IMDb RATING
7.0/10
1.7K
YOUR RATING
On a routine flight from Hong Kong to Japan, a British military transport aircraft's fate may or may not depend on a prophetic nightmare.On a routine flight from Hong Kong to Japan, a British military transport aircraft's fate may or may not depend on a prophetic nightmare.On a routine flight from Hong Kong to Japan, a British military transport aircraft's fate may or may not depend on a prophetic nightmare.
- Nominated for 4 BAFTA Awards
- 4 nominations total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe script is based on a personal account by Sir Victor Goddard.
- GoofsClearly, different cockpits were used in different shots. The altimeter keeps switching back and forth between two quite different designs and layouts.
- Quotes
Mary Campbell: Anyone with sense has doubts.
- Crazy creditsOpening credits, prior to film title: There were 8 passengers 5 crew
Featured review
On display is one of the greatest scenarios ever presented in film - a flight over the Orient of which an anonymous British officer has had a dream premonition of disaster. What is so great about this idea and how it was executed here is that the dream itself is simply a catalyst for a psychological probing of the behavior of the passengers once they learn one-by-one about the particulars of the dream and how these particulars are playing out in their real flight. The theme then becomes the old-as-Shakespeare literary idea of fate vs. free will, but the strength of the filmmakers is that it is never resolved conclusively in the end. Even when the characters do hint at not letting a particular passenger on board the plane because this passenger has been prophesized to be an integral part of the disaster, they take no serious action to remove him, instinctively realizing that even that may not give them greater control over the situation.
The contrast of a modern technological artifice such as an aircraft with an archaic-style premonition is so brilliant because it portrays the ultimate paradox of human technological evolution: the farther human beings advance in their technological feats of control, paradoxically, the greater their lives are placed in the hands of the gods (fate) with all the many ways in which that technology can go tragically awry. For a simple idea, the filmmakers were obviously thinking, and they have added multiple layers to the story. "Night My Number Came Up" is a film I hope to see many times to pick up some themes I missed the first time. Like paintings, writing, and other forms of art, I believe that it is this characteristic which distinguishes great art from all the rest.
The contrast of a modern technological artifice such as an aircraft with an archaic-style premonition is so brilliant because it portrays the ultimate paradox of human technological evolution: the farther human beings advance in their technological feats of control, paradoxically, the greater their lives are placed in the hands of the gods (fate) with all the many ways in which that technology can go tragically awry. For a simple idea, the filmmakers were obviously thinking, and they have added multiple layers to the story. "Night My Number Came Up" is a film I hope to see many times to pick up some themes I missed the first time. Like paintings, writing, and other forms of art, I believe that it is this characteristic which distinguishes great art from all the rest.
- Sturgeon54
- Jul 1, 2005
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Details
- Runtime1 hour 34 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
- 1.85 : 1(originally intended theatrical ratio)
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Top Gap
By what name was The Night My Number Came Up (1955) officially released in India in English?
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