When Worlds Collide - 1951, a Geoge Pal production, Edith Head costume designer, a color movie. This is a big production, an A-list science fiction movie! It is also an excellent end of the world adventure. But for me, this movie has a special place in my heart because it has the coolest silver rocket ever to fly in the era just prior to actual space travel -when all rockets were cigar shaped, V-2 derived, silver rockets. Ah! The golden age of the silver rockets!
The earth appears to be on a collision course with a sun and planetary body, Bellarus and Zyra respectively. There are debates in the UN about the scientific evidence and whether it is conclusive that a collision will occur. (Ah, what hopes people had back then, of the UN as an authoritative body! A world with science at the core of rational decisions and scientists as the most powerful spokespersons). Many attendees scoff at the conclusion put forward by Dr. Hendron that a collision will occur. His proposed solution is to build fleets of rocket ships to fly colonists to the planet Zyra in hopes of surviving the destruction of planet earth. A few are apparently convinced, and some countries go off and attempt to build their own rockets (we never hear much of their efforts). But it is clear that there will be no organized global effort to build rocket ships. Indeed, it is debated whether rockets can be used for interplanetary travel at all!
With the help of a few humanitarian capitalists, Dr. Hendron begins work on a really great looking rocket. It is designed to take off using a sled and rail for added boost, fly through space, and land like a aircraft on the planet Zyra. It is just like the Space Shuttle in concept, only better looking. This is one nifty looking rocket. The ongoing construction of this rocket is the true star of the show. Everything else, plot and character and conflict, revolve around this rocket. Of course, the ship is a Noah's Ark, built to carry a few remnants of humanity and animals to a new world.
There are some interesting elements at work in this movie. How do the builders of this modern day Noah's Ark act? Turns out they respond just like Americans did 6-7 years before this movie, at the height of WWII, at the height of American industrial effort. I love watching the construction scenes, the humanitarian contributions of the wealthy capitalists, the self sacrifice and 'can do' spirit that pervaded WWII. The little signs by every calendar and clock which state, 'Waste Anything Except TIME. Time is Our Shortest Material', so like WWII era industrialism. And just like WWII, women are hard at work in the factory. True, they are secondary assistants or technicians, but they are there, holding real jobs, an opportunity women rarely had prior to the war.
The characters are one dimensional, stock figures. Perhaps they have to be, there is too much going on in terms of plot and events to develop complex characters. Even so, this is the weakest part of the movie. No one stands out. One exception is the villainous and tyrannical capitalist, Stanton, who is providing much of the finance for this project. In return, he gets to be one of the lucky 40 or so passengers on the ship. He provides most of the energy and emotion in this film. The woman, Joyce Hendron, also stands out, not so much for what she does on screen, but what she represents. She is the new, successful, modern woman of the 1950s. She is smart, and can use a DA (Differential Analyser - a room sized machine probably with all the computing power of a modern calculator), she is confident, capable, and she dresses in snappy and professional work suits. Unfortunately, her character falls into a fairly benign choice between two romantic partners - a doctor and a fly-boy.
There are some interesting moral issues in the story. Only 40 people will fit on the rocket. Who gets to go? It ends up a mix of random selection from the rocket factory workers and a hand picked 5-6 people. It is interesting to watch the choices of the picks. For the audience of the time period, the selection process would probably have been viewed as enlightened and fair. It is also interesting to see the self sacrifice and 'for the good of the team' attitudes that mostly prevail. These attitudes would have been comfortable to post-war audiences.
Finally, the star and planet loom close and the earth begins to fall apart in earthquakes, floods, volcanoes and the like. This is a very impressive and a well-done segment of the movie. At the very end of the world, just before the rocket takes off, social order breaks down. Just as the tyrant Stanton predicted, a mob is coming for the rocket. They are too late. The rocket blasts off just in time and flies into space, with satisfying visual effects.
Has this movie stood the test of time? Can modern viewers watch it and enjoy it? Based on some of the reviews I've read here at IMDb, I dunno. The end of the world and avoiding the extinction of humanity with a desperate gamble of flying to an unknown planet in a rocket is a compelling story. For myself, weak characters and dated outlooks are counterbalanced with the coolest silver rocket ever.
The earth appears to be on a collision course with a sun and planetary body, Bellarus and Zyra respectively. There are debates in the UN about the scientific evidence and whether it is conclusive that a collision will occur. (Ah, what hopes people had back then, of the UN as an authoritative body! A world with science at the core of rational decisions and scientists as the most powerful spokespersons). Many attendees scoff at the conclusion put forward by Dr. Hendron that a collision will occur. His proposed solution is to build fleets of rocket ships to fly colonists to the planet Zyra in hopes of surviving the destruction of planet earth. A few are apparently convinced, and some countries go off and attempt to build their own rockets (we never hear much of their efforts). But it is clear that there will be no organized global effort to build rocket ships. Indeed, it is debated whether rockets can be used for interplanetary travel at all!
With the help of a few humanitarian capitalists, Dr. Hendron begins work on a really great looking rocket. It is designed to take off using a sled and rail for added boost, fly through space, and land like a aircraft on the planet Zyra. It is just like the Space Shuttle in concept, only better looking. This is one nifty looking rocket. The ongoing construction of this rocket is the true star of the show. Everything else, plot and character and conflict, revolve around this rocket. Of course, the ship is a Noah's Ark, built to carry a few remnants of humanity and animals to a new world.
There are some interesting elements at work in this movie. How do the builders of this modern day Noah's Ark act? Turns out they respond just like Americans did 6-7 years before this movie, at the height of WWII, at the height of American industrial effort. I love watching the construction scenes, the humanitarian contributions of the wealthy capitalists, the self sacrifice and 'can do' spirit that pervaded WWII. The little signs by every calendar and clock which state, 'Waste Anything Except TIME. Time is Our Shortest Material', so like WWII era industrialism. And just like WWII, women are hard at work in the factory. True, they are secondary assistants or technicians, but they are there, holding real jobs, an opportunity women rarely had prior to the war.
The characters are one dimensional, stock figures. Perhaps they have to be, there is too much going on in terms of plot and events to develop complex characters. Even so, this is the weakest part of the movie. No one stands out. One exception is the villainous and tyrannical capitalist, Stanton, who is providing much of the finance for this project. In return, he gets to be one of the lucky 40 or so passengers on the ship. He provides most of the energy and emotion in this film. The woman, Joyce Hendron, also stands out, not so much for what she does on screen, but what she represents. She is the new, successful, modern woman of the 1950s. She is smart, and can use a DA (Differential Analyser - a room sized machine probably with all the computing power of a modern calculator), she is confident, capable, and she dresses in snappy and professional work suits. Unfortunately, her character falls into a fairly benign choice between two romantic partners - a doctor and a fly-boy.
There are some interesting moral issues in the story. Only 40 people will fit on the rocket. Who gets to go? It ends up a mix of random selection from the rocket factory workers and a hand picked 5-6 people. It is interesting to watch the choices of the picks. For the audience of the time period, the selection process would probably have been viewed as enlightened and fair. It is also interesting to see the self sacrifice and 'for the good of the team' attitudes that mostly prevail. These attitudes would have been comfortable to post-war audiences.
Finally, the star and planet loom close and the earth begins to fall apart in earthquakes, floods, volcanoes and the like. This is a very impressive and a well-done segment of the movie. At the very end of the world, just before the rocket takes off, social order breaks down. Just as the tyrant Stanton predicted, a mob is coming for the rocket. They are too late. The rocket blasts off just in time and flies into space, with satisfying visual effects.
Has this movie stood the test of time? Can modern viewers watch it and enjoy it? Based on some of the reviews I've read here at IMDb, I dunno. The end of the world and avoiding the extinction of humanity with a desperate gamble of flying to an unknown planet in a rocket is a compelling story. For myself, weak characters and dated outlooks are counterbalanced with the coolest silver rocket ever.