John Wayne stars as U.S. Air Force aviator Jim Shannon, who's tasked with escorting a Soviet pilot (Janet Leigh) claiming -- at the height of the Cold War -- that she wants to defect. After falling in love with and wedding the fetching flyer, Shannon learns from his superiors that she's a spy on a mission to extract military secrets. To save his new wife from prison and deportation, Shannon devises a risky plan in this 1957 drama.
Cinematography
Sublime aerial photography of real F-86 Sabres
Direction
Von Sternberg's last film, secretly personal
Practical Effects
Genuine supersonic jet footage, no green screen
Director
Josef von Sternberg
John Wayne
Col. Jim Shannon
Janet Leigh
Lt. Anna Marladovna Shannon / Olga Orlief
Jay C. Flippen
Maj. Gen. Black
Paul Fix
Maj. Rexford
Richard Rober
FBI Agent George Rivers
Roland Winters
Col. Sokolov
Hans Conried
Col. Matoff
Ivan Triesault
Gen. Dimitri Langrad
Joyce Compton
Mary Lou Simpson
Denver Pyle
Mr. Simpson
Gene Evans
Airfield Sergeant (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot in 1950 but released in 1957 due to Howard Hughes' obsessive re-editing, by which time the F-86 jets were already obsolete.
Von Sternberg disowned the final cut, calling it 'a very expensive exercise in nonsense'—yet the aerial sequences remain stunning.
US
