Ambak

Even by the (low) standards of this series, this episode scrapes the bottom of the barrel in spite of being written by Brian Clemens. Peter Butterworth plays a local Police Inspector as if auditioning for his later stints in Carry On films. John Hunter is seen arriving at the office in a taxi and we soon see why. The Standard Vanguard, 38 SMC, which he drives in every other episode is used in this one by the baddies! They don't ebven attempt to disguise it by fitting a different licence plate. In spite of being an Inspector, Butterworth's character drives himself around in a squad car with his Sergeant sitting in the back. Leading lady Lisa Gastoni is unaccountably (but perhaps fortunately for her) uncredited.

You know you're in trouble right at the start when the credits roll up the screen and when the title appears Marty Wilde starts warbling "Jet Stream" rather than "Jet Storm". A breakdown in communication between songwriter and producer? Nope. The lyrics were written by Cy Endfield who is, of course, the same as C. Raker Endfield, the director. Presumably the title of the movie was changed at the last minute (maybe TWA objected, they were still flying their piston engined Lockheed Starliners across the Atlantic and hopefully promoting them as "Jetstreams" in competition with Pan Am's and BOAC's real jets). Others have described the cast as "all star" which is pushing the definition a bit. Many of them achieved some fame in future years, but not necessarily as film stars (as opposed to character actors). The economics of this airline are questionable as there are only 32 passengers on board and the seat pitch seems to be about 5 feet. The passengers are the usual stereotypes and none generate any sympathy with the audience so we don't particularly care what happens to them. Stanley Baker's turn as the Captain is so wooden that he might have been replaced with a plank. The decision to use stock footage of the Soviet Tupolev Tu-104 is bizarre, particularly as the feeble model bears only a cursory resemblance. Presumably they didn't use the Boeing 707 or DH Comet as at the time only two airlines were using them transatlantic and they did not want the association with potential disaster. To add to the confusion the scenes of the passengers boarding shows them embarking on a BEA Vickers Viscount, the registration of which is clearly visible on the fin. The most laughable aspect of the whole thing, of course, is the bomb attached to the underside of the wing by "suction pads". Wow, they must have been incredible to survive a 500mph jetstream......, which is where we came in.

Doris Day made some pretty bad movies in the final years of her film career, but nothing comes close to this piece of garbage. It is no surprise to learn that Doris was forced to make it by Marty Melcher for the money, there could be no other incentive. Miscast actors made to behave in totally idiotic ways while mouthing inane dialogue may be some peoples idea of "comedy", but this truly is bottom of the barrel stuff. Terry-Thomas tries about one line of a Hungarian accent, then forgets about it for the rest of the movie, Patrick O'Neal looks as though he's walked on to the wrong set at the studio, the direction is virtually non existent, the music is awful and who knew you could get so much light from a couple of candles? This was the only DD movie not in my collection and it is by a large margin the absolute nadir of her career.