Un monde sans fin

World Without End has four astronauts on a Mars mission enter a time warp similar to what Charlton Heston and his crew encountered in Planet Of The Apes. Only they figure out before the end that it is earth about 500 years into the future where an atomic war has pretty well decimated the planet.

Fortunately for them the world is not just the savage mutants they inhabit outside. There is a civilization kept alive in earth's caves. But they're a pretty pacific lot and frown on these 20th century types with their weaponry which simply consists of handguns.

The four astronauts are Hugh Marlowe, Nelson Leigh, Christopher Dark, and Rod Taylor who would soon star in his own film about time travel. In the end it turns out that these guys and their knowledge of weapons come in pretty useful after all.

The director of this film Edward Bernds who did this for Allied Artists. Bernds who started out working on Frank Capra films was a director of several Bowery Boy features for Allied Artists formerly Monogram Pictures. This was a man used to working with minuscule budgets and realizing that the film didn't turn out half bad.

And unlike Planet Of The Apes it ends on a somewhat optimistic note.

A low-budget kiddie sci-fi flick from the same period that brought us "Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers," and interestingly enough starring the same actor, Hugh Marlowe, a sort of older version of that other '50s sci-fi star, Richard Carlson. Four astros headed for Mars go through a time warp in space and end up on Earth after atomic Armaggedon has decimated the planet. This makes things convenient both set- and costume-wise, as all the cities and highways are gone and all that's left on the planet's surface is a bunch of murderous cavemen. Ah, but inside one particular cave, the astros encounter an underground habitat containing what's left of humanity. The plot is sort of H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" in reverse. Because the story is actually interesting (the sun-deprived humans are dying out and the astros try to convince them to return to the planet's now-decontaminated surface), it's easy to forgive the theatrical photography, cardboard sets, and the three '50s-type females in their restaurant hostess outfits and bouffant hairdos. One way or the other, the always-dependable Marlowe keeps everything nicely grounded as the leader of the astros. The film looks like it cost $1.98 to make, but a reasonably strong story and decent-enough cast make it worth a glimpse. A young Rod Taylor. the Russell Crowe of his day, plays one of the other astros -- although he's given little to do except to bare his chest and make the ladies swoon.

Space pioneers are returning to Earth from a trip to Mars when their spaceship is propelled into the future. They land and discover a vastly different Earth than the one they left. All of the elements that went into the 50s scifi genre are here. Space travel, mutant creatures, and life in the far distant future. This film was a better than average film for its time. The effects are poor compared to today but the dialog makes up for it. The color is sharp and clear and there is a good cast to make it enjoyable. Pull up a chair and break out the popcorn. Following the adventures of the newly returned space travelers makes for a good Saturday afternoon viewing.

I recently watched this movie for the first time and found it a cross between Planet of the Apes and The Time Machine, complete with Rod Taylor.

Four astronauts returning from a space mission go through a time warp and end up on earth thousands of years into the future after a nuclear war. They encounter rubber giant spiders, mutant cavemen and hostile survivors who have survived the war and are living underground. At first they don't believe how the astronauts got there but they do eventually and they help them to destroy the mutants and start afresh and live without the fear of these unfriendly cavemen. Two of the astronauts fall in love with two of the local women.

As well as The Time Machine's Rod Taylor, the film also stars Hugh Marlowe (The Day The Earth Stood Still) and Nancy Gates. The acting is good from all.

I found this movie enjoyable and is beautifully shot in colour, despite the low budget. The giant spiders look cheap though. A must for sci-fi fans.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5.

Today was the first time I have seen this movie. Although I adore the SCI-FI genre, I really don't dribble or quibble over Special Effects like smaller-minded viewers. I much rather watch a SCI-FI movie that has a good story and fairly good acting.

Folks so quickly forget what pre-2001 A Space Odyssey and pre-Star Wars SCI-FI movies were like and become jaded in their views. Suddenly all perspective is gone. Goodness, these were simple times in the mid-50's, have some compassion. We have come far even in comparison to 50 years ago.

WORLD WITHOUT END offers a story taking off from the classic Time Machine and anticipating the post-apocalyptic nightmare of Planet of the Apes. It presents yet another version of what could be the future. The sets and complete production values are all fine and well realized.

But what is important here is the story and the hope that mankind can survive through any adversity because he has and will always have the will to live and carry on. Warts and all.

I would recommend this to any real fan of storytelling.