Joseph_Gillis The movie's title was only a partial clue; the opening scene of airmen lounging by a plane wreck in the Libyan desert, and talking of their life in that inhospitable wilderness for the preceding 17 years, immediately alert you that we're venturing into 'Twilight Zone' territory. Except that this film is more about the twilight zone of the conscience of a guilt-wracked man: a man who'd suppressed his guilt for 17 years, but is now being forced to confront it, publicly, and by men who had come to respect him.There's so much that's admirable about this film it's hard to know exactly where to start: I suppose everything has to start with the script, which is superb, as is its editing, structure, and direction. Using the ghosts of dead men as both commentators and judge and jury of the navigator who'd abandoned them is an inspired choice, as is leavening the drama and tragedy with the comic relief they provide, a relief derived partly from their tacit recognition of their powerlessness.At times it plays like a detective story, too, as the most likely scenarios are assessed, and as pressure is brought to bear upon the Major leading the enquiry, reminding him of the necessity to think of his career, and of the distinguished officer whose career and reputation he may be about to damage, irreversibly, should he make the wrong conclusions. Until we learn of the mistake the major had himself made.Inevitably a decision had to be made, but even then the director and screenwriter found a way to ingest a little poetry: those beautiful, elegiac final scenes, where the ghosts feel their immortality slipping away, were a fitting end to a wholly admirable piece of work.It was interesting that I would have first become aware of two of the three leads playing commanding officers in science-fiction ships of different eras - respectively Richard Basehart, as the general (Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea), and William Shatner (Star Trek). Unsurprisingly, Basehart, being the more feted actor, shone brightest here, but Shatner acquitted himself well as the pragmatic enquiry leader, focused on his career, and his imminent pension. Vince Edwards did well, also, as the major, with his own debt to pay.

SkySgt I saw this movie when it first aired on television in 1970. I was in elementary school, and got caught by the teacher doodling a picture of the aircraft during class. I was so enamored with this movie, that I could not think of anything else. I bored the crap out of my friends by retelling the story for the next several weeks. Surprisingly, none of them saw the movie.Though it is not a quality video stream, you can view this movie in it's entirety at GOOGLE Videos. Sorry, this IMDb review site will not let me paste the full link here.To see the full length movie, go to GOOGLE.com and do a search for SOLE SURVIVOR. In the margin to the left, click on VIDEOS. Look for the video that is 96 minutes long.There are other videos on the site that are just "snippets." Look for the 96 minute one and click on it to watch.Enjoy!

evereader Lately I've been listening to an audio book called "Great Military Blunders of the 20th Century" and during the huge section on WWII a brief chapter came up describing the fate of "Lady be Good." As I got to talking with my wife about the incident, I realized there had to be a connection with the haunting TV movie I'd seen decades ago. I still remember watching it on the B&W TV in my family's basement - with no one else around & believe me it stuck with me. I didn't see any comments on one of the conversations of the ghost crew when one of the members is amazed & fairly disappointed/upset that the Brooklyn Dodgers are no longer in Brooklyn but out in LA. That little bit stuck with me over the years, maybe because I'm from the NYC area. Today all that pathos, pain, relief & a whole bunch of emotions that the young guys felt as they suddenly started their journey to their final resting place, came flooding back as if I'd just watched the movie. Though Learmedia has the film for a whopping 27 dollars and change, I AM absolutely going to buy this film. Now that I think about it, the ideas about death in this film, clearly influenced my own writing in a book - a novel - I am about to release called "The Rest is Silence" ," where the person telling the story, the main character's first wife, has died & is trying to work out/figure out the confusion and anger she feels toward her husband. As others have pointed out, they just don't make them like this anymore. In fact, but for the exception of this film, TV movie or not, and a few like it, maybe they never did. For years I'd mixed this one up with Flight of the Phoenix. Now I realize, except for the desert, they have very little in common. Thanks!

wlfraed Well, unlike some comments, for some reason, I have always known the title... But like many, I've only seen it ONCE.Why this post -- SciFi channel running the Twilight Zone episode that just barely reminds one of the movie.Soul Survivor is one movie that, if not to be available on DVD, would be a viable movie for showing on the SciFi channel... Though I think I'd prefer DVD.Like others, this is a movie that STICKS with one... It is hard to forget -- even after 35 years. (ouch... to think that I was less than 15 at the time... and didn't even recognize Shatner!)