The Flight that Disappeared (1961) (film review).
On the final prop-driven aircraft, passenger flight 60 from Los Angeles to Washington, people are introducing themselves to each other, including some nuclear scientists. Suddenly, it finds itself going upwards with no way to stop. All the propellers cut out, and yet they are still climbing. The passengers who require oxygen receive it, but the supply lasts only for 15 minutes.
Mathematician Marcia Paxton (actress Paula Raymond) continues to smoke, burning up the cabin oxygen. The cabin crew are all unconscious, and the flight continues for a couple of days. The ground crew determines that without fuel, the aircraft is in danger.
Three of them, mathematician Marcia Paxton, engineer Tom Endicott (Craig Hill), and nuclear scientist Dr. Carl Moss (actor Dayton Lummis), wake up, the other passengers unconscious. They meet The Examiner (actor Gregory Morton), who warns them of the dangers of nuclear missiles. A jury considers them guilty and they remain where they are until The Sage (actor Addison Richards) says they have to go back.
Endicott wakes up to smelling salts and panics a little, although Moss and Paxton take him to the lounge, and they discover they had the same dream. The thing is, everything is back to normal until they land in Washington and find they are 24 hours late.
The SF aspect doesn’t really happen until 50 minutes in, and it gives its message against using nuclear missiles. Considering this was released in 1961 and World War II was some 16 years ago, you have to wonder at who it was aimed at, especially as the Bay of Pigs fiasco was another two years into the future. Even so, it must still have been on a lot of people’s minds to get out there. As a period piece, it’s an interesting curio.
GF Willmetts
December 2024
(pub: public domain. 1 dvd 73 minute black and white film).
cast: Craig Hill, Paula Raymond, Dayton Lummis, Gregory Morton.
