No Highway In The Sky (1951)

An eccentric if absent minded scientist (James Stewart) is obsessed with proving that a certain model of plane will crash after a certain amount of flying hours. While on a flight to investigate a plane crash that may prove his theory, he discovers that the very plane he's on is about to reach those hours over the ocean. Based on the novel by Nevil Shute (ON THE BEACH) and directed by Henry Koster (THE ROBE). This intelligent "disaster" film has an American star (Stewart) and an American director (Koster) but this is a British film in every other sense. The film is very well constructed, making its possibly dubious plot entirely believable. Perhaps for the best, the book's supernatural elements were jettisoned. The film is helped by Stewart's excellent, intense performance. The movie is bolstered by two appealing performances, Marlene Dietrich as the glamorous film star and fellow passenger on Stewart's doomed plane and Glynis Johns as the flight attendant who falls in love with him. The effective uncredited score is by Malcolm Arnold. Also with Jack Hawkins, Kenneth More, Janette Scott, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Elizabeth Allan, Niall MacGinnis and Maurice Denham.