Assignment: Outer Space

OK, bad FX but given it was 1960 don't be too harsh in that judgment. Not having seen all SF films from that era it's hard to say whether it was below standard or not. Star Trek didn't get so much better by 1967, substituting flashing lights for analog gauges and completely rewriting/ignoring physics. I liked some of the techno babble here - the multi-stage rocket, the sleep chamber, the arched trusses inside the space station, weightlessness, hydrazine, the paramilitary dialogue. Tossing objects out to detect the beams and stay in the middle seems reasonable and inventive for a mere reporter. "Pecking the lobe" is an electronic way to do the same thing against enemy radar in modern warfare. There was a story here but things got compromised, as usual in movies time and space (ie distances), are ignored in order to cut to the chase (see Armageddon, 1997). The guy waxing philosophical during his space walk has been done in almost every space movie since, and even Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, et al spoke that way once on earth. Anyhow, good for a laugh.

'Space Men', directed by Anthony Daisies (aka Anthony M. Dawson of 'Cannibal Apocalypse' infamy), is a low budget, and I mean LOW budget, 60s Italian sci fi adventure. Anyone expecting a stylish gem ala Mario Bava's 'Planet Of The Vampires' will be sorely disappointed, and anyone expecting an Ed Wood worst-movie-ever-made laughfest will also not get what they expect. This movie is neither of the two, but if you take it for what it is - basically a simple 40s style pulp plot with special effects a smart 12 year old could build in their own backyard - it is a fairly enjoyable slice of silliness.

The wonderfully named Rik Van Nutter ('Thunderball') plays an arrogant (but actually quite decent underneath) space reporter who is sent as an observer on a space mission. He clashes with the arrogant (but actually quite decent underneath) ship Commander (Alain Dijon - 'La Dolce Vita'). The two also vie for the affections of the lovely Lucy (Gabriella Farinon) in between trying to save Earth from possible destruction by an out of control space ship. Yes, it's that kind of movie. Entertaining enough but nothing special.

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

Very odd sci-fi film. Filled with quirky little details of some historical interest: The film is Italian and overdubbed in English; but if you watch the actors' lips carefully, they are mouthing the English words; so the film was intended for an English language market from the start.

The writers assume that the Russians will win the space-race of the time, hence the reporter refers to the spaceship crew as "cosmonauts).

The film claims to be shot in Technicolor; this simply cannot be the case. Occasionally the color red shows through, but much of it does look black and white. When Technicolor washes out, it takes on a light blue tint - other processes get very blue, light green, or, as here, simply washed out all together.

Gabriella Farinon is very easy to look at; she later did a very pretty spread for the Italian edition of Playboy Magazine (1975)(some of it can be searched for on the 'net), but her film career went pretty much nowhere.

The year is 1960; that may make this the first film ever to depict a black male as extremely intelligent, brave, wistfully philosophical, and treated by the other crew members as simply another crew member, no reference to race whatsoever. I'm afraid that would make this one of the most important films ever made, in terms of social history (which doesn't mean it's a good film - it isn't).

Director Antonio Margheriti, AKA Anthony M. Dawson, was extremely prolific; however, a filmography search, both here at IMDb and on Google, only discovers his fantasy films, and a small handful of westerns; but I remember his name popping up on almost every other spaghetti or sauer-kraut western produced in the '60s, at least until Sergio Leone came along (and radically changed that genre).

Yes, I can see the influence of this film on Kubrick's 2001; but beyond the film's essential pessimism, it's unclear why Kubrick would be impressed by a film so poorly made.

My viewing confirms a previous reviewer's note that the explosion of a spaceship is represented with brief stock footage of a car blowing up in a parking lot. Why?! Not the lowest budget imaginable for such a film can excuse this gaff - it would have been more effective to take the spaceship miniature and toss it on the ground - and then step on it.

Yet despite flaws like this, the writers seem to be determined to deploy science and technology (at least as it was popularly known at the time) in a fairly realistic manner.

A real stew of a film, made of leftovers as yet not fully cooked.

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.