Seven in Darkness

(DNF) This movie HAD potential. Unfortunately, after the plane crashes & only blind people are left, that's when it gets stupid. Unlike other reviewers, I'm ok with only blind people surviving the crash. Pilots ALWAYS die in plane crashes, and there were only two stewardesses, so no problem.

The problems begin when a blind war hero leads the survivors down a steep mountain, with nothing but some yarn. Uh, yeah, I'm out, can't watch any further. Ridiculous.

It's the story of a plane crash in a remote area, where the surviving passengers attempt to make their way to civilization and life. Here, though, they happen to be blind. Milton Berle is superb as Sam, an embittered, angry man caught up in his past disappointments and who is now in the struggle of his life.

Seven in Darkness (1969)

*** (out of 4)

A plane full of blind people are being taken to Seattle during a very bad storm when it crashes into the wilderness. Naturally, everyone on the plane who could see are now dead and it's up to seven people, including a pregnant woman, to try and make it out of the woods even though they can't see.

This here was the first ABC Movie of the Week and it's pretty funny to see how much all future TV movies can pretty much be seen here. You've got a very interesting story to grab your attention. You've got famous faces like Milton Berle, Barry Nelson, Leslie Ann Warren and Arthur O'Connell. You've got a short running time that goes by very quickly. And you've got the cliffhanger moments that build into a commercial. SEVEN IN DARKNESS has several flaws but there's no question that it holds your attention from the opening moments until the closing credits and it's certainly worth viewing.

If you're into disaster movies then you're going to enjoy this as the idea because it is quite good. How would seven blind people make it down off a mountain? With a running time of just 73 minutes nothing is given to us in great detail. In fact, I would have liked to have seen the "how" a tad bit more because it seems their journey was just a tad bit too easy for the most part. Still, there are some tense scenes including one where a couple members are attacked by wolves and another where they must try to find a way to cross a river. The performances for the most part are good and on the whole SEVEN IN DARKNESS is a good little film.

Director Michael Caffey, about whom I know nothing, steers SEVEN IN DARKNESS as blindly as the plot's unfortunate seven blind persons who survive an air crash in an undetermined place - and the result is a largely unintentional comedy.

In addition to their handicap, these blind persons suffer from delusions of power, selfishness, they steal, lie, and do all manner of evil. Thankfully, they stop short of gorging each other down (the source of their food is not known and, to make matters worse, it is being stolen by one greedy element) but thankfully there is none of the cannibalism that would occur in a real life aviation crash in the Andes in October 1972.

Their elected leader (democracy among the blind!), Milton Berle - about whom I also know zero - manages to lead them to safety. In the process, these sightless souls manage to find yarn to string themselves together, start fires to keep warm - though none seem to smoke, and why non-smokers should carry lighters on themselves is baffling -, manage to find a makeshift bridge well above the foot of a hill, and even survive an attack, and kill a brute of a wolf who, for reasons known only to itself, strays off its pack to attack first one of the seven blind, then another. Both injured men bleed profusely in wintry and windy conditions, which should put most human lives at risk, but these two brave it all and you don't see any blood on their clothes.

Lovely Lesley Anne Warren is wasted, your don't even get to see her famous legs and curvy waist. Dear old Arthur O'Connel, always a highly reliable supporting actor, disappears much too soon, leaving a motley crew of sadly limited actors to carry the action, often driven by motivations that had me containing laughter out of respect, and just as often fighting dozing off.

Amazingly, the child who they come across and reluctantly rescues them initially seems to speak a different language, but then somehow trots out perfect English. Yet another miracle if ever there was one!

The irony is that this cheapo might be the precursor of all the disaster films of the 1970s, beginning with AIRPORT (1970) and continuing with POSEIDON, EARTHQUAKE, TOWERING INFERNO, and an array of ever worsening AIRPORT sequels.

Photography is typical B TV product of the 1960s, very washed up and low grade filmmaking. The script is downright naive. 3/10.

An interesting little film. The plot is a bit far fetched and corny at times, but not incredible. A chartered plane carrying mostly blind passengers to a convention, crashes in the wilderness and only the blind survive. It is quite interesting to see how they try to extricate themselves and make it back to civilization. Those who see this movie will never again take their eyesight for granted. This film used to be rerun quite often, but, as far as I know, it hasn't been released on video and has not been broadcast for many years. I can't figure out why. It's an interesting and unique addition to the "disaster film" genre with brand name actors; including Milton Berle in a dramatic role; and should do well if re-released.