Review of No Highway in the Sky (1951) by Ross L — 15 Aug 2011

Diverting enough for a movie full of men talking about planes. Jimmy Stewart is awkward and guffawing before going all "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" on the doubting establishment; I was waiting for a line like, "Your planes are gonna crash, you dithering limeys!", but to no avail. I'm not sure he's necessarily made for roles like this, but he sure liked to play them.

I've no real idea what Marlene Dietrich is doing in this film, although with this plot she could only be a movie star playing a movie star and hope for the best. She and Stewart spark nicely, but the script is never sure what they're supposed to mean to each other, exactly. And then, of course, there's the subplot with Stewart's daughter, with its horrid 1950s gender-reinforcement implications: she doesn't need knowledge, she needs DRESSES! And that poster is great. Get ready for AIR CRASHES... there are no air crashes in this movie.

This wasn't bad, but it's a slight amusement at best, really...