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The High and the Mighty
Theatrical poster
Directed by	William A. Wellman
Written by	Ernest K. Gann
Produced by	Robert Fellows John Wayne
Starring	John Wayne Claire Trevor Laraine Day Robert Stack Jan Sterling
Cinematography	Archie Stout
Edited by	Ralph Dawson
Music by	Dimitri Tiomkin
Production companies	Warner Bros. (theatrical) Paramount (DVD)
Release date	July 3, 1954 (1954-07-03)
Running time	147 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The High and the Mighty is a 1954 American adventure film directed by William A. Wellman and written by Ernest K. Gann, who also wrote the novel on which the screenplay was based. The film's star-laden ensemble cast was headlined by John Wayne, who was also the project's co-producer. The plot follows the lives and interactions among the passengers and aircrew on board a Douglas DC-4 airliner while making a trans-Pacific flight from Hawaii to San Francisco, during which a prop failure and engine fire leads to the brink of disaster.

Filmed in CinemaScope, The High and the Mighty served as a template for later "disaster" themed films such as the Airport series (1970–79), The Towering Inferno (1974), The Hindenburg (1975) and Titanic (1997). Composer Dimitri Tiomkin won an Academy Award for his original score while his title song for the film also was nominated for an Oscar.

Plot

The film follows the personal dramas and increasingly strained interactions that develop among the 17 passengers, and the self-doubts and professional conflicts that surface among the five members of the aircrew, on board an unpressurized DC-4 commercial airliner operating as "Trans-Orient-Pacific (TOPAC) Flight #420" when a life threatening crisis occurs on its fictional overnight hop from Honolulu (T.H.) to San Francisco. While The High and the Mighty can be categorized as both an adventure/drama as well as an early example of the Hollywood "disaster" film, its primary genre is as a complex, heavily character-driven ensemble cast picture.

The first half of the motion picture, all of which takes place prior to the introduction of the plot's crisis element, is devoted almost entirely to the careful development of the personalities and backgrounds of the 22 individuals (17 passengers and five aircrew) who make up its ensemble cast of characters. This process begins with the TOPAC ticket agent at the Honolulu airport making knowing comments about each passenger to Miss Spaulding, the trip's flight attendant, as each arrives to check in for the flight. The aircrew is also introduced to the audience prior to departure as their characters are developed through both dialogue and flashbacks during the film's extensive preflight inspection, flight dispatch, and cockpit pre-takeoff sequences. This process continues for both the passengers and aircrew throughout the first half of the picture (to the midway point of the flight) by way of extensive interactive dialogue in both the plane's cabin and on its flight deck, as well as additional long, expensively produced flashback sequences.

Although the TOPAC dispatcher in Honolulu advises its captain, John Sullivan, that there are to be "21 souls on board (16 passengers, five aircrew), the rest cargo, 73,000 pounds gross" on the flight at take off, shortly before departure (but after the dispatch paperwork has been signed off by the captain and the aircrew have boarded the airliner), one unexpected last minute passenger (Humphrey Agnew) purchases passage on the flight without a previous reservation thus increasing the actual passenger count to 17 when the flight leaves the gate.

Soon after departing Honolulu (HNL) for the scheduled 2,393 statute mile trip to San Francisco (SFO), an intermittent yet almost imperceptible shudder alerts First Officer Dan Roman to a potential problem with the airliner. A short time later Capt. Sullivan is resting in the crew bunk when he senses a problem with the propeller "on either #1 or #3" which he perceives is slipping out of "sync" with the other three, but the cause can not be found.

Shortly after passing the point of no return at analtitude of 9,000 ft (MSL) on a trip anticipated to last 12 hours and 16 minutes ("exactly"), the left outboard engine (#1) seizes causing its three-bladed propeller to separate and a serious engine fire ensues. Although quickly extinguished, the engine nacelle has become badly twisted in its mounts. The distortion of the airframe greatly increases aerodynamic drag, and the airliner loses 4,000 ft of altitude ("and still sinking") before the aircrew regains full control. What proves to be of greater concern, however, is the damage caused by a separating propeller blade which has breached the left wing's outboard fuel tank (#1), resulting in the loss of a critical 200 gallons of the less than 1,300 of fuel that remained from the original 3,050 gallon load which the DC-4 had taken on at Honolulu.

With more than a thousand miles yet to go, the crew does not know if they can nurse the crippled airliner to a safe landing at San Francisco or will be forced to ditch at night in a storm-tossed Pacific. Each of the 17 passengers and five crew members on board react differently to the stress of this uncertainly. In the cabin, several personal crises were already brewing among the passengers. Agnew brought a chrome-plated revolver on board with which to confront another passenger, Ken Childs, whom he suspects of having an affair with his wife, Martha, who once worked for Childs. Just as Agnew makes his move, however, engine #1 seized, beginning the hours of terror for all on board.

The passengers and crew each face their potential impending doom by reevaluating their lives. Whether or not any of them survive the ordeal, however, will depend on whether or not the three key members of the aircrew—Capt. Sullivan, F/O Roman, and Navigator Lenny Wilby—are able to work together under extreme pressure to save them. At first, Wilby believes the airliner has enough fuel to make land, but then finds an error in his calculations and realizes they will run out "11 minutes short" of the airport unless the winds change. Capt. Sullivan becomes resigned to the inevitability of the ditching option despite the extreme risks involved until F/O Roman, a far more experienced pilot, finally rebels against Sullivan's orders and literally "slaps some sense" into the Captain convincing him to try to make the airport even though the crippled airliner may not have enough altitude to clear a hill on their approach path.

After more than six hours of terror, the airliner ultimately just makes it to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) but touches down with only two of its four engines still operating as Roman had been forced to feather #4 (right outboard) when it also failed owing to fuel starvation shortly after passing the outer marker on its instrument landing system (ILS) approach to that field's Runway 28R. A check of all the tanks on the tarmac shows them to be effectively bone dry ("just 30 gallons left, too little to really measure") thus revealing how really very close the flight had come to not reaching the airport. The film ends with Dan Roman whistling as he walks off alone into the darkness while TOPAC's operations manager, Tim Garfield, says "so long. So long, you ancient pelican."

Casting

Casting for The High and the Mighty was problematic because the film required an ensemble cast of characters who were troubled and each faced personal problems. With no central character, Hollywood's major stars turned down roles that did not appear big enough. Stars who rejected the parts included Joan Crawford, Ida Lupino, Barbara Stanwyck, Ginger Rogers and Dorothy McGuire. Wellman decided to instead cast lesser-known actors who would still lend competence. The cast included Claire Trevor, Laraine Day, Robert Stack, Jan Sterling, Phil Harris, Robert Newton, David Brian, Paul Kelly, Sidney Blackmer, and Julie Bishop. Spencer Tracy was offered the role of Dan Roman but turned it down. Wellman said that Tracy found the script "lousy", while assistant director Andrew McLaglen said Tracy's friends told the actor he was "in for an ego-bruising ride", leading Tracy to excuse himself from the film. John Wayne replaced Tracy in his role, but Wayne said during and after production that he did not like his performance. McLaglen recalled, "He said, 'Well, it never had any love story,' I said 'It had the greatest love story that had ever been written.'" McLaglen and Wayne argued about Wayne's performance, but Wayne never conceded about his performance.

For the other major male lead, Wayne had promised the role to his friend, "Bob" Cummings who was a pilot and had Wellman's recommendation as well. The interview with Robert Stack eventually convinced Wellman that a nonpilot could effectively portray the drama of a cockpit conflict. Stanwyck's refusal was especially galling as the director had always treated her as a "pet." The "casting" of the TOPAC airliner for the daylight flying sequences was accomplished by chartering and repainting a DC-4 (N4726V) from Transocean Airlines.

Cast

The 22 characters of the ensemble cast, and how they are introduced and developed during the picture's first half, are:

Aircrew

• Captain John Sullivan (Robert Stack): as an experienced, sober, and no-nonsense pilot, but also one whose "nerves are getting rusty";
• First Officer "Whistling" Dan Roman (John Wayne): as a troubled 20,000+ hour veteran flyer ("I've been flying since 1917.") who a few years earlier was the captain and only survivor of a DC-3 that crashed on takeoff in Colombia killing, among others, his wife and young son;
• Second Officer Hobie Wheeler (William Campbell): as the flight's smart aleck young relief pilot;
• Lenny Wilby (Wally Brown): as a rumpled, often logorrheic navigator upon whose skills all will soon depend for their survival;
• "Miss Spaulding" (Doe Avedon): as the young, rookie flight attendant ("I've only been with the company for four months."), and the airliner's only cabin crew member.

Passengers

• May Holst (Claire Trevor): as a loquacious, overly dressed, self-described "broken-down old broad" who seems to always be on the lookout for a man;
• Ken Childs (David Brian): as an avuncular, middle aged, silver-haired playboy and TOPAC investor/board member who soon receives the attentions of May Holst;
• Humphrey Agnew (Sidney Blackmer): as an unctuous Honolulu "snake oil" manufacturer ("Agnew's Aides") and insanely jealous husband who is convinced that Childs is having an affair with his wife, Martha, and brings a revolver (there was noTSA then) with him on the airliner to help "discuss" the matter with Childs;
• Sally McKee (Jan Sterling): as a platinum blond, overly made up, self-doubting mail-order bride going to meet her sight-unseen future husband;
• Prof. Donald Flaherty (Paul Kelly):as an alcoholic U.S. Atomic Energy Commission scientist and amateur painter who has become conscience-stricken about his work on nuclear missiles;
• Lydia Rice (Laraine Day): as a rich, shrewish, and aloof social climber from New York City who is not at all happy with, and intends to divorce, her husband...
• Howard Rice (John Howard): who has infuriated Lydia because he wants to sell the New York advertising agency she bought for him ("as a new toy") and use the money to leave New York to buy and operate "a broken down old mine in Canada;"
• Gustave Pardee (Robert Newton): as a philandering, self-centered, English accented (although New York-born) theatrical producer who is terrified of flying ("the original Frightened Freddie") and just about anything else he can't control, and...
• Lillian Pardee (Julie Bishop): as Gustave's placating, much younger wife who, despite all her husband's faults, still loves him;
• Ed Joseph (Phil Harris): as an exuberant, overweight, loud-mouthed tourist from New Jersey who is returning home from a nothing-went-right "vacation from hell" with...
• Clara Joseph (Ann Doran):as his overly emotional Utah-born wife;
• Nell and Milo Buck (Karen Sharpe and John Smith): as a misty eyed young couple returning from their honeymoon;
• Frank Briscoe (Paul Fix): as an ailing, wheelchair bound, grandfatherly gentleman who, although constantly in pain and having "signed over" virtually all his possessions to others, is still gracious and generous to a fault;
• Dorothy Chen (Joy Kim): as a soft spoken, self effacing young Korean refugee looking to start a new life in America;
• José Lacota (John Qualen): a heavily accented, soft spoken, harmonica-playing commercial fisherman who is flying for the first time in his life;
• Toby Field (played by the director's son, Michael Wellman):as a cap pistol-toting seven-year old who while returning to his mother from a visit to his father, sleeps through all the excitement;

Additional cast

• Douglas Fowley as Alsop: a TOPAC Agent, Honolulu
• Regis Toomey as Tim Garfield: TOPAC Operations Manager, San Francisco
• Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer as Ensign Keim, USCG: an ASR Pilot, Alameda
• Robert Keys as Lt. Mowbray, USCG: an ASR Pilot, Alameda
• William Dewolf Hopper as Roy: Sally McKee's fiancé
• William Schallert: a TOPAC Dispatcher, San Francisco
• Julie Mitchum as Susie Wilby: Lenny Wilby's wife
• Robert Easton (uncredited): a TOPAC Dispatcher, Honolulu

Aircraft DC-4 N4726V

The DC-4 (N4726V; ex-N66694, ex-LV-ABR) used to film the tarmac, takeoff, and daylight flying sequences was a former C-54A-10-DC (c/n 10315) built as a military transport in 1942 at Long Beach, California by Douglas Aircraft Company under U.S. Army Air Force contract (USAAF s/n 42-72210).

When the exterior and flying sequences were filmed in mid-November, 1953, the airliner was being operated by Oakland, California-based non-scheduled carrier Transocean Airlines (1946–1962), the largest civil aviation operator of recycled C-54s in the 1950s. Novel and screenplay author Ernest K. Gann wrote the original book while he was flying C-54s for Transocean over the Hawaii–California routes. The airliner was named The Argentine Queen and had once been the personal aircraft of Juan Perón, the controversial three-time President of Argentina. It was later operated by Slick Airways before being acquired by Transocean in 1953. The film's fictional airline's name "TOPAC" was painted over the Transocean's red, white and yellow color scheme for filming. Originally acquired by Transocean in 1953, N4726V was transferred just two years later to Airwork which in turn leased the aircraft to a variety of operators. It was subsequently acquired and operated by World Airways and finally by Facilities Management Corp., a charter air carrier.

Unlike the fictional engine fire in the film which the stricken DC-4 airliner portrayed by The Argentine Queen survived and reached San Francisco safely, ironically a decade after its appearance in the motion picture this same aircraft suffered a similar engine fire during an overnight trans-Pacific flight and was lost with no survivors. At 8:47 PM (HST) on March 27, 1964,N4726V took off on a charter flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles with a crew of three and six passengers on board. A few minutes before 6 AM (PST), eight hours into the anticipated 11 hour, 40 minute flight, a Maydaycall from the pilot was heard reporting the flight's position as about 700 miles west of San Francisco with a serious fire in engine #2 (left inboard), and saying that "...we may have to put it in" (aviation jargon for ditching in the ocean). No further transmissions were heard.

The United States Coast Guard conducted a five-day search for the missing DC-4, but no traces of either the airliner or its occupants were ever found. Later investigation revealed engine #2 had a recurring oil leak in the propeller governor assembly on an earlier flight that had resulted in temporary grounding. The cause of the in flight fire remained undetermined.

Production

In 1953, director William Wellman was releasing Island in the Sky when he learned that his screenwriter Ernest Gann was writing another aviation story. Gann shared the story with Wellman, and the director offered to make a sales pitch. Wellman relayed the story of The High and the Mighty to John Wayne and his production partner Robert Fellows. Wayne purchased the story on the spot, agreeing to give Gann $55,000 for the story and the screenplay plus 10 percent of the film's earnings. Wayne also agreed to give Wellman 30 percent of the earnings to be the film's director, based on the condition that The High and the Mighty would be filmed in CinemaScope. It was a widescreen projection process that involved using an anamorphic lens to add a wide picture to regular 35 mm film. Wellman's experience was that the CinemaScope camera was "bulky and wieldy", and the director preferred to station the camera in one place. Since The High and Mighty was set on an airplane with cramped quarters, Wellman did not need to worry about flexibility in composing shots. He hired William H. Clothier, with whom he had worked on many films, as cinematographer.

Filming took place on a Goldwyn Pictures lot in Hollywood, and most of the cast sat in the passenger cabin for weeks during filming. Cast members recalled disliking the experience; Claire Trevor called it "a dreary picture to make". During cold weather, the soundstage was not properly heated, and cast members suffered from the cold. Wayne and Stack did not face similar problems since they were filmed separately and comfortably in the cockpit set.

Wayne and Fellows were producers of The High and the Mighty, but when Wayne attempted to assert himself as director, Wellman argued publicly with him in defense of his directorial control.

The High and the Mighty depicts a dramatic situation in a civil transport aviation context. William Wellman had reservations about the "intimate" storyline which dominate the production, preferring to focus more on aircraft and pilots, yet after script deliberations set out the final screenplay, he endorsed the novel approach that harkened back to films such as the Grand Hotel.

Wellman's films were produced two decades before Airport and its sequels (along with the later Airplane! parodies). They were early John Wayne co-productions in which he also starred, a practice which would not become widespread until the 1980s and 1990s. The High and the Mighty and Island in the Sky shared many of the same cast and production crew. Along with Wayne, six other actors appear in both films: Regis Toomey, Paul Fix, Carl Switzer, Ann Doran, George Chandler and Michael Wellman. Ernest K. Gann wrote the original novels on which both films were based along with both screenplays.

After their original theatrical runs and many years as a television staples, both films were withdrawn from circulation for about a quarter-century because of legal issues. Significant portions of the film stock of The High and the Mighty also showed color fading which was dealt with through a restoration process. In July, 2005, both films returned to public view when they were broadcast on television for the first time in two decades and also released in a DVD two disc edition that August.

Aircraft feature prominently in The High and the Mighty, including two unusual aviation events: the U.S. Coast Guard's short-lived use of the B-17/PB-1G "Dumbo" rescue aircraft along with a brief launch clip of experiments with the U.S. Navy JB-2 version of the V-1 (an early kind of cruise missile) at an atomic missile test site. The postwar use of piston engine aircraft in oceanic flights was a key element of the film which required the use of a then-modern airliner.

Transocean Airlines director of flight operations Bill Keating did the stunt flying for the movie. Keating and Gann had flown together and the author recommended his friend for the work. During preproduction filming, Keating was involved in a near-incident when simulating the climactic night emergency landing. After several approaches, Wellman asked for "one more take" touching down even closer to the runway's threshold. Keating complied, taking out runway lights with his nose landing gear before "peeling off" and executing a go-around. Wellman quipped that the crash would look good in another film.

In addition to this aircraft, a second Transocean C-54/DC-4 equipped with a large double cargo door used to accommodate the loading of freight on pallets, was employed for all shots of the damaged airliner on the ground at San Francisco in the film's closing sequences. As illustrated, a propellerless, fire-scorched engine on a distorted mount with a 30º "droop" was installed on the left wing of this aircraft to represent the damage which had imperiled the flight. Exterior airport scenes were filmed at the Glendale Grand Central Air Terminal, east of Burbank, California, where an outdoor movie set was constructed to replicate the terminal gates at SFO in the early 1950s. Additional exteriors utilized Oakland International Airport for all boarding, engine run-up, taxiing and takeoff scenes used in the opening sequences. The external night and damaged in-flight sequences were filmed in a studio where a large scale miniature was photographed against backdrops. Passenger cabin and flight deck interior scenes were all filmed on sets built on a Warner Bros. sound stage.

Music

Composer Dimitri Tiomkin scored the film and composed the theme song "The High and the Mighty". The theme song was also called "The Whistling Song" because John Wayne whistled the tune during production. Tiomkin's music for the film topped hit parade charts and remained there for weeks, increasing the profile of the film itself. Hollywood producers learned that a publicized title song could have value in attracting audiences to theaters. The song's "haunting strains" were played on the radio and on recordings in the years after the film's release.

Original release and reception

The High and the Mighty was commercially released on July 3, 1954. Although the choice of the new Cinemascope format limited theater use, it was also one of the most commercially successful films that year. Wayne biographer Ronald L. Davis described the film, "While its plot is somewhat synthetic, the special effects and performances make for an engaging film." Within two months of its release, it was ranked No. 1 in box-office receipts and set the record for the "fastest return of negative cost" (screen jargon for making back production costs). John Wayne provided a critically praised role "against type" while supporting actresses Claire Trevor and Jan Sterling earned 1954 Academy Awards nominations for Best Supporting Actress. The film earned additional Oscar nominations for director William Wellman and film editor Ralph Dawson, along with composer Dimitri Tiomkin and lyricist Ned Washington for the film's title song. Tiomkin received the film's only academy award, for the film's original score. The popular title song by Tiomkin and Washington was included on only one print of the film so as to qualify it for an Oscar nomination. It is not heard on the prints issued for general theatrical release.

Accolades

Restoration and re-release

By the 1960s and 1970s, The High and the Mighty became a television staple, but due to tighter broadcast schedules and several royalty disputes, however, the film's last appearances on broadcast television were in 1982 on the TBS cable channel, and on Cinemax in March/April 1985. One crucial element in the The High and the Mighty's resurrection was the extensive restoration required after decades of languishing in the Wayne film vault where the film suffered major water damage and one reel was lost for a period of time, making the possibility of such a pristine restoration seemingly unlikely.

As a result of the film's rarity, it developed a cult following, which led to petitions to get the film released in home video formats. The estate of John Wayne, through Gretchen Wayne, the widow of the actor's late son, Michael, made a deal in the early 2000s with Cinetech (film) and Chace Productions (sound) to update and restore both The High and the Mighty and another "lost" Wayne film, Island in the Sky. This led to a distribution agreement with Batjac Productions (Wayne's production and distribution company) and both American Movie Classics (for TV rights) and Paramount Pictures (home video rights). Following the recovery of the lost reel, The High and the Mighty, after its meticulous restoration, was rebroadcast on television in July 2005, the first broadcasts in 20 years. Together with Island in the Sky, the film was released as a "special collector's edition" DVD with new cover art in August of the same year by Paramount Home Entertainment. It was also broadcast on Turner Classic Movies on October 27, 2007.

References

Notes

1. ^ Maltin 2005
2. ^ Anderson, Jeffrey M. "'The High and the Mighty' (1954): Who'll Stop the Plane?" combustiblecelluloid.com, July 24, 2005. Retrieved: February 22, 2008.
3. Munn 2005, p. 159
4. ^ Paramount Home Entertainment, The High and the Mighty (Collector's Edition) DVD, background notes, Burbank, California, 2005.
5. Air Distances Between World Cities in Statute Miles
6. ^ Roberts & Olson 1997, p. 407
7. Munn 2005, p. 159
8. ^ Maltin ("On Director: William A. Wellman") 2005
9. Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer (Ens. Keim) derived his nickname from the character "Alfalfa" for which he became famous portraying as a child actor in the Our Gang comedies from 1935 to 1940.
10. Douglas Production List Long Beach (Part 02).
11. "Monochrome photograph of Transocean Airlines DC-4". 1000aircraftphotos.com. Retrieved: February 20, 2008.
12. Lyons, Joe. "Propliner Golden Age – When Round Engines Ruled the World: Aircraft of The High and the Mighty: The Douglas DC-4 & the Boeing PB-1G in 1/144 scale". hsfeatures.com, 2006. Retrieved: 20 February 2008.
13. Accident report – N4726V.
14. Roberts & Olson 1997, p. 406
15. Munn 2005, p. 160
16. Davis 2001, p. 180
17. Munn 2005, pp. 161–162
18. Wellman 2006
19. Hardwick and Schnepf 1989, p. 66.
20. Shane 2006, pp. 22–23.
21. Shane 2006, p. 24.
22. "Douglas images, Photo ID: 1011538 (Photograph of a double door on a DC-4)". flyinghigher.net. Retrieved: February 20, 2008.
23. Shane 2006, p. 25.
24. ^ Studwell 2004, p. 196.
25. ^ Davis 2001, p. 181
26. "1954 Academy Awards." infoplease.com. Retrieved: February 20, 2008.
27. Shane 2006, p. 22.

Bibliography

• Brownlow, Kevin. The Parade's Gone By... Berkeley, California: University of California Press; New Ed edition, 1976 (original edition, 1968). ISBN 0-52003-068-0.
• Davis, Ronald L. (2001). Duke: The Life and Image of John Wayne. University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 180–181. ISBN 0806133295. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies." The Making of the Great Aviation Films. General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
• The High and the Mighty (Collector's Edition) DVD. Burbank, California: Paramount Home Entertainment, 2005.
• Maltin, Leonard. "The Batjac Story: Part 1 (1951–1963) (film documentary)." The High and the Mighty (Collector's Edition) DVD. Burbank, California: Paramount Home Entertainment, 2005.
• Maltin, Leonard. "On Director: William A. Wellman (film documentary)." The High and the Mighty (Collector's Edition) DVD. Burbank, California: Paramount Home Entertainment, 2005.
• McGivern, Carolyn. The Lost Films of John Wayne. Bracknell: Sammon, 2004. Print.
• Munn, Michael (2005). "From the Mighty to the Mongols". John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth. NAL Trade. pp. 156–166. ISBN 0451214145. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Ricci, Mark and Boris and Steve Zmijewsky. The Films of John Wayne. New York: Citadel Press, 1970. ISBN 0-80665-022-3.
• Roberts, Randy; Olson, James S. (1997). John Wayne: American. Bison Books. pp. 406–409. ISBN 0803289707. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Shane, Bob. "The Makings of 'The High and the Mighty': A Former Airline Pilot Remembers the Filming of an Aviation Classic." Airpower, Volume 36. Issue 1, January 2006, pp. 22–25.
• Silke, James R. "Fists, Dames & Wings." Air Progress Aviation Review, Volume 4, No. 4, October 1980.
• Studwell, William. The Popular Song Reader: A Sampler of Well-Known Twentieth-Century Songs. Abingdon, Oxford,, UK: Routledge, 2004. ISBN 1-56024-369-4.
• Wellman, William Jr. The Man And His Wings: William A. Wellman and the Making of the First Best Picture. New York: Praeger Publishers, 2006. ISBN 0-275-98541-5.

External links

• The High and the Mighty at IMDb
• The High and the Mighty at the TCM Movie Database
• Template:Amg movie
• Original score

• 1954 films
• American disaster films
• Films based on novels
• Films set on an airplane
• Films set in Honolulu, Hawaii
• Aviation films
• Films directed by William A. Wellman
• Films shot in CinemaScope