Toward the Unknown (1956)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

The first must-see film of the year.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The title makes it sound as if this were some science fiction movie but it's really a celebration of the United States Air Force, circa 1956 -- a kind of enjoyable infomercial. Lots of high-echelon guys in snappy blue uniforms, Ineractional antagonisms, personal demons, technical challenges, and a nice-looking dame thrown in.As for the plot, it could be a recycling of one of the Warner Brothers' frames from the 1930s. The general in charge of flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base is Lloyd Nolan, but it could have been Pat O'Brien. The younger test pilot, anxious to prove himself after being tortured by the North Koreans, is William Holden but it could have been Jimmy Cagney. The pointless comic relief is supplied by the adjutant, Edward Brophy -- I mean L. Q. Jones. The dame is the general's secretary, Virginia Leith, who would have been somebody like Barbara Stanwyck in 1935.Overall, though it lacks originality in the narrative, it's an interesting movie, especially if you like the jet fighters and experimental rocket ships of the mid-50s. There's not much of it because most of the screen time is taken up with the muted competition between Holden and Nolan, both for the first "double-rocket" ride in the X-2, and for the affections of secretary Leith. (Guess who wins her heart?) Virginia Leith is an attractive enough woman and in real life, I imagine, a paragon of probity. The problem is that she can't act. She has the same problem with her voice that Sean Young had. There's nothing much they can do about it but neither has ever uttered a believable line. There's a scene between Leith and Holden, about half-way through, when she chides him for giving up on himself. They snap at each other and she runs away in tears. It's like watching a deliberate display of professional talent infused with boredom on Holden's part and an inability to act at all on Leith's, who leaves her dignity in a crumpled heap on the floor.The director is Mervyn LeRoy, who had been around for a long time. He tries to inject into some of the flight sequences the thrill of being aloft and having shed the surly bonds of earth but somehow it doesn't work, so what we see is a wide-eyed Holden in a big helmet intercut with aerial shots of the Mojave desert, accompanied by music designed to signal awe. LeRoy is sometimes careless too. The frightened Lieutenant, Jones, who tries to do everything by the book to please his general, accompanies Nolan to a departing airplane by more or less strolling after him instead of walking in step, per protocol.In a way, Lloyd Nolan as the general has the most appealing role. It's not nearly as dramatic as Holden's, yet Nolan does at least as good a job, and the character is more human. We can only imagine what Holden went through as a tortured prisoner of war. But we can all more easily identify with Nolan -- a man who is growing older, no longer fit for the rigors of test flying, never been married, in love with a younger woman who is attracted to a younger, more handsome man. A case study in declining potency. He has nothing to look forward to but his allegiance to the Air Force and a dull desk job in Baltimore. Now that's a real tragedy.

Before beginning this review of a good test-pilot flick, I went through all those previously posted to see if anyone noticed what I noticed. Surprisingly, no one did, surprisingly because so many aviation and Air Force buffs enjoyed "Toward the Unknown." That's not meant to be an indictment, because I missed it on my first viewing when admittedly I was not paying close attention. My second viewing was to judge the film and see if it is worth saving to DVR. It certainly is. A few comments first before I reveal the teaser hinted at in my opening:Most of the reviews and their comments are valuable concerning the aviation aspects of the film. Historical and background aspects such as the Bud Mahurin, Frank Everest, and Al Boyd connections are valid without my trying to improve on them. The set-ups, perspectives, and costuming used here by Mervyn LeRoy influenced "The Right Stuff" without a doubt.Likewise valid are comments on the performances. I fall into the camp that finds Virginia Leith a desirable adult woman but at best an average actress—her looks make me wish otherwise. William Holden delivers mainly a rehash of Harry Brubaker of "The Bridges at Toko-Ri." Lloyd Nolan is, well, Lloyd Nolan, cast because of his age and affability. That's okay with me, since I identified with him much more than Holden, particularly in the love triangle plot line. Jim Garner is barely a blip on the screen—one wishes his role was more like Mike Bailey of "Sayonara". Of the rest, Charles McGraw's reprise of his performance in Toko-Ri was the best, while Murray Hamilton, Paul Fix, and L.Q. Jones delivered solid performances of the roles they were typically type-cast in.I can't let one bone-headed review pass without comment, though. That "bad actor" Holden managed to take home a well-earned Oscar in his career, Leith is hardly "quite plain," and the way in which Lincoln Bond was thought to have "betrayed his country" was very much specified. Pay more attention to the dialog and less to your own snobbish ego.That leads to my contribution. Those of you who are Air Force film buffs will want to go back and watch for Beirne Lay's numerous references to his "Twelve O'Clock High." At least one scene, when Gen Shelby tries to cajole Banner into moving up to ARDC headquarters, is a virtual replay of an identical scene between Millard Mitchell and Gregory Peck in "Twelve O'Clock High." From there the scenes become easier to spot, among others: Davenport warning Savage "Your failure will be bigger than mine ever was", Joe Cobb's death in combat (I kept waiting for Holden to yell "Jump, you guys, jump," so close was the dialog when Joe Craven was in trouble), and Jesse Bishop's wanting a transfer out of the Air Force, echoed in Bond's wanting to resign. Banner's physical problems that suggest he might be forced to give up flying are from another Lay opus, "Strategic Air Command", made the year before.There are more, and this is not meant as a criticism. The recycling of plot devices to construct archetypal themes is as old as drama itself. Beyond Generals Banner and Shelby, Lay's use of counterparts from "Twelve O'Clock High" in his screenplay for "Toward the Unknown" is fuzzier, unless you consider that the film might be a retelling from Gately's perspective rather than Savage's. Incidents are assigned to characters where they best advance Lay's points, not for exact match-ups to the prior film. But it's fun spotting them. Tell Ted to stick to reviews of undying brains and watch this movie again.

"The Right Stuff" tried hard to capture the feel of Edwards and the 'golden age' of flight testing - but "Toward the Unknown" outdoes the later film in spades. In spite of the cut-n-pasted love story with the wooden Virginia Leith, this film catches the flavor of USAF flight testing with William Holden's credible performance as a previously up-and-coming aviator tries to regain his stature following a tormented experience as a POW during the Korean War. The "pilot speak" is dumbed down just enough for the civilian audience, and the flying sequences are well done - no models here. As a footnote, Holden is a composite of real-life test pilot Pete Everest (with whom Holden developed a fast friendship during filming) and Walker "Bud" Mahurin, whose Korean War POW experiences were woven into the script (although Mahurin never attempted suicide). In fact, there are striking similarities (surely purposeful) in appearance between the leading actors and their real-life counterparts: Stand Holden next to Everest, and Lloyd Nolan next to General Al Boyd, and you'll see what I mean.I have a VHS copy I had made from a deteriorating 16mm print of the film which I picked up off eBay (the friend who made the tape said the emulsion was chipping off the celluloid as he taped it, it was in such poor condition), so I'll have to live with that until a DVD becomes available - which, according to a credible source, won't happen until the Holden estate reaches an agreement with the production company. I do know a print of the film was furnished to the Edwards AFB theater recently for a showing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original premier of "Toward The Unknown."

I would like to purchase this movie as it has been out of circulation for almost 20 years. If anyone has any prior knowledge to any upcoming commercial free viewing of this excellent filmed classic please post the dates and times of wonderful classic adventure. This movie is the best film flight adventure movie ever made with at the time it was filmed it contained an all star cast. The flight scenes performed by the United States Air Force made "Top Gun", "Strategic Air Command", "The Hunters","McConnell Story" "Air Force" and even William Holden's classic "The Bridges at Toko-Ri appear as good runner-ups. I hope this comment raises interest in Warner Bros. re-introducing the fine classic on DVD or at the very least an unlimited airing of this movie on a commercial free cable movie channel. Please e-mail if this will happen.