Mid-air suspense was always a good bet to bring the best out of cast writer and director, and here a fine cast miss few of the opportunities presented by the array of interesting characters in this tense and likeable adaptation of Nevil Shute's novel No Highway (the film's British title).

James Stewart was still very much at his peak (which lasted from 1939-1958) when he played the mild-mannered professor who insists that a new plane will crack up after it has flown a specific number of hours.

The plot uncannily predicted the cause of the Comet crashes of the Fifties.