"The Crowded Sky" joins "Zero Hour," "The High and the Mighty," and others as pre-"Airport" films. Like weddings and road trips, commercial flights make for stories that involve different subplots and characters, so this type of film is done fairly often.
"The Crowded Sky" has high production values and a decent cast - Dana Andrews, Efren Zimbalist Jr., Rhonda Fleming, Troy Donahue, John Kerr, and Anne Francis. It's an episodic tale about two planes, one a navy jet with a broken radio system, and the other a passenger plane with an arrogant pilot. The two planes are in danger of colliding.
The backstory of the characters is told in flashback: Zimbalist, who had a previous air disaster and now is in the midst of a bad marriage; Kerr, an aspiring artist who doesn't want to get married but has an attraction to flight attendant Francis; and some smaller stories that include Keenan Wynn, Jean Willes, Patsy Kelly, Donald May, all passengers.
Formulaic and not terribly interesting. Ken Currie as Dick Barnett Jr. is a horror; Patsy Kelly as usual talks like she's projecting from the stage of the Majestic Theater; Troy Donahue is....Troy Donahue. Rhonda Fleming was made for color. But the leads are likable and professional as always.
Very soapy with some over the top dialogue. the director, Joe Pevney, was a very experienced TV director.
"The Crowded Sky" has high production values and a decent cast - Dana Andrews, Efren Zimbalist Jr., Rhonda Fleming, Troy Donahue, John Kerr, and Anne Francis. It's an episodic tale about two planes, one a navy jet with a broken radio system, and the other a passenger plane with an arrogant pilot. The two planes are in danger of colliding.
The backstory of the characters is told in flashback: Zimbalist, who had a previous air disaster and now is in the midst of a bad marriage; Kerr, an aspiring artist who doesn't want to get married but has an attraction to flight attendant Francis; and some smaller stories that include Keenan Wynn, Jean Willes, Patsy Kelly, Donald May, all passengers.
Formulaic and not terribly interesting. Ken Currie as Dick Barnett Jr. is a horror; Patsy Kelly as usual talks like she's projecting from the stage of the Majestic Theater; Troy Donahue is....Troy Donahue. Rhonda Fleming was made for color. But the leads are likable and professional as always.
Very soapy with some over the top dialogue. the director, Joe Pevney, was a very experienced TV director.