Tense army drama about test divers working on increasing parachute jumping heights, and the pitfalls of the experiment. John Payne is up for one of the test spots, but as the testing continues, various bailouts result in accidents and fatalities. For Payne, a husband and father, watching the first go increases his chances of getting picked. His wife (Karen Steele) keeps having premonitions, and when she befriends another officer's wife (Constance Ford), that premonition increases. A long sequence of Ford and Steele playing bingo increases in tension as Ford's husband is delayed in meeting them as other officer's wives look on in either worry or jealousy over her winning a game, followed immediately by Steele. This is one of those explanatory dramas over what different parts of the military actually do, trying to explain to civilians like me why they actually have to do what they do. It's interesting, but not terribly exciting.
I will give credit to the cast for sincere performances, which also included Paul Kelly as Payne's commander and a very young Barbara Eden in a rather "loose" female part. Ford, always a portrayer of intense characters on film, makes the most of her small role, really showing what acting with ones eyes entails. It was only two years later when she went onto play a very different wife in the smash hit "A Summer Place", and becoming beloved on daytime's"Another World" as the loving Ada Hobson. Payne and Steele seem a bit far apart in age to be a married couple, but act convincingly in their scenes together. For a military film without combat, it touches on different emotions, and that makes it rather unique.
I will give credit to the cast for sincere performances, which also included Paul Kelly as Payne's commander and a very young Barbara Eden in a rather "loose" female part. Ford, always a portrayer of intense characters on film, makes the most of her small role, really showing what acting with ones eyes entails. It was only two years later when she went onto play a very different wife in the smash hit "A Summer Place", and becoming beloved on daytime's"Another World" as the loving Ada Hobson. Payne and Steele seem a bit far apart in age to be a married couple, but act convincingly in their scenes together. For a military film without combat, it touches on different emotions, and that makes it rather unique.