Broken Journey (also known as Rescue) is a 1948 British drama film directed by Ken Annakin and featuring Phyllis Calvert, James Donald, Margot Grahame, Raymond Huntley and Guy Rolfe.
Taking stock of their situation, Haverton knows he can rely on stewardess Mary Johnstone; he is in love with her, but she is reluctant to admit her growing feelings for him since she is still mourning her fiance, who died on the last day of the war.
The survivors have to decide whether to stay and wait for help or leave the shelter of the wrecked airliner and set out in bad weather to try to reach safety.
[6] The improvised operation that eventually resulted in the successful rescue of eight passengers and four crew members, considered the "birth of air-rescue in Switzerland", garnered worldwide publicity and led to the fictionalised account of Broken Journey.
While Westeby wrote his script, Box sent Annakin out to Mount Blanc to look for possible locations and gave him funds to purchase an old Dakota airplane.
It was a hard lesson I learned: never to trust a script which appears on the surface to be professionally written with flowery descriptions – but has no heart.
When filming took place back in the studio, London was having a heatwave and the actors had to perform wrapped up in snow gear, making it uncomfortable for them.
Reviewer A.H. Weiler of The New York Times observed that the film was effective: "(an) intelligent script and a uniformly excellent cast serve to make the import a diverting entertainment.
And, the rugged, spectacular mountain backgrounds are an added note of authenticity to the yarn which accents character study rather than melodramatics."
The reviewer, however, had a caution that the film "which might have been a top-flight, thoroughly exciting excursion, is simply a meticulously-planned trip in which the travellers are more interesting than the itinerary.
"[17] Kine Weekly wrote that the film: "opens spectacularly, but the main story, woven from the reactions of 13 oddly assorted people suddenly cut off from the outside world and faced with almost certain death, contains many theatrical characters and moments, and peters out without recapturing the realistic initial thrills.
Director Ken Annakin, on his third picture, has little idea how to freshen up the stock situations, while there are few hidden depths in the overfamiliar characters.