Man in the Sky

Test pilot John Mitchell (Jack Hawkins) knows that in order to buy his wife, Mary (Elizabeth Sellars), the house of her dreams, he must restore the reputation of his flagging aircraft manufacturing company. At the urging of company owner Reginald Conway (Walter Fitzgerald), John and his crew agree to pilot a prototype airplane. But when things go terribly wrong with one of the planes engines, John must decide between parachuting to safety and trying to successfully land the plane.

Contents

• Plot
• Cast
• Similar Movies
• Reception
• References

Man in the Sky (released in the U.S. as Decision Against Time) is a 1957 film starring Jack Hawkins and produced by Ealing Studios, although the on - screen credit was changed to Ealing Films as this was the first Ealing production to be made at MGM British Studios following the sale of the Ealing site.

The efforts of test pilot John Mitchell to make a better life for his wife Mary and their two children seem doomed to failure and he blames himself. At the Conway Aero-Manufacturing Company of Wolverhampton, Mitchell is to take the company's new rocket-propulsion transport plane up for tests, fully loaded and carrying two important passengers - Ministry official Crabtree and buyer's representative Ashmore. Mitchell learns from his boss, Reg Conway, that if Ashmore does not recommend the plane, the company will be out of business and Mitchell out of a job, since the plane is not even insured as the firm's entire capital is tied up in the plane. Aloft, an engine catches fire and the passengers and other crew bail out, but Mitchell refuses to obey orders to jettison the plane in the Irish Sea.