THE FLIGHT THAT DISAPPEARED

Paula Raymond and Craig Hill

THE FLIGHT THAT DISAPPEARED (1961). Director: Reginald Le Borg.

Flight 60 takes off from LA and is heading for Washington D.C. with several special passengers aboard. Carl Morris (Dayton Lummis of The Music Box Kid) is a physicist who has come up with an idea for a devastating Beta bomb. Marcia Paxton (Paula Raymond of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms) is a mathematician and Morris' assistant. Tom Endicott (Crag Hill of Deadly Duo) is a rocket engineer who feels an attraction to Marcia. Inexplicably the flight keeps rising higher and higher into the air despite the best efforts of the crew. Then the engines stop running and the three aforementioned find themselves in a weird, fantastic nightmare -- or the Twilight Zone, if you prefer. The Flight that Disappeared is like a long, third-rate TZ episode complete with heavy-handed message. The first half is intriguing and well done and holds the attention, but then it collapses into illogical, incoherent stupidity below comic book level. The acting is generally professional, with Lummis taking top honors. Harvey Stephens [The Cheat] and Meg Wyllie are vivid as an hysterical, mentally-disturbed passenger and his blind wife. Another messterpiece from the fine folks at Bel-Air.

Verdict: A Rod Serling reject. **.