"Desperate Search" is a film that lost a lot of money at the box office. I can't say for sure why this happened but wonder if perhaps word got out that the child actors (particularly the little girl) were really annoying.
Two kids are on a DC-3 airliner and the plane crashes in the winderness. Somehow the children survive but the rest of the passengers and crew do not. Judging by how darned annoying the little girl is, I wish that some others had survived instead! Regardless, the pair are stranded and a search party is out looking for them. And, it just so happens that the kids' parents both are pilots and assist in the efforts.
Much of the time the little girl, Janet, is on screen, she's either crying, whining about SOMETHING or crying for her father. I know kids would be hysterical in such a situation....at least for a little while. But her behavior was not just annoying and off-putting but it seemed over the top as well. I just can't imagine audiences back in the day liking to see this awful kid on the screen....and probably were hoping a bear or mountain lion would just eat her!
Without Janet, the film was mildly interesting. But it really hurt the story to have her in it because I can't imagine any parent WANTING to find this brat.