Jet Storm (1959) User Reviews (20)

Nice to See Dame Sybil Thorndyke in a Humorous Role

[howardmorley · 6/10 · 17 January 2012]

"Kidboots" critique above informs us adequately of the basic plot.However I would like to concentrate more on the actors and their performances.This is rather a cloistrophobic production since 95% of the action is filmed at Shepperton studios in a mock-up of the interior of a passenger jet airliner in 1959.It was rather sad to note the passing of so many famous actors among them, Stanley Baker, Hermione Baddeley and Harry Seacombe teamed with Dame Sybil Thorndyke.Regarding the latter, I had only seen her playing the mother of the Rev. Marston in "Gone To Earth" (1949); but here she shows her acting versatility by adopting a rather humorous role, while Harry Seacombe couldn't resist the odd "Goon" like facial gesture.

It was surprising to see the obviously suited Canadian married couple of Barbara Kelly (who I had only ever seen in the 1950s TV panel game "What's My Line") and her husband Bernard Braden (tv's "The Braden Beat"), acting together as a divorcing couple.Stanley Baker keeps impeccably calm as the airliner captain and there is a rather touching romance between Virginia Maskell and the American co-pilot.The "Brummy" actor who plays the hit-and run driver played a very similar role in "The Night My Number Came Up" with Sir Michael Redgrave.I had never seen Marty Wilde in a film acting role, of course playing a pop star, and noted he composed the opening popular theme music.

With all the actors competing for dialogue, no one should be singled out as that would be unfair since they all give professional performances.The "Brummy" hit-and run driver met an end like Gert Frobe's "Auric Goldfinger".

Panicked by one's fixation for revenge

[shakercoola · 6/10 · 28 June 2019]

A British aviation thriller; A story about a former scientist aboard a commercial airplane flying from London to New York who threatens the safety of the passengers in his plan to confront a man who he believes is responsible for the hit-and-run death of his young daughter. An intelligent script provides some tension as well as melodrama and humour but it is a touch naive with constant moralising and the eventual payoff which is contrived. With many of the tropes of the disaster movie genre, the plot is interesting as the alarmed passengers soon divide into groups: reactionary and liberal. Richard Attenborough brings a convincing complexity to the role of bereft father, and danger which maintains the danger throughout, and the film boasts a starry British cast delivering good character-driven performances.

More routine than you'd expect

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 31 October 2018]

JET STORM is a potentially exciting plane-based thriller that turns out to be more than a little routine due to the script, which presents the situation as a morality play rather than a full-blooded suspense flick. Richard Attenborough is well cast as the villain of the piece, as anyone who's seen him play "dark" in the likes of BRIGHTON ROCK and 10 RILLINGTON PLACE will attest, but surprisingly he's off screen for the most part here, his presence merely the catalyst for dissent among the other passengers. That this remains watchable at all is no doubt thanks to a fine ensemble cast that includes the hefty Patrick Allen alongside Stanley Baker as the captain, as well as smaller parts for the familiar faces of Elizabeth Sellars, Marty Wilde, Harry Secombe and many others.

The 36 Year Old Richard Attenborough

[Single-Black-Male · 18 November 2003]

Following the success of 'The League of Gentlemen', Dickie Attenborough began mobilising his own films and appeared in other films to raise the money to continue making his own (in the same way that Laurence Olivier was acting in films in order to finance his own stage productions at the National Theatre). This film is one of them.

"Grand Hotel" on a plane except with a single father's grievances

[jordondave-28085 · 7/10 · 26 May 2023]

(1959) Jet Storm PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER DRAMA SUSPENSE

32 passengers arriving and entering on a plane flying from London to New York City. From the opening what looked like several different passengers with several different characteristics from a young couple to older couple to middle age, similar to 1932 "Grand Hotel" interacting with one another. All is well what appear to be a routine flight flying over sea until two different passengers Mrs. Emma Morgan (Sybil Thorndike) and Binky Meadows (Harry Secombe) sitting behind a couple overhearing a man, Ernest Tilley (Richard Attenborough) telling his wife, Carol Tilley (Mai Zetterling) wanting revenge against one persons actions taking his grievances to the rest of the passengers. And by the time the captain of the plane Capt. Barlow went to have a talk with him it was soon discovered that he planted a bomb somewhere onto the plane, without any indication on where or how it was going to explode, creating mixed emotions amongst the passengers. And that it was the result of a single person who was not held accountable for killing Ernest Tilley's baby daughter. Putting the plane as well as the rest of the passengers in a complicated situation as they are flying ever sea.

Although the ending was predictable, the interactions between the passengers because each one of them have different traits and so forth...were interesting as their reactions to hearing about a bomb threat, and the way both captain and the stewardess attempt to find solutions to resolving that conflict.

Not a classic.

[plan99 · 6/10 · 30 December 2023]

A great cast let down by the poor aircraft set and the script, some of the acting was not all that great either.

The usual mixture of characters essential for a plot like this, calm ones, panicey ones, brave, cowardly etc. An interesting plot concerning an "angry young man" who was not all that young, Marty Wilde's character would have been better as the main character.

Not much in the way of a convincing build up of tension which was probably down to poor direction.

Not worth any effort to seek it out as it's far from being one of the better "terror in the skys" type films, not one of Stanley's best.

Quality British thriller.

[g-hbe · 10/10 · 10 April 2016]

Ernest Tilley (Attenborough) has discovered the identity of the man who drunkenly killed his baby daughter in a hit-and-run, and armed with a bomb boards the same flight as him. Tilley is deeply depressed and obsessed with killing this man at any cost, even if it means killing his own family and everyone on board. Attenborough plays Tilley very quietly, a man hollowed out by his depression and hatred, not only for the hit-and-run driver, but for the whole world. As the film progresses, it is very easy to feel real sorrow for him. The writer and the director keep the lid firmly on for most of the time, only allowing the anger and fear to burst out in small doses. The other seats on board are occupied by many faces of the time, including Dame Sybil Thorndyke and Harry Secombe, who sit together and do a grand job of lightening the mood with their witty and charming performances. Husband and wife Bernard Braden and Barbara Kelly don't do much and neither does Marty Wilde. Very nice to see Stanley Baker playing against the usual 'thick ear' parts he normally gets, and he turns in a very good part. This film will not appeal to modern audiences who need an explosion or slanging match every five minutes. It's a character study, and a very British one at that. If you like your thrillers with a bit of humanity and depth, I can thoroughly recommend this impressive film. DVD from Simply.

OMG

[tcpreacher · 3/10 · 14 September 2022]

This has to be in my top three most absurdly ridiculous aviation fillms ever! For openers, ever notice how airliner cockpits in1950's genre movies are as big as the passenger cabin? When the copilot goes to introduce the new Stewardess to the flight crew, it's, "this is the captain, The engineer, the radio man, the navigator...I was waiting for a few more personel, like, "this is the cockpit ventriloquist, our airborn clown (beep-beep) and magician"! Good grief, how many crew members does it take to fly over the Atlantic from London to New York? Secondly, the cabin is as big as a penthouse suite at the Waldorf, yet there's only ONE ROW of windows from the outside. The baggage bay is apparently accessible from the cabin, and not only lighted, but pressurized and big enough to walk around in! As other reviewers have noted, WHY are they boarding a SOVIET Tu-104 in London, which later morphs into at least two other kinds of planes? MOST absurdly, when it is discovered that a nut has planted a bomb somewhere on the plane, does the flight crew do the logical safety minded thing and DESCEND to a safe altitude and immediately divert to an alternate landing sight? OF COURSE NOT! They remain at 40'000 feet and contine out over the Atlantic! Do they secure the threatening passenger? OF COURSE NOT! All they had to do was tie his hands behind his back, and he would not have been able to press the button on the detonator! In the struggle that ensues during the flight, the windows are shown to be HIGHLY FRAGILE and easily knocked out-(remind me never to tap on them with my finger in the future!). When the captain is ascertaining that Tilley has indeed placed a bomb on board, it's accomplished in the lower level lounge with about three or four alcohol-swilling passengers within easy earshot-this would make a great TSA training film for how to create UTTER PANDEMONIUM on an airliner in mid-flight! I realize this was intended as a serious character study type movie, but the absurdities of the situation destroy any hopes of believability! It would have worked much better if the setting had been a cruise ship instead of an airliner.

One of the First All Star Disaster Movies!!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 13 July 2010]

As the cast list rolls up in front of a background of clouds, I thought could this be the first All Star Disaster Epic Movie? The action takes place on an airliner bound for New York and the passenger list reads like a who's who of up and coming names - Diane Cilento, Virginia Maskell, Marty Wilde, future TV star Paul Eddington, established stars - Mai Zetterling, Elizabeth Sellers, Megs Jenkins, David Kossoff, Stanley Baker and acting royalty in the form of Dame Sybil Thorndyke. In the 40s and 50s, before he became a "grand" director, Richard Attenborough was one of the best young character actors in Britain. In 1948 he came to notice in 3 outstanding Rank films - "Brighton Rock" (playing a baby faced psychopath), "London Belongs to Me" (a bumbling murderer) and "The Guinea Pig" (a poor school boy who is given a scholarship to an exclusive boy's school). His name in a film cast came to be associated with diverseness and versatility.

Among the passengers are the usual suspects, harassed parents, a jet setting pop star, a TV comedian (Harry Secombe), sensible elderly citizen, people with secrets etc. Among the latter is Ernest Tilley (Richard Attenborough) a rather worried looking man, traveling with his caring wife (Mai Zetterling). He is a man on a mission - he has followed a man on board who he believes is responsible for killing his little girl in a hit and run. He is bitter at the world and has had a vendetta against this man for two years. He has bought on board a device that he intends to use to blow up the plane but his ramblings are heard by two other passengers and they alert the Captain.

Sharing dramatic kudos with Attenborough is Stanley Baker (who else?) as the caring level headed Captain, who tries to talk some commonsense into Tilley, but to no avail. As the film progresses the passengers get to hear of it and the plane divides into the Sensible and Dignified Verses the Fearful and Excitable (Hermione Baddeley is great as a hysterical passenger). The F and E stage a revolt but the plan goes wrong and the man at the centre of the dispute (the hit and run driver) is sucked out of the plane window. As a last resort, a little boy is sent down to Tilley, to appeal to his deep down kindness of heart.

"Jet Storm" is an excellent blend of excitement and intense suspense, the sort of film that Britain did so well.

Highly Recommended.

Ludicrous

[Ambak · 3/10 · 28 January 2015]

You know you're in trouble right at the start when the credits roll up the screen and when the title appears Marty Wilde starts warbling "Jet Stream" rather than "Jet Storm". A breakdown in communication between songwriter and producer? Nope. The lyrics were written by Cy Endfield who is, of course, the same as C. Raker Endfield, the director. Presumably the title of the movie was changed at the last minute (maybe TWA objected, they were still flying their piston engined Lockheed Starliners across the Atlantic and hopefully promoting them as "Jetstreams" in competition with Pan Am's and BOAC's real jets). Others have described the cast as "all star" which is pushing the definition a bit. Many of them achieved some fame in future years, but not necessarily as film stars (as opposed to character actors). The economics of this airline are questionable as there are only 32 passengers on board and the seat pitch seems to be about 5 feet. The passengers are the usual stereotypes and none generate any sympathy with the audience so we don't particularly care what happens to them. Stanley Baker's turn as the Captain is so wooden that he might have been replaced with a plank. The decision to use stock footage of the Soviet Tupolev Tu-104 is bizarre, particularly as the feeble model bears only a cursory resemblance. Presumably they didn't use the Boeing 707 or DH Comet as at the time only two airlines were using them transatlantic and they did not want the association with potential disaster. To add to the confusion the scenes of the passengers boarding shows them embarking on a BEA Vickers Viscount, the registration of which is clearly visible on the fin. The most laughable aspect of the whole thing, of course, is the bomb attached to the underside of the wing by "suction pads". Wow, they must have been incredible to survive a 500mph jetstream......, which is where we came in.

Ten years before Airport!

[mls4182 · 10/10 · 13 June 2021]

Way before Airport! This might not be the very first all star airline dramas (I believe The High and the Mighty was) but it was way ahead of its time. Good thriller with fair subplots and good acting. Hermione Baddely nearly steals the show as a surly, panicky passenger.

Dated and unrealistic

[pilot1009 · 2/10 · 25 August 2021]

Only redeeming feature was to see so many UK actors of the old school in one film. Beyond that the whole was not a very convincing story and the props (ie aeroplane) was just rediculous. It my have been ok back in 1959 but it isn't now, I suspect it wasn't that great back then.

Way Ahead of Its Time

[fung0 · 9/10 · 27 October 2012]

It's not easy to catch up with this marvelous little film, but DO NOT pass up any chance you get. It's a real little gem, which manages to live up to some very high aspirations.

A quick plot synopsis makes it sound very much like Airport, or The High and the Mighty, but Jet Storm is a very different type of film. It's not an adventure, or a soaper, or a suspenser. Although it does include a diverse group of passengers and a hidden bomb, it's not actually about whether the plane will be saved, or how. It's about how these people react to danger. And about how all of us SHOULD react to danger.

The cast of familiar British actors does a superb job. Richard Attenborough shines in his portrayal of a weak, confused man, who's slipped over the brink of bitterness, depression and madness. Harry Secombe adds a contrastingly jovial note. And a young Paul Eddington (best known from the much later Yes, Minister series) is interesting as a not-very-admirable husband.

We learn a lot about these various characters, but the real meat of the film is in how each of them reacts when faced with imminent danger and probable death. The film asks us not to worry so much about whether these people will die, but to consider how they choose to live. Do they meet fear and uncertainty with fortitude? Resourcefulness? Humor? Resignation? Or even indifference?

The film shows us that some of these responses are clearly better than others. It demonstrates that the fear of disaster is far worse than the disaster itself. This message makes Jet Storm more relevant today than when it was made. We can see how much wiser things were in the 1950s. A psychopath would have been able to walk up and easily place a bomb on an airliner... but we didn't allow that remote possibility to dominate our lives.

Jet Storm reminds us that risk is a part of life, but when we focus on that risk to the exclusion of everything else, we stop living. So while terrorism (of any sort) is sad, and crazy and reprehensible, giving in to terror is far more shameful.

Not a must!

[RodrigAndrisan · 4/10 · 1 January 2020]

There are many problems with this film, I do not want to go into detail, there are others reviews, just read those. The movie is boring, monotonous, I just wanted to see it for the sake of Stanley Baker, an exceptional actor. There are also present Diane Cilento and Mai Zetterling, very young and beautiful. A bomb would not have resisted in flight at height, attached to the wing. The stars are 2 for Baker, one for Cilento and one for Zetterling.

The man who looks the other way is one with the sinner.

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 10 January 2013]

Jet Storm is directed by Cy Endfield, who also co-writes the screenplay with Sigmund Miller. It stars Richard Attenborough, Stanley Baker, Hermione Baddeley, Bernard Braden, Diane Cilento, Barbara Kelly and David Kossoff. Music is by Thomas Rajna and cinematography by Jack Hildyard. Plot finds Attenborough as Ernest Tilley, a man still angry and grieving over the hit-and-run killing of his seven year old daughter. Tracking down James Brock (George Rose), the man responsible for the accident, he boards the same aeroplane flight as him and threatens to blow it up as an act of vengeance against Brock and mankind for allowing him to get away with his crime.

It's a real hard film to track down. Packed to the rafters with British acting talent, it has rarely been licensed to even be shown in the United Kingdom. I myself had to order a DVD copy from Australia, but the wait was very much worth it.

As has been noted by the very few reviews of the film on the internet, it's a British prototype disaster movie, but that in no way means this is cornball stuff, it's a very human and intelligent drama. Endfield's film is looking into how a number of people react differently when faced with the possibility of death, while it casts a scathing eye towards a society that creates someone like Ernest Tilley. How would you react if you faced impending death on board a plane? How would you react if your child was killed and the man responsible got away with it? Searching questions that of course don't bare thinking about, but that's why we have cinema, to let us escape into a dramatic world that paints possibilities for us.

The ream of character sub-plots are excellently performed by the huge cast, but it's Attenborough and Baker who shine brightest. The former has Tilley as hollowed and tragic, a man tipped over the edge, pain seeping from every pore. The latter has Captain Bardow as silky smooth, calm during crisis, it's an elegant portrayal by one of Britain's most under valued actors. Elsewhere, Endfield does a marvellous job of threading so many character strands together, making one successful whole and he deftly paces it and brings it in under 90, exposition free, minutes. The lovely title song is called Jetstream (a working title for the film), not Jet Storm as is listed on IMDb, and it's warbled by Marty Wilde (lyrics by Endfield) who also features in the cast.

An under seen British classic of entertaining substance, one that also has the requisite drama and suspense as it dangles its questions. 8/10

"I'd only had three drinks...."

[Brucey_D · 8/10 · 15 October 2018]

This is basically a disaster movie prototype, from before there were such things. It wasn't the first film made about a flight in peril, but it was one of the first to feature a jet aircraft. This film is chock-a-block with fine acting talent and the claustrophic confines of the aircraft make for a good 'plot pressure cooker' that eventually brings things to a head.

Actually the confines of the aircraft are not anywhere near as small as they ought to be; the aircraft cabin set is eerily quiet, and incredibly spacious, having eight foot plus ceilings, wide seats and a huge gangway. There is a downstairs lounge too, with a second row of windows (unseen in any external shots), a bar and a luggage hold that you can wander around in. Jet aircraft were certainly not like that at the time and in fact never really have been. The camera work has just a hint of sway to it; enough to suggest the aircraft is actually flying, but without making you feel seasick watching it. The aircraft used in the film vary; in long shots prior to and during take-off a medium-haul Aeroflot Tu104A (CCCP-42390) is used, however they are seen boarding G-AOYM (actually a BEA Vickers Viscount, with no jet engine exhaust in the trailing edge of the wing root of course) and announce themselves using a different call sign (G-AJOR) to the control tower. A Tu104-esque model is used too, which is also marked G-AJOR. Near the end of the film a completely different aircraft, a turboprop of some kind, is seen in twilight.

The film was released in 1959; the only passenger jet aircraft flying for most of the previous three years had been the Tu104. Both the Boeing 707 and the DH Comet IV had been flying transatlantic since October 1958, but portraying either type in a disaster movie would have been a political hot potato; effectively the US and UK aircraft industries were busy duking it out for the long haul jet aircraft market. Choosing the Tu104 to represent a fictional type flying the equally fictional 'Atlantic Queen' service was a neat way out of any controversy that might so be caused.

It is a pretty good film, this, all told; an interesting period piece, a proto-disaster movie, a hothouse of acting talent.

A surprising little gem of a movie

[michaelberanek275 · 9/10 · 20 October 2019]

This has to be a key progenitor to the modern disaster movie well before the famous Airport series for instance. There are scenes in this repeated with great hilarity in Airplane! too. But here the style is of a serious drama and thriller, as opposed to a comedy, except for the inevitable inadvertent howlers for the contemporary viewer. There's a preponderance of excellent actors at all levels with quite a lot to offer in the now standard character-development phase of the plot -- there are ongoing themes on typical preoccupations of the era like social class prejudice, the destruction of world wars and fears of nuclear apocalypse, and lots on the burgeoning sexual revolution to name a few. With stuff like this the real action and indeed the plausibility of the plot becomes strangely irrelevant. But if one cares to pick the latter apart it's not hard to see wobbly elements like the odd two-level areoplane in the studio when the external shots are of a re-fitted Tuplov Soviet nuclear bomber with just a single deck fuselage. The addition of the "lounge deck" is important in the story, and anyway adds to the feel of specialness and luxury that flight in the 1960s was synonymous with. So, for the excellent drama, and the bits of cultural history alone I give this 9/10 with just a point loss on the plausibility front. Attenborough is excellent as the creepy antagonist.

Strange film

[leslie_chatfield · 8/10 · 2 November 2018]

Clever British film set aboard a Soviet TU 104 jetliner for some strange reason. At the end of the film the "jet" liner is seen landing. In the form of a propeller driven Douglas DC7C!

"Surely you can't be serious"

[DerekLostEverything · 10/10 · 22 September 2023]

Oh so good! I'm fascinated by and adore the bottle film. Those compact and concise corners of greatness throughout the annals of cinema. The days of film yore brought about a healthy number. Having to look no further then this tidbit of awesomeness for a prime example. 'Jet Storm', for me, immediately prompted thoughts of 'Red Eye', 'Phone Booth' and the like. Worthy brethren to a movie that knows how to best utilize its time and minimal locations. Not so much trimmed of fat as built fit and full. Our engaging coterie of characters given the optimal amount of time and space to progress, with not a one left wanting. Each forced to adopt their place in a story riddled with fear, anxiety, regret and untreated pain. It's a thing of beauty when done this well. Brought to life by the sterling work of the actors; their respective authenticity. Cy Endfield's writing and direction, although the latter being fairly workmanlike, succeeds foremost at supporting the players therein. Along with some terrific miniatures and cherry-on-top SFX. And finally, Richard Attenborough knows exactly when to slowly descend, level off and climb to a bit bombast with his performance. His Ernest Tilley is a tortured soul with tunnel vision, and his tragedy is out entertainment. 'Jet Storm' all-round sticks the landing as an engrossing little thriller with wings.

Passengers trapped on a plane

[robert-temple-1 · 8/10 · 13 June 2023]

This is one of those trapped passengers films, but a very good one. The script is most ingenious. It was jointly written by the director Cy Endfield, who was not a hack but in fact a well-educated person of taste. The direction is excellent and many of the performances are superb. Many of the most famous British film actors of the period appear in the film, and do their stuff. The main character is a paranoid fellow played by Richard Attenborough. He eschews dramatic displays and opts instead for menacing silence and seething intensity. They are all flying from London to New York, a 12 hour flight back in those days. The captain of the plane is Stanley Baker, who was by the way Cy Endfield's business partner. The most hysterical character is played with full abandon by Hermione Baddeley, who spits out vicious comments with full conviction. Harry Secombe makes an unusual 'normal' character, who manages to talk and chuckle at the same time, and it works very well. He is sitting beside Sybil Thorndike, and looks like he was enjoying that very much. Supporting performances are deliverd very well by Diane Cilento, Mai Zetterling, and Virginia Maskell. Elizabeth Sellars plays a difficult woman. The story concerns the fact that Richard Attenborough intends to blow up the plane. His little girl had been killed by a hit-and-run driver, played here by George Rose. Attenborough has tracked him down and booked himself on the plane in order to kill him. Now, I must report a strange coincidence. I have myself been trapped with one member of this cast. I was several times trapped sitting either beside or opposite Elizabeth Sellars long ago at dinner parties. She was hard work and had an enormous chip on her shoulder about no longer being young and glamourous. As part of my earnest efforts at making conversation with her, I described how I had come to know Tallulah Bankhead. I asked her if she had ever met her. At this point she exploded and accused me of suggesting that she could possibly be old enough to have known Tallulah Bankhead. (She overlooked the fact that I was decades younger but had no hesitation in mentioning that I had known her.) So that is why I say I was trapped with her, as trying to be polite to Elizabeth Sellars was of no use at all. There are many twists and turns in the story of these people on the plane, and on the events which ensue. The film is well worthwhile.