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.)

This film seems to be somewhat based on the John Farrow-directed film, "Five Came Back," though I suppose this 1948 film uses a fairly derivative plot and could have been based on a lot of things.

A plane crashes into the Alps, but the passengers and crew survive. However, the radio is out. On board: an opera singer, Perami (Francis L. Sullivan), a movie star (Joanna Dane), a man in an iron long (John Barber), his nurse (Sonia Holm), the pilot, James Donald (Bill Halverton), the flight attendant (Phyllis Calvert), and other assorted characters.

The film revolves around the ideas of courage, selfishness, and self-sacrifice as the passengers fight to survive as their food runs out and the cold settles into their bones, and they all start to get on one another's nerves.

The Alps scenes are spectacular, and their vastness and desolate appearance brought "Lost Horizon" to mind.

All in all, pretty good, with some decent performances. You'll see better versions of this plot, but you'll also see worse.

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..........................................

A small plane crash lands in the snowy, desolate Alps. Luckily, the mostly British passengers and crew survive with nary a scratch. They don't even seem to mind the cold very much. Her fur coat keeps movie star Margot Grahame (as Joanna Dane) warm. But the lack of cigarettes, lipstick and record albums gets some passengers testy. Operatic voiced Francis L. Sullivan (as Perami) plays his surviving vinyl. How to get civilization to notice and rescue them becomes a major concern. Survival and self-sacrifice are themes. These are nicely evidenced by "iron lung" man Grey Blake (as John Barber). Pretty stewardess Phyllis Calvert (as Mary Johnstone) falls in love with heroic pilot James Donald (as Bill Haverton). Their "Broken Journey" is slow and uninvolved, but nicely edited.

***** Broken Journey (4/14/48) Ken Annakin ~ Phyllis Calvert, Margot Grahame, James Donald, Francis L. Sullivan

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.