Cone of Silence (film)
| Cone of Silence | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Charles Frend |
| Produced by | Aubrey Baring |
| Written by |
Robert Westerby David Beaty (novel) |
| Starring |
Michael Craig Peter Cushing Bernard Lee |
| Music by | Gerard Schürmann |
| Cinematography | Arthur Grant |
| Edited by | Max Benedict |
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Production
company |
Aubrey Baring Productions
Bryanston Films |
| Distributed by | Universal–International Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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88 min. Black and white (UK) 76 min. Black and white (US) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Cone of Silence is a 1960 British drama film directed by Charles Frend and starring Michael Craig, Peter Cushing and Bernard Lee. The film is about the investigation into a series of crashes involving the fictional 'Atlas Aviation Phoenix' jetliner. Cone of Silence is loosely based on the 1952 crash in Rome and investigations into the structural integrity of the de Havilland Comet. The film was based on David Beaty's novel, Cone of Silence (1959), later renamed Trouble in the Sky, the title of the film as released in the United States.
Captain George Gort (Bernard Lee) is a pilot for British Empire Airways, flying their route London - Rome - Cairo - Ranjibad - Calcutta - Singapore. He is found to have been at fault after his Phoenix 1 jetliner crashed on takeoff from [fictional] Ranjibad airport, killing his co-pilot. He is accused of rotating too early, increasing drag to such an extent that the aircraft could not achieve flying speed.
Gort is reprimanded and reduced in seniority but is allowed to return to flying the Phoenix after a check flight under Captain Hugh Dallas (Michael Craig). Meanwhile, Gort's daughter Charlotte (Elizabeth Seal) refuses to believe he was at fault. Gort's flying skills are again called into question when a piece of hedge is found wrapped around an undercarriage leg after an unusually low approach to Calcutta. However, it is later discovered that there is no hedge at the threshold of the Calcutta runway, and that the piece of hedge round the undercarriage had actually come from Ranjibad, where the take-off had been flown by Captain Clive Judd (Peter Cushing). This reveals that Gort is not the only pilot to have problems on take-off with the Phoenix.
Gort is later involved in a second crash, this time killing all on board. The crash is remarkably similar to the first: both involve a fully loaded aircraft on a hot night, taking off under Captain Gort from the same runway at Ranjibad airport. Dallas eventually discovers that the aircraft's designer had deliberately withheld information on potential take-off difficulties in hot conditions. A third crash is avoided by seconds when a message from the aircraft designer comes through to a crew about to take off in the same problematic weather conditions, advising them to add eight knots to the calculated unstick speed and keep the nose-wheel on the ground until just before unstick speed is reached. The take off is successful.
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