She's a movie star so her life is more worth saving?
Jimmy Stewart's wife loved her pictures so he felt he owed her something, that is being told the plane was in trouble. Ridiculous thinking threw the whole movie off for me.
shareIt was more complicated than that. He tried to save everyone by alerting the captain of his scientific findings. When that appeared to have failed he wanted to try to save at least one person's life by letting them know about the safest spot in the plane and apparently not everyone would fit in that spot. It was bad enough that he still deeply missed his wife. He probably couldn't stand the thought of one of her favorite actresses dying if he could help it. He didn't have much time to think all of this out since he was unexpectedly thrown into this situation.
Mag, Darling, you're being a bore.
It was a bit of a stretch but it's funny that when she rebuffs him he tries to save Johns. Anyway it's a typical movie of that time except for the amazing prediction of metal fatigue a couple years later with the Comet. A shame their engineers didn't see the film.
shareAs it happens, Nevil Shute, author of the novel "No Highway," was a de Havilland aeronautical engineer. He began his aviation career there, but left the company 30 years before their introduction of the Comet. One can only wonder if history would have been different had he remained.
Poe! You are...avenged!