Passengers
in Los Angeles board a plane headed to Washington, D.C. Halfway through the flight, the plane
malfunctions and it begins ascending skyward.
The passengers start passing out left and right, all except a couple of
scientists who are on the verge of discovering a new “Beta Bomb”. The crew passes out too and the scientists are
unable to stop the plane as it heads for its mysterious final destination.
Directed
by Reginald (Diary of a Madman) LeBorg, The Flight That Disappeared starts off
as a decent enough disaster movie before turning into something akin to a piss
poor Twilight Zone episode. The early
scenes of the passengers chatting each other up and getting to know one another
are perfectly fine. LeBorg even manages
to provide a modicum of atmosphere, which is commendable given the cramped quarters
of the plane. The shots of the concerned
crew in the cockpit are particularly effective (even if you can see the edges
of the set).
I
won’t reveal what happens to the scientists when they arrive at their
fog-shrouded destination. I will say
that what happens there is heavy-handed and predictable. Had this been a half-hour episode of The
Twilight Zone, it would still feel clunky.
As a feature length motion picture, it’s doubly disappointing. Heck, even after it wraps up its endless moralizing,
it continues lethargically on for another reel or so.
This
is one flight worth skipping.
Bull donkeys - This was a fine cautionary tale from a time before you were alive. You know nothing of that fear.
ReplyDeleteSuch films as "The Day The Earth Stood Still" (1951) were fine moral plays on the atomic age. The acting in this film was dreadful and the editing even worse. The long winded look at the fading days of propliners was interesting enough (seat numbering totally different from now), but I could not tell if the aircraft was supposed to be a DC-4, or a DC-6. Maybe it was a DC-7. The movie filled in clips from "The High And The Mighty" (a DC-4 definitely) which were DE-colorized for this B&W movie.
ReplyDeleteHad the director and crew taken better care of this film, it might have been something.
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