Sole Survivor

Keith's summary on this page sums up the movie well (just to correct you on one point Keith - the skeletons of the crew of the real wartime bomber 'Lady Be Good' WERE in fact found in Libya in 1959, along with diaries kept by two of them as they tried to find civilisation). This movie is shown all too infrequently, but its impact on the viewer is startling. It must be 20 years since I last saw it, but certain scenes have stayed with me vividly ever since. A must see. Anyone reading this who has a copy, please get in touch with me.

Sole Survivor is one of the weirder entries in the WWII genre and difficult to classify. Written by Guerdon Trueblood as a TV movie, it tells the tale of a B-24 stranded in the Libyan desert. Comparisons are sometimes made between this and Flight of the Phoenix and shouldn't be, as Sole Survivor really has no thematic equal. Richard Basehart and Vince Edwards are fine in their roles, although Shatner had by this time been typecast as Captain Kirk and can't seem to shake that in his role as Gronke. Fans of Pat Wayne will enjoy a somewhat better performance than his usual, and Lou Antonio was in the middle of a career that spanned multiple decades. For some reason this one is difficult to find, which is a shame as it is absolutely unique and an experience that tends to stay with you long after the closing credits roll.

This made for TV movie seems to have fallen into obscurity, which is a shame; the creativity and entertainment value of it is top notch.

It's the story of a lost airplane after a crash landing out in the desert in World War II. When I first saw this, it looked like a vintage war movie, filmed in traditional black-and-white, almost with a Twilight Zone type aura to it. The crew is discussing their situation, but as the story unfolds you realize this is much more than just a WW2 war story, or a survival drama. The fate of these men is only the first of several twists this phenomenal story surprises you with.

The wreckage of the airplane is discovered years later, and a team of investigators journey to the scene, to uncover the mystery of what caused it to crash land, and to learn the fate of the crew. Richard Basehart is an air force general, who had been on the plane on its fateful flight, and had been the only survivor. He too goes to the crash site in order to assist in the investigation.

Drama, intrigue, mystery, para-normal communication; this movie delivers all these elements in exemplary fashion as it sorts out the truth for you bit by bit in an interesting story filled with unexpected twists.

I hope this movie is released on DVD or video, if it hasn't been already. This is fine story-telling, an amazing and involving movie which holds your interest to its emotional outcome.

Five airmen remain with their bomber plane in the middle of the Libyan desert hoping to be rescued. They have crash-landed but something is odd about this scenario. Any time that they start to trek in a certain direction, they always end up at the crash site. It also seems that they have been at the location for 17 years with nothing else to do but play baseball. The day comes when their plane is spotted and Major Vince Edwards (Devlin) and Colonel William Shatner (Josef) are sent to identify the wreckage and produce a report. They take with them General Richard Basehart (Hamner), who was the sixth crew member who parachuted out and survived 17 years ago. When they arrive, they don't see any of the airmen and they start to put their report together. The airmen are definitely there, though! Edwards persists in unravelling the truth.

The inspiration for the setting of the story is the real-life incident involving the bomber plane 'Lady Be Good' which disappeared in 1943 and was spotted in the Libyan desert in 1958. Many details are retained for the film, eg, the intact wreckage and an urn of tea found at the crash site still being drinkable. As for the film, the story is excellently told as we follow two sides – the airmen who seem to be wandering in limbo and the investigators who are trying to piece together what happened. Can the truth be discovered and will the airmen's lives finally be redirected to wherever they need to go?

The acting is good – William Shatner has a few Captain Kirk moments but that is what you want to see - and the ending is memorably done. It's a film that stays with you and keeps you watching for the duration. It also gets you thinking as to what might happen after death. And just who is the sole survivor?

Like so many others who have commented on Sole Survivor I've been haunted by this movie since I was a kid. I only ever saw it once but I guess it stuck in my mind. For years I've tried to find out the name of the movie and today I finally did. Can't tell you how pleased I am right now.I was beginning to convince myself that I'd imagined seeing it at all.It's good to know that there are other people who feel the same way about this movie.