Main Cast: John Agar, Greta Thyssen, Ann Smyrner, Mimi Heinrich, Carl Ottosen
Release Year: 1962
Country: US/SE/DK
Run Time: 80 minutes
Plot
Travelling by spaceship to the planet Uranus in year 2010, a group of astronauts are confronted with a mysterious being who resembles a brain but is "thousands of times more powerful," a bevy of pretty girls whom they may or may not have loved in a previous life, and, of course, the inevitable monster, a gargantuan rat. Made by the same people who gave the world Reptilicus (1961), screenwriter Ib Melchior and American scholck-producer Sidney Pink, this endearingly silly sci-fi movie was filmed in Denmark with a largely Danish cast. Hollywood actor John Agar and Greta Thyssen -- a former Miss Denmark who had doubled for Marilyn Monroe and appeared opposite The Three Stooges -- added a bit of box-office value to the otherwise mundane proceedings. Apparently filmed in English, the Danish actors speak their lines with utmost care and deliberation, presumably to make it easier for dubbing purposes. Carl Ottosen, who was hilariously inept in Reptilicus, hams it up with abandonment this time around as well. Rushing onto the cardboard set with dire news to report, Ottosen stops dead in his tracks, takes a deep breath, and delivers his dialogue ve-ry slow-ly and with much care. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Review
Journey to the Seventh Planet is a cheesy, terribly bad slice of low-budget science fiction -- which on one level is cause for celebrating. Yes, Planet is one of those bad films that's quite a lot of fun to laugh at. It's also rather endearing; despite the fact that they have stolen liberally from much better science fiction masters in creating their script, director/screenwriter Sidney Pink and co-scripter Ib Melchior approach their material with an air of commitment and naivete that makes the proceedings difficult to resist. Make no mistake about it: the writing is absolutely terrible, with dialogue that a third grader would be ashamed to place his name to and characterizations that put a capital "s" in "Stereotype." But it's so poor that one can't help feel like patting the writers on the back and saying, "There, there, you gave it a good go, didn't you?" Pink's direction is rather on the languid side, perhaps because the mostly-foreign cast seems to have been told to speak very slowly. Dubbing is subpar (and all the more entertaining) and the acting -- including that of "B" sci-fi legend John Agar -- is pretty awful. As for the special effects -- well, what can one do on $1.98? To be fair, there are one or two moments, such as an apple rotting, that are well done. But these are more than made up for by the horrible monster and footage from other films which is quite obviously patched in. Despite its pacing, Planet is still a hoot. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Journey to the Seventh Planet was a 1962 science fiction film. It was shot in Denmark with a budget of only US$75,000. The seventh planet is, of course, Uranus, and a crew is being dispatched there by the United Nations on a mission of space exploration. The film's ideas of astronauts exploring outer space only to confront their inner mindscapes and memories precede the similar-themed Solaris by a full decade (Although the novel Solaris precedes this film by a year). It is also reminiscent of Ray Bradbury's 1948 short story Mars is Heaven! that appeared in the 1950 book The Martian Chronicles.
During their journey to the planet an alien presence briefly assumes control of the crew's minds. They awaken safely but notice that an unexplained long period of time has passed by.
Upon landing on Uranus, they find a forested land oddly like our own (rather than the cold, bleak world they were expecting.) This forest is surrounded by a mysterious barrier. One of the crew pushes his arm through the barrier, only to have it frozen.
New features and forms begin to appear each time they are imagined by the crew. Soon, however, the crew discover that they have been the victim of mind-control by a one-eyed brain living in a cave. Naturally the alien brain plans to possess the astronaut's bodies and have them take it back to Earth where it will, of course, implement a plan for global domination. The crew finally outwits the supposedly mind-reading creature.
Notes
The film was produced right after Reptilicus, with partly identical cast and crew.
Since the film was shot in Denmark, it features mainly Danish actors, all of whom are dubbed in the US release version.
The film was never released in Denmark, where the only Danish-language print has since disappeared.
Literature
Sidney W. Pink: So You Want to Make Movies (Pineapple Press, 1989)
Nicolas Barbano: Twice Told Tails - The Two Versions of Reptilicus, in Video Watchdog #96 (2003)
