Il pianeta degli uomini spenti

The mysterious sounding music of the main title when the film starts sets the pace for the whole movie, which is laid-back yet enchanting (especially if watched at night).

It is not hardly a typical space battle type picture so this should not be expected. As a matter of fact this movie shows a much more realistic viewing of what space travel will be like when it finally becomes common place. For example the rockets are propelled by some type of gas, and permission has to be given from mission control before engines are started, and rocket courses and accelerations have to take into account things like planet gravity and possible g forces on the crew.

The main characters are interesting and even though it is overdubbed the dialog is good, with a few exceptions which are fun to laugh at. The acting by Claude Rains is very good, and you can actually feel sympathy for professor Benson, who has nothing to keep him going but science (and Eve though he finds it hard to admit it even to himself).

The story is interesting and has a few twists to it that keep things moving along. The movie also presents an interesting commentary on possible future government-military-industrial and international organization. This movie might not fit everyone's taste, yet people who sometimes enjoy laid-back atmospheric fantasies should enjoy it.

I happened to see this many times in the 1960's, at kiddie matinees in the theater. Imagine 50 cents for a triple feature every weekend, for years on end. There were a lot of dog films, but this one stood out with decent f/x and unique sound effects. It's one of the earliest space-operas depicting dog fighting ships in space, preceded only by the 1959 Toho production of "Battle In Outer Space". Say what you want about the bad voice dubbing and the unknown Italian cast. Films like this were not being produced in the U.S. during this period, due to lack of effects technology, and budget constraints. At the time, it was a bold attempt in a genre that was just beginning. Jaded modern viewers should see this in context within the history of fantasy films. Pure science fiction was rare during this period, and a treat for fans at the time. Claude Rains has some very good dialouge, as a cynical mathmatician guiding efforts to thwart alien invaders. The ships are well conceived, with the footage re-used in later films. Unfortunately, the editing is choppy and the video transfers that exist are very poor. It would be nice to see a widescreen restoration.

Antonio Margheriti's Italian Spaghetti Space Operas are some of the most interesting science fiction from the 1960s. Starting with SPACE MEN (or ASSIGNMENT: OUTER SPACE) and culminating with the brilliantly mod GAMMA ONE QUADROLIGY, Margheriti helped to shape the ultimate form of the genre -- Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY -- and gave it a truly modern ring (for the time) that was only bettered by the Soviet era science fiction like PLANETA BUR and MECHA NEVSTRACHU. A journeyman filmmaker with a background in production design, Margheriti was not as visionary in his approach as contemporary Mario Bava, who's PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES remains the most impressive example of Spaghetti Science Fiction, but Margheriti had perhaps a more populist approach to his work that still endears forty-plus years later. His use of models, miniatures and pyrotechnics alone would have earned him a very respectable place in the annals of the genre by themselves.

BATTLE OF THE WORLDS is his second trip into the galaxy for entertainment, and compared to the previous year's ASSIGNMENT: OUTER SPACE, this movie is almost a quantum leap forward in terms of ambitions for his plot, characters and action sequences. And I suspect that as is the case with ASSIGNMENT: OUTER SPACE a great deal of the critical responses this movie has accumulated ("Atsa one-a lousy meataball") has to do with the really crummy surviving prints of the film, or rather the surviving home video transfers available on public domain oriented DVD collections. BATTLE OF THE WORLDS was certainly a much more impressive experience when shown in it's correct original widescreen ratio, probably 2:35:1 Techniscope by the looks of the pan and scanning going on to condense the film for small screen. The color on the transfers -- which are likely traceable to the same early 1980s transfer to VHS -- are almost uniformly rotted nearly to sepia in spots, with plenty of surface noise & jumbled damage to individual frames. What most people are reviewing is the DVD they saw, not the film itself.

I must admit that the first time I saw this movie I despised it, didn't understand it, and shelved the poor video for a few years until I sold it before realizing who director Anthony Dawson was. Now seeing it again a few years older and wiser I still must come clean and say I don't understand the plot, how the story gets from A to B to C, and have actually been paying attention just to figure it all out. From what I can gather, Earth finds itself under assault from a wandering "planet" that has come from another galaxy (a story idea Margheriti would later re-visit in his Gamma One project), ostensibly to conquer Earth as a new home for it's passengers. Only crazed astronomer/mathematician Claude Raines understands the phenomenon as what it really is: An attack, and urges the united Earth government bodies to act before it is too late.

In pursuit of that end there are lots of frantic rocket ship battles, near collisions, big Margheriti explosions and of course a location shoot at a local power plant or electrical substation standing in for a spaceport. There is a base on Mars, guys in pressure suits doing stuff on the surface of the invading planet, a cute little puppy dog and even some romance. Including, oddly, old man Raines almost openly having a thing for his 20 year old assistant with her dark, fluttering eyelashes. Raines is easily the most impressive aspect of the film but mostly because he emotes such vigor in his role, and seems to be enjoying it so much, that you can't help but be charmed by the effort. Even if it's hard to understand what he's on about half the time. But like a Spaghetti Western what makes it "work" is the collection of individual moments that make up the film, some of which are actually very well done.

5/10: Look fast for Spaghetti Western hero Giuliano Gemma in one of his first screen roles, and yes: We NEED a better print, badly.

Hadn't seen this one since the Creature Feature days - chopped up with commercials and full-screen, of course.

It's still an Antonio Margheriti film, but, it plays better than I remember it.

Claude Rains' Professor Benson is such a cranky coot it's amazing anyone takes him seriously at all, but, of course, he's also the most interesting character.

The flying saucers are a good twist on the usual Meteor/Asteroid/Planet headed towards earth scenario. And, the saucer effects are quite good as a bonus. As the film gets to its climax inside the Planet, it takes on a Quatermass feel, with the Professor being like a retired Dr. Q. Give it to the Italian sci-fi films of the period, they were doing real space operas - and, they didn't rely on monsters and creatures.

The appearance of Claude Rains is not the only surprise in Anthony Dawson's Il pianeta degli uomini spenti (A.K.A. Battle of the Worlds). Rains plays an eccentric, reclusive, contemptuous elderly scientist who leads a powerful research team. Professor Benson is the best, and he has little patience for lesser minds. His only link to humanity seems to be Eve (Maya Brent), his assistant. Her coming of age, the insubordination of one of the younger members of his research team, and the impending arrival of an enormous and mysterious space object - The Outsider - combine to challenge "the old man's" carefully-constructed self concept, his arrogance, and, ultimately, the continuation of life on earth.

Ultimately, this is one of Italy's best and most serious sci-fi films, and one of the better early '60s sci-fi films to come out of Europe. The relatively primitive (but creative) effects coupled with the very serious and dramatic tone of the dialog may be difficult for most American viewers. Giorgio Giovannini's soundtrack is jarring and intense. And the excellent, but sometimes surreal, Marcello Masciocchi cinematography won't help the average viewer enjoy this film. The international cast (mostly Americans) does very well.

Given the film's dubious pedigree and silly cliché title, I can certainly understand why some reviewers felt compelled to use the words "cheesy" and "spaghetti" in their reviews. I am tempted to point out that macaroni and cheese is a very tasty dish, but I will refrain. Approach this film with an open mind and you might just be able to get something more than guilty pleasure from it.