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Out of the Clouds |
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Out of the Clouds - 1955 | 88 mins | Drama | ColourThe Production TeamDirector: Basil
Dearden. Producer: Michael Relph. Script: Michael Relph, John Eldridge and Rex Reinits. Cinematography: Paul Beeson. Art Direction: Jim Morahan. Costume Designer: Anthony Mendleson. Editing: Jack Harris. Music: Richard Addinsell. Composer: Dock Mathieson. |
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The CastAnthony Steel - Gus Randall Robert Beatty - Nick Milbourne David Knight - Bill Steiner Margo Lorenz - Leah Roche James Robertson Justice - Capt. Brent Eunice Gayson - Penny Henson Isabel Dean - Mrs Malcolm Marie Lohr - Rich Women Esma Cannon - Her Companion Bernard Lee - Customs Officer Gordon Harker - Taxi Driver Abraham Sofaer - Indian Megs Jenkins - Landlady Melissa Stribling - Jean Osmond Sidney James - Gambler |
Plot SynopsisOut of the Clouds, directed by Basil Dearden, was yet another of Ealing's attempts at a behind the scenes approach - this time an anatomy of London Airport, a much smaller community in the mid-Fifties than now. Compared with Arthur Hailey's treatment of the same formula in the Sixties in his novel Airport, the result is remarkably tame. As is usual in such Ealing pictures, and in this one more than most, the background and setting are more interesting than the foreground characters, and Paul Beeson's EastmanColour photography provides a fascinating record of how Heathrow looked in its early days. The films characters include Gus Randall (Anthony Steel), a pilot with a chronic (and potentially fatal) gambling weakness; chief duty officer Nick Milbourne (Robert Beatty), who yearns to be a pilot himself; American engineer Bill (David Lorenz), who finds romance in the form of Jewish girl Leah (Margo Lorenz); and Captain Brent (James Robertson Justice), whose doubts about a new aircraft prove to be well-founded. The obligatory romantic triangle involves Gus, Nick and airline - hostess Penny Henson (Eunice Gayson). One of Ealing's largest-ever sets was used for the interior of the
terminal. The script, by Michael Relph and John Eldridge, is larded
with the customary parade of minor characters - a comic cab driver a
difficult passenger and so on - but so much of the original spirit has
by this time deserted Ealing that the peripheral action, far from filling
out a rich tapestry of incident, is merely a tiresome diversion from
the main thread of the narrative. |
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