I criminali della galassia (1965)

User Rating:

3.7/10   

Director:

Antonio Margheriti

Writers:

Renato Moretti (writer)
Ivan Reiner (writer)

Release Date:

1965 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

WILD is the Word For This World!

Plot:

A deranged scientist is using his employer's top-secret bio-laboratory to engage in clandestine eugenics experiments...

Plot Keywords:

Sequel | Mad Scientist | Shrinking

Cast

Tony Russel	...	Commander Mike Halstead (as Tony Russell)
Lisa Gastoni	...	Lt. Connie Gomez
Massimo Serato	...	Mr. Nurmi
Carlo Giustini	...	Ken, Lieutenant (as Charles Justin)
Franco Nero	...	Jake, Lieutenant
Enzo Fiermonte	...	General Fowler
Umberto Raho	...	General Paul Maitland (as Bert Raho)
Vittorio Bonos	...	Anton Fryd, as a dwarf (as Victor Bonos)
Aldo Canti		(as Aldo Kant)
Franco Doria		(as Frank Doris)
Margherita Horowitz	...	Mrs. Fowler (as Margaret Horowitz)
Carlo Kechler	...	Werner (as Karl Mechler)
Rodolfo Lodi	...	Claridge (as Rudolph Lodin)
Renato Montalbano	...	Detective
Piero Pastore		(as Peter Pastor)

Also Known As:

Gamma I Quadrilogy Vol. 1 (USA) (series title)
The Criminals of the Galaxy
The Galaxy Criminals
Wild, Wild Planet (USA)

Runtime:

93 min | USA:94 min (TCM print)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #21260)

Company:

Mercury Film International

Trivia:

While filming, a crack in the pool while filled with "blood" originated a leak, so people in the neighborhood suddenly saw blood-like red-colored water coming out from their taps

Movie Connections:

Featured in "TCM Underground: Barbarella/Wild, Wild Planet (#1.31)" (2008)

Austin freakin' Powers in space. '60s Spaghetti SF with Godzilla special effects

Somehow the Medved brothers missed this little puppy when they were giving out the Golden Turkey Awards. Shame, because it lives down to the worst of the Ed Wood oeuvre. MGM released this movie as "The Wild, Wild Planet" here in the USA, instead of translating the original Italian title (literally "The Criminals of the Galaxy"). This little jewel opens with a neat diorama of someone's idea of a space base, complete with V-10 Nazi surplus rockets and CH-47 helicopter models traveling around on monorails instead of rotors, all shot in a dark enclosed studio - the sort of thing we know and love from Toho, Ltd.'s long line of monster films. It's a neat little set.

But in this case, the actors are mainly Italian (where are the cheesy German monster flicks, I ask you? Were the former Axis powers made to do penance by humiliating themselves with these cheap-jack "B" films?). We see a fair attempt at portraying an orbital rendezvous between a space transport and a spare tire-like space station (in which no one explained to the producer that you slow a spacecraft down by thrusting in the direction in you want to stop) then some outer space ballet in Halloween costume space suits.

The production values aren't so bad - the props are well done, the cinematography is rock-steady, but the acting and dialogue is Habitat for Humanity - wooden and amateurish. A lot of the dialogue could be due to dubbing for the English-language release of the film, but that doesn't explain the acting.

The costumes... well, this IS an Italian film. It's possible they used off-the-rack clothing from Italy in the 1960s for the wussy science fiction-y uniforms and "futuristic" civilian clothes, which doesn't account for the fact that the cops all wear foot-wide leather kidney belts over their chi-chi uniforms. Maybe space cops have to finish off every shift in the weight room in the future in Italy.

I'm not going to spoil the plot for you all. That would be a shame. Just know that there are prodigies of bad acting and lame dialogue galore in this film. For those of you who groove on le cine mal - more like "le cine puante" in this case - this is an hour and a half very well spent. Name a failing of a spaghetti western or a Japanese monster flick and it's here. That's either a warning or an endorsement, depending on what you're in the mood for. Hey, that's what they make those lightweight beer cans for - chucking at your TV set when the real clankers appear.

Massimo Serato has revealed a hitherto unknown side here - he shows us he could have been the Italian Boris Karloff, while Tony Russel shows that other people can actually learn to act like William Shatner with a straight face if they try hard enough. None of the cast really distinguish themselves here. Franco Nero is wasted as a suck-up lieutenant to the dashing spaceship commander, and winds up being called "Helium head!" a lot more than he deserves.

There are bits and pieces of a good movie here. The prop master really earned his money at times, but then there are the "space ships" with anemic butane lighters simulating rocket engines, the kit-bashed helicopter models serving as monorail cabs and the "future cars" with "beeg fins" and bubble canopies.

It's a fun thing - so bad that it parodies itself. Watch it if you really need some chuckles.