The Disappearance of Flight 412 (1974)

This was a decent TV-movie about US government reaction to the question of air force personnel coming across UFOs during routine flight tests. It is well-acted and constructed, and at 71 minutes, doesn't overstay its welcome. Though I haven't been the biggest Glenn Ford fan over the years, through seeing more of his work, my appreciation and fondness had been slowly but steadily climbing, and it was a decent, fun look at pre-'Starsky and Hutch' and pop-music-success David Soul and pre-'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman' Greg Mullavey, as well as other decent, recognizable talent from the 70's American crime/police shows and TV-movies I watched growing up here in Canada.Former actor and later Directors Guild of America vice president and president director Taylor, a mainstay of American TV-movies and shows from 1965-2004 (whom I know most from his work on the original 'Star Trek' series) utilizes a documentary-style approach for the film, complete with military words and times appearing on the screen and narration. It's a serviceable method, though at the very end he undermines it, showing the usual 'All characters and events are fictitious...' blurb...had he not, I would have given it 7/10. It's a decent watch and makes you wonder just how governments around the world have reacted to abnormal events such as those that are talked about here. It's definitely worth a watch if you're interested at all in 'close encounters', like any of the three actors I mentioned, and can appreciate and enjoy the 70's style of television making. My copy was in my infamous Mill Creek 50-pack 'Nightmare Worlds'.

Glenn Ford stars as an Air Force colonel by the name of "Pete Moore" who has just sent a four-man crew on a flight to test some electrical equipment. As Flight 412 nears its destination they are informed by a nearby Marine Corps air base that there are three strange blips on their radar screen and Flight 412 is requested to confirm it. After confirming it the Marine Corps sends two Phantom jets to intercept these unidentified flying objects only to have them mysteriously disappear. At this point the Marine Corps air base turns control of Flight 412 over to NORAD which then diverts it to another heading and orders them to maintain radio silence until they land at an undisclosed location. Now, rather than reveal any more of the film and risk ruining it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was an interesting movie for the most part. Although it begins in a semi-documentary style which opens and closes with a narrative it doesn't really reveal anything out of the ordinary. In essence, it's slightly entertaining but not that informative or factual. All things considered I rate it as average.

The Disappearance of Flight 412 is a rather cheaply made TV movie with really bad sound that doesn't seem to make any point. If there are indeed UFOs visiting our fair planet we can't seem to ever get a handle on it with anything definitive. If they are and the government has documentation they are covering it up. Hardly anything revelatory.Air Force Colonel Glenn Ford is in charge of a flight group in which one of his flight crews is making some radar equipment checks. They see a strange object in the sky, some Marine jets are scrambled and they disappear off the radar scope. Ford's crew is diverted to a secret base nearby his base that he does not know anything about. But with a little sleuthing he tracks down where his men are gets them out.Quite frankly he should have dropped it right there, but he pursues it and gets himself in a ringer with General Kent Smith. The conclusion, there really isn't any.Robert F. Lyons does the best acting job as the colonel in charge of the top secret installation, a really smarmy type. Ford does his usual professional job. But in the final analysis the only people who this film might appeal to are aviation buffs.

Long before flying saucer buffs were accusing the government of hiding the facts behind the Roswell UFO crash, this movie explored the possibility that military sightings were handled in a covert and serious way.Presented in a straightforward, semi-documentary style, The Disappearance of Flight 412 is directed with economy and tight pacing. This is an absorbing and convincing TV movie [a rarity] that could be classified as science fiction or straight drama.If you can find it playing somewhere on cable, don't miss it.