• Rating:
• Genre: Science Fiction
• Movie Type: Sci-Fi Disaster Film
• Themes: Race Against Time, End of the World
• Director: Rudolph Maté
• Main Cast: Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, Peter Hanson, John Hoyt, Larry Keating
• Release Year: 1951
• Country: US
• Run Time: 81 minutes
• MPAA Rating: G

Plot

First published in 1932, Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer's speculative novel When Worlds Collide was immediately purchased by Paramount as a possible project for director Cecil B. DeMille. But because none of Paramount's scriptwriters were able to come up with an adequate screen treatment, the property lay on the shelf until 1950, when producer George Pal was casting about for a follow-up to his successful sci-fier Destination Moon. Though the film was top-heavy with special effects, Pal was able to bring When Worlds Collide in for under a million dollars, thanks to an inexpensive cast and a heavy reliance upon stock footage. The story is set in motion when Dr. Cole Henderson (Larry Keating) announces that a extraterrestrial planet is on a collision course with the Earth. No one believes Henderson's story, save for crippled financier Stanton (John Hoyt), who finances the construction of a gigantic spaceship, built for the purpose of transporting selected survivors from the doomed Earth to another Earthlike planet. As it becomes obvious that Henderson's predictions will come true, a worldwide lottery is held to select those people who will be rescued from oblivion by Stanton's spaceship. In the climactic scenes, the worlds do indeed collide, with appropriately spectacular results. But will the spaceship, overloaded with humanity, be able to take off and seek out a Brave New World? Amidst the thrills, a romantic triangle emerges, involving Richard Derr, Barbara Rush and Peter Hanson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Review

Even though the acting in this 1951 production is mostly average, the film is nonetheless praiseworthy for its special effects and lickety-split pacing. From the opening scene to the last, the film races along as scientists scramble to cope with the ultimate disaster -- the end of the world. Legendary special-effects guru George Pal dots the sky with an ominous speck that soon burgeons into a great fireball -- a sun-sized body called Bellus -- as it hurtles toward earth. As civilization awaits doom, calendars display only one image -- the number of days remaining before impact. Americans work day and night to construct a rocket ship, a modern Noah's ark, to transport a lucky few to a new planet, Zyra, that will pass Earth just before the collision. The final scenes of the film stretch nerves as the sky reddens and a desperate mob storms the ship. Actors Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, John Hoyt, and Larry Keating play the principal roles with yeomanly competence, but the script is not strong enough to allow them to wax poetic or philosophical. The real star here, besides Bellus, is George Pal. Born in Hungary, Pal migrated to the U.S. after Hitler's rise to power and learned rocketry basics after befriending German immigrant scientists Willey Ley and Wernher von Braun. He used this knowledge to build the film's spaceship, a rocket that fires up in a horizontal position on a ramp. As the rocket gains speed, the ramp rises like a roller coaster. Artist Chesley Bonestell, who illustrated space scenes for scientists and writers and contributed to Life magazine, helped Pal create his special effects. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Richard Derr - Dave Randall
• Barbara Rush - Joyce Hendron
• Peter Hanson - Dr. Tony Drake
• John Hoyt - Sydney Stanton
• Larry Keating - Dr. Cole Hendron

Judith Ames - Julie Cummings; Stephen Chase - Dr. Dean George Frey; Frank Cady - Harold Ferris; Hayden Rorke - Dr. Emery Bronson; Sandro Giglio - Dr. Ottinger; Mary Murphy - Student; Laura Elliot - Stewardess; Kirk Alyn; Gertrude Astor - Traveler; Gene Collins - Newsdealer; James Congdon - Eddie Garson; Marcel dela Brosse - Headwaiter; Arthur Gilmore - Paul; Ramsay Hill - Frenchman; Rudy Lee - Mike; Freeman Lusk - Rudolph Marston; Joseph Mell - Glen Spiro; Leonard Mudie - British UN Representative; Gay Nelson - Leda; John Ridgely - Chief Airport Inspector; Frances Sanford - Alice, Secretary; James Seay - Donovan, Reporter at Airport; Queenie Smith - Matron with Cigarette; Robert Sully; Stuart Whitman - Student; Paul H. Frees - Narrator; W. Wallace Kelley; Estelle Etterre - Traveler; Sam Finn - Traveler; Charmienne Harker; Hassan Khayyam - Indian Chairman; William Meader - Clerk; Richard Vath - Student; Keith Richards - Stanley; Harry Stanton - Dr. Zenta

Credit

Pat Moore - Additional Editing; Harry Barndollar - Special Effects; Sydney Boehm - Screenwriter; Sam Comer - Set Designer; Ross Dowd - Set Designer; Howard Greene - Cinematographer; W. Howard Greene - Cinematographer; Edith Head - Costume Designer; Gordon Jennings - Special Effects; Rudolph Maté - Director; Albert Nozaki - Art Director; George Pal - Producer; Hal Pereira - Art Director; John F. Seitz - Cinematographer; Leith Stevens - Composer (Music Score); Wally Westmore - Makeup; Philip Wylie - Book Author; Gene Merritt - Sound/Sound Designer; Walter Oberst - Sound/Sound Designer; Arthur P. Schmidt - Editor; Edwin Balmer - Book Author

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