The Sound Barrier(1952)
Directed by David Lean

Plot Summary: Fictionalised story of British aerospace engineers solving the problem of supersonic flight.

This is an outstanding film about the human cost of progress and obsession. Richardson is great as the aviation mogul willing to pay the necessary price for reaching new realms and new worlds. Historically and technically, the film is so out of wack as to be almost laughable (the plot point about control reversal is apparently the result of a writer hearing a valid aeronautical term and misunderstanding it completely) but in the end, the issues raised and the fine performances make Sound Barrier a winner. The aerial photography is outstanding, and there is one shot from below the nose of the Comet Airliner that perfectly emphasises the sleek lines of that most beautiful jet.

This black and white early 50s movie shows crusty Britain at its stiff upper lip best. It is the story of mans obsession with speed, and a ruthless plane makers ambition to succeed in building a supersonic jet. Richardson plays the tycoon whose dream kills his son and son-in-law, but who finally sees the error of his ways and whose daughter returns to the cold family home with his grandson.

The film is also a vehicle to show the world Britain's proud lead in jet technology. There is a classic sequence in the film where the happy daughter and son-in-law deliver a De Havilland Vampire jet fighter to Egypt. They set off at breakfast time in England and hurtle over the English Channel, the Alps, Greece and the Pyramids before arriving in at the airfield. Of course we take this for granted now, but in 1952 this was unheard of. The director contrasts the old ruins and remains of our ancient ancestors with the marvel of the modern age: the jet plane.

The film also introduced the marvel of the early fifties, the De Havilland Comet Jetliner. This beautiful but flawed machine was in service six years before any other Jetliner and for a while, the world rushed to De Havilland's, and Britain's door. For two years the world-wide fleet gave the traveling of the future.

In every other way this is an eccentrically English film with creaky old houses, cottages with roses around the door and eccentric engineers. Shot in glorious black and white it conveys a sense of wonder and optimism in the future, whilst being thoroughly old fashioned. The script by the way was written by Terence "The Winslow Boy" Rattigan. In the States the film was released under the title Breaking the Sound Barrier.

David Lean who directed The Sound Barrier was not only one of Britain's greatest film directors, he was one of the greatest film directors of all time with such films to his credit as In Which We Serve (1942) which he co-directed with Noel Coward, This Happy Breed (1944), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965) & Ryan's Daughter (1970) set in western Ireland during World War I. Only David Lean could direct a film set in a small Irish costal village & pull it off as an epic. His last film was the excellent A Passage to India (1984). He was the only British director who consistently made films with mostly unashamedly British themes, from a British perspective, with a predominately British cast, using American money that were box office hits in America! He was knighted by the Queen, "Sir David Lean". He died 16th April 1991 aged 83. A great loss to the film industry.

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