TOWARD THE UNKNOWN (1956)

This is Warner Brothers' first attempt to cash in on Paramount’s superior, Strategic Air Command released the previous year. The film takes a serious look into the unknowns of supersonic flight research. Warner Color was back at it again the next year with a sudsier air force story, Bombers B-52, which was primarily a project for the rising star, Natalie Wood. Director Mervyn Leroy weaves this film dangerously close to a soap opera, where long-term personal commitments are harder to come by with someone in a very dangerous occupation. Assuming you like aircraft of this era, this film works well thanks to an intelligent script by Beirne Lay, Jr. who also penned the Paramount film as well as Above and Beyond, and Twelve O'Clock High. The accuracy of the Air Force lingo, flight gear, and location filming is spot on. Yet despite the famous lead actor, the casting mix places the film in the B-movie barracks. With the possible exception of Lloyd Nolan, the balance of the cast is a flight line of “Bs” from Virginia Leith, Charles McGraw, Paul Fix, Karen Steele, and a brief appearance by the ever-present, Bartlett Robinson. William Holden's own production company, Toluca Productions, may have been responsible for a tight casting budget. Though viewers did not know it then, James Garner’s brief film debut will catapult him into a Hollywood "A-lister." Considering Holden's overall body of work, this film falls nearer the bottom...toward the unknown part.

With an enviable name for a legendary aviator or NFL quarterback, Holden is  Lincoln Bond. The Major's charm and self-deprecating wit make him quite likable. But he has psychological issues. Holden returns to Edwards Air Force Base in hopes of being selected for the test pilot program. The story takes a while to unfold but we eventually learn Holden was a Korean prisoner of war. Holden has an impressive early scene when he enters the headquarters building. He walks over to a wall full of some real test pilot handprints. Among the likes of Chuck Yeager and Glenn Edwards, we see Bond’s handprint. Holden presses his hand firmly over the inked impression as a supporting musical chord solidifies the scene. It also reveals wrist scars from his attempted suicide under those unimaginable atrocities. His cracking under those conditions does not bode well for a living-on-the-edge test pilot. 

Nolan (with Holden below) is always ideally cast when carrying a good deal of authority. Here, as a commanding officer who is so wrapped up in first-hand test piloting, he does not know when to move on. McGraw is Holden's good friend and biggest supporter and pleads with Nolan to give him a second chance. A second chance is needed with Leith, also. I have mentioned the occasionally strange vocal quality of this attractive actress before. Considering the era, one might think the studio would have provided voice training to eliminate her dark, goofy vocal moments. Today, this training would never be considered: the stranger the better. She is feminine enough in a soft voice. But her voice placement retreats to the back of her throat when emoting or speaking while smiling. A distracting sound, even on an Air Force base. But I digress. She seems to be attached, off-hours, with her boss, Nolan, whose age gap could pass him off as her uncle. She and Holden were an item before the war—speaking of niece and uncle—but she is reluctant to make any commitment. Her character is a bit puzzling. She would seem to be happy enough with Nolan unless Holden is around. Maybe any dependable guy. 

Given a number of second thoughts, Nolan cautiously eases Holden in on some testing. He gets his chance at the Martin XB-51, masquerading in this film as the Gilbert X-120. It is featured in an impressive flying sequence in a unique head-on takeoff view alongside its chase plane. Taken from a third plane already in the air, we watch both planes accelerate upward toward the unknown, zooming over the camera aircraft. Character actor, Ralph Moody, plays H.G. Gilbert who assumes his plane is perfect and is arrogantly opposed to Holden's blunt assessment of a specific design flaw. When Garner loses his life because of this flaw, Moody is sheepishly humbled. Off-camera. In private. We assume. 

Nolan expects to pilot a research rocket plane, the real-life Bell X-2. It is his baby. But unknown to Nolan, Holden witnessed his dizzy spell after an earlier test flight. Holden, being about a decade too old himself for this kind of thing, bluntly tells him, off the record, that he would risk his life if he goes through with it. Reluctantly, he lets Holden pilot the flight. It becomes a troubled test with a necessary bailout. Holden's role during these scenes is based on the actual testing by Lieutenant Colonel Frank Kendall in the Bell X-1D. Holden met Kendall during filming, who gave an account of his experiences. The hard parachute landing bangs Holden up with needed physical therapy. Reporting on Holden's progress, the base doctor also informs Nolan he would not have survived that high altitude bailout. Nolan gallantly takes a position in Washington DC with McGraw filling the base commander’s shoes.

Notes: Paul Baron provided an appropriately sensitive background score. He also weaves in the opening bars of “The U.S. Air Force” song with interesting arrangements. There are two instances, though, when he or the studio creates a slightly humorous and startling “electronic” sound during two scenes of aircraft soaring high in the sky. A sound not unlike a Hawaiian slide guitar whose pitch gradually gets higher during take-off. It is more appropriate for a Warner Brothers cartoon than a dangerous saga about test pilots.

For aviation historians, the Martin XB-51 and the other aircraft or stock footage, are the main draw of this movie. Never chosen for production, there were only two XB-51s built, both destroyed in crashes. The last XB-51 featured in this film crashed shortly after the filming was completed. Lincoln Bond mentioned its design flaw.