Valley of Mystery

An all has been cast in search for a hit TV show. Good god this was a bore. Normally something so hackneyed and overly dramatic would have some camp value. It isn't even unintentionally funny. Not one of the 130 passengers and crew is a compelling character. The Universal backlit doubles as Caracas. More like Crackazz.

A jetliner with 130 souls on board crashes in the jungles of Venezuela, so far off its flight plan that no one is ever likely to find the survivors. They must shift for themselves. It's an old premise that can still work given the proper treatment but this made-for-TV movie -- originally a pilot for a projected series -- is so tired and lifeless that it can't even qualify as "fun." Those with nothing better to do can watch a cast of left-overs and washed-ups and might-have-beens traipse around an utterly unconvincing jungle, engaging in the hokiest of subplots and back-stories, but even this barely-better-than-nothing activity quickly wears thin. Richard Egan plays the flight's captain but if you're hoping to see him take his shirt off, you will be disappointed. Even in the jungle, his uniform shirt remains white, crisp, tidy, and buttoned up.

I remember, years ago, (back before Cable TV) I was looking through the TV Guide and saw a movie, "Valley Of Mystery" The bi-line stated, "STARRING Leonard Nimoy" This was a couple of years after Star Trek TOS had gone off the air, but I certainly knew who Nimoy was, so I watched. Well, yes, Leonard Nimoy was in the film. I should have realized something was up when Nimoy was listed under "With..." under the opening credits. (That was after "Starring..." and "Also Starring...") The film involved a passenger plane crash. I think Nimoy died within about 10 minuttes after the crash. (It was in B&W so I don't know what color shirt he was wearing.) Obviously it was made before TOS came intio being, and TV Guide was pushing Nimoy's stardom, regardless of the minor role. Ah well... Lightning had not yet struck for the working but struggling actor.

This is a pretty standard jungle movie, with the obligatory quicksand scene, complete with don't-struggle-you'll-only-sink-faster cliché; I was waiting for Tarzan to turn up at any m minute! It was Lois Nettleton I felt sorry for; in her almost 60-year career (her last appearance as far as I can find out was in an episode of "Murder She Wrote") she was always remembered as the girl who fell in the quicksand within minutes of surviving a crash landing.It overshadowed her entire subsequent career. Attack Of The Killer Compost Heap!