Master of the World

This film is a mish-mash of two Jules Verne novels (none of which, I have read), and I think it is a fairly good adventure.

It's interesting to see Charles Bronson in an early role (before he hooked up with Mr. Winner and went-all bitter vigilante'), he turns in a good performance. And the late-great Vincent Price is just right as Robur, Captain of the flying ship "The Albatross", in one of his trademark not-strictly evil genius roles - more like, men who usually have good or honourable intentions, but are driven to madness and the use of terrible means to acheive them. The rest of the cast are all of a fairly good standard, except the character of Mr. Prudent, I find him extremely annoying and the acting is also quite poor.

The effects are alright (you have to take into account it's the early 60's) and the set of the ship itself looks good and is well crafted. But the parts where the ship is supposed to be over land (some country- or-other), are almost funny because you can clearly see that the ship is super-imposed on to a completely different piece of film.

Overall Good, with an important message (discussed and challenged in the movie), that is more relevant, today, than ever.

Matheson's script took two Verne novels ("Robur the Conqueror" and "Master of the World"), and added touches of irony in the characters. (The "gentleman" Mr. Evans, when he sees his girl turning towards government agent Strock, tries to kill Strock at every chance.) William Witney, a famed second unit director, used every trick he ever learned in Republic serials to make the movie look slick on a low budget. (I've never seen such continuous use of a rear projection screen in any other movie.) But the real delight is Vincent Price's Robur, a man of good will but with some severe personality problems. I think he'd be a suitable children's introduction to the antihero and the character with a tragic flaw. For me, the romantic theme music by Les Baxter, especially over the end credits, makes the movie. (Fortunately, they didn't use the maudlin lyrics version in the film!) The recent video release of the film restores the theatrical prologue of "wacky" flying machines from silent movies.

A sleepy Pennsylvania town is awakened in 1868 when Captain Robur (Vincent Price) comes sailing in on his airship. A few of the city locals join him, curious about this new way to fly, and eager to stop him when they think he has had a bit too much power for his own good.

Let me start by saying that I absolutely loved the prologue, which was perfect for this film. The montage of various flying devices that did not work. Some of this footage has become classic, but it fit the theme perfectly here: a world where the only way to fly is with balloons suddenly seeing a new method in disbelief.

Vincent Price is great as Captain Robur, but when is he not? He would go on to declare this one of his favorite roles. Charles Bronson plays the other lead, John Strock, and may surprise fans of Bronson. (Some have said he was miscast, but I do not see any problem with it.) We also have Henry Hull as Prudent, more or less representing the "old ways" (which are quite old by now, given the story takes place just after the Civil War).

David Frankham is also great, and interestingly came on board thanks to Vincent Price. His role was already filled by AIP regular Mark Damon, but Damon skipped out to film another project. Price suggested Frankham because they had worked on "Return of the Fly" together. Frankham is not as well known as Damon, but he is a valuable resource because he has provided multiple commentaries in recent years.

Richard Matheson wrote the script, based on two Jules Verne stories. Matheson has consistently been a great writer, particularly in conjunction with Vincent Price and AIP. Jules Verne is not a source used often enough -- beyond "Around the World in 80 Days" and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", his work remains largely untouched. This film proves that more can be done -- and also that you can get around the world in ten days.

Interestingly, the plot revolves around a man who thinks he can end war by using the threat of invincibility. While the idea of having a war on war is admirable, one has to wonder if Matheson had in mind the nuclear bomb when writing the script -- surely the bomb's creation was thought to end war as we knew it, but only encouraged others to acquire nuclear bombs. Likewise, one assumes that governments would push to build Robur-style airships.

Vincent Price (or Charles Bronson) fans should check this one out. It is not a horror film, not by any means. It is typically classified as science fiction, though I would put it more in fantasy. Price still has a bit of the villain inside him here, but it is not the murderous, insane type... it is a misunderstood, misguided antihero.

As always, the definitive edition is on Scream Factory's Vincent Price Collection (Volume 3). We have an incredible audio commentary with David Frankham and a moderator named Jonathan -- Frankham is very knowledgeable about Les Baxter, and even offers a slight diversion to discuss "Werewolf of London". Few people alive today know the AIP of the 1960s like Frankham. The disc also includes the full-length documentary "Richard Matheson: Storyteller", which is priceless and will be covered in its own review.

I caught this one on cable recently, seeing it for the first time as an adult. I must admit to a slight bias toward this film: when I was growing up in the dreaded BC (before cable) days, it was standard Saturday afternoon TV fare on our local indie channels. I was surprised at how well it's held up after all this time.

Master of the World is actually based on two little-remembered Jules Verne novels. Price is his usual hammy self as the standard Verne not-quite-villain, Robur (read: Nemo in the air) who, like Nemo, seeks to end war through technology. The young Bronson, as a sympathizer who then rebels against Robur's violent methods, is far less wooden than in his later years. But the real star of this movie is its production design. The rendering of what an aircraft might have looked like in Victorian days (had such a thing been possible) is dead-on, and the special effects are pretty impressive for 1961. The script, by Richard Matheson, is a little overwrought, but true to Verne's spirit while eliminating the blatant racism of the original stories. This time around though, I found the sweeping, melodramatic score to be a bit overpowering.

In short, not a perfect film or even a great film, but Master of the World remains a well made, entertaining action fantasy. I'm surprised it isn't better remembered by fans of the genre.

Based on two Jules Verne novels. This is an exciting action adventure with an emphasis on world domination and flying machines. The evil Robur (Vincent Price) is the navigator of an airplane ship hell-bent on destructing all of the worlds war machines and armies for the purpose of peace on earth (what a mad case). He must be stopped by Strock (Charles Bronson) a government man whose tough but level headed.

The effects are brilliant for an early 60's film and the screenplay and music is spot on. This is a lot of fun.