Broken Journey

Enjoyable retread of an archetypal situation generally traced back to 'Five Came Back' in 1939 and best known these days for 'The Flight of the Phoenix'. The British stiff upper lip isn't much in evidence as this lot squabble amongst each other on top of a mountain on which they've crashed in the Alps, which makes an interesting change. (Top-billed Phyllis Calvert also wears her hair far longer and looser in the early scenes than one is used to seeing air hostesses in the movies.)

A mismatched group of people (the singer, the movie star and her boyfriend, the man in the iron lung and his nurse, a refugee, etc) are passengers on a plane which makes an emergency landing on a glacier. Miles from anywhere and with the radio out, theirs is a bitter tale of survival which does not necessarily end happily ever after.

Wonderful movie, beautifully shot and with some wonderful acting by Phyllis Calvert and Sonia Holm, as well as David Tomlinson who hits on every girl he can find! An easy 10/10.

Very enjoyable and hilarious in places, although I'm not sure if that was always intentional!

A group of folks are on a plane that crash lands high in the Swiss Alps. Their radio is flat so they have to decide whether to stick it out in the (relative) safety of their aircraft or set off to find help. It's got quite a good British cast - a starring performance from Francis L. Sullivan with Guy Rolfe & Phyllis Calvert et al but the characters are all pretty unattractive and by the end I really didn't much care if they survived or not... It is also quite dialogue heavy with precious little actual action once the plane has skidded to it's lofty stop..........................................

I assume it is not a spoiler to say this film is about a plane crash in the alps.

If you are a fan of 1940s british films you will recognise most of the cast and perhaps the writer ,the director and the writer of the music.

I am a big fan of old British films,and films featuring forms of transport so I like seeing this one.

I am not saying it is an undiscovered classic but I think it is watchable.

Some of the comments on here are rather harsh.

I watch a lot of old films and this easier to enjoy in 2023 than many made at this time.

The script writer was Robert Westerby whose work I have come to like and look out for.

This was made in 1948 and characters are still going on about the war.

As in most later disaster film the characters are mixed bunch,I can't say they a believeable mix but we must remember that at this time foreign travel was not common for ordinary people.

IMDB is full of people who know a lot about cinema history,can anyone think of any older disaster films than this one?