The one and only film that William Holden produced as well as starred in is this great tribute to the test pilots of the United States Air Force who were breaking all kinds of flying speed records in the Fifties, the new age of jet and rocket propulsion. Toward The Unknown is about as authentic as you can get in a film about flying, being shot at Edwards Air Force Base as it was.
Holden plays an Air Force pilot who was a POW in Korea and was tortured and broke under it. For that reason General Lloyd Nolan is reluctant to give him a chance at test flying the latest jets and even more so with the untried rocket technology of the X-2. Pulling for him is Nolan's second in command at Edwards, Charles McGraw, and Virginia Leith who is Nolan's secretary. In fact Nolan and Holden are both out courting her as well which puts another dimension to the situation.
This film is an absolute must for aviation buffs just like Jet Pilot, the Howard Hughes produced film that starred John Wayne and Janet Leigh. Unlike that film, the story plot is reasonable and coherent in Toward The Unknown.
James Garner has a small part in this film as another test pilot in one of his earliest feature roles. So does Murray Hamilton who has a drinking problem and a real dislike for Holden whom he sees as a rival.
Toward The Unknown, fine product that it was, was the last film that William Holden was involved on the production end with. He found he did not like being involved in all the aspects of production as it were as so many of his other contemporaries enjoyed.
Still as a producer Holden batted 1.000. Toward The Unknown is a fine production and should be required viewing for aviation buffs.
