Saturday, February 21, 2009

When Worlds Collide (1951) G - 4 Stars

When it's learned that a planet, and a dead star, are on a collision course with planet Earth, the only thing to do is to build a space ship to carry away a small group of people left to start a new world. WOW I just realized I have never seen this classic so I decided to rent it. For 1951 I must say the movie was pretty good. Though it doesn't show what happens to the rest of the planet when it's hit by a large planet, but I loved how they described their planned launch to just let gravity take over. First published as a novel of 1933 by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer, it's one good sci-fi to see, especially for the era.

Dr. Emery Bronson (Hayden Rorke), an astronomer from South Africa, has discovered something terrifying in outer space. Zyra, a small planet about the size of Earth, is headed extremely close to Earth while a dying star Bellus is following right behind, in a collision course set straight for Earth. Dr. Bronson hires pilot Dave Randall (Richard Derr) to fly his findings to another astronomer Dr. Cole Hendron (Larry Keating) in America. After confirming Dr. Bronson's suspicions, it's agreed, the Earth has 8 months before the planets will collide. In order to save the human race, a space ship must be designed to carry a small selected group of people away from the Earth before it explodes. Zyra appears to be the closest new planet that can be reached. For the next eight months, endless teams will work together working on the giant Noah's Ark that will carry mankind into it's next existence.

1951 When Worlds Collide - Winner Special Effects - Academy

Paramount Studios
Director: Rudolph Maté
Writer: Sydney Boehm
Producer: George Pal
I viewed 2/09

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