Assignment: Outer Space

I only wanted to see this movie because it looked like charming 60's Sci-Fi and, most importantly, because it was the first film directed by Antonio Margheriti (A. Dawson) who would later become one of Italy's most reliable horror/western/crime filmmakers. "Assignment: Outer Space" is a pretty insignificant and poorly produced science-fiction romp, but it's entertaining and you can clearly detect the enthusiasm of both director and cast-members. The first half is boring and filled with clichés, but the second half and particularly the climax offers some amusing, albeit textbook space adventure. The recently (October 2005) deceased Rik Van Nutter plays a pulpy reporter on board of a routine space mission and falls in love with the only female crew member, who's actually sort of like involved with the captain of the mission already. This results in a somewhat hostile relationship between all the passengers, until they all have to get over their personal troubles and prevent an unmanned ship to crash down on earth. The sets and special effects couldn't look more amateurish, still I think this actually ADDS to the charm of these kind of movies. In case you don't like fake planets made out of carbon or astronauts on strings, this certainly isn't your movie.

Set on board a space ship in the year 2116, this movie has a number of problems that have to be overcome if you're going to enjoy it at all. First and foremost is the completely wooden and often lifeless acting, which the actors try to compensate for by trying (and failing) to make every scene seem as if it's the most important scene in the movie. There are also some pretty significant plot problems. First, there really is no story until about halfway through the movie. Originally, our intrepid group of explorers are heading to "Galaxy M-12," then they're heading to Mars for some mysterious reason, then they're suddenly diverted to Venus by order of "the High Command." Finally, upon the diversion to Venus, we're told that unless this ship can do something about it, the earth is going to be destroyed by some sort of rogue spaceship. I wasn't entirely clear, though, on why the earth was going to be destroyed. I was a little confused as well about why, half-way into the movie, Ray says "it's Christmas, Lucy." The line just hung there. It came out of nowhere and nothing came from it. So, both the story and the acting are a bit ridiculous. However ...

There are some good points here. Gene Roddenberry is usually given credit for introducing minorities in command positions on "Star Trek," but I thought it was interesting that the engineer on this ship was black (played by Archie Savage, who had previously had minor roles in such movies as "South Pacific" and "The Ten Commandments") - and he was no token. He had important things to do, including a noble act of self-sacrifice. More thought was put into the conditions of outer space and weightlessness than a lot of low-budget sci-fi movies of that era worried about, and the on-board effects were not bad, as the crew clomped about the ship in their magnetic boots. The set was also fairly futuristic looking. Unfortunately, some of the animated space travel was rather poorly done. Once the crisis was introduced, there was a moderate amount of suspense about whether or not the earth could be saved. You know what? This isn't good, but it really isn't as bad as some people say it is. 5/10

Thanks to junk-monkey (liam@merriol.freeserve.co.uk) for the review I read on one screen while watching the movie on the other. Read his excellent review for proper details. This is just a "me too' rider on that.

A quandary on the scoring: 3 out of 10 for stand-alone entertainment, but 7 for teaching value. It's great for analysis.

I'm teaching my 9 yr old daughter the basics of film-making, and so far this is the best "how to do a low budget job without spending money on a continuity girl" effort I've yet found.

You really _could_ make this film at home with a few mates, a roll of black paper and the contents of a junk radio surplus store for props and scenery. You'll also need some fishing line and a couple of plastic construction kits with burning candles stuck up their orifices, some mud and a source of smoke - a cigar, or a pinch of dry ice. Because of that, for the stated instructional purpose, I loved the film. and even though it's not "Dark Star," it must have helped pave the way

The kid's about to do a remake starring teddy bears and a washing-up liquid bottle with fins stuck on. It should be no less convincing.

I downloaded it from a public domain collection.

Would I buy it? Probably not for more than £1.00

I kinda like Assignment Outer Space. It's a real simple little sci-fi flick with your typically bad Italian effects. One scene made the movie for me though.

There's a scene where an astronaut tries to escape a crash by jumping down to one of Mars' moons (strangely similar to the big budget Mission to Mars). Suddenly, there's an explosion when his ship hits. Unfortunately, the person handling the mattes was apparently sleeping that day, because you see an explosion in front of a bunch of buildings and behind a Chevy. Here we are in deep space near the Red Planet and there's a Chevy on a street in Italy. One of the most jarringly funny scenes I ever saw in a grade z movie.

Days of Our Lives in space is the best way in which to describe this dreary, laborious non-event. Intrepid reporter (Nutter) is granted access to a space station on which the crew are less than excited about his presence to the extent he quickly earns the nickname of "Leech". Predictably, he becomes a burden in the name of any moral cause that emerges, causing conflict among the crew as they try to save the earth from oblivion.

Nutter made a very brief impression in films when we played Felix Leiter in the James Bond instalment "Thunderball", but his acting leaves a lot to be desired, hampered further by the inane dialogue that leads him to compare the hot young female cosmonaut (Farion) to that of a mascot chimp that belonged to this father. Archie Savage and Franco Fantasia are the only other recognisable names in the cast playing chivalrous space heroes, while veteran spaghetti movie-maker Antonio Margheriti directs his second picture.

A lot of goofy explanations and additional narrative is supplied via voice-over, while miniatures do their job at depicting outer space paraphernalia. The special effects are spectacularly infantile, but the plot thickens nicely and the tension almost makes palpable as the puerile dialogue pours on the sympathy like rivers of gravy over this proverbial turkey. But how can you not like a movie that features an actor by the name of "Alain Dijon"?