Island in the Sky
1953 · Movie · NR · 109 min · ★ 6.3 · 78% critics
After a transport plane is forced down in the frozen Labrador wilderness, a pilot and his small crew must endure brutal cold, scarce supplies, and fading hope while waiting for rescuers to find them. The story follows both the struggle to survive and the difficult search from the air.
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Details
- Years
- 1953
- Release date
- 1953-09-05
- Language
- English
- Rated
- NR
- Runtime
- 109 min
- Critic score
- 78/100
- TMDB rating
- 6.3/10 (71 votes)
About
You’ll likely enjoy this if you like old-school survival dramas with stoic teamwork and steady tension, especially if The Flight of the Phoenix or The High and the Mighty appeal to you; Not for you if you want fast pacing throughout.
Pros: gripping survival premise; strong sense of endurance; tense rescue search | Cons: slow pacing at times; uneven dialogue; thin character depth
Themes
- airplane
- radio
- survival
- snow
- food rationing
- navigation
Cast & crew
John Wayne
as Captain Dooley
Lloyd Nolan
as Captain Stutz
Walter Abel
as Col. Fuller
James Arness
as Mac McMullen
Andy Devine
as Willie Moon
Allyn Joslyn
as J.H. Handy
Jimmy Lydon
as Murray, Dooley's navigator
Harry Carey, Jr.
as Ralph Hunt, Moon's co-pilot
Hal Baylor
as Stankowski, Dooley's engineer
Sean McClory
as Frank Lovatt, Dooley's co-pilot
Directed by William A. Wellman