The High and the Mighty1953

A new novel sustains the skywriting of Benjamin Lawless and Island in the Sky in down-to-earth terms as a commercial flight from Honolulu to San Francisco, its passengers and crew, provide some recognizable figures and readymade situations which converge at a common denominator in the toss-up between life and death. There's Sullivan, the pilot, whose experience in the air brings with it only a cumulative fear; Dan Roman, who 'didn't know when to quit' and at 53 is too old for a young profession; Leonard Wilby, the navigator, in love with the wife who will probably ruin him; the Bucks- newlyweds, and the Rices- whose marriage had been spoiled by her money; Humphrey Agnew, obsessively jealous of Kenneth Childs, whose worldly success is matched by his easy ways with women; Korean Miss Chen-...