Customer Reviews

The Crowded Sky

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Drama, suspense, and humor tossed together in an early airplane disaster film that still satisfies 50 years after its release. Yes, some special effects are cheap (it is a boarderline B film, afterall), but Anne Francis has never looked better! Plus, if you're a fan of the film Airplane!, you'll catch some of the references to The Crowded Sky. Buy this film and enjoy the flight!

I never heard or seen before this movie but I was wondering about John Kerr ("South Pacific") and Troy Donahue ("A Summer Place".

The format is original aspect ratio 1.85:1. I miss on this DVD (and on the the others of WB's Archive Collection) subtitles but well.

The picture quality could be a little bit better but is OK. The sound is just in mono only.

The movie is a sort of Pre-"Airport" film.

Trivia

While Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Troy Donahue are talking in the airport coffee shop, the music playing in the background is "Theme from A Summer Place" by Percy Faith and His Orchestra, taken from a movie in which Donahue starred: A Summer Place (1959).

In this film, _Efrem Zimbalist Jr._ plays a military jet pilot who crashes his plane into the commercial DC-6 piloted by Dana Andrews. About a decade and a half later, Andrews would return the favor as his character's private plane crashed into Zimbalist's commercial jet in Airport 1975 (1974).

I first saw this turkey in 1960, and it was hokie then. I was at that time a fighter pilot and an airline pilot as well, so saw this thing as a technical bomb. I was interested in the airplanes, as the Navy jet was a TV-2, better known by the USAF nomenclature T-33, or "T-Bird" as it was known by those of us who flew it. It was then and for several years afterward the basic jet trainer for the United States Air Force, and several other NATO air forces around the world. Some of the film was pretty good, especially most of the T-Bird shots, taken from "real life." But, the crowning insult was the "collision" between the DC-7 and the T-Bird. Even by 1960 standards, it was AWFUL.
As to the rest of the movie, the soap-opera stories were dreadful, and merely "fill" for the climactic and deeply disappointing mid-air collision, which was an obviously poorly staged bumping of two model airplanes. The special effects department got an "F" on that one for sure.
I watched the movie again the other night on one of the cable movie channels, and must admit I watched it all the way through, reveling in nostalgia for those bygone days, with the convertible Rhonda drove while maintaining perfect hairdo and skin tight skirt and blouse. No one ever looked as perfectly turned out in real life as Rhonda and Anne did in this movie.
The flick was a real bomb then and now, but I admit to loving watching it with all of its crappy dialogue and worse-than-wooden acting by John Kerr and Troy Donahue. All the characters were cardboard cutouts, but the trip back in time was well worth the couple of hours of time, and it has a certain historical value in its depiction of cars, airplanes, and fashion of the time. Those were the Not-So-Good-Old-Days.
I gave it 5 stars for its nostalgia value, but clinically, it was a one star at best...

One of the many wannabes that the success of THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY left in its wake. A Navy jet with Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Troy Donahue heads east while an airline piloted by Dana Andrews carrying 62 passengers flies west and their meeting is inevitable. It lacks the tight structure of William Wellman's MIGHTY as well as the fully developed characters. Most of the minor characters are telegraphed to us via voice overs so that we're not attached to them enough to really care about their fate. The large cast includes Rhonda Fleming, Anne Francis, Keenan Wynn, John Kerr, Joe Mantell, Frieda Inescourt and Jean Willes.

The Warners Archives MOD DVD is an adequate anamorphic wide screen (1.85) transfer.

The Crowded Sky is a great old fashioned fun and melodramatic movie with perhaps cardboard characters and a dash of predictability, but always entertaining.
The very title itself suggests where the movie might be heading. As Efrem Zimbalist explains early on in the film planes flying in the air need paths to follow in order to avoid collisions with other planes.
This movie, along with "Zero Hour" and perhaps the "High and the Mighty", provided comedic fodder many years later for the Zucker Brothers when they made "Airplane" (aka "Flying High" here in Australia)
The film delves into individual passengers' lives for a lot of the early part of the film before the inevitable mid-air collision. Dana Andrews seems to pop up a lot in movies as a pilot of a plane. He always portrays interesting though flawed characters.
Yes, Dana Andrews, as the pilot of a passenger plane collides head on with a smaller plane piloted by Efram Zimbalist with deadly results.
(They did such a good job of it they were asked to repeat their roles 15 years later in the movie "Airport 75", this time with Efram flying the passenger plane and Dana in the small aircraft. As Oscar Wild might have put it - to have one mid-air collision could seem like an accident, to have two seems like carelessness!)

The movie keeps the viewer engaged for the entire ride and takes you back to a simpler time when going to the flicks was the definitive pasttime for millions of people.

This is a wonderful nostalgia piece as there are so many stars from the past who we miss today. The two brightest roles were that handled by the always beautiful and talented Rhonda Fleming and the lovely and lively Anne Frances. Considering that this was made when only prop engines took us from coast to coast, it would mean the sky is more crowded now than ever before. A very well done film with many subplots, but not one to see just before you take a flight.

I brought the The crowded sky because Troy Donahue starred in this Movie.His part is small and personally l feel he does not appear in that many scenes compared to some of the other actors featured. His performance does somewhat appear wooden, though his scenes are small and not very deep,can not ask for more. Though i will say this, his very cute.( who cares if he can not act.) The crowded sky is in brillant technicolour, quality of the dvd is very good. Filmed in 1960,its the story of two airplanes a naval jet 8255 and Trans states 17 commercial airliner on a collison course with both pliots unaware of the danger ahead. Through out the two flights we relive the pliots and passengers lives, their guilty secrets, dreams and ambitions. I do agree with other reviews that the acting is very wooden and and very little emotionals surface within the characters. This is not a movie with a lot of depth, but its more of a soap opera. I personally enjoyed it and its a great escapsim. The movie starrs Dana Andrew,Rhonda fleming,Troy donahue and many more. All the actors featured give a good peformance.