Island in the Sky

Island in the Sky was director William A. Wellman’s first film with John Wayne as producer, a partnership that endured through five more films and led to some of Wellman’s most fascinatingly original work.  Wellman himself voices the opening narration, announcing immediately his personal connection to this WWII-set story of pilots and the “special, guarded world, their island in the sky.”  The bond among airmen is tested here after Air Force Captain Dooley (Wayne) is forced to down his plane in the frozen, uncharted terrain of Canada’s Labrador region where he and his crew fight for survival in the face of ever-diminishing hopes of rescue.

Wayne-Fellow Productions, Inc. Producer: John Wayne, Robert Fellows.  Director: William A. Wellman.  Screenwriter: Ernest K. Gann.  Based on the novel by Ernest K. Gann.  Cinematography: Archie Stout.  Editor: Ralph Dawson.  Cast: John Wayne, Lloyd Nolan, Walter Abel, James Arness, Andy Devine.  35mm, b/w, 109 min.