High Road to China (1983)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Brian G. Hutton

Writers:

Jon Cleary (novel)
S. Lee Pogostin (writer)

Release Date:

21 April 1983 (Australia)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

Tom Selleck takes you on a high adventure!

Plot:

A biplane pilot is saddled with a spoiled industrialist's daughter on a search for her missing father...

Plot Keywords:

Warlord | Missing Father | Pilot | WWI | Castle

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Tom Selleck	...	Patrick O' Malley
Bess Armstrong	...	Eve 'Evie' Tozer
Jack Weston	...	Struts
Wilford Brimley	...	Bradley Tozer
Robert Morley	...	Bentik
Brian Blessed	...	Suleman Khan
Cassandra Gava	...	Alessa
Michael Sheard	...	Charlie Shane
Lynda La Plante	...	Lina (as Lynda Marchal)
Timothy Carlton	...	Officer
Shayur Mehta	...	Ahmed
Terry Richards	...	Ginger
Jeremy Child	...	Johnny Silversmith, British Officer
Peter Llewellyn Williams	...	Franjten Khan
Dino Shafeek	...	Satvinda (as Dino Shaffer)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA | Yugoslavia

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company:

City Films

Trivia:

Naming the planes Dorothy and Lillian is a reference to actress sisters Dorothy Gish and Lillian Gish.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the scene where they escape from the Arab camp, a young Arab man claims he will kill himself if she leaves. Eve screams... well, originally it was just "Men!" and he lips clearly say more. But the sound is blanked out. Otherwise, I guess it would have been a 15!

Quotes:

Patrick O' Malley: You wrecked my plane!
Eve "Evie" Tozer: It was always a wreck!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Psych: Daredevils! (#3.3)" (2008)

I love this movie. It is one of my favorites!

While true that this movie isn't Academy Award material, it is very enjoyable and touchingly romantic. The scenery is breathtaking at times and the film flows well. It starts in a party atmosphere and becomes a romantic adventure story. It is a good cross between a "Chick Flick" and an adventure story. I have flown open cockpit biplanes and perhaps that makes the film even more enduring for me.

There is plenty of flying and small war skirmishes are smattered in with the search for a rich brat's father. She (Bess Armstrong as Eve Tozer) must find the father and get him to a British court before the deadline or she will lose all of her money. If the partner, Bentik, can have Bradley Tozer (Wilford Brimley) declared as dead in a British court then he gets the whole company; thus relieving Eve Tozer of the heaps of her fathers money. And it is about money that this girl lives for, or so it seems. She enlists the help of a derelict and decrepit old WW1 ace, Tom Selleck, who has the only two available airplanes to get her to her father in time. Assassins are employed by Bradley Tozers partner to keep him from being found adding more tension to the already danger filled trail.

While the romance angle is as predictable as it is in just about any film, the story does flow well and the scenery also helps to keep ones interest. Rent this one and settle down for some fun. I would rate this film as three out of four stars.