The Sound Barrier

Infobox_Film
name = The Sound Barrier


caption = Poster for "Breaking the Sound Barrier", the U.S. title
director = David Lean
writer = Terence Rattigan
starring = Ralph Richardson
Ann Todd
Nigel Patrick
John Justin
Denholm Elliott
producer = David Lean
music = Malcolm Arnold
cinematography = Jack Hildyard
editing = Geoffrey Foot
distributor = London Films
British Lion Films United Artists
released = 22 July 1952 (UK)
6 November 1952 (New York only)
21 December 1952 (wide)
runtime = 118 min. (UK)
109 min. (US)
country = UK
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0044446

"The Sound Barrier" is a British 1952 film directed by David Lean. It is a fictional story about attempts by aircraft designers and test pilots to break the sound barrier. In the US it was retitled "Breaking the Sound Barrier". The story is not a comprehensive (nor wholly accurate) account of the attempts to break the sound barrier, giving only a fictional and parochially British view, albeit considered an entertaining and visually stunning depiction, especially at the time of release. Fact|date=August 2007

David Lean's third and final film with his wife Ann Todd was also his first for Alexander Korda's London Films, following the break-up of Cineguild. "The Sound Barrier" was a great box-office success, but it is now rarely seen (recently it has been released in both VHS and DVD home versions) and has become one of the least-known of David Lean's films.

Plot

The plot involves John Ridgefield (Ralph Richardson), a wealthy oil magnate who, as the owner of an aircraft company, also designs airplanes. Nigel Patrick plays test pilot Tony Garthwaite, a successful fighter pilot during the Second World War who is employed by Ridgefield after marrying Susan (Ann Todd), Ridgefield's daughter. Tensions between father and daughter are accentuated by Garthwaite's dangerous job of test flying.

The film explores the company's hopes for a new jet fighter, the "Prometheus" and the problems faced by the then-new jet aircraft in encountering the speed of sound, the so-called "sound barrier." In an attempt to break the sound barrier, Garthwaite crashes and is killed. Shocked at the death of her husband and her father's single-minded and heartless approach to the dangers his test pilots face, Susan walks out on her father and goes to live with Jess (Dinah Sheridan), the wife of Philip Peel (John Justin), another company test pilot. Unperturbed by his daughter's reaction, Ridgefield approaches this pilot as well with the challenge of piloting his test aircraft, and this time the experiment is successful and the sound barrier is broken without loss of life.

Accepting that her father's determination was in the interest of scientific advancement, Susan and her new unborn child are reconciled with her father at the end of the film.

Cast

As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified): [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044446/fullcredits The Sound Barrier Full credits] ]

Production

The strong relationship to aviation history in "The Sound Barrier" has led to its being characterized as a "semi-documentary." The screenplay by acclaimed playwright Terence Rattigan was loosely based on newspaper articles of the time, and bases some of its plotline on the real-life story of aircraft designer Geoffrey de Havilland and the loss of his son, Geoffrey de Havilland, the de Havilland company's test pilot who died attempting to fly faster than sound in the DH108.

Contrary to what is shown in the film, the de Havilland DH 108 Swallow was not the first aircraft to break the sound barrier (although it was one of the first jet aircraft to do so). The sound barrier was actually broken by Major General Chuck Yeager of the United States Air Force in 1947. According to Yeager, any pilot who attempted to break the sound barrier in the manner portrayed in the movie would have been killed. Yeager and Janos 1986, p. 206-207.]

At the time the film was made, jet travel was being made available to the public for the first time in the form of the de Havilland Comet, which appears in the film when Tony Garthwaite (Patrick) flies Susan (Todd) from England to Egypt in a two-seater de Havilland Vampire, and returns later the same day, in a graphic illustration of the possibilities of the new jet technology. Footage of early 1950s jet technology in Great Britain includes scenes of the de Havilland Comet airliner, world's first jet passenger plane.

The "Prometheus" jet aircraft that appears in the film was one of the Supermarine Swift prototypes ("VV119"), itself, a particularly troublesome aircraft design.

Awards

Academy Awards

* Winner Best Sound Recording
* Nominee Best story written directly for the screen

With this film, Ralph Richardson became the first actor to win the New York Film Critics Award for Best Actor who didn't also go on to win an Oscar nomination.

=BAFTA Awards=

* Winner Best Film from any Source
* Winner Best British Film
* Winner Best British Actor (Ralph Richardson)
* Nominee Best British Actor (Nigel Patrick)
* Nominee Best British Actress (Ann Todd)

US National Board of Review

* Winner Best Actor (Ralph Richardson), Best Director, Best Foreign Film

=New York Critics Circle=

* Winner Best Actor (Ralph Richardson)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Hardwick, Jack and Schnepf, Ed. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies." "The Making of the Great Aviation Films". General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
* Yeager, Chuck and Janos, Leo. Yeager: An Autobiography. New York: Bantam Books, 1986. ISBN 0-553-25674-2.

External links

*imdb title|id=0044446|title=The Sound Barrier
*amg title|id=1:85917|title=Breaking the Sound Barrier

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
before = "La Ronde"
after = "Forbidden Games"
title = BAFTA Award for Best Film from any Source
years = 1953|succession box
before = "The Lavender Hill Mob"
after = "Genevieve"
title = BAFTA Award for Best British Film
years = 1953|