''Zero Hour!'' is a 1957 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Hall Bartlett Hall Bartlett (November 27, 1922 – September 8, 1993) was an American film producer, director, and screenwriter, and a pioneer of independent filmmaking. Early life Hall Bartlett was born in Kansas City, Missouri, he graduated from Yale Unive ...

from a screenplay by Bartlett, Arthur Hailey, and John Champion. It stars Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, and

Sterling Hayden Sterling Walter Hayden (born Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor, author, sailor, and Marine. A leading man for most of his career, he specialized in Westerns and film noir throughout the 1950s, in film ...

and features Peggy King, Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch,

Geoffrey Toone Geoffrey Toone (15 November 1910 – 1 June 2005) was an English actor and former matinee idol. He was born in Ireland to English parents. Most of his film roles after the 1930s were in supporting parts, usually as authority figures, though he ...

, and

Jerry Paris William Gerald Paris (July 25, 1925 – March 31, 1986) was an American actor and director best known for playing Jerry Helper, the dentist and next-door neighbor of Rob and Laura Petrie, on ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'', and for directing the majo ...

in supporting roles. It was released by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

. ''Zero Hour!'' was a remake of the Canadian television play '' Flight into Danger'', and was in turn used as the basis for the 1980 parody film ''

Airplane! ''Airplane!'' (alternatively titled ''Flying High!'') is a 1980 American disaster film, disaster comedy film written and directed by Jim Abrahams and brothers David Zucker, David and Jerry Zucker in their List of directorial debuts, directoria ...

''.

Plot

During the closing days of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, six members of the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

fighter squadron led by pilot Ted Stryker are killed because of a command decision he made. Stryker blamed himself for that bad decision, falling into a deep sense of depression and anxiety which impede him to fly again. Years later, in civilian life in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, Manitoba, a guilt-stricken Stryker goes through many jobs, and his marriage is in trouble. Stryker finds a note at home: his wife Ellen has taken their young son Joey and is leaving him, flying to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. He rushes to Winnipeg Airport to board the same flight, Cross-Canada Air Lines Flight 714, operated by a Douglas DC-4. He asks his wife for one last chance, but Ellen says that she can no longer love a man she does not respect. Stewardess Janet Turner begins the meal service, offering meat or fish as the choices. When a number of passengers and the co-pilot begin feeling sick, a doctor aboard determines that the fish is the cause. The pilot also becomes seriously ill and cannot fly the airplane. Before he passes out, he turns on the

autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of a vehicle without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator's control of the vehicle, allow ...

. The stewardess determines that Stryker is the only passenger with flying experience, but he has not flown in 10 years and has never piloted an aircraft of this size. Owing to dense fog, Flight 714 cannot land at

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

or any other airport east of the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies () or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part of the Canadian Cordillera, w ...

, but must continue on to Vancouver. Stryker's superior in the war, the tough-minded Captain Treleaven, is summoned to Vancouver Airport. Treleaven blames Stryker for the wartime deaths and has no faith in him. However, he has no choice but to work with him, getting him familiarized with the airplane and teaching him how to land. Ellen joins her husband in the cockpit to handle the radio. As they approach Vancouver, it is shrouded in fog. Treleaven orders him to circle, for hours if necessary, in the hope that it will lift, but Stryker decides to try to land immediately because passengers will die if they do not get medical treatment soon. Stryker makes a rough landing, but none of the passengers are injured. He has conquered his demons and regained the respect of both Ellen and Captain Treleaven.

Cast

* Dana Andrews as Squadron Leader Ted Stryker * Linda Darnell as Ellen Stryker *

as Captain Martin Treleaven * Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch as Captain Bill Wilson, Pilot *

as Dr. Baird *

as Tony Decker * Peggy King as Stewardess Janet Turner * Charles Quinlivan as Harry Burdick

Production

Writing

''Zero Hour!'' was an adaptation of Hailey's original 1956

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

teleplay A teleplay is a screenplay or script used in the production of a scripted television program or series. In general usage, the term is most commonly seen in reference to a standalone production, such as a television film, a television play, or a ...

'' Flight into Danger,'' starring James Doohan as George Spencer, the original name for the Stryker character. Hailey also co-wrote a novel with John Castle based on the same plot titled ''Flight Into Danger: Runway Zero-Eight'' (1958), although this is based more closely on the television version than on the film.

Filming

Principal photography took place from May 8–28, 1957, with retakes on July 23–24, 1957. The primary filming location was

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

. Nightclub and television performer Peggy King made her feature film debut in ''Zero Hour!'', recording the song "Zero Hour" for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

to coincide with the film's release. John Ashley has a small role appearing on television as a pop star, although the vocals were provided by Duke Mitchell.

Reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reviewer

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some ...

called ''Zero Hour!'' an "exciting contemplation of a frightening adventure in the skies" based on a "good terse script ... Dana Andrews as the hero and Sterling Hayden as the captain are first-rate in these roles, keeping them hard and unrelenting." ''Time'' magazine, however, called the script a "bloopy inflation of a 1956 television show" and said its "moral struggle comes off fairly well, but the general situation is as patently contrived as one of Walter Mitty's daydreams." In 1971, the film was remade as a

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

movie, '' Terror in the Sky'', a Movie of the Week special with Doug McClure in the Ted Stryker role (renamed George Spencer, as in the original).Pendo 1985, p. 282. ''Zero Hour!'' was also used as the basis for the parody film ''

'' (1980).Tyner, Adam
"Airplane! (Blu-ray)."
''DVD Talk'', September 25, 2011. Retrieved: October 20, 2014. Screenplay writer Hailey went on to write the popular 1968 novel ''

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

'', which revisited the air disaster genre and led to a film franchise that was also spoofed by ''

'' and its own sequel.

References

Notes Citations Bibliography * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. .

External links

* * * {{Arthur Hailey 1957 films 1950s disaster films 1950s thriller films American aviation films American disaster films American black-and-white films 1950s English-language films Films about aviation accidents or incidents Films based on television plays Films directed by Hall Bartlett Films set on airplanes Films with screenplays by Arthur Hailey Paramount Pictures films Films set in Vancouver Films set in Winnipeg 1950s American films English-language thriller films