I also got In Harm's Way (John Wayne at Pearl Harbor with a host of other known actors.) When they run that on TV they edit out 20-30 minutes of the film so it doesn't make as much sense as the full length theatre version.
I wonder if that happen with Island in the Sky... cut down for commercials.
I don't believe so. The movie lasted two hours and fifteen minutes with the commercials, and AMC is usually very faithful to the original versions of films--except for those darned commercials. Just when you get interested ...
And when they aired "The High And The Mighty" that was THREE hours! I couldn't watch it all.