jacobs-greenwood Directed by John Farrow, with a story by Richard Carroll that was scripted by Jerome Cady, Dalton Trumbo, and Nathanael West, this above average adventure drama is one of the first to put an ensemble cast of characters from varied backgrounds in peril - the heart of the story shows how persons' real character traits are revealed in a survival environment.Later used by director Alfred Hitchcock in Lifeboat (1943) (and remade by director Farrow as Back From Eternity (1956)), and most recently by so called reality television producers, this popular concept typically utilizes a desert or island locale and oftentimes a shipwreck or airplane accident to strand its passengers, isolated and cut off from civilization. Frequently, there are constraints of food supply or safety which force the survivors to choose a plan of action in order to live or rescue themselves. The initially tantalizing question of who will lead or survive in such circumstances is sometimes surprisingly answered.The cast is terrific and recognizable to most movie mavens:Chester Morris plays pilot Bill Brooks, Kent Taylor plays his co- pilot Joe. Patric Knowles plays wealthy young businessman Judson Ellis, who's eloping with his secretary Alice Melbourne, played by Wendy Barrie. A surprisingly beautiful young Lucille Ball plays a fallen woman, Peggy Nolan. Joseph Calleia plays an anarchist named Vasquez that John Carradine's bounty hunter Mr. Crimp is escorting back to justice (to be hung) in his native South American country. Allen Jenkins plays a gangster's hit man named Pete, who's taking his mob boss's son Tommy Mulvaney, played by child actor Casey Johnson (in his film debut), to safety outside of the United States. During the flight, it's learned that Tommy's father was killed in a gang shooting. C. Aubrey Smith plays retiring botany professor Henry Spengler, and Elisabeth Risdon plays his longtime wife Martha. Selmer Jackson (among others) appears uncredited, as an airlines official.Their Coast Air flight leaves from municipal airport, from a nondescript Southern California city, en route to South America. The Silver Queen is of the sleeper variety and some of the passengers have preconceived notions about their fellow travel mates. After landing at a stopover in Guatemala, during which Joe expresses an interest in Ellis's attractive blonde fiancée Alice, the pilots soon find themselves in a storm as their journey continues. After losing one engine, they decide to crash land in a forest, during which no one is seriously injured. Professor Spengler surmises that they've landed between two mountain ranges such that their only way out is through the air. Bill estimates that the plane can be repaired with 3 weeks. They solve their 1-2 week food supply problem by becoming vegetarians, though Pete is able to shoot the occasional deer. Unfortunately, the professor is able to identify, per the native drums heard, that cannibals are in the forest, making their need to repair the plane and get out of there more urgent.I won't spoil who survives and who doesn't, nor how, but the film's title tells you that five will "come back"; these have to be chosen, among those that aren't killed in other ways, because the plane will have a limited runway on which to take off in order to clear the trees, so weight is at a premium. During the course of the weeks it takes to repair the plane and clear this runway, the true characters of the passengers are witnessed and their relationships to one another change.

Ralph I Tivo'd this because I was told this was a "minor classic". Watched it with my wife and she seemed to stay into it, I was thinking this was a serious "dog". The running line between us was, "which 5?" well we ruled the kid from the start, so I'm thinking OK do the pilots count? The crash (which happens a long almost half way point) yields no new deaths, just a bruised shoulder from the old lovable professor (of Shirley Temple and 4 Feathers fame among many other roles). Anyway a total waste of John Caradine, I was hoping he would be good here, but no luck, he's dead in the jungle after a very bad start. I mean c'mon, is this a chick action flick or what? Hey, its Hollywood, its couples going out, its not about grim realities, its a kind of boy that was cool action flick (if your a woman), its lame (if your a dude). 5 of 10. I don't know why I rate it that high, but the wife didn't fall asleep which is saying something for a old black and white film. I'm into them, and old planes; but this one was barking loud like a dog in heat. I predicted the head hunters also long before they showed up. yawn. Was waiting for some savagery among the survivors (all of them survived, sheesh) but we got nothing like that. Boring B flick worth forgetting about. Also, Lucy isn't in much here if thats why you are are curious.

Bill Smith I have always been intrigued by RKO (RKO Radio) Pictures. Since darkness and shadows always held a steady platform for the old studio, I preferred my RKOs in living black-and-white! I have no favorite RKO films in color."FIVE CAME BACK" is a typical RKO Radio Pictures release. Never mind the sometimes "overdone" acting! The story of a plane that has crashed in a South American jungle, with very limited hope of survival for those on board, requires the likes of Chester Morris, Lucille Ball, Sir C. Aubrey Smith and others! Remember --- this is 1939. A new version starring Robert Ryan was released by RKO in 1956. This flick was titled "BACK FROM ETERNITIY". It had a bigger budget, and the acting was very good, but the original still stands as my personal favorite. Perhaps it was the simplicity ... check the guide wire on top of the plane as it crashes into the trees! The wire wasn't attached when the double-engine job was in the air! The most obvious "dummy" plane just adds to that touch of movie innocence preceding World War II."FIVE CAME BACK" is a movie-collector's delight. Nothing fancy, just simple fun. It's worth the short viewing time (75-minutes) to see a beautiful, 27-year-old Lucille Ball! Add to that the obvious low-budget (approximately $250,000) and you're set for a very good time "at the movies".As a tag: One wonders why it took Sir C. Aubrey Smith half the film time to remove his coat in the overheated jungle! As I recall, he never removed his tie during the miserably hot weeks at the crash site!

moonspinner55 Twelve passengers in a twin-engine plane crash-land in a rain forest just east of the Andes. While the two pilots attempt to fix the aircraft, the travelers get to know each other. Fast-paced drama rolls right along, with the usual cast introductions handled this time with flair and flip sarcasm (Lucille Ball, apparently playing a tart, keeps getting put down by the others but takes all the criticism in stride!). Film is extremely compact, but this hinders it in the end as the final sequence doesn't feel fully played-out and the last shots are disappointing. Otherwise, well-scripted (Dalton Trumbo and Nathanael West are just two of the writers credited), acted with high style and briskly directed by John Farrow, who later remade this story as "Back From Eternity". *** from ****