Gallant Journey
Director William A. Wellman adds another to his long line of salutes-to-aviation films in this bio of an aviation pioneer, John Montgomery (Glenn Ford.) In 1883 he built a practical glider despite the opposition of his friends, who thought he was crazy, and of his family, who were afraid that his dreams of flying would hurt his father's political ambitions. He pursues his education at Santa Clara University where the Jesuits lend a helping and understanding hand. An earthquake destroys what appears to be a working model for an airplane, but a gold-sorting machine Montgomery invented, and then neglected, promises to provide for his financial needs to keep working on his aircraft until he gets involved in costly lawsuits defending his invention.
CinemaSerf@Geronimo1967
If ever there was a drive in movie, this would have to be it. It centres around an the dreams of American aviation pioneer John J. Montgomery (Glenn Ford) who was indeed a visionary individual determined to build a glider in the early 1880s. He studies hard at university where his ambitions are largely supported by the Jesuit order (Arthur Shields) even if they are somewhat frustrated by his own politically ambitious father Zachary (Willard Robertson). Along the way, he falls in love with "Ginny" (Janet Blair) and that's where the film loses it's scientific impetus and surrenders to a series of melodically scored romantic scenes - violins squeaking away merrily as the pace drops as surely as one of his earlier inventions. The thrust of the story still surfaces now and again. He has to fight a costly battle to protect his increasingly successful inventions and there is some nice aerial photography that illustrates the joys (and dangers) of his labours, but for the most part this is a rather unremarkable effort from just about everyone involved that seems to drag just once too often before the historically accurate conclusion. If this were a book, it'd be a very short pamphlet on early aerodynamics, balsa wood and willpower.