''Broken Journey'' (also known as ''Rescue'') is a 1948 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Ken Annakin Kenneth Cooper Annakin, OBE (10 August 1914 – 22 April 2009) was an English film director. His career spanned half a century, beginning in the early 1940s and ending in 2002, and in the 1960s he was noticed by critics with large-scale adventu ...

and featuring

Phyllis Calvert Phyllis Hannah Murray-Hill (née Bickle; 18 February 1915 – 8 October 2002), known professionally as Phyllis Calvert, was an English film, stage and television actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1 ...

, James Donald,

Margot Grahame Margot Grahame (born Margaret Clark; 20 February 1911 – 1 January 1982) was an English actress most noted for starring in '' The Informer'' (1935) and ''The Three Musketeers'' (1935). She started acting in 1930 and made her last screen app ...

Raymond Huntley Horace Raymond Huntley (23 April 1904 – 15 June 1990) was an English actor who appeared in dozens of British films from the 1930s to the 1970s. He also appeared in the ITV period drama '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' as the pragmatic family s ...

and

Guy Rolfe Guy Rolfe (born Edwin Arthur Rolfe, 27 December 1911 – 19 October 2003) was a British actor. Career Rolfe was born in Kilburn, London. Before turning to acting at the age of 24 he was a professional boxer and racing driver, making his stage ...

. ''Broken Journey'' deals with people struggling to survive after their airliner crashes on top of a mountain, and is based on a true-life accident in the Swiss Alps.

Plot

In postwar Europe, while flying over the Swiss Alps, a Fox Airways Douglas DC-3 airliner experiences engine trouble and sends out a distress call. Pilot Captain Fox (Guy Rolfe) and co-pilot Bill Haverton (James Donald) set the aircraft down on a glacier with a minimum of damage, but know that they will not be able to radio for help with run-down batteries and a storm setting in. Taking stock of their situation, Haverton knows he can rely on stewardess Mary Johnstone (Phyllis Calvert), who is in love with him, but some of the passengers present problems. Film star Joanna Dane (Margot Grahame), opera tenor Perami ( Francis L. Sullivan) and

iron lung An iron lung is a type of negative pressure ventilator (NPV), a mechanical respirator which encloses most of a person's body, and varies the air pressure in the enclosed space, to stimulate breathing.Shneerson, Dr. John M., Newmarket Genera ...

patient John Barber (

Grey Blake Grey Blake (1902–1971) was a British stage, film and television actor. Amongst his stage appearances was as Peter Quilpe in the original Broadway production of '' The Cocktail Party'' by T.S. Eliot at Henry Miller's Theatre in 1950. He repris ...

) are all, in different ways, difficult and demanding passengers. The wrecked aircraft provides them with shelter, as the 13 passengers and crew wait for rescue. Rescue missions have already been mounted but, when a rescue aircraft misjudges its approach, it crashes and the crew are killed. With limited food supplies, the survivors realise that a rescue in the desolate location is unlikely. The survivors have to decide whether to stay and wait for help or leave the shelter of the wrecked airliner and set out in bad weather to try to reach safety. Some people make sacrifices to allow others to live.

Cast

as Mary Johnstone * James Donald as Bill Haverton *

as Joanna Dane * Francis L. Sullivan as Perami *

as Edward Marshall *

Derek Bond Derek William Douglas Bond MC (26 January 1920 – 15 October 2006) was a British actor. He was President of the trade union Equity from 1984 to 1986. Life and career Bond was born on 26 January 1920 in Glasgow, Scotland. He attended Haberd ...

as Richard Faber *

as Captain Fox *

David Tomlinson David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson (7 May 1917 – 24 June 2000) was an English stage, film, and television actor and comedian. Having been described as both a leading man and a character actor, he is primarily remembered for his roles as authorit ...

as Jimmy Marshall * Sonia Holm as Anne Stephens *

as John Barber *

Sybille Binder Sybille Binder (5 January 1895 – 30 June 1962) was an Austrian actress of Jewish descent whose career of over 40 years was based variously in her home country, Germany and Britain, where she found success in films during the 1940s. Career Bi ...

as Lilli Romer * Andrew Crawford as Kid Cormack *

Charles Victor Charles Victor (10 February 1896 – 23 December 1965) was a British actor who appeared in many film and television roles between 1931 and 1965. He was born Charles Victor Harvey. Born in Southport, Lancashire, England, Victor was a fourth ...

as Harry Gunn *

Gerard Heinz Gerard Heinz (born Gerhard Hinze; 2 January 1904 – 20 November 1972) was a German actor. Heinz was born in Hamburg, Germany and later moved to Britain, where he changed his name. He appeared in almost 60 films (including ''Caravan''), and a n ...

as Joseph Romer * Mary Hinton as Mrs. Barber

Production

Real Life Inspiration

The plot of ''Broken Journey'' closely approximated the 1946 C-53 Skytrooper crash on the Gauli Glacier, Switzerland in November 1946. The improvised operation that eventually resulted in the successful rescue of eight passengers and four crew members, considered the "birth of air-rescue in Switzerland", garnered worldwide publicity and led to the fictionalised account of ''Broken Journey''.

Development

Sydney Box Frank Sydney Box (29 April 1907 – 25 May 1983) was a British film producer and screenwriter, and brother of British film producer Betty Box. In 1940, he founded the documentary film company Verity Films with Jay Lewis. He produced and co- ...

became head of production of

Gainsborough Studios Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, north London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The com ...

in 1946. He commissioned Robert Westerby, who had a reputation for writing contemporary thrillers, to do a script.

Michael Balcon Sir Michael Elias Balcon (19 May 1896 – 17 October 1977) was an English film producer known for his leadership of Ealing Studios in West London from 1938 to 1955. Under his direction, the studio became one of the most important British fil ...

was also developing a film based on the same story, and registered an idea with the British Producers Association, but once he heard Box was doing a film as well he withdrew his project. Westerby did a treatment in six days, then proceeded to a full draft. He wrote a role specifically for

, then one of the studio's biggest stars. Calvert was reluctant to make the film but Box managed to persuade her. It would be the last film Calvert made under her contract with Gainsborough. The film was originally called ''Rescue''.

Shooting

The film was shot over 14 weeks. Calvert was only available for half that time. There was location filming in Switzerland with studio work at Shepherd's Bush. Gainsborough had just finished making a film in the Alps called '' Snowbound'' (1947) so Annakin could draw on their expertise for the best locations.Spicer, Andrew
"The Apple of Mr. Rank’s mercatorial eye": Managing Director of Gainsborough Pictures, pp. 108-111.
/ref> Principal photography for the film took place in 1947. At the same time, Annakin was completing work on his second feature film, '' Miranda'' (1948).

Reception

Box office

''Broken Journey'' was a commercial disappointment recording a loss of £63,900. This was attributed in part to the fact that the film came out 18 months after the accident which inspired it and was no longer topical.

Critical

''Broken Journey'' was critically received as a disaster film. Reviewer A.W. Weiler of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' observed that the film was effective; "... (an) intelligent script and a uniformly excellent cast serve to make the import a diverting entertainment. And, the rugged, spectacular mountain backgrounds are an added note of authenticity to the yarn which accents character study rather than melodramatics." The reviewer, however, had a caution that "..'Broken Journey', which might have been a top-flight, thoroughly exciting excursion, is simply a meticulously-planned trip in which the travellers are more interesting than the itinerary." Steven H. Scheuer in ''Movies on TV, 1986–87'' noted that the film was "tense, well acted melodrama."Scheuer 1986, p. 86.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Scheuer, Steven H. ''Movies on TV, 1986–87.'' New York: Bantam Books, 1986. . * Spicer, Andrew .''Sydney Box''. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2006. .

External links

*
Review of film
at ''Variety'' *
''Broken Journey''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

's Film and TV Database {{Gainsborough Pictures 1948 films 1948 drama films British drama films British aviation films Films about aviation accidents or incidents Films directed by Ken Annakin Films set on airplanes Gainsborough Pictures films British black-and-white films 1940s English-language films 1940s British films