Quicklinks
Top Links
trailers and videosfull cast and crewtriviaofficial sitesmemorable quotesOverview
main detailscombined detailsfull cast and crewcompany creditsAwards & Reviews
user reviewsexternal reviewsawardsuser ratingsparents guidemessage boardPlot & Quotes
plot summarysynopsisplot keywordsmemorable quotesDid You Know?
triviagoofssoundtrack listingcrazy creditsalternate versionsmovie connectionsFAQOther Info
box office/businessrelease datesfilming locationstechnical specsliterature listingsNewsDeskPromotional
taglines trailers and videos posters photo galleryExternal Links
showtimesofficial sitesmiscellaneousphotographssound clipsvideo clipsReviews & Ratings for
Il pianeta degli uomini spenti More at IMDbPro »
| Page 1 of 3: | [1] [2] [3] ![[Next]](http://i.media-imdb.com/f86.gif){kind=small} |
| Index | 21 reviews in total |
25 out of 32 people found the following review useful:
Some of my favorite cheese..., 31 August 2002
Author:
Don (scifiguy-2) from Las Vegas, Nv.
I happened to see this many times in the 1960's, at kiddie matinees in the
theater. Imagine 50 cents for a triple feature every weekend, for years on
end. There were a lot of dog films, but this one stood out with decent f/x
and unique sound effects. It's one of the earliest space-operas depicting
dog fighting ships in space, preceded only by the 1959 Toho production of
"Battle In Outer Space". Say what you want about the bad voice dubbing and
the unknown Italian cast.
Films like this were not being produced in the U.S. during this period, due
to lack of effects technology, and budget constraints.
At the time, it was a bold attempt in a genre that was just
beginning.
Jaded modern viewers should see this in context within the history of
fantasy films. Pure science fiction was rare during this period, and a
treat
for fans at the time. Claude Rains has some very good dialouge,
as a cynical mathmatician guiding efforts to thwart alien
invaders.
The ships are well conceived, with the footage re-used in later
films.
Unfortunately, the editing is choppy and the video transfers that exist are
very poor. It would be nice to see a widescreen restoration.
17 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
momma mia, atsa somma crummy meataball!, 9 April 2004
Author:
march9hare from sparks nv
Claude Rains stars as Prof. Benson, a cynical mathematical genius/recluse who must save the world from implacable aliens. The movie has an interesting premise - a planetoid enters into orbit around the Earth causing widespread upheavals of Nature, and turns out to be a sort of alien Noah's Ark - but is marred by a tiny budget, hambone acting (except for Rains), oafish direction, and really crummy effects even for 1961. This may not have been Rains' last film, but he certainly deserved better. Having said all that, for some odd reason this one remains a favorite. Guess there's no accounting for taste. Seriously though, there are worse. MUCH worse.
16 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
An interesting and atmospheric movie., 24 January 2003
Author:
m-fan
The mysterious sounding music of the main title when the film starts sets
the pace for the whole movie, which is laid-back yet enchanting
(especially
if watched at night).
It is not hardly a typical space battle type picture so this should not be
expected. As a matter of fact this movie shows a much more realistic
viewing
of what space travel will be like when it finally becomes common place.
For
example the rockets are propelled by some type of gas, and permission has
to
be given from mission control before engines are started, and rocket
courses
and accelerations have to take into account things like planet gravity and
possible g forces on the crew.
The main characters are interesting and even though it is overdubbed the
dialog is good, with a few exceptions which are fun to laugh at. The
acting
by Claude Rains is very good, and you can actually feel sympathy for
professor Benson, who has nothing to keep him going but science (and Eve
though he finds it hard to admit it even to himself).
The story is interesting and has a few twists to it that keep things
moving
along. The movie also presents an interesting commentary on possible
future
government-military-industrial and international organization. This movie
might not fit everyone's taste, yet people who sometimes enjoy laid-back
atmospheric fantasies should enjoy it.
14 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Watching Italian Sci-Fi is like taking a candy striped drug trip, 11 October 2001
Author:
thebigcube
I'm very tired of Italian Science Fiction getting a bad rap for being dull films. Just sit back and let your self be hypnotized by the world that a film like BATTLE OF THE WORLDS creates and I guarantee you will find your self on a trip to the end of the universe. The sound effects and use of color alone will have you wishing this film will never end...and it almost seems it doesn't
11 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Tries to be intelligent SF, but..., 22 October 2002
Author:
Rich Meyer (muzik@ptd.net) from Saint Clair, Pennsylvania
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.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Classic Sci-Fi with some snappy philosophical dialogue, 20 September 2008
Author:
Rabh17 from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Okay-- The Earth is threatened by an Outsider-- a dark world that comes
out of the Intergalactic Depths to wreck havoc on the Earth. Attempts
to investigate gives rise to a fleet of flying saucer ships that
destroy all who approach!! DOOM!!!
Yes-- this is 1961!
This was not a movie of the Space Age-- but more precisely a Movie from
the Age of Outer Space.
And despite it being an Italian film, it is quite good, giving a strong
nod to the basic lay science of Outer Space as it was known in that
bygone era. So forget any descriptions such as 'Spagetti Space Opera'.
They don't do justice to this film.
For me as a kid in 1968 when I first saw it on TV-- in grainy Black &
White -- it was merely an exciting film about space rockets and flying
saucers. The dialogue outside of the spaceship scenes was gibberish and
mainly ignored. And when I WAS paying attention, my mother kept calling
to me from the kitchen to turn off the 'Idiot Box' and demanding if I
had finished my homework like I was supposed to.
Aaaaaagh!
But Now as an adult, I hear the dialogue between "Dr. Benson" and his
subordinates and the Council as rich in almost Shakespearean content as
you listen to Dr. Benson excoriate his underlings and the
Powers-that-Be about the power of calculation over the reliance on
machines.
"What's the purpose of Life, if you won't Know?" he demands in what
seems to be a fit of madness. . . except he really isn't mad- just
Misunderstood Genius.
So when you watch this movie-- Pay Attention to Dr. Benson. He IS the
center of this movie.
And try to identify the classical string piece that always starts
playing when Dr. Benson hits intellectual revelation!
8 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Fascinating, But A Bit Too Oblique For It's Own Good, 6 March 2007
Author:
Steve Nyland (Squonkamatic) from New York, USA
Antonio Margheriti's Italian Spaghetti Space Operas are some of the
most interesting science fiction from the 1960s. Starting with SPACE
MEN (or ASSIGNMENT: OUTER SPACE) and culminating with the brilliantly
mod GAMMA ONE QUADROLIGY, Margheriti helped to shape the ultimate form
of the genre -- Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY -- and gave it a truly
modern ring (for the time) that was only bettered by the Soviet era
science fiction like PLANETA BUR and MECHA NEVSTRACHU. A journeyman
filmmaker with a background in production design, Margheriti was not as
visionary in his approach as contemporary Mario Bava, who's PLANET OF
THE VAMPIRES remains the most impressive example of Spaghetti Science
Fiction, but Margheriti had perhaps a more populist approach to his
work that still endears forty-plus years later. His use of models,
miniatures and pyrotechnics alone would have earned him a very
respectable place in the annals of the genre by themselves.
BATTLE OF THE WORLDS is his second trip into the galaxy for
entertainment, and compared to the previous year's ASSIGNMENT: OUTER
SPACE, this movie is almost a quantum leap forward in terms of
ambitions for his plot, characters and action sequences. And I suspect
that as is the case with ASSIGNMENT: OUTER SPACE a great deal of the
critical responses this movie has accumulated ("Atsa one-a lousy
meataball") has to do with the really crummy surviving prints of the
film, or rather the surviving home video transfers available on public
domain oriented DVD collections. BATTLE OF THE WORLDS was certainly a
much more impressive experience when shown in it's correct original
widescreen ratio, probably 2:35:1 Techniscope by the looks of the pan
and scanning going on to condense the film for small screen. The color
on the transfers -- which are likely traceable to the same early 1980s
transfer to VHS -- are almost uniformly rotted nearly to sepia in
spots, with plenty of surface noise & jumbled damage to individual
frames. What most people are reviewing is the DVD they saw, not the
film itself.
I must admit that the first time I saw this movie I despised it, didn't
understand it, and shelved the poor video for a few years until I sold
it before realizing who director Anthony Dawson was. Now seeing it
again a few years older and wiser I still must come clean and say I
don't understand the plot, how the story gets from A to B to C, and
have actually been paying attention just to figure it all out. From
what I can gather, Earth finds itself under assault from a wandering
"planet" that has come from another galaxy (a story idea Margheriti
would later re-visit in his Gamma One project), ostensibly to conquer
Earth as a new home for it's passengers. Only crazed
astronomer/mathematician Claude Raines understands the phenomenon as
what it really is: An attack, and urges the united Earth government
bodies to act before it is too late.
In pursuit of that end there are lots of frantic rocket ship battles,
near collisions, big Margheriti explosions and of course a location
shoot at a local power plant or electrical substation standing in for a
spaceport. There is a base on Mars, guys in pressure suits doing stuff
on the surface of the invading planet, a cute little puppy dog and even
some romance. Including, oddly, old man Raines almost openly having a
thing for his 20 year old assistant with her dark, fluttering
eyelashes. Raines is easily the most impressive aspect of the film but
mostly because he emotes such vigor in his role, and seems to be
enjoying it so much, that you can't help but be charmed by the effort.
Even if it's hard to understand what he's on about half the time. But
like a Spaghetti Western what makes it "work" is the collection of
individual moments that make up the film, some of which are actually
very well done.
5/10: Look fast for Spaghetti Western hero Giuliano Gemma in one of his
first screen roles, and yes: We NEED a better print, badly.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Solid Early '60s Italian Hard Sci-Fi, 3 August 2010
Author:
mstomaso from Vulcan
The appearance of Claude Rains is not the only surprise in Anthony
Dawson's Il pianeta degli uomini spenti (A.K.A. Battle of the Worlds).
Rains plays an eccentric, reclusive, contemptuous elderly scientist who
leads a powerful research team. Professor Benson is the best, and he
has little patience for lesser minds. His only link to humanity seems
to be Eve (Maya Brent), his assistant. Her coming of age, the
insubordination of one of the younger members of his research team, and
the impending arrival of an enormous and mysterious space object - The
Outsider - combine to challenge "the old man's" carefully-constructed
self concept, his arrogance, and, ultimately, the continuation of life
on earth.
Ultimately, this is one of Italy's best and most serious sci-fi films,
and one of the better early '60s sci-fi films to come out of Europe.
The relatively primitive (but creative) effects coupled with the very
serious and dramatic tone of the dialog may be difficult for most
American viewers. Giorgio Giovannini's soundtrack is jarring and
intense. And the excellent, but sometimes surreal, Marcello Masciocchi
cinematography won't help the average viewer enjoy this film. The
international cast (mostly Americans) does very well.
Given the film's dubious pedigree and silly cliché title, I can
certainly understand why some reviewers felt compelled to use the words
"cheesy" and "spaghetti" in their reviews. I am tempted to point out
that macaroni and cheese is a very tasty dish, but I will refrain.
Approach this film with an open mind and you might just be able to get
something more than guilty pleasure from it.
5 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Now I know why they call it "cheesy sci-fi"..., 30 June 2006
Author:
Matthew Conn (valkensyc@hotmail.com) from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Wow. Really, wow. This movie has tons of potential, and goes absolutely
nowhere! The special effects are top notch considering the time in
which it was made. The technology smacks of the odd "computer" style of
the sixties where lighted buttons with no labels dominated the sci-fi
realm. Very "Star Trek"-esquire.
That aside, the only saving grace of this film is Claude. His charatcer
actually has life to it. It is a bit much, but considering his
co-stars, it is no wonder why.
The whole film is perfect to be ripped on. Get your sci-fi buddies,
grab a bag of chips and some cheese dip, and wail away at this one. Tom
Servo and Crow would be your best co-pilots on this journey into the
horribly lame.
3 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
"It's not difficult to tell the truth, but it's impossible to be believed.", 10 May 2006
Author:
classicsoncall from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
I guess every great actor is allowed at least one poor casting
decision, and with this film, that distinction goes to Claude Rains.
It's hard to believe the Professor Benson of this film is the same man
who brilliantly portrayed Captain Renault in 1942's "Casablanca". Here
he's one dimensionally annoying as a bull headed scientist who's
undeniably impressed with himself and isn't shy about letting you know
it - "There's only one opinion that interests me, and that's my own."
Benson's mathematical calculations convince him that a body in outer
space will come within ninety five thousand miles of Earth, even though
colleagues and military strategists fret over it's seeming collision
course with our planet. What Benson didn't count on, and by his own
admission the only time he was ever wrong, is that once the asteroid
reaches it's predestined location, it starts orbiting the Earth. With
obvious implications that a guiding force is at the core of the
mysterious body, Benson demands that Earth's 'High Command' not destroy
it, but allow him and a team of his fellow scientists investigate.
I always get a kick out of the way sci-fi flicks of the era took such
liberty with the vast amounts of time involved in space travel, and
reduced them to mere minutes for purposes of the story. In about the
time it took to count down from ten to one, blast off, Benson's team
was on the asteroid, investigating a cable laden labyrinth with an
ominous red glow. With a destruct sequence in effect, Benson prefers to
confront the truth of the mystery of the 'Outsider', while everyone
else with him wisely decides that maybe it's time to go. On that note,
one of the team members sadly concludes that Benson had a formula where
his heart should have been, as the planet goes kablooey.
"Battle of the Worlds" is a gross exaggeration in selection of a title.
Nothing on that vast a scale occurs, though there are occasional
skirmishes between Earth rockets and alien flying saucers. If there's a
positive to be found here, at least the sci-fi elements of the picture
were a notch above other films of the era, as film making technology
relentlessly moved toward breakthroughs that would appear in "Star
Trek" in a few more years.
| Page 1 of 3: | [1] [2] [3] |
Related Links
| Plot summary | Ratings | External reviews |
| Plot keywords | Main details | Your user reviews |
| Your vote history |
Copyright © 1990-2012
IMDb.com, Inc.
Terms and Privacy Policy under which this service is provided to you.
An 
company.