A naval officer has a dream of a military transport plane with eight passengers (including a woman) being beset by poor weather conditions and equipment malfunctions and then crashing into a mountainside in Japan. He relates this dream, somewhat reluctantly, to a group in Hong Kong leaving the next day for Tokyo. First, their plane is changed at the last minute - and the new one matches the one in the man's dream. Then, two soldiers, who had missed their transportation back to their base, are added to the manifest, making eight! Sir Michael Redgrave plays Air Marshal Hardie, on board the plane, which is also carrying a governor (Ralph Truman) and civilian attache Owen Robertson (Alexander Knox), who's making his first-ever flight. As their journey progresses, many aspects of the flight appear to be aligning with those in the dream, and terror grips everyone as they attempt to stave off disaster. This gripping drama of what should have been a routine flight is mesmerizing, not the least for the expected classy performances of Knox and Redgrave. The whole aspect of superstition (and how those 'medieval' Chinese put too much stock in it) rears its ugly head and gets into the minds of everyone, including the pilots. Imagine being in a small plane at about 10,000 feet and looking outside to see ice on a wing, and it's breaking off. Well, better than it staying on there (and adding to drag and weight), but it still doesn't look too comforting! This is one heck of an electric suspense thriller, and it had been on my 'to-see' list for decades.
Review of The Night My Number Came Up
