Long before airplane disaster films such as The High and the Mighty (1954) and Airport (1970) with their lavish budgets and all-star casts became the norm, this particular genre was the province of the B-movie. One of the best examples and possibly even the prototype for all future airplane disaster flicks was the 1939 RKO production, Five Came Back. Produced on a shoestring and distributed to theatres as a standard programmer, it turned out to be a surprise hit that quickly amassed an enthusiastic word-of-mouth campaign among moviegoers.