William Campbell, John Wayne, and Robert Stack in a scene from The High and The Mighty (1954).

The Academy salutes the iconic star John Wayne on the occasion of his 100th birthday with the theatrical premiere of a new restoration of The High and the Mighty, a project to which Wayne’s son Michael and daughter-in-law Gretchen dedicated themselves for more than a decade.  Wayne co-produced and starred in the story of an experienced but burned-out airline pilot who must save the day when his plane’s engine fails on a flight from Hawaii to San Francisco.  Released in 1954, this film was a prototype of the modern airborne disaster film.

The High and the Mighty was shot in CinemaScope under the direction of Academy Award®-nominated director William Wellman.  It boasts an Oscar®-winning score by Dimitri Tiomkin, who earned a remarkable 22 Oscar nominations and four statuettes over the course of his prolific career.  The theme song he wrote for the film became so identified with Wayne that it was played at his funeral.

The story of the film’s rescue begins in 1992, when the vault at the company co-founded by Wayne and producer Robert Fellows, Batjac Productions, flooded, and the negative of The High and the Mighty was completely soaked.  Michael Wayne embarked on the painstaking process of reconstructing the film and soundtrack from numerous source materials.  After Michael’s death in 2003, his widow, Gretchen, completed the restoration.

John Wayne was born Marion Morrison on May 26, 1907, in Winterset, Iowa.  He appeared in nearly 80 films before his stardom was cemented by his 1939 lead role in Stagecoach.  He went on to star in some 90 movies over the next four decades, establishing throughout the world the image of an American hero through his many Westerns, war films and dramas.  He received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for The Sands of Iwo Jima in 1949 and a Best Picture nomination as producer of The Alamo in 1960.  Nine years later, at the age of 62, John Wayne won an Oscar for his lead performance as Marshal Rooster Cogburn in True Grit.

Cast  John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Laraine Day, Robert Stack, Jan Sterling, Phil Harris, Robert Newton, David Brian, Paul Kelly, Sidney Blackmer, Julie Bishop, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, John Howard, Wally Brown, William Campbell, Ann Doran, John Qualen, Paul Fix, George Chandler, Joy Kim, Michael Wellman, Douglas Fowley, Regis Toomey, Carl Switzer, Robert Keys, William DeWolf Hopper, William Schallert, Julie Mitchum, Doe Avedon, Karen Sharpe, John Smith, Walter Reed.

Directed by William A. Wellman.  Produced by Robert M. Fellows, John Wayne.  Screenplay Ernest K. Gann (based on the novel by Gann).  Cinematography Archie Stout.  Aerial Photography William Clothier.  Art Direction Alfred Ybarra.  Set Decoration Ralph Hurst.  Film Editing Ralph Dawson.  Costumes Gwen Wakeling.  Music Dimitri Tiomkin.  Sound Recording John K. Kean.  Special Effects Robert Mattey.  Makeup Web Overlander, Loren Cosand.  Hairstyles Margaret Donovan.  Camera Plane Pilot Loren Ribbe.  Technical Advisors William H. Benge, Dionne Wheeler, Lt. Commander Robert C. Cannom U.S.C.G.R.  Wayne-Fellows Productions, Inc.  Warner Bros.  1954.  WarnerColor.  CinemaScope.  35mm.  147 mins.  Digital master courtesy of Batjac Productions.

Academy Award winner: Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (Tiomkin).
Academy Award nominee: Actress in a Supporting Role (Sterling), Actress in a Supporting Role (Trevor), Directing (Wellman), Film Editing (Dawson), Music – Song “The High and the Mighty” (Tiomkin, Ned Washington).