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Jet Storm
Jet Storm
	Lobby card
Directed by	Cy Endfield
Written by	Cy Endfield; Sigmund Miller
Produced by	Steven Pallos
Starring	Richard Attenborough; Stanley Baker; Hermione Baddeley; Bernard Braden
Cinematography	Jack Hildyard
Edited by	Oswald Hafenrichter
Music by	Thomas Rajna
Production; company	Pendennis Pictures
Distributed by	United Producers Releasing Organization
Release date	16 September 1959 (UK);
Running time	88 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Jet Storm (also known as Jet Stream or Killing Urge) is a 1959 British thriller film directed and co-written by Cy Endfield. Richard Attenborough stars with Stanley Baker, Hermione Baddeley and Diane Cilento. The film is a precursor to the later aviation disaster film genre such as Airport (1970).^[1]

Plot

Ernest Tilley, a former scientist who lost his daughter two years earlier in a hit-and-run accident, tracks down James Brock, the man he believes is responsible for the accident and boards the same airliner on a transatlantic flight, flying from London to New York.

Tilley has hidden a bomb on board and threatens to blow it up in an act of vengeance, not only killing Brock but also all passengers and crew.

When Captain Bardow and the passengers realise that he is serious, and they cannot find the bomb (which Tilley had attached to the underside of the airliner's left wing), they begin to panic. Some want to pressure him into revealing the location of the bomb, while others such as Doctor Bergstein try to reason with the now silent Tilley. Mulliner, a terrified passenger, attempts to kill Brock to stop Tilley from setting off the bomb.

Acting out of fear, Brock is killed when he smashes a window and is blown out of the airliner. Tilley comes to his senses when a young boy passenger, Jeremy Tracer, soothes him. He then disconnects the remote control for the bomb, and commits suicide by poison. As the airliner approaches New York, the passengers realise that they will survive.

Cast

Richard Attenborough as Ernest Tilley
Mai Zetterling as Carol Tilley
Stanley Baker as Capt. Bardow
Hermione Baddeley as Mrs Satterly
Diane Cilento as Angelica Como
Virginia Maskell as Pam Leyton
Harry Secombe as Binky Meadows
Dame Sybil Thorndike as Emma Morgan
Elizabeth Sellars as Inez Barrington
Patrick Allen as Mulliner
Paul Carpenter as George Towers
Megs Jenkins as Rose Brock
George Rose as James Brock
Marty Wilde as Billy Forrester
Jocelyn Lane as Clara Forrester
David Kossoff as Dr Bergstein
Cec Linder as Col Coe
Neil McCallum as "Gil" Gilbert
Peter Bayliss as Bentley
John Crewdson as Whitman
Paul Eddington as Victor Tracer
Lana Morris as Jane Tracer
Jeremy Judge as Jeremy Tracer
Bernard Braden as Otis Randolf
Barbara Kelly as Edwina Randolf
Glyn Houston as Michaels
Peter Illing as Gelderen
Irene Prador as Sophia Gelderen
George Murcell as Saunders
Alun Owen as Green

Production

The type of aircraft depicted is a Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-104. Although the airline and its crew are clearly British, having departed from London and a BEA Vickers Viscount is also seen, the aircraft shown at the beginning is sporting the Soviet Union's flag on the tail. This twin-jet airliner was only used by airlines in the Soviet bloc. A medium-range airliner, the Tu-104 also could not have been used on transatlantic routes.^{[Note 1]}^[2]

Reception

In the Time Out review, John Pym saw Jet Storm as, "A British prototype for the Airport disaster movies of the '60s and '70s." He went on to note, "... like its later supersonic counterparts, Endfield's film is naive and contrived, but not without interest as the alarmed passengers soon divide into groups: reactionary (advocating torture) and liberal (patience and persuasion)."^[3]

The TV Guide critic wrote, "... thanks to an outstanding cast, this air-disaster film manages to limp to a landing with its 'thriller' status intact."^[4] The Radio Times applauded "... a star turn for Attenborough, who brings a convincing complexity to the role of bomber and bereft father."^[5]

References

Notes

^ The Tupolev Tu-104 is a single hull airliner; it did not have a lower deck as depicted in the film.

Citations

^ "Jet Storm". Explore.bfi.org.uk. Retrieved: 6 June 2014.
^ Santoir, Christian. "Jet Storm". Aeromovies. Retrieved: 15 March 2015.
^ Pym 2004, p. 601.
^ "Jet Storm Review." Movies.tvguide.com. Retrieved: 6 June 2014.
^ "Jet Storm | Film review and movie reviews." The Radio Times, 4 February 2014. Retrieved: 6 Nay 2014.