It is impossible to judge this movie as anything but the blueprint for AIRPLANE. In that capacity, it's absolutely hilarious. But I can try to comment on the film on its own terms. Noir fans might be thrilled with the casting, but only Hayden brings anything interesting to it. The plot is... gripping, I guess? It's hard to say when you're so familiar with it. Oh, I give up. If for some ungodly reason you've never seen AIRPLANE, watch this first. I imagine it can only make both films better.

A taut, melodramatic marvel.

Hard to take seriously once you've seen Airplane!

In and of itself is still a delight. Sterling Hayden's a man's man and keeps Dana Andrews in line in this tighter than tight 50's b-movie.

A decent Dana Andrews venture, with some edge-of-the-seat moments and a good viewer education in flying and crash landing runaway planes, in the likely event that we need to do it.