While most people were watching It's a Wonderful Life, I decided to spend the rest of my Christmas night picking up from where I left off with No Highway in the Sky. I have to be honest - while it did seem promising, once the plot actually started, I found myself thinking this was an absurd and half-baked film. I haven't seen enough of James Stewart's movies (this is only the second one), so I can't make a conclusion, but it seems like he always played flaky characters. Granted, in this particular film, he was convincing as the socially awkward scientist Theodore Honey, an American transplant living in England and working at the Royal Aircraft Establishment. The story opens with him doing a fatigue test on a plane. The chief of metallurgy, Mr. Dennis Scott (Jack Hawkins) gives him a ride home. At first, he goes to the wrong house. Once he's able to remember where he lives, he welcomes Scott inside, and he's introduced to his daughter, Elspeth (Janette Scott), who is about 12 or so. When Scott goes upstairs to her bedroom, he seems quite taken aback when she starts showing him her projects and such. She has a deep fascination of math and science, thanks to her father. But, I guess because this was filmed in the early 50s, it was peculiar for a girl to have interests that fell outside of the realm of what was deemed acceptable by society's standards. It's clear that Theodore is isolating her from other children, and she needed the influence of a woman for her personal growth and development, since her mother had gotten killed during the war. It was apparent that Theodore couldn't provide her that, not only because he was a man, but also because he wasn't introducing her to anything else besides science. So the audience gets the basic picture that he's an absent-minded professor type who's extremely devoted to his career, and is just trying to do his best as a single dad. At this point, I was feeling hopeful about the film.
Once he gets on a plane headed to Labrador to survey the wreckage from a plane that had crashed, referred to as the Reindeer airliner, that's when the story goes downhill. When he finds out he's riding on another Reindeer, he starts acting really anxious. First he tells the stewardess, Marjorie (Glynis Johns) that the plane is going to crash just like the previous one, then he tells one of the passengers, a movie star named Monica Teasdale (Marlene Dietrich). They're both uncomfortable by his nervous behavior, and his talk about where to go if the plane was to crash, and how they're all going to die if no one listens to him. So, since he's not taken seriously by anyone, pilots included, guess what he does? He purposely sabotages the plane. Wow, that made a lot of sense! The only reason I watched to the end is because I was curious, but it only became increasingly unrealistic. A few scenes later, the stewardess is pretty much living with him, acting as his wife - ironing his clothes, tidying up the house (didn't see that coming). And Ms. Teasdale is buying his daughter clothes. She walks through the front door with giant ribbons in her hair, and her whole bedroom has gotten a makeover, including frilly window curtains. Towards the end of the movie, she tells her father that kids are starting to talk to her at school, and that she's become popular in a sense. Before they ignored her, because she was "different." We never find out if she adopts her new identity, or if she goes back to being a nerd/tomboy. Obviously, you can't look at an old movie from a 21st century perspective, but I was bothered by how the females were portrayed. There's nothing wrong with a girl having scientific hobbies. It doesn't make her abnormal or less feminine. For instance, I don't see anything unusual about a girl playing with a chemistry set instead of dolls. But then again, I'm the product of having been raised during a time of social progression. Also, Ms. Teasdale saying she didn't understand a word of what Theodore was trying to explain to her in regard to the plane, but she could tell when a man knew what he was talking about. And then Marjorie wanting to marry him, even getting so overcome with emotion that she broke down in tears. Give me a break! This film was dated. The only reason I gave 3 stars was for the acting. Everyone seemed believable in their roles, especially James Stewart. But like I mentioned above, his character was such a nutcase, that it was honestly hard to have any kind of pity for him. I don't think he was a poor actor... Just that he wasn't in the most groundbreaking of movies. I'll have to watch more of his films - I'm thinking about giving Rear Window a try - but I ended up being quite disappointed with No Highway in the Sky. I don't plan on watching this again. Unless you're old-fashioned, an aviation enthusiast, or both, it won't appeal to you.
Once he gets on a plane headed to Labrador to survey the wreckage from a plane that had crashed, referred to as the Reindeer airliner, that's when the story goes downhill. When he finds out he's riding on another Reindeer, he starts acting really anxious. First he tells the stewardess, Marjorie (Glynis Johns) that the plane is going to crash just like the previous one, then he tells one of the passengers, a movie star named Monica Teasdale (Marlene Dietrich). They're both uncomfortable by his nervous behavior, and his talk about where to go if the plane was to crash, and how they're all going to die if no one listens to him. So, since he's not taken seriously by anyone, pilots included, guess what he does? He purposely sabotages the plane. Wow, that made a lot of sense! The only reason I watched to the end is because I was curious, but it only became increasingly unrealistic. A few scenes later, the stewardess is pretty much living with him, acting as his wife - ironing his clothes, tidying up the house (didn't see that coming). And Ms. Teasdale is buying his daughter clothes. She walks through the front door with giant ribbons in her hair, and her whole bedroom has gotten a makeover, including frilly window curtains. Towards the end of the movie, she tells her father that kids are starting to talk to her at school, and that she's become popular in a sense. Before they ignored her, because she was "different." We never find out if she adopts her new identity, or if she goes back to being a nerd/tomboy. Obviously, you can't look at an old movie from a 21st century perspective, but I was bothered by how the females were portrayed. There's nothing wrong with a girl having scientific hobbies. It doesn't make her abnormal or less feminine. For instance, I don't see anything unusual about a girl playing with a chemistry set instead of dolls. But then again, I'm the product of having been raised during a time of social progression. Also, Ms. Teasdale saying she didn't understand a word of what Theodore was trying to explain to her in regard to the plane, but she could tell when a man knew what he was talking about. And then Marjorie wanting to marry him, even getting so overcome with emotion that she broke down in tears. Give me a break! This film was dated. The only reason I gave 3 stars was for the acting. Everyone seemed believable in their roles, especially James Stewart. But like I mentioned above, his character was such a nutcase, that it was honestly hard to have any kind of pity for him. I don't think he was a poor actor... Just that he wasn't in the most groundbreaking of movies. I'll have to watch more of his films - I'm thinking about giving Rear Window a try - but I ended up being quite disappointed with No Highway in the Sky. I don't plan on watching this again. Unless you're old-fashioned, an aviation enthusiast, or both, it won't appeal to you.