Island in the Sky (1953)

Very much a product of its time, this disappointingly dry and too often boring film by the very solid director William A. Wellman, is often overshadowed by the more emotionally accessible, and color filmed, 'airplane in trouble' film he made the following year The High and the Mighty. Island in the Sky tells the story of the civilian crew of a (supply?) plane that goes down in the north of Canada during World War II, the crews efforts to survive, and the efforts of others to rescue them. The movie features a large cast headed by John Wayne, and including Lloyd Nolan, James Arness (pre  Gunsmoke), Andy Devine, and Regis Toomey, there are almost no women in this movie, it is a story about noble, if too often boring, men. There are far more engaging movies built along similar lines, and the scenes featuring the characters involved in the rescue efforts are routinely more interesting then those involving the lost crew, who I never felt all that invested in. The film is perhaps most notable as the only movie that I can recall seeing where John Wayne convincingly conveys a sense of fear in his performance, when it starts to look like he is indeed going to die in the icy wilderness. Still probably not worth you time unless your a very committed Wayne junkie. This film has the form down pat, but its lacking in emotional core. **