IMDb RATING
6.6/10
9.6K
YOUR RATING
As a new star and planet hurtle toward a doomed Earth, a small group of survivalists frantically work to complete the rocket which will take them to their new home.As a new star and planet hurtle toward a doomed Earth, a small group of survivalists frantically work to complete the rocket which will take them to their new home.As a new star and planet hurtle toward a doomed Earth, a small group of survivalists frantically work to complete the rocket which will take them to their new home.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
Peter Hansen
- Dr. Tony Drake
- (as Peter Hanson)
Rachel Ames
- Julie Cummings
- (as Judith Ames)
Kirk Alyn
- Rioter Bringing Guns
- (uncredited)
Gertrude Astor
- Traveler
- (uncredited)
Mary Bayless
- Club Patron
- (uncredited)
Nina Borget
- Translator
- (uncredited)
Steve Carruthers
- Delegate
- (uncredited)
Robert Chapman
- Student
- (uncredited)
Gene Collins
- Newsdealer
- (uncredited)
James Congdon
- Eddie Garson
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaScreenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin saw this film as a ten-year-old, and has cited it as "the beginning of the emergence of philosophy" in his life. In The Dialogue: An Interview with Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin (2007), he explains that right after he and a boyhood friend saw the film, they spent hours discussing the end of the world. Rubin mentions this memory while explaining that Steven Spielberg approached him to do the screenplay for a remake of "When Worlds Collide," and that it eventually evolved into Deep Impact (1998), with Rubin credited as one of its two writers.
- GoofsThroughout the film, Bellus is referred to as a star; this is presumably how life is able to be sustained on Zyra. However, if this was the case, Earth would have been destroyed from the heat long before Bellus collided with it, even if it was a small brown-dwarf star. Also, departure should have been at least 17 days earlier, before descending deep into Bellus' gravity well and needing far more fuel. This part of the plot, and the time to build the ship, could have been resolved by sticking to the novel's pair of planets and a longer time frame - Zyra and Bellus both passing by with Bellus, a gas giant planet, ripping up Earth's surface, then returning months later for Bellus' direct collision with Earth, as Zyra enters orbit around the sun.
- Quotes
Sydney Stanton: Your salvation doesn't interest me; mine does.
- ConnectionsEdited from Spawn of the North (1938)
Featured review
...I remember rushing in from playing football in the street to watch the world ending on our little b&W TV. I remember thinking what I would do in that situation? I had nightmares for days after especially about the image of Bellus swallowing the world. Wasn't Bellus a star? Coz Zyra, the planet, sailed past days before causing earthquakes and loads of nasty stuff. It doesn't matter about effects (1951? This was top notch!) but what does matter is that you cared about the characters; the desolation when one engineer gives up his seat because his girl friend wasn't lucky enough to draw a place and was willing to meet his fate with his loved one by his side... THAT'S romance! And that ski-jump take off... and that rocket!!!! It's definitely one of the best of it's genre and everyone else is right.. the recent batch of similar films aren't a patch on this. Remember characterization, chaps! Enjoy...
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Ko trčijo svetovi
- Filming locations
- Calabasas, California, USA(Rocket Ship Campsite)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $936,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 23 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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