Generally excellent adaptation of Ernest Gann's 1944 novel of the same title. A C47 transport plane attached to the Army Air Transport Command, is making a winter return trip, via Iceland and Labrador, to the US. But, over Labrador, heavy icing of the wings necessitates an improvised landing on a small lake in an uncharted region of northern Quebec. Unfortunately for rescuers, there are many many small lakes in this region to chose from. The downed crew manage to get a few very brief messages out before their generator completely fails. These are picked up by the army base on Presque Island, Maine, which repeatedly sends out a rescue squadron of 4 or 5 planes, with only a vague idea of where to look, and knowing that a downed plane will be extremely difficult to spot, without periodic radio contact with the crew. Thus, much of the film deals with desperate attempts to achieve even minimal radio contact, often with merely an emergency 'coffee grinder' transmitter, which cannot receive messages, can only send Morse code, and which requires continuous strenuous hand cranking to generate enough electricity for a transmission. It may have been difficult and uncertain, but that transmitter proved the difference between success and failure.At one point, there was much debate on whether the rescue planes should try to cover the same ground as the day before or explore a new area. The latter choice was finally agreed upon. But, it was wrong, as the next transmission from the downed crew would indicate. For, they had spotted several rescue planes the day previously, not far from them. Although magnetic compass readings were unreliable in this area, and there was a lack of definitive ground markers to help tract their flight course, with the help of several subsequent brief transmissions, the rescue team finally spotted them, but missing one man, who had wandered out in a blizzard and become lost and frozen. The film ends with the rescue planes dropping food and other supplies, before flying off. Unclear to me why they couldn't land and take the men home?? One thing I noticed that bothered me was the inability to see the moisture from their breath at these supposedly -40 to -70 degrees. Also, they didn't look all that uncomfortable without arctic clothes and with minimal blankets. Otherwise, it looked like the landscape and snow was real?This story, based on a real incident, reminds me of a somewhat similar incident occurring in the glacier-filled high Andes, as related in the book "Miracle in the Andes". The pilot got disoriented in a spat of bad weather, went off course, and grazed a mountain top, tearing various parts of the plane away from the main fuselage, which landed relatively intact on a glacier, and which served as their home for the next 2 months or so. Because they had landed off course, and their radio could not transmit, only receive, rescue efforts proved futile. Thus, they were only saved by the coming of warmer weather, allowing the strongest to climb over a mountain and trek down a valley until a person was contacted. The others mostly survived until a rescue mission could be launched. See this film in B&W at You Tube

Watching John Wayne tear up as he faces the prospect of his own mortality is enough to bring a lump to anyone's throat. "Island In The Sky" is affecting that way, and others, too. If only it moved a little faster...Wayne is Dooley, pilot of a five-man cargo plane contracted by the U. S. Army to service military bases in the Arctic. During the return home, the plane ices up and has to crash land somewhere in the uncharted reaches of Labrador. As Dooley and his crew fend for survival, a team of fellow flyers dedicate themselves to the awesome, awful task of trying to find them."Of course there's nothing to be scared about," Dooley tells one of his crew. "Only a few thousand miles of snow and ice and sleet."Both tough-nosed and sentimental, "Island In The Sky" ostensibly portrays the fate of the stranded aircrew but is as much concerned with presenting the bonds of brotherhood they share with their fellow airmen. That, the narration tells us, is the titular island in the sky, "their special guarded world.""Professional pilots are, of necessity, uncomplicated, simple men," director William Wellman tells us in a narration that runs on and off through the length of the film. "Their thinking must remain straightforward, or they die...violently."The narration is one of "Island In The Sky's" key weaknesses, portentous in spelling out what should be either obvious on screen or felt inside by way of subtext. Another is the adventure itself; the sections with Dooley and his men feature a lot of hand-rubbing, staring at the horizon, and cranking their tiny "coffee grinder" radio in hope of sending a signal someone will hear. Wayne is only so-so here, not helped by the fact he must brood silently for long stretches while we hear his thoughts in voice-over. "Have you ever hit your own kid?" he asks us.The best thing to be said about "Island In The Sky" is the ensemble work of the men in the air looking for Dooley. Quite a lot has been said in these IMDb user reviews, rightly, about Andy Devine as one of the senior pilots, ever-cool and detached as he measures each situation before him analytically, but the rest of the supporting cast is solid, especially Lloyd Nolan and James Arness playing two other pilots, one a soulful wise guy, the other a cocky, impulsive kid.There are about seven different crews apart from Dooley's featured in the movie. Each crew has its own unique character, which we see both in the cockpits and on the ground. Whether it's the way they talk or interact with their instruments, their scenes have authenticity, probably because of aviator Ernest K. Gann taking such an active hand in adapting his book for the screen. I really got to enjoy their company.The film is also helped greatly by the aerial cinematography of William Clothier. At times, you almost gasp at how close the lumbering cargo planes get to the trees, the hills, and each other as their metal airframes glint against the sunlight.A memorable scene featuring a wandering member of Dooley's crew packs an unforgettable punch. But Wellman inserts more narration here in the form of the crewman's voiced-over thoughts. It's almost as if Wellman didn't trust the story enough on its own.However pushed "Island In The Sky" gets, it does communicate Gann's message, that man can find strength and hope in the bonds shared with others as well as their own fortitude. Doing so while telling an unusual story set in a remote part of the world gives the film a quality that makes it worth recommending.

As one of the characters observes during ISLAND IN THE SKY, it's even harder to be "lost" on an island in the frozen sky than bobbing on a raft near a welcoming isle in the balmy waters of the South Pacific. Specifically, he's referring to the Canada of the 1940s--before satellite mapping--when all of the land north of Montreal showed up as "Terra Incognito" on the charts of the day. Experiencing severe icing problems and not being able to pinpoint his geographical position, Captain Dooley (John Wayne), pilot of a five-man crew, manages to set his transport plane down hundreds of miles beyond any known landmark on a frozen lake. Unfortunately, his radio barely works, his crew only has food to last a few days, their hunting rifles are useless with no sign of animal life within walking distance, and a storm is coming on. Meanwhile, a four-plane search team comprised of Dooley's fellow transport pilots takes to the air in a race against time. As setbacks mount, this film seems headed toward a SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC-type ending (see Charles Frend's 1948 directorial effort, with John Mills in the title role of Robert Falcon Scott). Temperatures here are given as MINUS 40 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and that's not adjusting downwards for the windchill factor. Brrrrrrr, that's cold!

During World War II, in an ice storm, Captain John Wayne (as Dooley) and his small crew crash land their airplane over unpopulated, freezing North America. Can friends and colleagues like Walter Abel (as Fuller), Lloyd Nolan (as Stutz), James Arness (as McMullen), and Andy Devine (as Willie Moon) locate the downed crew before they succumb to the cold winter's wrath? "Island in the Sky" is a survival story which spends far too much of its time concentrating on the various rescuers, and not enough time on the struggling crew. Moreover, the time spent on the downed crew isn't satisfying. Although the temperature is said to be forty or seventy degrees below zero (at Fahrenheit, no less), the crash survivors seldom look really cold or uncomfortable. At times, it's painfully obvious they are "acting cold" while a wind machine blows "snow" at the camera. Mr. Wayne performs some William A. Wellman-directed scenes very well, however; especially during a missed rescue attempt. Mike Connors, Darryl Hickman, Fess Parker, and Alfalfa Switzer lend some occasional support. Also look for Mr. Devine in a poolside bathing suit, with what must be Wellman's children, Michael and Tim. *** Island in the Sky (9/3/53) William A. Wellman ~ John Wayne, James Arness, Andy Devine