The Flight That Disappeared

This independent film released by United Artists is a real sleeper It asks some thought provoking questions. The lack of name players in the cast makes it all the more real. That works many times in movies.

Flight That Disappeared starts out like a bargain basement The High And The Mighty. But among the passengers are scientists Craig Hill, Paula Raymond, and Dayton Lummis. Unexplainedly the propeller driven plane starts rising in altitude beyond what a jet rise to and in rocket ship territory and ground radar loses all communication.

When everyone loses consciousness the three scientists go before a celestial tribunal and are examined about a proposed super atomic bomb they are in the theoretical stage of development. It's quite intense.

The thought provocation comes here. Just what is the role of science and scientists in this world? Is making better weaponry its only purpose. What we do today has a bearing on the life our descendants. It's a representation of those descendants that is doing the examining of our three protagonists.

Production values Flight That Disappeared has not. But it has some great performances from the protagonists and the rest of the cast. This one should not be missed.

One question was there another tribunal called for some Soviet scientists?

The Flight That Disappeared (1961)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Low-budget but very interesting fantasy/drama about a plane that keeps going higher and higher into the sky but no one on the ground or on-board understands why. I could tell a little more about the plot but that would take away from one's entertainment. This certainly isn't a perfect movie or even a good one but it's got an interesting idea that makes for an entertaining movie. There's no doubt that this isn't going to win any awards but I think fans of the bizarre should have a good time. This thing really plays out like an episode of The Twilight Zone but instead of going into a different galaxy, the plane here just keeps going further up in the sky. I'm not going to spoil why all of this happening but I will say that the final twenty-minutes are the weakest of the film. Considering the small budget, the majority of the running time deals with the variety of passengers and we spend most of the time listening to them talk. We hear about their personal lives, the business their in and of course issues dealing with the atomic bomb, which was a hot subject during this period. The movie's screenplay really does a pretty good job at building up the fantasy elements because you're never fully understanding what's going on or how the plane is going higher. Sure, if you start to think about logics then you can rip the film apart so it's really best that you turn your brain off, sit back and just enjoy. None of the actor's are going to be familiar faces but I thought each of them did fine with their roles. There's certainly nothing too demanding here but the actors fit their parts nicely and manages to make you believe what's going on with their characters. THE FLIGHT THAT DISAPPEARED probably could have benefited from another rewrite and again I think the final twenty-minutes are rather weak. Still, considering what they had to deal with you can't help but feel that the filmmakers did a pretty good job and delivered an entertaining film.

It's a theme we've seen many times before. Scientific advances can carry significant and disastrous consequences when used for bad purposes - such as weapons of war and mass destruction.

What responsibility do the inventors and purveyors of such technology owe to the future? And who will be making the decisions on how the technologies will be put to use?

The film manages to establish a good sense of mystery and other-worldly goings on. Considering that most of the film takes place inside an airplane, this is an accomplishment.

Craig Hill might be the biggest star in this feature, but I'd never heard of him. Surprising, considering his Robert Conrad-like good looks. But all the acting is good.

There's a lot of exposition going on here, establishing the characters, and the interesting coincidence of having three accomplished professionals in the fields of science, engineering and mathematics on the same flight, heading to a meeting in Pentagon Washington DC.

The message is a little heavily-handed in its other-worldly delivery, but I think this was characteristic of the time. It was made in 1961, when nuclear weapons were considered an imminent threat to humanity. (They still are, but we seem to have gotten more used to them.) But, I think the overall look and feel of the movie seems like it could have been made in the 1940s.

Overall, it's not too thrilling or insightful, but it IS interesting.

Remarkably talented unknowns present a potentially hokey story that, in fact, holds up.

In 1961 the threat of devastating nuclear war hung and/or was held over the heads of every resident of Earth. This script asked the question, How guilty are the scientists who help create the weaponry that can destroy the human race, and destroy the future of yet unborn humans?

Author Fredric Brown asked a similar question in his short-short story, "The Weapon," in a very small setting with only three people.

"Flight" has a large cast that presents what might seem to be another doomed airplane story, but that turns out to be the shell containing the setting for asking our question.

There is a science-fictiony feel to this story, but there is probably no other way to deal with the subject: WHO is guilty when the "ultimate weapon" is created? Bureaucrats who demand such a weapon? Military and political people who will be responsible for its use? Or the scientists who do the actual intellectual work of bringing it into existence?

The question is the same as that dealt with in the Brown short-short, and is still one, after 60 years, that needs answering. And needs dealing with even by us who are not in those three categories, but who supply the tax dollars and the cannon fodder for what might well be very short, but totally destructive, wars.

One complaint I have about this excellent motion picture: The cast members are so overwhelmingly capable and even talented, each and every one should be a household name -- but isn't.

A copy of "Flight" is at YouTube and I urge you to watch it.

A passenger plane runs into strange problems.

Sort of feels like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone (1959) or The Outer Limits (1963). And keep in mind this appeared long before the first Airport (1970) movie so back then in 1961 this probably seemed like a landmark flick!

Cast member Gregory Morton (The Examiner) would go on to voice two alien beings in TV's Lost in Space (see episodes Follow The Leader & The Prisoners Of Space).

I enjoyed the movie a lot but not everything about it totally clicks. But well worth a watch.