A disaster movie long before it would become a la mode ,in the American seventies;and with hindsight, it displays some interest :even the French air force was summoned ,and their interventions provide the movie with a documentary side of their means at the time ; a " flight of the phoenix" ,on a smaller scale : a short film , no color, but the same problem: the law of water ,as the captain says .A plane, caught in a sandstorm ,is forced to land in the middle of the desert : the passengers are civilians ,the crew is military; the former ones include a mother and her baby (that a baby can survive -he almost never cries - in such conditions is one of the implausibilities of the screenplay) , a young couple (Arlette Thomas ,for once not cast as the plain girl and Jean-Pierre Mocky ,future director), a priest, an arrogant petulant cocky businessman , a cop and his handcuffed prisoner (Michel Auclair) -but in the desert,how do you want me to escape?"We've got to travel with a convict ,says an horrified passenger .-Christ was crucified between two thieves " answers the priest ;religion and faith play a prominent part in the story : the midnight mass on the air base which segues into the marooned ones,in the icy night of the desert .Lieutenant Villeneuve does believe that in the hereafter ,there must be a paradise where God has welcomed the lost famous pilots (Saint-Exupery,Mermoz);as he leaves (not obeying his superior) the camp ,he is certain that his brothers in the sky will guide his exhausted feet to a saving caravan :Daniel Gelin ,with his hopeful look,gives one of the two best performances.(He's featured on the poster)Michel Auclair gives a non-conventional performance as a little thief down on his luck ; instead of making him a savior,who would redeem himself (what the audience expects ), the writers make him a weak man ,who,like his fellow men and women,is obsessed by thirst :the scene when he talks about ice and unwittingly advertises French mineral waters,Evian, Vittel,Périer , is human.The rest of the cast is just OK .Henri Vidal is the manly pilot hard on the water stealers but just; the rest are essentially extras .