Il pianeta degli uomini spenti (1961)

User Rating:

3.9/10   

Director:

Antonio Margheriti

Writers:

Ennio De Concini (story)
Ennio De Concini (screenplay)

Release Date:

March 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Plot:

A runaway asteroid dubbed "The Outsider" mysteriously begins orbiting the Earth and threatens it with lethal flying saucers.

Plot Keywords:

Flying Saucer | Asteroid | Mars | Calculus | Scientist

Cast

Claude Rains	...	Professor Benson
Bill Carter	...	Cmdr. Bob Cole
Umberto Orsini	...	Dr. Fred Steele
Maya Brent	...	Eve Barnett
Jacqueline Derval	...	Mrs. Collins
Renzo Palmer	...	Barrington
Carlo D'Angelo	...	General Varreck (as Carlo d'Angelo)
Carol Danell	...	Cathy Cole
Jim Dolen	...	Boyd
Joe Pollini	...	Pat (as Joseph Pollini)
John Stacy	...	Dr. Cornfield
Aldo D'Ambrosio	...	United Commission Member
Massimo Righi	...	Lewis Boyd
Giuliano Gemma	...	Moran
Annamaria Mustari		(as Anna Maria Mustari)

Also Known As:

Battle of the Worlds (USA) (dubbed version)
Guerre planetarie (Italy)
Planet of the Lifeless Men

Runtime:

USA:84 min | Italy:93 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Ultra Film

Goofs:

Continuity: When the astronauts walk on the surface of "The Outsider" in a location shot, they are seen from behind and none of them are wearing a blue helmet. When they are inside the cave, an obvious studio shot, the commander is seen wearing a vivid blue helmet. When they leave the cave and the story cuts back to the return trip back to the space ship, the blue helmet has again disappeared.

Quotes:

Mrs. Collins: [Reacting to the commotion in the observatory] What's happening, Reynolds?
George Reynolds: Something terrible!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Future Fantastic: Alien" (????)

Tries to be intelligent SF, but...

The one problem with Battle of the Worlds is that it tries to be a lot of things and doesn't quite pull any of them off. It tries to be a regular Italian space opera. It tries to be intelligent science fiction. Claude Rains definitely tries to make it a monodrama.

Unfortunately, the script doesn't let it be any of these things, and Claude's overacting makes you almost want to take a swing at the poor guy...I'm hoping that he had a good time while he did this movie (since it was really his last film), because it really was fun to watch him in this movie. His performance as a cantankerous, pajama-wearing, genius of a hermit who can answer any problem through calculus just didn't help things, and his character's attitude toward everything that wasn't math or himself make me wonder why his co-workers didn't lock him up in a rubber room.

The effects are a little on the loq quality side, even considering the general quality of Italian Sci-Fi movie SFX, but they don't really detract that much from the movie.