Perry Rhodan SOS aus dem Weltall

Not bad for a movie made 1967 (keep in mind that this was the same time period as the original Star Trek series, whose first season was 1966). Also since the movie was originally filmed in German you'll have to forgive the dubbing which make it look like one of those bad Chinese Kung Fu movies thats been dubbed into English. Although credited with the screenplay I find it hard to believe that Kurt Vogelmann (who wrote some of the Perry Rhodan books) had much in the way to do with the movie. The plot shares some major details of the first two or three Perry Rhodan books, which were more like short stories than full fledged books but takes a few detours to make it fit into a single movie. If you're a fan of the books this is worth a look.

I have seen listings for "4-3-2-1 Morte", and "Orbital Mortal" as seperate films. other data suggests 2 films produced at the same time with much the same cast and crew. titles are listed for US english dubbed releases years ago, as "Countdown To Death", and "Mission Stardust". Now this listing says it's all one film, and I have serious doubts. I love "Mission Stardust", though I agree it is not a very faithful Rhodan adaptation. as for the poor effects, I strongly disagree. Antonino Margherhetti's spaceship effects are top notch for the time of the film, and quite lovely in design. Excellent special effects work from a moonlighting director, who had started italian cinematic SF with "Assignment Outer Space"!

Once setting down on the moon, a U.S. space mission, led by Major Perry Rhodan (Land Jeffries), discovers more than they bargained for - aliens. Thora (Essy Persson) and Kress (John Karelsen) are aliens stranded on the moon. Kress is ill and dying. He seems to be suffering from leukemia. Rhodan and crew know of a doctor working in Africa who may be able to help Kress. However, the alien craft is discovered in Africa setting off a race to take control of the craft between a government faction and a treasure hunter. Thora, however, will do anything in her power to save her ship.

Disclaimer: Let me start by saying that I have not read any of the Perry Rhodan books that Mission Stardust is based on. As such, I'm not going to get into that argument.

Mission Stardust is another of those movies that I really, really, and I mean really, wanted to love. It's got a bizarrely appealing premise, a groovy opening, some really cool gadgets, and wonderfully cheesy 1960s era special effects. Mission Stardust also has Essy Persson. Wow is about the best word I can use to describe her. Unfortunately, it takes more than one woman to make an entertaining movie. I think Mission Stardust suffers because it doesn't have a well thought out plot. The movie gets off to a fantastic start, tut it all grinds to a screeching halt in the second act. Dull isn't near a strong enough word. I'm not sure if there's a better cure for insomnia than the middle one-third of this movie. It's painful. If you can rouse yourself from the coma you're no doubt in, the films finale does, fortunately, pick up a bit. But by then, the damage is already done.

Looking up Essy Person's filmography on IMDb, I'm shocked to see only 17 acting credits - and, unfortunately for me, most of her work does not appear to be in English. Too bad. She had a fantastic screen presence.

A team of astronauts : Capt. Flipper (Daniel Martín), Captain Bull (Luís Dávila), Dr. Manoli (Joachim Hansen) led by Maj. Perry Rhodan (Lang Jeffries) is sent to the moon to rescue an alien who is seeking help to save her dying race. They are attacked by a force of robots and discover that enemy spies are out to kill the alien. On the moon they meet Thora (Essy Persson) and Kress (John Karlsen) are superior beings from another planet who find themselves marooned and ill. A U. S. space mission lead by Major Perry Rodan rescues the couple. Kress is suffering from an unknown ailment, and a medical examination reveals he has leukemia. The rescue team secretly brings the ailing alien to an African physician who specializes in blood disorders. Soon word gets around about the aliens, causing a full-scale search for the rescue team and the two space cadets. 2076 AD · Planet Against Planet in a Bionic Battle for Space !.2076 AD · Year of the Robot Revolution !. Come Along on a Fantastic Space Adventure... Meet the Beings from Another Planet and their Miraculous Weapons!.The science fiction film that staggers the imagination!

Perry Rhodan's fame is due to trivial science fiction literature, being an extremely successful German science-fiction literature (and audio book) series. There're European Perry Rhodan movies, a Japanese film and the "Sandmännchen" television series. From 1961 onwards, the astronaut set out to conquer foreign galaxies in various printed products as paperbacks, comics, etc. His futuristic journeys reflect a time in which only weapons and robots undergo their further development and ultimately function as indispensable tools to advance conquest and imperialism.

Ordinary 60's Sci-Fi/Euro-spy movie with usual components : aircrafts, pursuits , crashes , struggles , chases , fantastic artifacts, simple helicopters: the popular Bell 47G , international conspiracy , and explosive women . It borrows heavily from the 60's Italian Science Fiction from directors Antonio Margheriti, Alfonso Brescia in films as Space man, The war of the planets, Cosmos: War of the Planets, Battle of the Stars, and OO7 series that at the time starred Sean Connery , such as : Dr No, From Russia with love , Thunderball, and Goldfinger . It has some flaws and gaps , as it does tend to get a bit old , including repetitive nature of some scenes, but it has big fun, so it cares. Lang Jeffries gives a passable acting as a brave astronaut who takes on an criminal organization commanded by Pinkas Braun. Lang has an easy going air about him that makes him great to see. He plays a two-fisted astronaut, though he was usually an international agent or playing Peplums or Spaghetti westerns. Lang was a Canadian actor who emigrated to Italy to get fame and fortune , he married Rhonda Fleming , and obtaining success in Spaghetti Western : Requiem for the Gringo ; Eurospy : Agente X 1-7 operazione Oceano, Z7 Operation Rembrandt ...4 ..3 ..2 ..1 ...morte , The Becket case and Peplum : Alone Against Rome , Fire over Rome, Sword of the empire , Revolt of the Slaves . In fact , according to the "Revolt of the Slaves" pressbook, Jeffries served in the U. S. Army during the Korean War and was one of only three survivors out of 177 soldiers in his unit who landed at Inchon in the fall of 1951. Co-stars the gorgeous and mysterious Eurotrash starlett Essy Persson, who at the time starred some erotic films . Along with other ordinary secondaries , usuals in Euro-spy , thriller , Spaghetti and Peplum , such as : the Spanish ones Daniel Martín, Luís Dávila and Italians Gianni Rizzo, Tom Felleghy, John Bartha and Germans: Pinkas Braun, Joachim Hansen.

It displays a thrilling score by Antón Garcia Abril, as well as atmospheric cinematography from Manuel Merino and Riccardo Pallottini, being really necessary a perfect remastering because de film copy is washed out. The pic was written by Spaghetti expert Sergio Donati and director himseld; being professionally realized by Primo Zeglio . This is one of the uncountable stories that the Italian producer pioneers were joined by Spanish producers , who established around Rome, Madrid or Canary Islands, especially to shoot the exteriors , a new stable center for filming Euro-spy movies, action, fantasy or Spaghetti Westerns. Primo was married to Paola Barbara who usually plays his films in secondary roles . He was a good professional , a craftsman who wrote and directed all kind of genres as Adventure : "Seven Seas to Calais" , ¨Genoneva De Bravante¨ , "Revenge of the Pirates", "Son of the Red Corsair" ¨, ¨Captain Ghost¨, ¨Morgan the pirate¨ , Sci-Fi : "Mission Stardust" , Peplum : "I Am Semiramis" , ¨Nero and Messalina¨ , ¨Rosmunda e Alboino¨ and Spaghetti : ""The Relentless Four¨, "Texas Ranger" and this ¨Winchester One of One Thousand¨ also titled ¨Winchester Justice¨. ...4 ..3 ..2 ..1 ...morte (1967) Rating: 5/10. Average.

MISSION STARDUST is a 1967 Italian film based on a popular German science fiction novella series, of which I've never heard. It starts with the impression that we're settling in for a heady (if horribly inaccurate) science fiction film and makes a drastic turn into action territory in the second act. The title refers to the space mission launching at the start of the film where a team of astronauts, led by Major Perry Rhodan (Lang Jeffries), is being sent to the moon to harvest rare metals that have been discovered under the surface of the Newcomb crater. What Rhoden and HQ don't know is that a powerful (?) crime boss named Arkin (Pinkas Braun) has an inside man amongst the Stardust crew to report back to him in hopes of hijacking these valuable metals. None of this matters though, as the Stardust is intercepted in lunar orbit and loses contact with Earth as it's forced to land. After touching down, Rhoden and his crew discover the cause behind the interference: an alien craft. They're introduced to Crest (John Karlsen) and Thora (Essy Persson), aliens from the planet Arkon whose ship broke down and they were forced to land on Earth's moon. Crest is unable to repair the ship because he's fallen ill with leukemia, but that's all right because Rhoden informs him of a doctor on Earth who has conveniently enough developed a leukemia serum that can cure him. Can Rhoden and his crew overcome their differences with this alien race long enough to cooperate and save them? Will Arkin eliminate them all and steal the advanced Arkon technology?

MISSION STARDUST fails on two very important levels: as science fiction and as an action/adventure film. It's far too stupid to be decent science fiction. It started fun enough with psychedelic colors flying behind the opening titles while we're treated to an upbeat pop tune screeching "Seli" that sets the stage for a zany head-trip of an adventure that never comes. But, as "Seli" fades out and the trippy colors are traded for reality, it becomes a very serious science fiction. Tense faces, countdowns, inherent danger. What will become of the Stardust crew? Then stupid peeks its head around the corner. What're they going to the moon for? A metal has been discovered that's denser than cobalt or lithium! For anyone curious, there are loads of elements denser than cobalt and lithium right here on Earth including such obscure metals as nickel, copper, and lead. OK, so no real thought put into the film. Sort of cheapens the "science" part of science fiction but I can appreciate some stupid fun. I loved the miniature work (and there was plenty of it) in this film, and the Arkonite craft is staffed with a crew of lumbering lurch-bots who look like your average spaceman until you remove their helmet and discover the skinned Furby underneath. Details like this make cheap science fiction fun regardless of the dwindling thought behind the script. I mean, these astronauts are supposed to be pretty savvy dudes, right? So it's nonsensical that they're completely unfazed when their lunar rover disintegrates but then baffled at the site of an enormous UFO moments later. I mean, what did they think happened to the rover? Who did they think was responsible for their emergency landing? The giant alien spaceship should be the least surprising thing going on. One astronaut's response to their invitation to this mysterious spacecraft by way of tube elevator:

"Quite an elevator, eh, Perry? And up we go to paradise, or possibly hell!"

These astronauts, and everyone else in this movie, are dumb. Except maybe Thora. She's cool. She can't be bothered to waste any more time than necessary with these primitive earthlings. She's so advanced that she barely reacts when Major Rhodan (the movie's hero, remember) forces himself on her. You see, she's so advanced that sexuality doesn't register with her; Rhodan sees this as a challenge and starts trying to make out with her, because the first impression of our species Rhodan believes best to give this race of aliens is that of a dog humping your leg. Regardless, he's not the only idiot here. But he's probably the biggest. When it's discovered that Crest is ill with leukemia (his 10,000-year-old race discovered the cure to all diseases… except this one), the plan becomes to bring the aliens to a Dr. Haggard in Mombasa for the cure. The astronauts then land the alien ship 400 miles away from Haggard's location and plan to, I guess, walk there. Or, they would, if their careful plan to not be spotted hadn't failed immediately and they weren't beset by a patrol from the African Federation Army from the moment they set down in the African desert. So now the entire second half of the film has the astronauts battling a vague African military and eventually Arkin and his team, and the film becomes a shoddy action/adventure. One final example of Rhoden's less-than-stellar leadership ability: the astronauts realize they need a vehicle so, rather than find a reputable salesman, he bargains with a shady dude on the street who initially tries to sell them child sex slaves. It fails miserably, and it only gets dumber from there.

There's so much to say about this film, I couldn't possibly do it all here. I could go on about how the astronauts are pretty much interchangeable. They're all bland white dudes without personality or distinguishing features of any sort. I haven't mentioned the lame one-liners that come once the astronauts become action heroes (e.g. "His retros failed on him!" when an African thug is tossed by a gravity ray). There's a bunch. MISSION STARDUST is great conversation fodder if you've got friends similarly interested in bad movies. It's not as exciting as it wants to be but it's a fun failure.