La morte viene dallo spazio (1958)

User Rating:

4.3/10   

Director:

Paolo Heusch

Writers:

Sandro Continenza (writer)
Marcello Coscia (writer)

Release Date:

27 September 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Plot:

Scientists discover that a group of meteors are hurtling on a collison course with Earth, and if they hit, the planet will be destroyed. |

Plot Keywords:

Meteor | Atomic Bomb | Collision | Meteor Threatens Earth | Disasters

Cast

Paul Hubschmid	...	John McLaren
Fiorella Mari	...	Mary McLaren
Madeleine Fischer	...	Katy Dandridge
Ivo Garrani	...	Prof. Herbert Weisse
Dario Michaelis	...	Peter Leduq
Peter Meersman	...	Gen. van Dorff
Jean-Jacques Delbo	...	Sergei Boetnikov
Massimo Zeppieri	...	Dennis McLaren
Sam Galter	...	Randowsky
Annie Bernal	...	Lab Assistant
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gérard Landry
Giacomo Rossi-Stuart	...	Stuart

Also Known As:

Death from Outer Space (USA) (pre-release title)
Le danger vient de l'éspace (France)
The Day the Sky Exploded (International: English title)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Compagnie Cinématographique de France

Terrific Italian-French Science Fiction for the era

This movie is very good considering what a low budget it must have had. A combined Italian-French effort this film was the basis for Meteor, Deep Impact, and Armageddon many years later. The special effects are very good for the era. One of the most interesting aspects of the film is that it showed U.S.-Russian cooperation for peaceful means at the hight of the cold war, very different than most movies of the time. The other similar movie of the 1950's about a collision with Earth is When Worlds Collide. However even though When Worlds Collide is in color this is the better and more realistic of the two films. Also there is less damage to the Earth in this movie than in Meteor, Deep Impact, and especially When Worlds Collide where the earth gets completely destroyed. It is interesting to see primitive computers and airplanes of the time. If you like Deep Impact and Armageddon you need to see this film that those two movies were based on.