Back home

The Sound Barrier

57 votes

A young RAF pilot tests his father-in-law’s prototype supersonic aircraft to the limit, at a time of intense development in the field of aviation, just as commercial jet airliners are about to enter service.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1952-07-22

Runtime: 117 mins

Director: David Lean

Writer: Terence Rattigan

Spoken language: English

Genres: Drama, Romance, War

Original title: The Sound Barrier

Production Companies: London Films Productions

Production Countries: United Kingdom

Cast

Ralph Richardson

Ann Todd

Nigel Patrick

John Justin

Dinah Sheridan

Joseph Tomelty

Christopher Ridgefield

Denholm Elliott

Jack Allen

Ralph Michael

Leslie Phillips

Donald Harron

Vincent Holman

Douglas Muir

Reviews

Geronimo1967

“JR” (Sir Ralph Richardson) is a magnate determined to develop an aircraft that can break the speed of sound. This is no mean feat, and with the man becoming all but obsessed with this breakthrough, he engages “Tony” (Nigel Patrick) who just happens to be married to his daughter “Susan” (Ann Todd) to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, quite literally, “Chris” (Denholm Elliott). What this film does manage is to generate quite a sense of the perilous jeopardy facing these pilots as they pushed their embryonic technology harder and harder, almost feeling their way forward. That is really well illustrated by some archive aerial photography of just about everything from a bi-plane to more advanced jet engines aircraft, and Malcolm Armold delivers a suitably grand and flourishing score to accompany the frequent sky scenes. Sadly, though, that pace isn’t really very well transferred to the activities on the ground as the melodrama rather clutters up the proceedings and it becomes a little too stodgy. Patrick was always a proficient actor and for a while the planning and design elements of the plot prove quite compelling, but there just aren’t enough of these scientific elements to punch through the fog of mediocre (and extensive) dialogue that rather grounds this drama. It is a good looking film and it goes some way to illustrating - like “The First of the Few” (1942) - the dedication and commitment required to make air travel speedier and safer and it is worth a watch, but I found it a bit disappointing.

2025-06-19

Recommendations

3.7

The Rules of the Game

1939-07-09

A weekend at a marquis’ country château lays bare some ugly truths about a group of haut bourgeois a

The Passion of Joan of Arc

1928-04-21

A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-c

Roman Holiday

1953-08-26

Overwhelmed by her suffocating schedule, touring European princess Ann takes off for a night while i

Judgment at Nuremberg

1961-12-18

In 1947, four German judges who served on the bench during the Nazi regime face a military tribunal

3.7

The Day the Earth Stood Still

1951-09-18

An alien and a robot land on Earth after World War II and tell mankind to be peaceful or face destru

M

1931-05-11

In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the fo

Umberto D.

1952-01-20

When elderly pensioner Umberto Domenico Ferrari returns to his boarding house from a protest calling

3.9

Brief Encounter

1945-11-24

Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is throw

2.9

Why Get Married the Day the World Ends?

2000-06-14

Juliette is frantically running away from a man when a car hits her. Lying in the street, semiconsci

صخرة الحب

1959-01-01

عريس لأختي

1963-01-21

Something of Love

1973-08-06

The two friends, Adel and Sharif, reside in one apartment, and Sharif falls in love with Enas and hi

3.7

The Right Stuff

1983-10-20

At the dawn of the Space Race, seven test pilots set out to become the first American astronauts to

The Watergaw

2024-01-24

Iain Syme returns to his family’s farmland in the Scottish Borders and attempts to sell it off to a

1.5

Dananeir

1940-09-29

A concubine to a ruling family is challenged when the family is overthrown.

3.3

Blackmail

1929-07-28

London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his

Rashomon

1950-08-26

Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.

To Kill a Mockingbird

1962-12-20

Scout Finch, 6, and her older brother Jem live in sleepy Maycomb, Alabama, spending much of their ti

4.1

Sunset Boulevard

1950-08-10

A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood o

3.9

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

1927-11-04

A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince hi