After the less-than-stellar distribution of its previous film, Le Vainqueur de l'espace (1960), in the US, Ultra Film decided it could improve its performance in the lucrative US market for this film by adding a "name" American actor. Claude Rains had just played the grumpy Prof. Challenger in Le monde perdu (1960) and decided that he would be perfect to play the grumpy Prof. Benson in this film.
In the US this was passed over by major distributors. It was picked up by a very minor distributor and wasn't released until 1963. As a result, it received scant bookings and remained unseen theatrically in many areas. It was popular via U.S. television syndication later in the 1960s, followed in 1986 when it was widely distributed on VHS (pan and scanned) by the bargain label Goodtimes Home Video.
The credits list the screenwriter as the very Russian-sounding "Vassilij Petrov". In reality, the screenplay was written by one of Italy's most respected and very prolific screenwriters, Ennio De Concini.
After Le Vainqueur de l'espace (1960) (aka "Space Men") Ultra Film immediately re-teamed director Antonio Margheriti and writer Ennio De Concini to do this film.
Maya Brent's debut...