Miraculous Journey (1948) User Reviews

Interesting plot, entertaining film

[SimonJack · 7/10 · 23 March 2014]

This isn't an "A" list of actors, but some well known names that give mostly good performances in an entertaining film. Rory Calhoun, Virginia Grey, Thurston Hall and Jim Bannon should be recognized by old time movie buffs. This is probably among the best casts and best movies made by the prodigious Sam Newfield in his brother's studios (Sigmund Neufeld) that cranked out many of the lesser B films of the 1940s and 1950s

"Miraculous Journey" has an interesting plot – though not a unique one. What adds a great deal to it is a script that makes more out of the situation than survival in a jungle. We see some real character development and changes. We see forgiveness and redemption. And this film has some very good scenes with highly trained animals – a dog, a chimpanzee, and a crow. The direction is quite good. The jungle setting is passable but the film quality is lacking.

Overall, this makes for an entertaining film. It has some action and intrigue which should help keep the kids interested. Quite a lot is packed into the 83-minute film, and it's well worth watching. I wonder if a remake of this with a big-name cast, better setting and locales wasn't in the works some years back. I don't think the premise would work today with cellular phones and modern-day GPS. But a remake today, set in the 1970s might make for a very good film.

Sinners in Paradise

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 13 June 2020]

This is an enjoyable poverty row programmer that will remind classic movie Buffs of several previously made films of people from civilization lost in the jungle when their plane goes down. Several of those are the James Whale 1938 film "Sinners in Paradise" and the 1939 film "Five Came Back". This shows how people change when their lives are tossed together with those they have absolutely nothing in common and must join together for survival, and certainly, there will be losses. There are also jealousies, an attempted murder that brings on regret and a business tycoon who find peace in paradise. Rory Calhoun leads a fine cast of familiar faces as a jaded pilot who is forced down by criminal Jim Bannon. As the film opens, flustered stewardess Carole Donne is Dean dealing with her difficult passengers which includes imperious Thurston Hall, phony French entertainer June Storey and the self-centered Virginia Grey who becomes jealous of blind passenger Audrey Long and her growing friendship with Calhoun.

Stranded in the jungle, they encounter permit George Cleveland and his assortment of friendly animals, including heroics dog Flame, a crow tackily named Jim, a friendly chimp and some adorable little owls. Cleveland does not know his way out, and this leads to Bannon trying to force him to escort him out of the jungle, leading to tragedy. There's also a tragedy involving one of the women attacked by a gorilla, an attempt on Long's life involving quicksand, and Hall's initial attempts to do anything to get out so he can make his business meeting that will make him Millions. Over the course of close to 80 minutes, the bad characters who survived find atonement, Andy audience learns a lesson that you can't go through life believing that someone can't change when all the cards are dealt on their table of survival. It's a good film with a few moments of unbelievabity, but overall not bad for a programmer.

A lost Sam Newfield's gem at last found

[searchanddestroy-1 · 15 December 2013]

What a surprise for me to have at last found this gem I have searched for twenty five years now. And my long waiting was rewarding. Of course, it is not good as John Farrow's BACK FROM ETERNITY, the remake of the same Farrow's FIVE CAME BACK, but this little adventure yarn about a crashed plane right in the middle of the jungle is quite entertaining and not charmless at all. The quality of the copy is not good, but any authentic movie buff like me may accept it as it is. And it is so good to find here Rory Calhoun at not his best but who cares? I'll start to count how many Sam Newfield's films of this period - late forties and early fifties - remain to be watched. I have so many from him in my collection...

The German Shepherd IS Best.

[januszlvii · 2/10 · 7 July 2022]

Miraculous Journey is without question the worst film of Rory Calhoun's career, and it is one of those films that got worse the longer I watched. There is no suspense involved in this movie, and it is completely unrealistic ( unlike say Five Came Back ( which dealt with the same theme ( crash landing in the jungle)). How? While the plane in Five Came Back brought some of the passengers back, here ( Spoilers Ahead) pilot Rory Calhoun rows a boat to safety and comes back in a helicopter to rescue you guessed it four other people. Helicopters are different then airplanes and require different credentials to operate. Calhoun should have just showed someone how to reach the people instead of going himself solo )Talk about a rushed ending) and . Who is the hero of the movie? The German Shepard dog who knocks the bad guy into the water where he is eaten by alligators. The dog was actually the best actor in this dog of a movie. 2/10 stars both for the dog.