As recently as last year’s Don’t Look Up and as obscure as 1956’s Warning from Space, its influence has rippled through movies since it was released in late 1951.
When two South African astronomers discover that a planet and a star are heading into our solar system, they send their findings to be corroborated by American scientist, Dr. Cole Hendron (Larry Keating.) Hired to carry the photographic slides from their telescope to New York is David Randall (Richard Derr,) a handsome pilot with an eye for the ladies.
Once David arrives with the slides, Dr. Hendron assembles a team of scientists to verify the photos. They try to convince the United Nations that this newly discovered planet, Zyra, and its star, Bellus, will collide with the Earth. Hendron believes a rocket ship could be built to act as a sort of Noah’s Ark to ferry a limited number of survivors from the Earth to Zyra. To their dismay, Hendron and his team are ridiculed for their theories and laughed off the UN floor.
With time running out, Hendron’s team must convince some wealthy donors to fund the building materials for his ship before it’s too late. At the last moment, shady magnate Sydney Stanton (John Hoyt) arrives with the promise of all the money they need to finish the ark, as long as he gets one of the few seats available. That is, of course, if they all manage to survive long enough to launch the thing. Being that When Worlds Collide was made in the fifties, there also needs to be a romantic angle — no matter how unnecessary. David immediately falls in love with Dr. Hendron’s daughter, Joyce, who is also a scientist. A love triangle forms between David Randall, Joyce, and her boyfriend, Dr. Tony Drake (Peter Hansen.)
Directed by Rudolph Maté and written by Sydney Boehm, When Worlds Collide is considered a classic science fiction film. As recently as last year’s Don’t Look Up and as obscure as 1956’s Warning from Space, its influence has rippled through movies since its release in late 1951. It was awarded an honorary Academy Award for its visual effects and was nominated for Best Cinematography. Technically, it’s easy to see why it was so influential.
From a modern perspective, however, there are a number of issues with the film. The fact that not one dark-skinned person or non-Christian is among those selected to leave the planet is disconcerting. Only white people are shown as being skilled enough to prepare the ark for launch. The special effects — while Oscar-winning at the time — now look extremely dated. And, well, I’ll just say the science that propels the entire plot is faulty at best. (The heat from a star approaching that close to Earth would obliterate everything long before it got close enough to make physical contact, for example.)
But, for all of its flaws, the movie manages to touch on many aspects of humanity that would be more fleshed out in later attempts to tell similar stories. Greed, self-sacrifice, love, fear, and the instinct to survive all impact the story — if only briefly — in When Worlds Collide. For a 71-year-old movie that only runs 83 minutes, that’s impressive.
If you’re in the mood for a classic science fiction double feature, this would pair up well with The War of the Worlds, another of George Pal’s 1950s science fiction productions. Both share an unusually heavy reliance on religious themes and Biblical references.
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
