Weird Worlds Collection
© Image Entertainment
Show Grade: B
Disc Grade: C+
Reviewed Format: DVD
Cast: John Archer, Donna Martell, Francis X. Bushman
Writers: Robert A. Heinlein, William Telaak
Directors: Irving Pichel, Richard Talmadge, William Marshall
Extras: none
Suggested Retail: $24.99
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"Weird Worlds Collection: Part One"
By: John SinnottDate: Friday, November 03, 2006
Ahh, old 50's science fiction. Ya either love it or hate it. Those of us who grew up watching the “Creature Feature” show on the local UHF channel back in the dark days before VCRs and home video have fond memories of watching these films, often the only SF available. Image has taken four of these SF films from the 50’s and early 60’s, some great, some not so great, all previously released on DVD, and packaged them together under the awful title of The Weird Worlds Collection. An interesting selection of films, I’ll review the first two films (Destination Moon and Project Moon Base both of which had the involvement of SF great Robert A. Heinlein) in this article and the final two movies (Phantom Planet and First Rocketship on Venus) in part two.
Destination Moon (1950):
Destination Moon was the first science fiction movie that took the concept of space travel seriously, and strived to be as scientifically accurately as possible. In doing so it heavily influenced science fiction films for decades afterward.
The movie was first pitched to Eagle-Lion films by producer Aubrey Schenck (Robinson Crusoe on Mars) and director William Castle (House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler.) They had acquired the rights to Robert A. Heinlein's book Rocketship Galileo and were sure that it had movie potential. Arthur Krim at Eagle-Lion squashed the idea saying that the idea of a man going to the moon was too outrageous. Producer George Pal (War of the Worlds, When Worlds Collide) heard of the idea though and liked it. He eventually convinced Krim to green light the film.
Pal's project was top notch all the way, even though it had a meager budget of $586,000. Heinlein was hired to help adapt his book, and act as technical advisor. Chesley Bonstell, a painter who specialized in photo-realistic spacescapes was brought on for the matte work.
Pal called his film a "documentary of the future," and took pains to make it scientifically accurate. Every attention was given to detail and realism. From the crews faces being pressed down due to the g-forces during take-off to the weightlessness of free-fall (though this was exaggerated a bit too much), the special effects were state of the art, and very effective. One of the more imaginative effects was employed while the ship was on the moon. Midgets were used to double the actors when some of the crew were away from the ship to make that stage appear larger than it really was. The movie won the 1950 Academy Award for special effects.
Another thing that the movie had going for it was lots of publicity. It garnered coverage in both movie and mainstream magazine and publications. It may have had too much press. The buzz surrounding the movie was so strong, that it prompted independent movie producer Robert Lippert to rush a similar picture into production. Lippert's picture, the very inferior Rocketship X-M, was completed first, and managed to open two weeks before Destination Moon. Even with this, George Pal's movie succeed, grossing five and a half million dollars during its theatrical release.
The story is pretty simple and straightforward. Three men; a scientist, an industrialist, and a retired Army general, join forces to finance and construct the first moon rocket. Time is of the essence, since another unnamed, unfriendly country is trying to reach the moon first. They raise the money (with the help of a Woody Woodpecker cartoon,) and the ship is built in the desert. Just as the rocket is completed, it is learned that foreign spies have used the media to turn the populace against the idea of space travel. In a frantic per-dawn lift off, the three heroes and a forth crew member, take off for the moon before the government can stop them.
Since this was adapted from a Heinlein novel, the characters are lively and interesting, if a bit two dimensional. The story isn't driven by the characters however, but by the fantastical plot of a man actually going to the moon. There are enough problems the travelers encounter, both before and after the takeoff, to keep the viewer's attention and make the movie lively.
The one aspect that sets this film apart from the vast majority of SF movies and TV shows that were made before it is the fact that it isn't aimed at young children. This is the first movie that recognizes that science fiction could rise above the level of comic books and kiddie shows. It has fantastic elements (for 1950 at least) but it treats them with respect and uses these to accentuate the drama. While it doesn't have the intensity of The Day the Earth Stood Still or the paranoia and suspense of The Thing from Another World, this is a solid film that didn't look down on its subject matter and went on to start the SF craze of the 50's.
Project Moon Base (1953):
This film also had the involvement of Robert A. Heinlein. He is such a towering figure in the field of SF novels, it's a bit surprising that the films that he was actively involved in didn't turn out better than they did.
After Destination Moon, Heinlein's book Space Cadet was turned into the juvenile TV show Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. It was a success and when thoughts of a SF show for older kids came up, Heinlein was naturally considered. He came up with the story for a television show that was going to be called Ring Around the Moon. The first two episodes were shot and when the series didn't sell these shows were stitched together to form the feature film Project Moon Base. (Not Project Moonbase (with two words instead of three) as it is often erroneously labeled by the careless including the person who created the cover for Image.)
As one would expect from the origins of the show, there are really two plots in this movie. The first on involves a cell of foreign spies who are trying to destroy America's space station, since they hate liberty. The group replaces a scientist, Dr. Wernher, who is going to the station with a double that will do their bidding. His mission is to blow up the station at any cost.
From the space station Dr. Wernher is going to embark on a flight around the moon to search for a suitable spot for a moon base. Maj. Bill Moore is the co-pilot on this trip, and the pilot is Col. Briteis (pronounced "bright eyes") a *gasp* woman. Maj. Moore is obviously in love with Briteis but can't let get over the fact that she out ranks him.
While on the moon trip the doppelganger Wernher tries to take over the space ship and crash it into the space station. Moore fights him off while Briteis pretty much screams, but in the scuffle the ship crash lands on the dark side of the moon.
This starts the second plot; the three stranded astronauts have to work together to get word to Earth that they are alive and figuring out how to survive.
There were some good aspects to this film, but much of it was undermined by the slow pace and inane dialog. The idea that a woman could be a space pilot was obviously Heinlein's, but the writers had Briteis spouting dialog that made her seem like a petulant child rather than a competent astronaut. She can't seem to do anything for herself, and the men are always left to save the day.
The special effects are very good for a TV show. The moonscape looks realistic, and the scenes in the space station where people are walking on both the floor and ceiling are very well done. Unfortunately this is overshadowed by the way the show is constructed. Most of the film consists of people sitting in a room talking, and this saps the excitement out of what could have been an interesting show.
Next time (tomorrow with any luck) I’ll discuss the other two films in this set: Phantom Planet a movie that has many SF themes thrown into it, and the East German/Polish production First Rocketship on Venus.
