Okay-- The Earth is threatened by an Outsider-- a dark world that comes out of the Intergalactic Depths to wreck havoc on the Earth. Attempts to investigate gives rise to a fleet of flying saucer ships that destroy all who approach!! DOOM!!!
Yes-- this is 1961!
This was not a movie of the Space Age-- but more precisely a Movie from the Age of Outer Space.
And despite it being an Italian film, it is quite good, giving a strong nod to the basic lay science of Outer Space as it was known in that bygone era. So forget any descriptions such as 'Spagetti Space Opera'. They don't do justice to this film.
For me as a kid in 1968 when I first saw it on TV-- in grainy Black & White -- it was merely an exciting film about space rockets and flying saucers. The dialogue outside of the spaceship scenes was gibberish and mainly ignored. And when I WAS paying attention, my mother kept calling to me from the kitchen to turn off the 'Idiot Box' and demanding if I had finished my homework like I was supposed to.
Aaaaaagh!
But Now as an adult, I hear the dialogue between "Dr. Benson" and his subordinates and the Council as rich in almost Shakespearean content as you listen to Dr. Benson excoriate his underlings and the Powers-that-Be about the power of calculation over the reliance on machines.
"What's the purpose of Life, if you won't Know?" he demands in what seems to be a fit of madness. . . except he really isn't mad- just Misunderstood Genius.
So when you watch this movie-- Pay Attention to Dr. Benson. He IS the center of this movie.
And try to identify the classical string piece that always starts playing when Dr. Benson hits intellectual revelation!
Yes-- this is 1961!
This was not a movie of the Space Age-- but more precisely a Movie from the Age of Outer Space.
And despite it being an Italian film, it is quite good, giving a strong nod to the basic lay science of Outer Space as it was known in that bygone era. So forget any descriptions such as 'Spagetti Space Opera'. They don't do justice to this film.
For me as a kid in 1968 when I first saw it on TV-- in grainy Black & White -- it was merely an exciting film about space rockets and flying saucers. The dialogue outside of the spaceship scenes was gibberish and mainly ignored. And when I WAS paying attention, my mother kept calling to me from the kitchen to turn off the 'Idiot Box' and demanding if I had finished my homework like I was supposed to.
Aaaaaagh!
But Now as an adult, I hear the dialogue between "Dr. Benson" and his subordinates and the Council as rich in almost Shakespearean content as you listen to Dr. Benson excoriate his underlings and the Powers-that-Be about the power of calculation over the reliance on machines.
"What's the purpose of Life, if you won't Know?" he demands in what seems to be a fit of madness. . . except he really isn't mad- just Misunderstood Genius.
So when you watch this movie-- Pay Attention to Dr. Benson. He IS the center of this movie.
And try to identify the classical string piece that always starts playing when Dr. Benson hits intellectual revelation!