Un monde sans fin

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.

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.

A few years ago I watched this movie with a group of friends. We had a terrific time with it. It was great to see `The Time Machine' star Rod Taylor with `The Day the Earth Stood Still' star Hugh Marlow. Other high points included that great rocket ship (which was first designed for `Destination Moon', but rejected in favor of the one actually used). The rocket was first used in `Flight to Mars', and it later appeared in `It! The Terror from Beyond Space' and `Queen of Outer Space'.

If your not into rockets, perhaps the stunning girls in the short `futuristic' skirts will hold your interest. Famed pin-up artist Alberto Vargas is listed in the credits, although he's credited with `production design', instead of `costume design'. Perhaps he did both.

The story has strong points and weak points. The weak points are forgivable: few special effects, a terrible `giant spider', and sets that not exactly spectacular.

The strong points are, I guess, a matter of personal taste. The story is simple, but still interesting. In a post-holocaust world, a small society of civilized people live underground, safe from the violent mutants who live on the surface. The characters interact well, and when they take on the mutants in the climax, my friends and I were cheering as if we were watching the Super Bowl.

Maybe it'll affect you the same way. Give it a chance.

Yes this movie is a little corny, but most of the sci-fi/horror movies of that time were corny, but still fun to watch. And this movie still has a good underlining story. The astronauts find themselves in another world from the one they left, their families and homes are gone and mutants attack them. Then they find another race like their own. And after fighting the mutants and the others they work together to start to rebuild the Earth. Corny but good.

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.