Rowboatof the Infinite

X-15 (Essex; United Artists). Man stands at the edge of space like a child at the edge of the sea, skipping sophisticated, multimillion-dollar pebbles that sink out of sight. What man needs is a ship that he can sail on the new ocean and bring safely back to port. Four years ago, he produced the first crude model of such a ship, a rowboat of the infinite called the Xis.

In a 1961 test flight over Southern California, this soft, flying needle, whose rockets at full throttle develop more than three times the power (627,000 h.p.) of the world's largest aircraft carrier (more than 200,000 h.p.), jabbed more than 41 miles (217,000 ft.) straight out into space at a top speed of 4,093 m.p.h.

The significance of the X-15 obscured by the recent series of spacetaculars, is attractively asserted by this modest little movie. Shot at Edwards Air Force Base, where the rocket ships are tested, the film tells the story of the Xis in terms of the men who fly it. The plot might better have been jettisoned at takeoff, but Jack Freeman's aerial-photography swells the mind with images of immensity.

The Great American Desert shrinks beneath the vast sky like a tiny golden prayer rug in a blue tremendous temple, and as the little black dart leaps gleaming into outer darkness the mind thrills at a vision of the supernal machine.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.