Gallant Journey

Sturdy, dependable GLENN FORD gives another one of his understated but sincere performances as a young inventor, John Montgomery, in the late 1800s who makes a number of semi-successful attempts at getting his flying machine off the ground and soaring into the atmosphere.

JANET BLAIR is the love interest as the childhood sweetheart who stands by her man until the end of his life. While I always liked this actress, the jarring note is her make-up which is so modern that it seems like an anachronism. She has a distinctly 1940s look about her (lip gloss and modern hairdos) that works against the otherwise authentic look of the film.

WILLARD ROBERTSON as Ford's pa is fine but SELENA ROYLE is completely wasted in a minor role as his loving mom. William Wellman directs with a thorough knowledge of his subject and as an aviation drama it maintains interest throughout. All of the aerial scenes are well staged and look glorious in crisp B&W photography.

Summing up: A very unheralded film that is certainly watchable but could have used a stronger and less sentimental script.

Montgomery claimed to have flown his gliders in the 1880's but there were no wittiness, and no parts were kept... therefore it was just flights of his imagination. I have read the only book on Montgomery, by Father Spearman of Santa Clara University, and many claims are made but no real proof is given. I have also read Montgomery's papers which are a jumble of nonsense...the papers came to me from Northern Californians who support Montgomery's claims. Montgomery did build several gliders that were flown from hot air balloons in early 1900's, as shown in the movie, but these lacked any controls and tumbled to the ground...the daredevil "pilots" were lucky to survive! In 1911 Montgomery did build and attempted to fly his glider in San Jose. It had no lateral control, was rather crude, and it crashed after a short hop. He was killed in the crash. No motor could have been installed on his design. The Wright brothers made fully documented powered flights with 3-axis control in 1903! The Wrights were aware of Montgomery's claims and considered him a crackpot. One of the claims was his "parabolic wing"configuration but that was not valid...many others were aware of lift developed by curved airfoil surfaces.

I viewed this picture many years ago and acquired a crush on - was it Glenn Ford or John Montgomery? Don't know..... he played the role so well. With Glenn Ford's passing yesterday, that was the first picture that emerged from my recollections, other than Stolen Life, in which he held his own so well with Bette Davis. It is, indeed, unfortunate that Hollywood did not fully tap the dramatic abilities of this fine actor. His comedic ability was evident in Pocketful of Miracles, which could have opened a whole new genre for him had it been further utilized in his career. As for Gallant Journey, it is an inspiring film of early aviation and of the caliber so well suited to family viewing.

What should have been an inspiring film, turns into a slow-moving film about an early aviator John Montgomery. To say that this guy was unlucky was to put it mildly.

A very young Glenn Ford does an adequate job in portraying this man who dreamed of flying in the 1880s. Janet Blair is his co-star as the girl who loved and eventually married him.

Montgomery is viewed as some sort of crackpot for his desiring to fly. Through the film, we see that he is victimized by vertigo, a suit on his patent, the tragic death of his partner, and his inability to move up within the social milieu despite his achievements.

The film is slow paced. By the way, who was the old man who tells his story to the boys at the beginning of the film? Who was he supposed to represent?

Am sure that the earthquake they we see was not the big 1906 one. If it were, the film suffered from the fact that Ford just didn't age. Was he another Dorian Gray?

Gallant Journey is a curious and not a very good biopic of an early aviation pioneer.

John Montgomery (Glenn Ford) was a man whose father wanted to enter the clergy. He had plans to fly gliders, only his health meant that flying gliders was dangerous. John suffered from dizzy spells.

Later John comes across Dan Mahoney. Another aviation enthusiast who launches the glider from a hot air balloon. Things seem to be going well until Dan crashes and dies.

Eventually John sells his possessions to keep going. Then ending up in a costly lawsuit.

All the while he still has the love from his girl Regina. As well as the support from several priests who share his enthusiasms about flight.

Director William Wellman has some good flying sequences. All too often this movie fails to soar and is never too life affirming. John is plagued with miserable luck.