Next Tuesday, the holy grail of missing movies finally gets its first home-video release — John Wayne's "The High and the Mighty," in a gussied-up two-disc special edition.
Along with it comes another Wayne airplane-in-trouble thriller, "Island in the Sky," which has also been missing in action for half a century.
Both films have been completely out of circulation, languishing in the Wayne-estate vaults, just waiting to be restored and re-released on both television (cable-channel AMC premiered both films earlier this month) and home video.
A treasure trove of movies produced by Batjac, Wayne's production company, are hungered-for by movie fans, including many more pictures that have not been seen in decades (starring Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Glenn Ford, etc.). All will be released by Paramount Home Entertainment in the months to come; these two are merely the first salvo.
The old cliche "all things come to he who waits" is proving true for film buffs. A few years ago, "Annie Get Your Gun," which had also been out of circulation for many years and was in the top five of the most-requested missing movies, got a spiffy DVD release.
And now "The High and the Mighty."
Can "Porgy and Bess," "Song of the South" or "Fate Is the Hunter" be far behind? (He said, dreaming.)
Of course, how we remember a movie we saw so long ago, and how it strikes us today, may not always be the same.
"Annie Get Your Gun" held up quite well as a colorful, lively, entertaining musical. But "The High and the Mighty" is a bit dated and overwrought in places.
To my surprise, I found "Island in the Sky" to be the better of the two new releases. . . .
Both films are directed by William Wellman ("Wings," "The Ox-Bow Incident"), and both are well worth a look.
And there are plenty of terrific bonus features that add to the fun.
"The High and the Mighty" (Paramount, 1954, not rated, $19.99, two discs). Based on a novel by Ernest K. Gann, who also wrote the screenplay, "The High and the Mighty" is the granddaddy of disaster pictures. Watching it today reminded me of how much is owed to this film by the "Airport" movies and a slew of other all-star epics about strangers thrown together when disaster strikes.
On the other hand, "Airplane!" also owes a lot to this film, and that's especially true of Robert Stack's stiff performance as the pilot, which is now hard to take seriously.
Wayne, as the widowed co-pilot who is carrying more baggage than what's in the cargo hold, gets top billing in "The High and the Mighty," but he's really just one of the ensemble. The film's first hour is spent setting things up, as we meet the various passengers, all of whom are wracked with soap-opera problems — Utah actress Laraine Day, Claire Trevor, Jan Sterling, Phil Harris, Robert Newton, etc. Then the airliner, on a flight from Hawaii, starts falling apart over the ocean. Who will panic and who will save the day?
Among those who shine are Trevor and Sterling (both nominated for Oscars); Newton, who is remarkably restrained here (his performances were prone to overacting, especially late in his career); and Wayne, who is excellent, plays a more complex role than some may be used to seeing (he was always an underappreciated actor).
The worst performances are given by Karen Sharpe and John Smith, who are never believable.
But before we're too hard on this 50-year-old film, let's remember that many of today's films suffer from the same problem; "The Island," anyone? "Pearl Harbor"?
"The High and the Mighty" also boasts some terrific production values, from the gorgeous use of widescreen cinematography to Dimitri Tiomkin's Oscar-winning score.
Extras: Widescreen, audio commentary (by Leonard Maltin, others), introductions (by Maltin), making-of featurettes, profiles, newsreel, trailers, photo gallery, optional English subtitles, chapters.
"Island In the Sky" (Paramount, 1953, not rated, b/w, $14.99). This is a wonderfully tight little black-and-white drama about a pilot (Wayne) and his crew being forced to crash-land in uncharted territory in the frozen Canadian north.
They can't make contact with rescue teams, and the rescue teams can't see them in the snowbound, tree-lined terrain. The tension is thick, and it mounts as Wayne and crew struggle to survive, and his pals in the air (played by Lloyd Nolan, James Arness, Harry Carey Jr., Andy Devine, etc.) search for them until they're too tired to continue flying.
Location photography helps, but this is an especially gripping film that may be overlooked in all the hoopla over "High and the Mighty." But it's another "lost" film that truly deserves an audience now that it's been "found" again.
Extras: Full frame, audio commentary (by Leonard Maltin, others), introduction (by Maltin), making-of featurettes, profiles, newsreel, trailers, photo gallery, optional English subtitles, chapters.
E-mail: hicks@desnews.com