Gallant Journey (1946)

Director
William A. Wellman

Main cast
Glenn Ford; Janet Blair; Charles Ruggles; Henry Travers

Genres
History, Drama

Description
Director William A. Wellman adds another to his long line of salutes-to-aviation films in this bio of an aviation pioneer, John Montgomery (Glenn Ford.) In 1883 he built a practical glider despite the opposition of his friends, who thought he was crazy, and of his family, who were afraid that his dreams of flying would hurt his father's political ambitions. He pursues his education at Santa Clara University where the Jesuits lend a helping and understanding hand. An earthquake destroys what appears to be a working model for an airplane, but a gold-sorting machine Montgomery invented, and then neglected, promises to provide for his financial needs to keep working on his aircraft until he gets involved in costly lawsuits defending his invention.


Similar movies

Charles 'Slim' Lindbergh struggles to finance and design an airplane that will make his New York to Paris flight the first solo transatlantic crossing.
The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots.
During the Second World War, a special project is begun by the US Army Air Corps to integrate African American pilots into the Fighter Pilot Program. Known as the "Tuskegee Airman" for the name of the airbase at which they were trained, these men were forced to constantly endure harassement, prejudice, and much behind the scenes politics until at last they were able to prove themselves in combat.
In 1940, the Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle against the might of the Luftwaffe for control of the skies over Britain, thus preventing the Nazi invasion of Britain.
Tom Wolfe's book on the history of the U.S. Space program reads like a novel, and the film has that same fictional quality. It covers the breaking of the sound barrier by Chuck Yeager to the Mercury 7 astronauts, showing that no one had a clue how to run a space program or how to select people to be in it. Thrilling, funny, charming and electrifying all at once.
When Norwegian resistance leader Lieutenant Erik Bergman reports the location of a German V-2 rocket fuel plant, the Royal Air Force's 633 Squadron is assigned the mission to destroy it. The plant is in a seemingly-impregnable location beneath an overhanging cliff at the end of a long, narrow fjord lined with anti-aircraft guns. The only way to destroy the plant is by collapsing the cliff on top of it.
The crew of an Air Force bomber arrives in Pearl Harbor in the aftermath of the Japanese attack and is sent on to Manila to help with the defense of the Philippines.
An Australian biopic about the life of pioneering aviator Charles "Smithy" Kingsford-Smith. The film is unusually frank about the controversies that occasionally dogged him. PG Taylor and Billy Hughes both make appearances playing themselves.
This early docudrama uses dramatic re-enactment, working models of early flying machines, and archival footage to trace man's attempts to fly from ancient times through the 1930's.
Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning biopic about the life of film-maker and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes from 1927 to 1947, during which time he became a successful film producer and an aviation magnate while simultaneously growing more unstable due to severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. After a scene from 1914, which may explain his later fear of dirt and disease, the film starts in 1927 during Hughes' filming of the World War I aviation film "Hell's Angels". He's 22 years old, has inherited the family's fortune and tool company, but wants to spend his time making film instead. However, he soon finds himself just as involved in the aviation industry, buying an airline and developing new planes.
An orphaned girl is taken in by a snobbish family at the insistence of their rich, crotchety uncle, even as her devoted aviator godfather fights for custody.
All of those handsome young men in their flying machines are billeted in a field next to the Widow Berthelot's farmhouse in France. Her daughter Jeannine is curious about the young men fighting for England in World War I and their airplanes. Then one of the aviators is killed. His replacement is Captain Philip Blythe who can't help but notice Jeannine. When he lands the first time, she is standing in the middle of his "runway." She makes a more favorable impression when he sees her later by the lilacs. When all of the young men depart on a mission, Blythe promises to return.
After learning the finer points of carrier aviation in the 1920s, career officer Jonathan Scott and his pals spend the next two decades promoting the superiority of naval air power. But military and political "red tape" continually frustrate their efforts, prompting Scott to even consider leaving the Navy for a more lucrative civilian job. Then the world enters a second World War and Scott finally gets the opportunity to prove to Washington the valuable role aircraft carriers could play in winning the conflict. But what will it cost him and his comrades personally?
James Stewart plays aeronautical engineer Theodore Honey, the quintessential absent-minded professor: eccentric, forgetful, but brilliant. His studies show that the aircraft being manufactured by his employer has a subtle but deadly design flaw that manifests itself only after the aircraft has flown a certain number of hours. En route to a crash site to prove his theory, Honey discovers that he is aboard a plane rapidly approaching his predicted deadline.
The story of Frank W. "Spig" Wead - a Navy-flyer turned screenwriter.
Whisky Romeo Zulu tells the story prior to the crash of LAPA Boeing 737 that on August 31, 1999, caught fire after hitting an embankment in the center of Buenos Aires, killing 67 people. The disaster changed the history of civil and commercial aviation in Argentina, and the film recounts, from the standpoint of the director, a former airline pilot-how in some countries the safety of the flight is incredibly precarious.
1943 fictionalised biopic about aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, who disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean in 1937. In the film, Rosalind Russell plays the Earhart alter ego, called Tonie Carter, and Fred MacMurray is her love interest and pilot colleague. In the film, the world famous female pilot sacrifices herself over the Pacific during a world flight in 1937, in order to enable the US Navy to fly over and photograph some secret Japanese installations on nearby islands while pretending to search for her plane.
For Lieutenant Pete Mitchell and his friend and Co-Pilot Nick Bradshaw being accepted into an elite training school for fighter pilots is a dream come true. A tragedy, as well as personal demons, threaten Pete's dreams of becoming an Ace pilot.
Lieut. Robert Banks, an American aviator on leave in Paris, meets Mary Gordon, a young American who lives abroad, but their romance is cut short by his return to the front. In an air battle, Robert brings down and captures the Grey Eagle, Baden, and takes him to American Intelligence in Paris. Mary, ostensibly a spy for the Germans, drugs Robert, who awakens to find that his uniform has been stolen by Baden. Later, in an exciting air conflict, Baden is wounded but shoots down Robert's plane. The German rescues him, however, and takes him to an Allied hospital, assuring him of Mary's love; his faith in her is restored when he learns that she is actually a spy for U. S. Intelligence.
Six friends are to graduate the next day from the United States Naval Academy. They all hope to become aviators. When the officer of the day becomes sick, Tommy Winslow (Ramon Navarro) has to take his place, while the others go out and celebrate.
Following two fatal aircraft accidents aboard an Aircraft Carrier, a government agent is placed aboard the ship. His mission is to determine what may be at the root of these mishaps and prevent the inevitable third chain breaking accident which abruptly changes course when a sailor reports seeing one of the top ranking fighter pilots in a gay club. The aviator and three of his squadron mates and their spouses all become the subject of a deadly modern day witch hunt entangling them in a web of jealousy and deceit which tests their concept of love, friendship and honor and changes their lives forever.
A naval aviator is assigned to bomb a group of heavily defended bridges during the Korean War.
The story of flyer Amy Johnson who won the hearts of the British public in the 1930s with her record-breaking solo flights around the world. Her marriage to fellow aviator Jim Mallison was less noteworthy.
Eva lives in the sinister Tower with her father, a mad inventor, and her grandfather. The aviator Wilfred Durian and his lovely wife live nearby in the town. But Durian's famous flight across the Australian desert was not all it seems... and when his 'dead' partner Arved Holl is rescued by Eva and comes to claim his former fiancée's hand, the whole house of cards is about to come tumbling down. Meanwhile, Eva's own family history is not quite as she had always believed...
Aviator Marie Vallières de Beaumont (Cotillard) goes on a journey to find her lover Bill Lancaster after his plane disappears in the Sahara. After her plane is forced down in the Ténéré she meets Lieutenant Antoine Chauvet (Canet) of the French Camel Corps who joins in the hunt for Lancaster. As the two endure hardships in the desert, they begin to develop feelings for each other.
A look at the life of legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart, who disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 in an attempt to make a flight around the world.
A military surgeon teams with a ranking navy flyer to develop a high-altitude suit which will protect pilots from blacking out when they go into a steep dive.
Melodrama about a bomber on board an airplane, an airport almost closed by snow, and various personal problems of the people involved.
This film is the last of the 'Airport' genre which stars George Kennedy again in his aviation-disaster struck role as Joe Patroni who has to contend with nuclear missiles, the French Air Force and the threat of the plane splitting in two over the Alps!
An aircraft carrier is sent on a decoy mission around the Pacific, with orders to avoid combat, thus lulling Japanese alertness before the battle of Midway.
Jim is a test pilot. His wife Ann and best friend Gunner try their best to keep him sober. But the life of a test pilot is anything but safe.
Zack Mayo is a young man who has signed up for Navy Flight School. He is a Navy brat who has a bad attitude problem. Sgt. Foley is there to train and evaluate him and will clearly find Zack wanting. Zack meets Paula, a girl who has little beyond family and must decide what it is he wants to do with his life.
A drama based on the 1985 plane crash that caused 520 deaths, the worst aviation event in Japanese history.
Young pilot Branson (Louis Koo) recently takes over Skylette, his father's aviation empire, only to realise his old flames Cassie (Charmaine Sheh) is a flight attendant there. Several years ago, he was forced to break up with her and move to New York to take care of his father's business. To this day, the two continue to harbour feelings for each other but decide to keep them bottled up. In an effort to rebrand the airline, Branson invites rock idol TM to star in an upcoming commercial and appoints Sam (Fransic Ng) as her flying consultant. Incongruent in both tastes and experience, this odd couple gets off on the wrong foot. As the shoot progresses, however, they slowly discover each other's merits, developing a strong mutual attraction. Jayden (Julien Cheung) has left Skylette Airline to become a pilot for private jets. He meets the young and vivacious Kika (Kuo Tsai Chieh) during a flight and assumes her to be wayward and shallow...
After his bombardier is killed, Jake Grafton, a carrier-based Intruder pilot, questions the purpose of Navy bombing missions...
John Wayne stars as U.S. Air Force aviator Jim Shannon, who's tasked with escorting a Soviet pilot (Janet Leigh) claiming -- at the height of the Cold War -- that she wants to defect. After falling in love with and wedding the fetching flyer, Shannon learns from his superiors that she's a spy on a mission to extract military secrets. To save his new wife from prison and deportation, Shannon devises a risky plan in this 1957 drama.
During the Allied Bombing offensive of World War II the public was often informed that "A raid took place last night over ..., One (or often more) of Our Aircraft Is Missing". Behind these sombre words hid tales of death, destruction and derring-do. This is the story of one such bomber crew who were shot down and the brave Dutch patriots who helped them home.
An unusual explorer named Gum and his kindly niece adopt three orphans -- Pauline, Petrova and Posy -- and raise them as sisters in 1930s London. But the girls must fend for themselves when Gum doesn't return from one of his adventures. Together, they nurture their passions for acting, aviation and ballet in this charming TV adaptation of Noel Streatfield's novel.
Katharine Hepburn's second film..based on a novel by Gilbert Frankau. CHRISTOPHER STRONG is about the unlikely romance between a stuffy British politician, and an adventurous girl young enough to be his daughter. Both parties are dragged to a High Society 'Treasure Hunt' as examples of "something impossible to find"...ie.a faithful husband, and a young girl who has never had a love affair. How the romance comes to be, and how everything blows up in their faces, make for an interesting pre-code show. The dialog may be dated, but the acting is "spot on". The young Katharine Hepburn is radiant, and the 32 year old Colin Clive does a spendid job of playing Sir Christopher...conveying a 25 year age difference with little more than body language and a mustache.
An aviator ignores skeptics to make the first commercial flight from San Francisco to China.
Jerry and Cass have always been competitive. Now that Cass is a well respected Naval aviator like his father, Jerry leaves the submarine service to become a flying cadet with Class 61 at Pensacola. During training, Jerry meets and falls for Cass's fiancée Irene. After air sickness, jitters and a crash landing, Jerry gets his wings. Cass is not as lucky as he is crippled in a crash and must retire. Cass designs a new fighter for the Navy as Jerry pilots flying boats in San Diego. Jerry will do anything to show Cass that he is a better pilot, even if it means leaving the Navy to test the experimental fighter that killed test pilot Steve Conners.
Famous pioneer aviator Dick Merrill was front-page news in the 1930s, so it's understandable that he was summoned to Hollywood to star in his own film. In "Atlantic Flight" he's top-billed as a pilot who undertakes a dangerous mission to transport medicine to an ailing friend. Monogram.
A student is devastated when he finds that his girlfriend is cheating on him. In order to find out why she did it, he decides to spy on her and her airline pilot lover. Then he sees the pilot with a blonde woman and he begins to follow them…
A young single mother, Mercedes, is about to marry solid, dependable Frank, when a dashing aviator, Clay, comes into her life. But when pilot Clay crash-lands on a small, remote island he sends the inhabitants into a tailspin.
A C-47 transport plane, named the Corsair, makes a forced landing in the frozen wastes of Labrador, and the plane's pilot, Captain Dooley, must keep his men alive in deadly conditions while waiting for rescue.
Sandra and Pete elope but their marriage is invalid since she's not yet divorced. Sandra is, however, pregnant by Pete. Pete marries his former fiancée Maggie, then flies to South America where his plane crashes. Maggie pays Sandra to let her adopt Pete's baby. Pete returns "from the dead". Sandra and Maggie contend for Pete and the baby.
A dramatization of the American general and his court martial for publically complaining about High Command's dismissal and neglect of the aerial fighting forces.
Two young men, one rich, one middle class, who are in love with the same woman, become fighter pilots in World War I. After the USA enters WWI, both join the Air Corps and become aces. They remain friends, but the relation to the girl threatens their friendship.
A biplane pilot who had missed flying in WWI takes up barnstorming and later a movie career in his quest for the glory he had missed...
Air America was the CIA's private airline operating in Laos during the Vietnam War, running anything and everything from soldiers to foodstuffs for local villagers. After losing his pilot's license, Billy Covington is recruited into it, and ends up in the middle of a bunch of lunatic pilots, gun-running by his friend Gene Ryack, and opium smuggling by his own superiors.
"Something hit us...the crew is dead...help us, please, please help us!" With these terrifying words, 22 of Hollywood's greatest stars find themselves aboard a pilotless jumbo jet headed on a collision course with destruction in the nerve chilling sequel to the greatest disaster movie ever made.
When rogue stealth-fighter pilot Vic Deakins deliberately drops off the radar while on maneuvers, the Air Force ends up with two stolen nuclear warheads -- and Deakins's co-pilot, Riley Hale, is the military's only hope for getting them back. Traversing the deserted canyons of Utah, Hale teams with park ranger Terry Carmichael to put Deakins back in his box.
Matt Brennan runs into Jo Holloway, the Red Cross girl he romanced in Europe when he was a flyer in World War II, when he is offered a job by jet manufacturer Leland Willis as a test pilot. Carl Troxell, wants to sell an escape cockpit to the Air Force. He wants Matt to stall the presentation of JA-3 the prototype that doesn't include the ejection seat, to give him more time for the experimental JA-4. But Matt doesn't believe it is yet safe enough to try.
A man refuses to believe that pilot error caused a fatal crash, and persists in looking for another reason. Airliner crashes near Los Angeles due to unusual string of coincidences. Stewardess, who is sole survivor, joins airline executives in discovering the causes of the crash.
Amy is only 13 years old when her mother is killed. She goes to Canada to live with her father, an eccentric inventor whom she barely knows. Amy is miserable in her new life... until she discovers a nest of goose eggs that were abandoned when a local forest is torn down. The eggs hatch and Amy becomes "Mama Goose". When Winter comes, Amy, and her dad must find a way to lead the birds South...
The story concentrated on a group of test pilots, busily experimenting with a revolutionary all-plastic airplane. Ace flyboy Brad Farrell (Richard Arlen) is determined to prove the practicality of the new aircraft, designed by Professor Blake (Thomas Ross), father of Brad's sweetheart Carol (Jean Parker). Back on solid ground, Brad must vie for Carol's attentions with his own brother, engineer Doug Farrell (Don Castle).
Two air traffic controllers (John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton) who thrive on living dangerously compete to outdo each other on several levels.
The Berlin Air Lift from the point of view of two NCOs.
The Carpetbaggers is a 1964 American film starring George Peppard as a character based largely on Howard Hughes and Alan Ladd as a former western gunslinger turned actor with the pseudonym Nevada Smith, played the following year in a prequel starring Steve McQueen in the part. Carroll Baker portrayed an actress inspired by Jean Harlow, who appeared in Hughes' film epic Hell's Angels. The Carpetbaggers was directed by Edward Dmytryk, filmed in 70mm, and was Alan Ladd's final film; Ladd died some months before its release.In the movie, George Peppard plays a hard-driven industrialist more than a little reminiscent of Howard Hughes. While he builds airplanes, directs movies and breaks hearts, his friends and lovers try to reach his human side, and find that it's an uphill battle. The film's title is a metaphor for self-promoting tycoons who perform quick financial takeovers, impose dictatorial controls for short-term profits, then move on to greener pastures.
Dan Roman is a veteran pilot haunted by a tragic past. Now relegated to second-in-command cockpit assignments he finds himself on a routine Honolulu-to-San Francisco flight - one that takes a terrifying suspense-building turn when disaster strikes high above the Pacific Ocean at the point of no return.

© Valossa 2015–2024