A band of outcast pilots fly mining supplies over the mountains. Their South American outpost is remote, their planes are decrepit, and their boss is unsympathetic. Lead flyer Chester Morris tries to keep his colleagues' spirits up but another pilot has just died in a crash. The team gets a shakeup when replacement pilot Van Heflin shows up with beautiful wife Whitney Bourne.
Morris informs Heflin that this isn't the glamorous job he thought he signed up for. Then he asks Heflin what the black mark is on his background, knowing there must be something: "Every new man that lights here thinks he's the first and only black sheep. Well, we're all black sheep."
The supporting cast includes Solly Ward as the crusty old mechanic who used to be a Russian soldier; Douglas Walton as the handsome pilot from a wealthy background whose reasons for being here are vague; Richard Lane as a trusty flyer. Onslow Stevens is appropriately sinister as the company boss who recruits disgraced pilots to fly his broken-down planes.
Whitney Bourne is just fine as the wife caught in a bad situation. She sticks with husband Heflin despite being encouraged by both Morris and Walton to go back to civilization--indeed, they both offer to pay her way. (Morris even grabs her and kisses her: "Maybe now you've got a reason to go," he says, "If that's what you needed.")
Van Heflin is quite good as the troubled newcomer: he's scared of flying, he's scared of failing, and he drinks too much. Morris quickly spots Heflin's weakness, which of course complicates his efforts to help Bourne....
Overall it's not bad - the plot is just okay but the characters are well developed.
