Assignment: Outer Space (1960)

In the 22nd Century, Ray Peterson, reporter for the Interplanetary News, is assigned to write a story aboard a space station.

Director:

Antonio Margheriti (as Antony Daisies)

Writers:

Ennio De Concini (as Vassilji Petrov), Jack Wallace

Stars:

Rik Van Nutter, Gabriella Farinon, David Montresor

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Rik Van Nutter	...	Ray Peterson (IZ41) (as Rik Von Nutter)
Gabriella Farinon	...	Lucy (Y13) (as Gaby Farinon)
David Montresor	...	George - the Commander
Archie Savage	...	Al - X-15
Alain Dijon	...	Archie - Y16
Franco Fantasia	...	Sullivan (as Frank Fantasia)
Joe Pollini	...	King - 116
David Maran	...	Davis
José Néstor	...	Venus Commander (as Jose Nestor)
Anita Todesco	...	Venus Control

Storyline

In the 22nd Century, Ray Peterson, reporter for the Interplanetary News, is assigned to write a story aboard a space station. Tension mounts between Peterson and the station's ommander, who think he's in the way, but has orders to leave him alone. Errant spaceship, Alpha Two enters the solar system and its photon generators are radiating enough heat to destroy Earth as it approaches. It falls to Peterson to try to figure out a way to enter the spaceship, disarm the generators, and escape before suffocating.

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Plot Keywords:

psychotronic film | low budget sci fi movie | space opera | spaceship | space station | 

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Taglines:

1000 headlines into the future!

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

With the international (including Italy) success of large-scale, effects-laden science-fiction spectacles from Japan, such as Ishirô Honda's The Mysterians (1957) and Battle in Outer Space (1959), Italian producers had hoped to duplicate their success with this, Italy's first big space opera.

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Goofs

Some of the gauges/meters seen are for tape recorders (% wow and dB meters) and would have nothing to do with the navigation or operation of a spacecraft.

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Connections

Featured in Out of this World Super Shock Show (2007)

User Reviews

It's Not As Bad As Some Say It Is

Set on board a space ship in the year 2116, this movie has a number of problems that have to be overcome if you're going to enjoy it at all. First and foremost is the completely wooden and often lifeless acting, which the actors try to compensate for by trying (and failing) to make every scene seem as if it's the most important scene in the movie. There are also some pretty significant plot problems. First, there really is no story until about halfway through the movie. Originally, our intrepid group of explorers are heading to "Galaxy M-12," then they're heading to Mars for some mysterious reason, then they're suddenly diverted to Venus by order of "the High Command." Finally, upon the diversion to Venus, we're told that unless this ship can do something about it, the earth is going to be destroyed by some sort of rogue spaceship. I wasn't entirely clear, though, on why the earth was going to be destroyed. I was a little confused as well about why, half-way into the movie, Ray says "it's Christmas, Lucy." The line just hung there. It came out of nowhere and nothing came from it. So, both the story and the acting are a bit ridiculous. However ...

There are some good points here. Gene Roddenberry is usually given credit for introducing minorities in command positions on "Star Trek," but I thought it was interesting that the engineer on this ship was black (played by Archie Savage, who had previously had minor roles in such movies as "South Pacific" and "The Ten Commandments") - and he was no token. He had important things to do, including a noble act of self-sacrifice. More thought was put into the conditions of outer space and weightlessness than a lot of low-budget sci-fi movies of that era worried about, and the on-board effects were not bad, as the crew clomped about the ship in their magnetic boots. The set was also fairly futuristic looking. Unfortunately, some of the animated space travel was rather poorly done. Once the crisis was introduced, there was a moderate amount of suspense about whether or not the earth could be saved. You know what? This isn't good, but it really isn't as bad as some people say it is. 5/10

Details

Country:

Italy Japan

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

13 December 1961 (USA)

Also Known As:

Assignment: Outer Space

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company, Titanus, Ultra Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

73 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)