The Sound Barrier

David Lean's third and final film with his wife Ann Todd was also his first for Alexander Korda's London Films, following the break-up of Cineguild. Prompted by a newspaper story, the film was fundamentally a tale of male courage in exploring the unknown, and the women who wait at home. With its exciting, if repetitive, flying sequences, the film marked a departure from the domestic or literary concerns which had characterised Lean's choice of subject matter to date. Its heroics look forward to The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

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