Toward the Unknown (1956)

At the dawn of supersonic flight in the 1950s a group of Edwards Air Force Base experimental aircraft test pilots push themselves to the limit.

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writer:

Beirne Lay Jr.

Stars:

William Holden, Lloyd Nolan, Virginia Leith

Cast

Complete credited cast:
William Holden	...	Maj. Lincoln Bond
Lloyd Nolan	...	Brig. Gen. Bill Banner
Virginia Leith	...	Connie Mitchell
Charles McGraw	...	Col. 'Mickey' McKee
Murray Hamilton	...	Maj. Bromo Lee
Paul Fix	...	Lt. Gen. Bryan Shelby
James Garner	...	Lt. Col. Joe Craven
L.Q. Jones	...	2nd Lt. Sweeney
Karen Steele	...	Polly Craven
Bartlett Robinson	...	Sen. Black
Malcolm Atterbury	...	Hank - Bell Technical Rep.
Ralph Moody	...	Harvey Gilbert
Maura Murphy	...	Sarah McKee
Carol Kelly	...	Debbie

Storyline

USAF Major Lincoln Bond is captured, tortured and released from a POW camp in Korea. After the war he returns to the US where he is re-assigned as a test pilot at the Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base. The Air Force is testing the new experimental aircraft Gilbert XF-120 fighter. The acceptance of the new aircraft by the Air Force is dependent on successful tests designed to prove the aircraft's reliability and safety. However, when Major Bond flies the prototype he encounters a problem that points out a dangerous structural flaw. This could threaten the aircraft's acceptance by the Air Force and derail the whole project. Major Bond's commanding officer and some of his colleagues start to suspect that Major Bond is imagining things because of his mental condition dating back to his imprisonment and torture in the Korean POW camp.

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Plot Keywords:

aircraft design | romantic rivalry | taming of the shrew | experimental aircraft | edwards air force base | 

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Taglines:

THE SCREEN HAS NEVER SHOWN WHAT YOU'LL SEE IN TOWARD THE UNKNOWN (original print ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Drama | History | Romance | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

October 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Einst kommt die Stunde

Filming Locations:

Edwards Air Force Base, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toluca Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (WarnerColor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Second of two films in which William Holden and Charles McGraw played military pilots with McGraw being Holden's immediate superior. The first was The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954).

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Goofs

In long-distance shots, the parachute streaming out of the rear of General Banner's (Lloyd Nolan) F-94 is shown barely open in the rush of the air stream. Yet, in the closeups of the parachute, it is just fluttering as if in a relatively mind breeze.

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Quotes

Brig. Gen. Bill Banner: [to Maj. Lincoln Bond] Even with torture, you're not the kind to crack.

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Connections

Referenced in The Story of Esther Costello (1957)

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Soundtracks

The U.S. Air Force
by Robert Crawford

User Reviews

Very good film. Well paced and acted.

Too bad that a film like this is not on tape or DVD. A whole generation of viewers miss seeing a film that is history and drama of the birth of the space age. This is a gripping story that is well told and verges on being a documentary about the test pilots at Edwards AFB.