Wings Over Everest

1934 0h 32m EN

😐

5.7

MID

★5.7TMDB · 10

Documentary

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A documentary about the first flight over Mt Everest. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with UCLA Film & Television Archive in 2014.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Alexander John
Narrator
Michael Kilgarriff
Narrator
David Timson
Narrator

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ivor Montagu
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 32-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

ERA

Did you know

92 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

CAST

Did you know

Alexander John and Michael Kilgarriff and David Timson carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0024777 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

Only 10 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ivor Montagu directs. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 32-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
292 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4Alexander John and Michael Kilgarriff and David Timson carry the top of the cast.
5IMDB entry: tt0024777 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
6Only 10 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Runtime: 32 min · 0h 32m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: Wings Over Everest (1934)

Awards

Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Novelty

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Ivor Montagu

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-06-28
★ 7/10
It had been barely thirty years since the Wright brothers had got a powered aircraft off the ground and now here we are with an intrepid crew of Britons planning to fly over the top of Mount Everest. To achieve this, they will need to sustain an altitude of around 30,000 feet, endure temperatures of -50° and winds of over an hundred miles an hour. They know that if anything goes wrong up there, then they haven’t an hope in hell. Using lots of archive of some really quite chilling aerial photography, this nicely edited feature takes us on a trip as they meticulously plan their trip before arriving in northern India and then Nepal to prepare. Meantime, the agrarian population look on in wonder as their kit arrives and takes to the air for practice flights. Their aircraft have open cockpits and they are dependent on oxygen supplies as their goggles ice up and the thinness of the air makes passing out a distinct possibility - these folks are seriously exposed. It’s the scenery of the Himalayas that really stands out here. At times what we see doesn’t even look real as the peaks emerge from the misty clouds as if they were straight out of a magical Rudyard Kipling tale. It’s a story of aviation pioneering that manages to convey some of the excitement and Adrenalin-rush these men enjoyed, and I did quite enjoy it.

Production companies