The High and the Mighty is not a bad film really, but when I finally saw it I didn't care for it either.

The High and the Mighty does look reasonably good. The cinematography is pleasant enough, and the costumes, lighting and scenery are decent too. The only real exception to the rule is the title sequence, which is on the grotty side, more to do with the quality of the picture than the film itself. Wellman's direction while slightly awkward in places is serviceable. The cast do also give it their all- this movie is far from John Wayne's best movie or even his best role but he is good, and the supporting performers are quite entertaining too, from Phil Harris, Claire Trevor, Robert Newton to Robert Stack. The best asset though is the music score by Dmitri Tiomkin, while not among my favourite movie scores it is outstanding and another case of the score being better than the movie.

However, The High and the Mighty does have a lot of faults in my humble opinion. The film is overlong with some scenes going on longer than they perhaps should have done, and it is also quite sluggish. Not exactly in the pace as such, but more in the fact that the film takes a while to get going. The film starts off quite briskly, but once other characters and their situations are introduced the pace slackens. The flashback sequences are also uneven, some are interesting, some are very mundane. The film also suffers from an increasingly meandering script and shallow and clichéd characterisation.

Overall, in my view it is worth watching but I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. 5/10 Bethany Cox

If it weren't for the fact that this was one of the earliest AIRPORT-style dramas, I would say this movie had nearly every cliché in the book. However, apart from a few assorted films like FIVE CAME BACK, this was about the first air disaster films to come out of Hollywood. So, because of this, I am willing to forgive SOME of the campiness, though most modern viewers will probably be turned off by the dialog and predictability of the flick.

However, there is still a lot of good to the film. John Wayne's performance is very solid and restrained and several of the passengers do an excellent job. Although this movie was re-released at the same time ISLAND IN THE SKY was AND both films offer John Wayne in the lead AND Alfalfa Switzer in a supporting role (that's Alfalfa from Little Rascals),it is just a notch below the other film overall. ISLAND IN THE SKY, though less entertaining in some ways, certainly excels at realism and so is a better film.

Trans Ocean Pacific's flight from Honolulu to San Francisco seems to proceed with no problems until one of the four engines catches fire midway on the flight which causes one of the gas tanks to leak. The crew tries to prepare to land the plane in the bay to be rescued, while experienced co-pilot Dan Roman conserve the remaining fuel to get the plane to land in the San Francisco Airport. The widely heterogeneous group of passengers which include a disgruntled man who believes his wife had an affair with one of the other passengers, a female who is hoping her man will love her despite her age, a couple on the brink of divorce, and others have to make the best of their situation and hope its not the last moments they will spend alive. Very good film that took forever to get to DVD, but seems to be worth it. Excellent performances by all and Tiomkin's score is excellent and so memorable you'll be whistling or humming it for days. The film (like many air disaster epics) seems to run a bit too long, but there is a lot of emotion to be played out here. Rating 8.