The Big Lift

The Big Lift is a 1950 drama film that was shot on location in the city of Berlin, Germany, and tells the story of two U.S. Air Force sergeants (played by Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas) who meet and fall in love with two women in Berlin during the 1948-1949 Berlin Airlift. The film was directed and written by George Seaton, and was released April 26, 1950, less than one year after the Soviet blockade of Berlin was lifted and the air lift oper... more

The Big Lift is a 1950 drama film that was shot on location in the city of Berlin, Germany, and tells the story of two U.S. Air Force sergeants (played by Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas) who meet and fall in love with two women in Berlin during the 1948-1949 Berlin Airlift. The film was directed and written by George Seaton, and was released April 26, 1950, less than one year after the Soviet blockade of Berlin was lifted and the air lift operations ceased. Because the film was shot in Berlin in 1949, it provides a unique glimpse of the post-war state of the city as it struggles to recover from the devastation wrought by World War II. The story begins at the start of the Berlin Blockade, as American and Royal Air Forces begin air-lifting food, fuel and other supplies from their zones of occupation into Berlin. U.S. Air Force sergeants Danny MacCullough (Montgomery Clift), flight engineer of a C-54 Skymaster, and Henry "Hank" Kowalski (Paul Douglas), an air traffic controller, are... less