Michael Sheard | ... | ||
| Lynda La Plante | ... |
Lina
(as Lynda Marchal)
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| Timothy Carlton | ... |
Officer
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Shayur Mehta | ... | |
|
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Terry Richards | ... | |
| Jeremy Child | ... | ||
|
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Peter Llewellyn Williams | ... | |
| Dino Shafeek | ... |
Satvinda
(as Dino Shaffer)
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Edit
Plot Summary
|
Plot Synopsis
See All (17) »
Storyline
A biplane pilot is saddled with a spoiled industrialist's daughter on a search for her missing father through Asia that eventually involves them in a struggle against a Chinese warlord. Written by Keith Loh <loh@sfu.ca>
Plot Keywords:
pilot | missing father | warlord | world war one | country name in title |Taglines:
Take the High Road to China... for an adventure you'll never forget. See more »Parents Guide:
View content advisory »
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See full technical specs »
Details
Release Date:
18 March 1983 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
La gran ruta hacia China See more »Box Office
Budget:
$19,000,000 (estimated)Gross:
$28,400,000 (USA)Company Credits
Show detailed
company contact information
on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
MonoColor:
Color (Technicolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
Edit
Today, when I bought a consumer DVD recorder, and went through a stack of 300+ laserdiscs to dub some not-available-on-DVD-yet films for a very long flight to London tomorrow, this was the second disc I dubbed (Grand Prix was the first) and realized just how perfect a movie this remains, even after 20 years. First off, the John Barry score is first-rate; as someone else mentioned, the master took the easy way out and simply revised it for Out of Africa a few years later (and it works as well there as it does here).
I'm not sure what defines screen chemistry, but Selleck and Armstrong (one of my all-time favorite actresses) have it here. While there is conflict between their characters, it seems apparent to me that they are having a good time acting out this tightly scripted adventure/fantasy. The underlying sexual tension (again as someone else noted there's zero nudity here) between the two is palpable.
The aerial sequences stand up well over time; certainly better than the computer-generated crap that looks so fake (like Pearl Harbor) that passes for special effects today, will look in 2020.
While image quality of the laserdisc is certainly better than VHS, it falls short of what we've come to expect today, 10 years into the DVD era. Why this film hasn't made it into the 5-inch medium, with a cleaned up Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack (to better showcase the John Barry score), is beyond me.
When one sees the utter dreck that is released today, scraping the bottom of the film vault barrel, it amazes me to wonder why this neglected gem sits in a vault somewhere. As there are no true A-list stars in this film filled with wonderful performances, why Warner Brothers, has this not been given a full bore DVD release? I wonder if it's available in some market outside of North America.
Clocking-in at a bit less than two hours, this is a movie in the mold of similar films produced in the immediate post-WWII era. I think that when I watch it on the plane Sunday, I might even watch it in black and white.
A great reason to keep you laserdisc player, watch auctions on eBay for this to pop up on LD and to buy a DVD recorder as this is a movie you can watch over and over and enjoy it each time.
Shame on you Warner Brothers for not putting it out on DVD.