Il pianeta degli uomini spenti

Antonio Margheriti's Italian Spaghetti Space Operas are some of the most interesting science fiction from the 1960s. Starting with SPACE MEN (or ASSIGNMENT: OUTER SPACE) and culminating with the brilliantly mod GAMMA ONE QUADROLIGY, Margheriti helped to shape the ultimate form of the genre -- Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY -- and gave it a truly modern ring (for the time) that was only bettered by the Soviet era science fiction like PLANETA BUR and MECHA NEVSTRACHU. A journeyman filmmaker with a background in production design, Margheriti was not as visionary in his approach as contemporary Mario Bava, who's PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES remains the most impressive example of Spaghetti Science Fiction, but Margheriti had perhaps a more populist approach to his work that still endears forty-plus years later. His use of models, miniatures and pyrotechnics alone would have earned him a very respectable place in the annals of the genre by themselves.

BATTLE OF THE WORLDS is his second trip into the galaxy for entertainment, and compared to the previous year's ASSIGNMENT: OUTER SPACE, this movie is almost a quantum leap forward in terms of ambitions for his plot, characters and action sequences. And I suspect that as is the case with ASSIGNMENT: OUTER SPACE a great deal of the critical responses this movie has accumulated ("Atsa one-a lousy meataball") has to do with the really crummy surviving prints of the film, or rather the surviving home video transfers available on public domain oriented DVD collections. BATTLE OF THE WORLDS was certainly a much more impressive experience when shown in it's correct original widescreen ratio, probably 2:35:1 Techniscope by the looks of the pan and scanning going on to condense the film for small screen. The color on the transfers -- which are likely traceable to the same early 1980s transfer to VHS -- are almost uniformly rotted nearly to sepia in spots, with plenty of surface noise & jumbled damage to individual frames. What most people are reviewing is the DVD they saw, not the film itself.

I must admit that the first time I saw this movie I despised it, didn't understand it, and shelved the poor video for a few years until I sold it before realizing who director Anthony Dawson was. Now seeing it again a few years older and wiser I still must come clean and say I don't understand the plot, how the story gets from A to B to C, and have actually been paying attention just to figure it all out. From what I can gather, Earth finds itself under assault from a wandering "planet" that has come from another galaxy (a story idea Margheriti would later re-visit in his Gamma One project), ostensibly to conquer Earth as a new home for it's passengers. Only crazed astronomer/mathematician Claude Raines understands the phenomenon as what it really is: An attack, and urges the united Earth government bodies to act before it is too late.

In pursuit of that end there are lots of frantic rocket ship battles, near collisions, big Margheriti explosions and of course a location shoot at a local power plant or electrical substation standing in for a spaceport. There is a base on Mars, guys in pressure suits doing stuff on the surface of the invading planet, a cute little puppy dog and even some romance. Including, oddly, old man Raines almost openly having a thing for his 20 year old assistant with her dark, fluttering eyelashes. Raines is easily the most impressive aspect of the film but mostly because he emotes such vigor in his role, and seems to be enjoying it so much, that you can't help but be charmed by the effort. Even if it's hard to understand what he's on about half the time. But like a Spaghetti Western what makes it "work" is the collection of individual moments that make up the film, some of which are actually very well done.

5/10: Look fast for Spaghetti Western hero Giuliano Gemma in one of his first screen roles, and yes: We NEED a better print, badly.

Claude Rains stars as Prof. Benson, a cynical mathematical genius/recluse who must save the world from implacable aliens. The movie has an interesting premise - a planetoid enters into orbit around the Earth causing widespread upheavals of Nature, and turns out to be a sort of alien Noah's Ark - but is marred by a tiny budget, hambone acting (except for Rains), oafish direction, and really crummy effects even for 1961. This may not have been Rains' last film, but he certainly deserved better. Having said all that, for some odd reason this one remains a favorite. Guess there's no accounting for taste. Seriously though, there are worse. MUCH worse.

Antonio Margheriti's second space opera, 'Battle of the Worlds' finds Earth threatened by fleets of flying saucers coming from a rogue planet (the "Outsider") that has wandered into our solar system. Veteran A-list actor Claude Rains plays Prof. Benson, a cantankerous and supercilious scientist who figures out is going on (it's odd to see Rains starring in an obscure spaghetti-space opera only a year before working with David Lean on 'Lawrence of Arabia'). I watched an adequately dubbed version so I can't comment on the acting (except for a hammy, English-speaking Rains), or script but the story, if implausible, is entertaining and the special effects have that gaudy but imaginative look that characterises Italian space operas of the era. The idea that the rogue planet is actually some kind of 'space ark' sent out by a dying species (as deduced by Benson based on very little data) is clever and poetic but the scenes in which the refugees are found dead at the controls are unfortunately almost indecipherable (this could be due to the quality of the version I was watching on-line). The film is similar to Margheriti's first space opera, 1960's 'Space Men' and both films, while having weaknesses, are better than most of their American contemporaries, which were too focussed on big bugs and the teenage drive-in market to offer up much in the way of ideas.

1960's "Battle of the Worlds" (Il Planeta Degli Uomini or The Planet of Extinct Men) marks only the second science fiction entry from Italian director Antonio Margheriti (under his usual pseudonym Anthony Dawson), perhaps his best given that "Assignment: Outer Space" did not fare well internationally, plus the towering screen presence of an aging Claude Rains in the central role of Professor Benson, very similar to his just completed Professor Challenger in Irwin Allen's "The Lost World." A rogue planet dubbed 'The Outsider' has entered our galaxy and is believed to be on a collision course to destroy the earth, the scientific community casually brushing off Benson's assertion that it will merely pass by without incident. The old man soon learns that 'The Outsider' has slipped into orbit around our planet. Causing a wave of destruction and suicides to force an exploratory ship to examine it more closely. A small force of saucers are dispatched to obliterate the ship, so Benson himself is finally allowed to take charge in the battle, reasoning that 'The Outsider' is something of a 'Noah's Ark,' a relic from a dead world that can be reprogrammed to go back where it came from. The climax offers a race against time, Benson's crew desperate to return to their vessel and take off before nuclear warheads target 'The Outsider' in a blaze of glory. Top screenwriting workhorse Ennio de Concini was coming off Mario Bava's "Black Sunday," and continued working in all genres throughout a prolific career, the 70 year old Rains giving this one a stronger edge with an over the top performance that commands the screen, cantankerous yet lovable, an outsider himself who would prefer to die knowing the truth than live without knowledge. Rarely seen outside the confines of his greenhouse, scribbling calculations on flower pots, Rains easily dominates a cast of barely outlined characters, one couple ready to wed who suddenly end their relationship, another happily married and working in tandem from Earth to Mars. Margheriti's 1965 "Planet on the Prowl" would feature the same type of underground world for its finale, what appears to be a living, breathing organism with brain cells and arteries that bleed crimson. Rather than waste the talents of a fine actor, this low budget vehicle actually gives him something tangible to sink his teeth into, delivering in spades for a film that never receives much love, mostly relegated to horrid, washed out prints.

The appearance of Claude Rains is not the only surprise in Anthony Dawson's Il pianeta degli uomini spenti (A.K.A. Battle of the Worlds). Rains plays an eccentric, reclusive, contemptuous elderly scientist who leads a powerful research team. Professor Benson is the best, and he has little patience for lesser minds. His only link to humanity seems to be Eve (Maya Brent), his assistant. Her coming of age, the insubordination of one of the younger members of his research team, and the impending arrival of an enormous and mysterious space object - The Outsider - combine to challenge "the old man's" carefully-constructed self concept, his arrogance, and, ultimately, the continuation of life on earth.

Ultimately, this is one of Italy's best and most serious sci-fi films, and one of the better early '60s sci-fi films to come out of Europe. The relatively primitive (but creative) effects coupled with the very serious and dramatic tone of the dialog may be difficult for most American viewers. Giorgio Giovannini's soundtrack is jarring and intense. And the excellent, but sometimes surreal, Marcello Masciocchi cinematography won't help the average viewer enjoy this film. The international cast (mostly Americans) does very well.

Given the film's dubious pedigree and silly cliché title, I can certainly understand why some reviewers felt compelled to use the words "cheesy" and "spaghetti" in their reviews. I am tempted to point out that macaroni and cheese is a very tasty dish, but I will refrain. Approach this film with an open mind and you might just be able to get something more than guilty pleasure from it.