Commentary
On the recommendation of Tiffany Brannan, I watched “No Highway in the Sky” (1951) with Jimmy Stewart and Marlene Dietrich. It’s an absolutely thrilling movie with tremendous scenes of what it was like to fly commercial in 1951 in all its luxury. It’s comfort, service, and spaciousness all around. Those scenes alone are remarkable but so is the overarching theme of scientific courage.
The scientist played by Stewart has figured out based on his theoretical understanding that there is a real danger to the plane given how many miles it had already flown. The tail could fall off mid-flight, killing all passengers. He has to deal with a prescient moral and intellectual difficulty. Does he trust his calculations and do whatever is possible to end this flight or go along with the prevailing consensus that the plane is safe?…