Do You Have a Favourite Jimmy Stewart Movie? I Just Found a Fine One...

Question

...it's this one, NO HIGHWAY IN THE SKY. To me, it seems his best, my new favourite (of his). Jimmy plays an absent-minded scientist, who mathematically predicts that a wonderful airplane will get metal fatigue after exactly 1440 hours of flight and lose its tail and crash! So then he is sent off to Montreal to investigate a crash...only to discover that he is a passenger on just that airplane, and it already has logged1422 hours!

So the drama unfolds, with the help of splendid supporting actresses Glynis Johns and Marlene Dietrich...a real cliffhanger. And then after a movie came out, it actually did happen that a kind of airplane was crashing tragically from metal fatigue!

Answer 1

Loved that movie! It's one of his best! I like all James Stewart movies but this one was always a thrill to watch.

This one also because Dan Duryea was such a hard case!

Comments

Rooster, I have not seen EITHER of those...yet...! The second one...Shelley Winters was SO young...two great nominations.

Answer 2

Yes, several of the British Comet jetliners went down because of metal fatigue.  

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/19/newsid_3112000/3112466.stm

You found a good movie, Virginia! 

I think my favorite Jimmy Stewart movie is Rear Window.

Comments

O'Tink! I was so entranced with his superb characterization in this movie that it actually made me forget his work in REAR WINDOW for a few moments, until your reminding...however yes, when I get over the delight of this one, I may end up returning to REAR WINDOW as the all-time favourite...

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Oh yes, T(h)ink, I remember; the movie was:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Highway_in_the_Sky

basing on Nevil Shute's "No Highway"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Highway

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@ Virginia and Marianne,

One of the premises of the 'Highway' movie was of course false, namely, that failure due to metal fatigue can be calculated with anything like the 'mathematical precision' that Stewart's character claimed. To imagine that he was surprised that his estimate could have been off by 7% or more is laughable.

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Lol - of course, fiction takes the main part of the story; if referring to material fatigue, failures cannot be foretold with "mathematical precision":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatigue_(material)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_deviation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coefficient_of_variation

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Ha ha, yes O'Tink I did notice that in the movie, the supposition that such a failure could be calculated with mathematical precision...taking into account the date of the movie, that just added to Jimmy Stewart's fine characterization!

Answer 3

There have been many great movies starring James Stewart, it is hard to take a pick.

Filmography:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart_filmography

And about how, in his roles and real life, he could touch so many people, with laughs and tears:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201406/jimmy-stewart-and-dog-named-beau

The movies coming to my mind:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Knew_Too_Much_(1956_film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rear_Window

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertigo_(film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Hobbs_Takes_a_Vacation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_Arrow_(1950_film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glenn_Miller_Story

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_St._Louis_(film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Shot_Liberty_Valance

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Laramie

And a little trip into past history on your side (to dig into with delight) for Virginia, T(h)ink and Rooster:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart

http://www.military.com/veteran-jobs/career-advice/military-transition/famous-veteran-jimmy-stewart.html

http://www.historynet.com/mr-stewart-goes-to-war.htm

Comments

Yes Marianne, I truly did some 'digging with delight'...! Yes now I recall that Jimmy Stewart acted in several Hitchcock movies; I did not remember, however, that he served in Vietnam! I tried to locate THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH  on YouTube, but they don't seem to have a good upload of that...so today, with temps reaching 103*F (40*C), I think I will just relax with some classic Hitchcock! I found a classic movie of his from 1939, called YOUNG AND INNOCENT.

Thanks again for you wonderful research, I also enjoyed reading about his love of dogs, did not know that!

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You're very welcome, Virginia, here in Europe, some great artists like James Stewart were (and still are) very popular.

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That is amazing, Marianne!

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Lol - amazing?

Too many people liked to read about celebrities - from both sides of the big pond.

And western or adventure movies, for instance, were highly appreciated:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_Western

And there was the "film noir" period:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_noir