Doomsday Machine

Hey, a space ship that comes with its own seat belt equipped laz-e-boy recliners! OK, given that this thing was started by one bunch in the 60s and then finished by another group in the 70s you can pretty much figure that continuity is out the window. Hairstyles change, the Russian chick looses her accent, and boy does Danny's voice ever change. But given the circumstances, like two entirely different crews, I really don't think continuity and the lack of same ought to be a factor. The folks that took this thing out of mothballs and tried to make it work deserve kudos for the effort. And they did a fair job up until the very end. Pseudo-philosophical meanderings just don't fit well in a sci-fi movie that comes across like the B films of the same genre out of the 50s. But, thats rather where a lot of those flicks tried to go too, so I guess it was to be expected. At the end they even set it up for a sequel. Well, be thankful that never happened. The cast is fun, with players recognizable from "Wagon Train" to "M.A.S.H." and beyond. Its not so bad, and kinda fun to watch. With all the problems it survived, hey, maybe, at the edge of our solar system, there is an adventure awaiting the "last of man".

Lots of more or less recognizable faces in this El Cheapo Production, most of them over the hill. Of the half dozen astronauts who travel to Venus, Bobby Van is a baby-faced wisecracker, Daniel Wilcoxin started out in movies in 1931, the ligneous Grant Williams' best-known role is as an incredible shrinking man, Ruta Lee is a determined doctor of cosmology or cosmetology or something, Mala Powers was Roxanne in the Oscar-winning "Cyrano de Bergerac" twenty-two years earlier. But I kind of liked the line up. Any cast with two dancers among the principals -- Bobby Van ("Kiss Me Kate") and Ruta Lee ("Seven Brides For Seven Brothers") -- is okay with me.

And with that, the accolades disappear into outer space. The acting is perfunctory. The dialog is formulaic -- full of phony technological static. "Don't change your azimuth because we can only give you two degrees of yaw on the nose." The inside of the space ship is bigger than my living room. Hell, it has more square footage than my entire mobile home. And its only furniture is six chairs for the astronauts, and the chairs are recycled recliners.

I didn't get past the space ship's journey to Venus but I know from the diligent research I've done that the plot has something to do with a Doomsday Machine that the Chinese Commies have buried two hundred miles deep in the earth. When it blows, it will set all the faults of all the earth's plates in motion. (Better that, than that they should dump their dollars and start investing in Euros.) To be honest, I knew I'd never be able to handle it shortly after the launch of the space ship. The director must have dozed off. I can understand some tense radio exchanges about technical junk but the scene dragged on and on -- and on. And -- NOTHING HAPPENS. And so we say good-bye to the six resourceful space travelers as they sail off into the sunset.

The movie is available without cost through Hulu Movies on the internet as part of a package called Elvira's Movies Macabre. I don't know if everyone knows who Elvira was but many years ago, in the LA area, people looked forward to seeing her. She was all made up in ludicrous vampire garb but still sexy, what with her cantilevered bosom. Her comments were never scary and sometimes funny. Here, she carries on girlishly about putting a man on Venus. How about putting ARMS on Venus first! (Then she has to explain the joke because otherwise nobody living in Los Angeles is going to get it.)

A fine "B" movie cast is wasted by using awful production values in a project that likely ran out of money before it was finished. The tacked-on ending without a doubt uses different actors than the on-screen talent (Grant Williams, Mala Powers, Denny Miller, Bobby Van). Probably the WORST special effect is the destruction of the earth. "The Doomsday Machine" gets a "3" from me because it was at least always coherent. It's sad whatever happened during production prevented the movie from being filmed as intended. I feel especially bad for Grant Williams, a fine actor, who was likely blacklisted because of his sexual preferences, not to mention a well publicized feud with Jack Webb, then director of production for Universal. Better William be remembered for "The Shrinking Man" and "Hawaiian Eye" than this crap. Ditto, Mala Powers for "The Time Travelers".

I sometimes wonder why people make these sub B grade movies. But since they are made, there must be a market for them, although I have no idea where.

Out of all bad movies of this type, this one is not bad. It's clear that they had no budget for special effects, so a footages from a Japanese disaster movie is used, and the rockets are also from Japanese movies, and you can clearly see the rising sun symbol on its wings.

The best part of the movie is its plot. An exploration to Venus is suddenly altered at the last minute to exchange 3 male pilots for 3 female pilots. In fact the plan is to convert the space ship into Noah's ark for the survival of human race. But they do not find the new world so friendly either.

This movie can be remade with better production. The story is that good, with few alterations.

I hope someone will recognize the value and do a decent remake of this movie.

Originally begun in 1967 under the title "Armageddon 1975", this movie was never actually completed. Why it was never finished is unclear. But somewhere down the line it was scrapped, shelved and forgotten. That was in 1967. Then about five years later, it was rediscovered by some amateur film maker and re-edited into a complete movie. When I first saw this movie, I realized I was watching two different films edited together. The original version stands out from the poor added footage that makes this movie terrible. The added footage alone is what destroys this flick ( too bad the producer couldn't locate the original actors to star in the re-edited version).Also, you'll see lots of footage taken from old Japanease Godzilla and Rodan movies. What a mess! The Doomsday Machine is one DOOMED MOVIE!