Movie about a crashed WW2 plane and the crew were ghosts

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I and many other people have been searching in vain for a movie about a war plane that crashed and the crew turned out to be ghosts.
We saw it in the late 60’s. It was in black and white, and likely made in the 50’s or 60’s.
The movie is NOT ‘Sole Survivor’ with William Shattner, which had a very similar plot and was released in the early 70’s.
The key storyline was:
• A WW2 bomber crashed in the desert
• The crew ‘lived’ near the plane and played baseball
• A rescue team arrived but failed to acknowledge the presence the crew
• The crew then realised they were dead and were ghosts
• The ghosts faded and vanished from the location one at a time as the bodies were recovered from around the plane
• One ghost was left behind as his body was not recovered
• As the rescue crew drove away from the scene they found the last body several miles away. The ghost then also vanished.
Many people have commented on this movie (and Sole Survivor) in an online forum at: www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-20660,00.html
Some recollections in relation to the movie title were:
• name of the plane in the title
• flight …
• flight of the …
• phantom flight …
• flight 401 …
Can anyone help?

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Type: Question • Score: 11 • Views: 7,606 • Replies: 14

[+3] - parados - 07/01/2016There is a movie called "[b]Flight of the Phoenix[/b]" starring Jimmy Stewart which is about a downed plane in the desert. This is not the one you are looking for but it contains some...

@glenawalker,

Was it a Twilight Zone episode titled "King Nine will Not Return" ?

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@glenawalker,

I vaguely remember that movie too. It is not the Twilight Zone-King Nine Will Not Return, but maybe another episode. A lot of the Twilight Zone shows are on Youtube, you can check them out.

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@glenawalker,

Heaven Can Wait - Classic.

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What was that dreadful David Niven that gave a whole new dimension to the meaning of 'mawkish'? Oh yes, "A Matter of Life and Death", 1946, released in the United States under the title "Stairway to Heaven". Nothing to do with Led Zeppelin.

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@glenawalker,

Lady Be Good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRzCTIO4jgo

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@glenawalker,

There is a movie called "Flight of the Phoenix" starring Jimmy Stewart which is about a downed plane in the desert. This is not the one you are looking for but it contains some similarities.

I am pretty sure the movie you are looking for is "Sole Survivor" and you may be confusing parts of it with Flight of the Phoenix which was in black and white. I remember watching Flight of the Phoenix on late night TV expecting them all to be ghosts based on my memories of seeing the same movie you are describing. I would have seen Sole Survivor in black and white because we had a black and white TV at the time.

Everything you have mentioned about the film is from the plot of Sole Survivor.
Read the descriptions by several people here -
http://www.nndb.com/films/916/000083667/

1 Reply

@glenawalker,

Thanks folks for your responses - I appreciate your time. Unfortunately these suggestions including Sole Survivor are definitely not the movie that I and others are looking forward.
Cheers

1 Reply

@parados,

There are some stark differences between Sole Survivor, and the older black & white movie that we are all looking for. The 2 main differences are: 1. In Sole Survivor there is one survivor of the crash..who goes on to become a high ranking military officer. In the movie that we are looking for, there are NO survivors. EVERYONE on the plane perished. 2. William Shatner is NOT in the movie we are looking for, though he is a key character in Sole Survivor. 3. In Sole Survivor, we find out way before the end that the characters around the plane are ghosts. In the older black & white film..the characters & the viewers find out that they are ghosts in an ironic unsettling & creepy twist right at the end of the movie. I think that the movie that so many are looking for (including me), is WAY better than Sole Survivor. So, sorry..you can't fit a square peg into a circular hole. And, you can't turn a much older black & white ghost story with no William Shatner into a 1970 colored movie with William Shatner called Sole Survivor.

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@glenawalker,

I saw this film in the 60s. I had the feeling one of the actors was Bonor Colleano but I can’t find any record in his filmography

1 Reply

@Mosstrooper,

I am glad to see others remember this movie as well. I believe it was shown at least 2 times and maybe 3 over the course of several years. I believe it was on CBS. It was shown (as I recall) during prime-time during the week (i.e. not on a weekend). I vaguely recall that one of the crew was playing a harmonica. I also have the sense that it was recorded on video tape, not on film. I'm watching the TZ King 9 Will Not Return episode as I write this, and what we're all recalling is not this same thing (though there may have been inspiration from the TZ episode)

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@glenawalker,

Did you every find out what this movie was? I remember seeing it when I was about 6 or 7 (mid 1960s) on a B&W TV. If it's the movie I'm remembering, the last guy was left alone after all the ghosts disappeared and he picked up a baseball bat to the music of "take me out to the ballgame." I think he then disappears as well. Does that ring a bell? I've been trying to find this movie for years.

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@glenawalker,

did you ever find out what it was called? it was a really good film

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@rwebb,

flight of the pheonix richard attenbourgh

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@glenawalker,

Don’t know if you were still looking for this movie, but “Ghost Plane of the Desert” is the one I’m looking for and it sounds like you are looking for it as well. It was about the B24 “Lady Be Good”.

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Movie about a crashed WW2 plane and the crew were ghosts

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