ChanBot
i must have seen a different film!!
Matrixiole
Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
Justina
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
JohnHowardReid
Copyright 1 November 1951 by Paramount Pictures Corporation. New York opening at the Globe (sic): 6 February 1952. U.S. release: November 1951. U.K. release: 15 October 1951 (sic). Australian release: 21 December 1951. Sydney opening as first atraction at Paramount's now long demolished "Prince Edward" (ran three weeks). 82 minutes. SYNOPSIS: As the Earth approaches Doomsday, a space "ark" is hastily constructed to transport a few elite survivors to a neighboring planet.NOTES: Winner of the award for Best Special Effects from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Also nominated for Color Cinematography, but lost out to An American in Paris.
Although Paramount expected a repeat of the commerical success enjoyed by Eagle-Lion's Destination Moon, they were disappointed. True, the movie garnered enough domestic revenue to make a modest 50% profit on its million-dollar negative cost, but overseas the picture barely recouped advertising, print and distribution expenses. In Australia, Paramount's top money-spinners for 1951 were (in order): Here Comes the Groom, Samson and Delilah (including road show receipts), A Place in the Sun, The Lemon Drop Kid and My Favorite Spy. COMMENT: Despite its disappointing fade-out on an obvious backdrop, I enjoyed this Pal sci-fi entry which boasts a skillfully plotted and well-characterized screenplay plus a number of ingratiating performances, in addition to its obligatory (and often most effective) special effects. I thought Richard Derr (whose movie career surprisingly never really took off) most attractively personable as the lead, while Larry Keating and John Hoyt seized their opportunities to make the most of the best roles they were ever handed. Also to be thoroughly commended: Paramount's pleasant "Golden Circle" players, Peter Hanson (sic) and Barbara Rush. Character actor Frank Cady has a stand-out cameo too, and I liked the air of quiet authority Stephen Chase so suitably brought to his Dean Frey. Keen-eyed fans will also zero in on Mary Murphy as a prominent student at the plant and Stuart Whitman in a brief innings as a reluctant rebel.
Director Rudy Maté keeps the movie simmering at an agreeable pace which makes such admirably short work of its action-packed 82 minutes, most viewers will feel inclined to watch it through again.
Interestingly, although the movie repeats the Destination Moon criticism of President Truman's allegedly supine, dilatory and disinterested administration, this element is actually downplayed in When Wortlds Collide by comparison to the many overt and direct frontal attacks in Moon. Needless to say, no mention at all is made of the movie's strong political bias on the Destination Moon DVD jacket. Paramount, however, to my surprise, have really highlighted this same aspect-a minor one in Collide-on their liner notes! What makes this one-sided write-up even more astonishing is that in the film itself writer Sydney Boehm goes to a great deal of trouble to deflect this criticism and get the government off the hook. He even stages a long and almost wholly extraneous scene in the United Nations-a scene which has no equivalent in the Wyler-Balmer novel-for precisely this purpose.
AVAILABLE on DVD through Paramount. Quality rating: Ten out of ten.
Secondof5
I've just had a quick look through the reviews for this classic 50's sci-fi flick just in case someone had already covered the point I wanted to make. Having found no references to it I will press on. It seems obvious to me that Gerry Anderson drew inspiration from this film when he created his puppet TV shows. The launch system for the rocketship was used in Fireball XL5 and the landing sequence on Zyra is classic Thunderbirds. A great little film even if the science makes no sense whatsoever. Must have been quite gripping in a darkened cinema in 1952. Good special effects and a colourful new world. As for it being a white world in the film, well, it was a white world back then. I don't suppose they had room for a couple of maids and a shoe-shine boy never mind any pesky redskins.
Leofwine_draca
WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE is a very early example of the science fiction/disaster movie which feels remarkably modern in terms of plotting to later fare such as DEEP IMPACT. It involves an astronomer who discovers that a planet is heading on a collision course with Earth leading to massive loss of life. Instead of trying to blow the rogue planet up a la Armageddon, those in the know decide to build a space ship and colonise another planet instead. Seen today, this feels low budget and dated at times, but I found it quite interesting. The film is heavy on the moralising and sermonising, but the idea of a life-or-death lottery is well-handled and the ending very suspenseful. Watch out for Roy Thinnes and Stuart Whitman in bit parts.
BA_Harrison
South African astronomer Dr. Emery Bronson (Hayden Rorke) discovers that a far-flung star, Bellus, and Zyra, the planet that orbits it, are on a direct course for our solar system, arriving in less than a year. Zyra will pass close enough to the Earth to cause massive tidal waves and catastrophic earthquakes, but Bellus will destroy our planet completely. With funding from several wealthy businessmen, a team of scientists led by Dr. Cole Hendron (Larry Keating) set about constructing a Space Ark, a rocket-ship capable of ferrying a small group of lucky survivors to Zyra before the Bellus crashes into the Earth. As the deadline approaches, plucky airplane pilot David Randall (Richard Derr) falls for Hendon's beautiful daughter Joyce (Barbara Rush), much to the consternation of her current beau Dr. Tony Drake (Peter Hansen).With its blend of cheesy emotional drama, silly scientific conjecture, and spectacular cataclysmic disaster, When World's Collide is the epitome of '50s pulp sci-fi cinema and also the template for many an apocalyptic disaster flick. The formulaic relationship between Dave Randall and Joyce impedes the action a little too much, but when the time comes for the proverbial to hit the fan, the film definitely delivers, with special effects laden set-pieces that still hold up well today (and which deservedly won the film an Oscar) and a particularly great-looking spacecraft, The Space Ark: typically '50s in fashion, with sleek, windowless, silver fuselage and stubby wings. The film also benefits from a memorable villain—malicious, wheelchair-bound multi-millionaire Sydney Stanton (played with relish by John Hoyt).A lame shot of Zyra's landscape (a flat painted backdrop) ends matters on a slightly bum note, but it's the journey, not the destination, that makes this film so much fun.
