Esse Bravo, Selvagem e Violento Mundo

Director Antonio Margheriti's Italian sci-fi / mystery would be the first chapter of the Gamma One quadtrilogy. I have already seen the second addition, which was rather dull.

A doctor practicing biomedicine under the protection of a private own employer uses his henchman / women to go about kidnapping perfect specimens of the human race for his experiments of engineering the ideal race. But his methods are inhumanely twisted, and Commander Mike Halstead of Gamma One goes out of his way to stop it when his Lt. is taken.

However "Wild, Wild Planet" is better paced (though still a little long winded), little more expansive in an economical sense and wrapped around an intriguingly hysterical, if vague (mad doctor theme) plot than its successor. It's crazier! Although it couldn't escape its risible dialogues and kitsch effects, by being bounded by it's low-rent, but richly etched set designs. It doesn't hold back on the vibrant colour schemes to mask its one-dimensional layout. There's an overuse of miniatures, break out the toys and dolls (you'll see when). Some (well the majority) are poorly conceived it becomes laughable, especially during some continuity shifts. The performances are decent for such a show-in. Tony Russel builds a presence and Massimo Serato elicits his devious character's obvious intentions. Lisa Gastoni is headstrong, but annoying. Franco Nero and Carlo Giustini do the job. Margheriti really does camp it up, but that's its charm and there's a rather bold moment or two that surprised me. The combat sequences though do feel like they're on a loop and you got to love there blow torches --- ah I mean lasers. The howling score is quite a psychedelic arrangement, but holding and ominous sting.

It isn't too bad entertainment.

Maybe I was REALLY ready to be entertained, but I saw this for the first time early this morning, after a night spent dealing with bad heartburn and an "iffy" stomach. At first I was happy to find a good "background noise" to fall asleep to, but then I actually got into it. Between the spaceship and "future car" models that look like they came right out of a Quisp box, and the stilted "mod" English the translators came up with for the dubbed version, this thing is really funny. Best line: The commander and two other "good guys" are wrestling around what looks like a dorm room with 3 buxom, long-haired lovelies (who are all mysteriously wearing what look like black swim trunks under their long, groovy '70s dresses). The commander warns his men to "Watch out for those gadgets on their chests! Priceless.

I really like this one myself but most will find it a little slow-moving. But this cool-looking New Age Sci-Fi is filled most importantly to me with lots of retro 1950s style spaceships and 1960s style futuristic landscapes. The story is a little bit confusing but the film is a fun watch if one likes to enjoy the stuff in the background..model work, colors and such.

In a future world, people are disappearing. A deranged scientist has been creating clones and using his lab to do experiments on kidnapped victims.

After watching The War of the Planets, this obviously has many of the same sets, costumes, and miniatures from filmmaker Antonio Margheriti. It's two of his four Gamma One films. I like this story a little bit more although the filmmaking is stuck in B-movie mode. At least, they made some futuristic cars although switching from the real cars to miniatures is really hilarious. There is so much crazy sci-fi ideas at work. First, there are the Mr. Smith clone mutant vampire killers. It doesn't get much weirder and sillier than the miniaturized victims and the policeman's reaction to finding them. Back to back, these are fascinating looks into a minor filmmaker who is the Roger Corman of Italy.

Like Plan Nine From Outer Space (which is only slightly worse), Wild Wild Planet is an absolute must-see if only for the unintentional laughs and the I-Can't-Believe-This-Got-Released reaction. The "City of the Future" set is so obviously a model that it took me a while to realize they were trying to fool me into thinking it was a city. The star troopers patrol the city in a flying saucer dangling from a string. Instead of "nit-wit", the insult of choice is "helium head." And the scene that actually made me laugh out loud...when the star troopers get to the planet Doofus...er, Delphus, they are given a tour of the facility, which includes a "space conditioning" room. In it, there are these rotating "steam boxes" with men in them, only their heads are visible, and they slowly go around and around like some goofy little carnival ride. I split a gut! And then there's the Proteo Theatre, which features a gay production of Madame Butterfly or something, set to music by the Ventures...oh, yes, friends, this is a hoot. Grab some popcorn and a glass of Saurian Brandy, and drink a toast to the way we thought things were going to be now, back in the 60's.