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When Worlds Collide Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 25 Reviews)

CLASSIC SCI FI
I'M A BIG FAN OF SCI FI. THIS CLASSIC IS VERY GOOD IN TERMS OF PLOT, ACTING, AND EVEN THE SPECIAL EFFECTS. I'M SURE IT WILL BRING ME MANY HOURS OF ENJOYMENT.

The Best Of A Bad Lot
Hollywood has not done well when it comes to movies about celestial objects hitting the Earth. I had seen the poorly done "Meteor", and the comically bad "Armageddon" and was warned away from "Deep Impact" (although I am sure I will eventually see it), but for some reason I had never seen the one which started it all. "When Worlds Collide" was released in August of 1951, shortly before "The Day the Earth Stood Still", and while it too suffers from some bad science, it is a much better movie than the more recent efforts.

This movie was based on a book of the same name by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer which was first published in 1932. I have not yet read the book, so I cannot comment on differences in the story. In the movie, the premise is that a star (Bellus) and its Earth sized planet (Zyra) are heading towards Earth, with Bellus being on a collision course. The movie starts with one scientist sending his data to be confirmed to another group of scientists. After they confirm the results, they attempt to warn the rest of the world, but are dismissed by the rest of the scientific community as publicity seekers. They do manage to convince some business men to contribute a lot of money in an attempt to build a space ship to act as a kind of Noah's Ark to take about 40 people to Zyra in an attempt to save the human race.

As I indicated, the science part of the movie is pretty poor. The passing of the planet Zyra causes great earthquakes and damage to the Earth as it should, and yet somehow the Earth remains quiet and still even when Bellus is closer to the Earth than Zyra, allowing a successful last minute launch. The drawing of lots to choose the people who are to survive is also ridiculous, as clearly they would want people with the proper skills to survive and build a new civilization. Even the initial ability to determine that Bellus would collide with our planet isn't good science, as Bellus is described as being 12 times the size of Earth, which would make it quite small compared to our Sun. Thus the gravitational force of our Sun would undoubtedly alter its path considerably as it approached. There are also the combined effects of all the other celestial bodies in our system, which would make such a determination impossible.

The movie was produced by George Pal, who also produced "The War of the Worlds" (1953), and Cecil B. DeMille, though uncredited, was the executive producer. Rudolph Maté directed the film. The special effects are pretty good for their time, and in fact Gordon Jennings won the Oscar in 1952 for Best Effects, Special Effects for his work on this film. One area which didn't work though was at the end of the film on the planet Zyra where it was completely fake and unrealistic. The other Oscar nomination this movie received was John F. Seitz and W. Howard Greene for Best Cinematography, Color. There are plans to make a newer version of this story, which is currently scheduled for 2008. Let us hope they draw more from the original than they do from the more recent films.

The DVD offers only the trailer for an extra, and there isn't even a booklet or sheet listing the chapters. It is a shame this movie didn't receive the same treatment that "The Day the Earth Stood Still" received when it was released on DVD. As one of the earlier science fiction films, it clearly has had a large impact on the genre.


when worlds collide
one of the best sci fi of it's period. good cast.special effects date it's production. encouraged me to buy the book, which included the sequal"after worlds collide." to bad the sequal was not made.

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