Conquest of Space (1955) directed by Byron Haskin

 

Another George Pal sci-fi extravaganza from the 50s. Like many of his sc-fi films it brings with it some novel ideas at the time that were very forward thinking. Circular rotating space station, a ship to mars built in space, the time and distances involved in space travel along with the dangers. Of course other aspects are way off but easily forgiven since we had no idea what the Surface of mars looked like and the biggest sin space movie make even today... while on Mars the crew would take off their gloves and touch the dirt! NO concern for bacteria, exposure to the cold etc... they did keep the rest of their spacesuit on though. 

In the film, a crew on "the wheel"  has been in training for a long time for a trip to the moon but as time grows near they are told the moon is no the real objective, Mars is. This is so they can see if they can exploit materials there as Earth is running low. Why they had to lie about this at all is never explained. There are asteroid hits and near misses and the crew is almost killed by the ship captain who turns into be a religious nutcase en route and thinks they should all die for "Blaspheming" and other planet he thinks God does not approve of them visiting. Before this happens he quotes from a bible, something many Pal films do and I wondered what his religious affiliations were. Apparently they were not that strong but he felt that he had to put bible citations in his science orientated films to avoid controversy... though making the villain of this movie a religious crazy pants seems to indicate he wasn't all that into the subject himself. 

The crew has to deal with loss of water from sabotage done by the captain and they can't leave Mars until Earth in line with their trajectory home. A lucky snowfall saves them and they manage to take off despite an earthquake as they try to leave. 

I would say this is an OK film, the least of Pal's films in this genre. The dated effects are fine to watch but the characters are terrible and annoying. The acting is not great and the interactions are forced, especially the "comedy". No one is qualified for a trip to Mars! The only women we see are on a video screen and there is one Japanese crewman ( brave for that so close to the end of WWII) but no other people of colour who are missing in his other sci-fi outing as well. 

I initially the movie got no so great write-ups in the press but in later years it was considered much more favourably, mostly because of the high production values. I am siding with the earlier reviews on this one. It drags and the human interactions are painful at times. Not unwatchable but not memorable either. 

When Worlds Collide (1951) directed by Rudolph Maté

A George Pal production that almost seems to be part of an unintentional trilogy including The Time machine and War of the Worlds to me. Not in subject but in tone. Maybe that's just me. 

Astronomers have spotted a sun with a companion planet streaking at incredible speed towards the earth and have calculated that the planet will pass us first, causing massive destruction and death, followed by the sun finally engulfing our planet destroying it completely.  As science-y as the film tries to be it is a product of its time and this scenario seems preposterous with what we know about the universe now. it is all presented in a serious enough way that you can just go with it.

The characters are pretty interesting, the scientists are trying to save what the can of humanity by building an ark to land on the passing planet, hoping life is possible there while the pilot hero falls in love with his daughter who is a scientist in her own right. There is a selfish, handicapped billionaire who agrees to fund the ark as long as he can be on it and many minor characters fleshed out more than this type of movie  typically does. There is a love triangle, that I thought was used to show emotions connected with knowing the world is going to end in a few months and not just there for show. 

Pacing, like most Pal movies is good and we get some dated but effective disaster scenes. New York getting flooded from a tidal wave is particularly effective. 

Spoilers:

 For me a disaster film is usually a natural unstoppable event is the source of the disaster, like earthquakes, fire, tidal waves etc. so this could be one of the first disaster films. No magical do-hicky is miraculously invented at the last minute to save us all, the world does get destroyed. The ark also gets to the new planet and while the getting there and landing are pretty awesome, the final shot is a bit confusing and seems tacked on. They land on a snow covered valley but when they step out, on to a not very good painting, it's like a spring day and they watch the sunrise on the new world and NEVER mention the massive buildings and structures directly in front of them. The place is already inhabited and no one notices! This was based on book with a sequel, neither of which I read so I hope that is addressed in second book. 

Fun, exciting and while maybe a slightly lesser Pal film, it's still going to keep your attention. 

The Time Machine (1960) Directed by George Pal

 

George Pal made a few iconic science fiction films and this is up there with version of War of the Worlds which also was from a book by HG Wells. It is the story of a man obsessed with time who arrives late for a dinner with friends at his own house in a terrible state. He is cut and exhausted but insists he tell the story of what happened to him. He has discovered a way to move through time, but not space, using a very cool looking victorian machine that is worth watching the movie just to see it. 

With this device he has travelled to the distant future where humans have been divided into two distinct species. One docile and dependent on the other aggressive and living underground. Our traveller meets a beautiful girl, don’t they always, and finds himself trapped in that time period when the aggressive race, the Morloks, drag his time machine into his layer behind doors he can’t get through. 

There is plenty of of adventure that follows but before all that we a treated to a few great moments of him moving through time, stopping a few decades later when he meets his best friend’ s adult son, who wasn’t born when he got into the device and then decades later still when a nuclear bomb goes off forcing him to jump into the far future. The passing of time is demonstrated by a women’s dress shop window at first and with stop motion, it shows time by the animation of the changes of the dresses in the window display. 

I don’t want to spoil the movie, old as it is, because its old enough that younger people might never even heard of it and its worth saving it surprises for them. The costumes and make up is great and the special effects have a few weak points but mostly still work today and have that look that War of the Worlds and his other Sci fi film When Worlds Collide have. Its distinctive and wonderful. The players are all good, I like the maid a lot and Rod Taylor is perfect as the scientist. 

A hit when released, it stands up by keeping the exposition to a minimum and the story moving always forward… well when it isn’t moving backward in time.