ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

This rarely seen Italian production is a lost gem from producer Dino De Laurentiis. Amazingly enough, there are so many American and British actors in the cast that it doesn't look much like an Italian imitation of the James Bond films so popular in the 1960s. In fact, the story has so many clever twists, humorous moments, and gorgeous women that it surpasses several of the lesser Bond movies.

Mike Conners does a top-notch job as a suave and capable America secret agent who teams up with a gorgeous British agent played by Dorothy Provine.



Miss Provine looks absolutely spectacular in ever single scene, and she delivers all her dialog with a lovely English accent (just a little bit forced) -- something few American actors can do.



Add to this the fact that the lovely Miss Provine's character is a magnificent live-action version of Miss Penelope from the Super-Marionation Thunderbirds series -- complete with her own clever, loyal, cultivated chauffeur, played to perfection by the Terry-Thomas, who ferries the gorgeous heroine around in a Rolls Royce loaded with more ingenious gadgets than Bond's Aston Martin DB-5!

And watch for a clever running joke in which Conners grabs bananas from hotel fruit baskets and passing produce trucks to eat as a snack several times throughout the film. This odd gag pays off hysterically during the climax of the movie.

The plot has a solid concept that dates well in view of today's growing concerns about over-population. Raf Vallone plays a crazed millionaire who plans to orbit a satellite armed with a ray that will cause all the men on Earth to loose interest in sex!

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This will cause the Earth's population to decline over the next few decades.

The villain will therefore be in control of all the new births, because they'll come from his own personal stock of beautiful women which he's put into suspended animation. Beverly Adams (Dean Martin's secretary in the Matt Helm series), Margaret Lee, and Marilu Tolo are a few of the lovely ladies the villain stocks his personal harem with.





This movie has a sexy story with a bold plot -- and it doesn't look like a cheap production. For example, the sets of the villain's underground laboratory and rocket launch facility are actually quite good. The stunts are very convincing, and the film's stars (Conners and Provine) apparently did most of there character's stunt work themselves!





The movie was filmed on location in sunny Rio De Janeiro and directed by Henry Levin and Dino Maiuri.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[scotpens]

[Bud Brewster]

Thanks! I fixed the error.

This is indeed a fun movie, although by the time we reach the end I feel a strong urge to hunt down and slay every harmonica player on the planet. I wonder whose idea it was to load up the soundtrack of a spy spoof with music that sounded like what the cellmates on C block would play just before lights out!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

And let us not forget that a few years earlier in 1963, Terry Thomas ferried Dorthy Provine, as well as her husband & mother, in his jeep in one of the greatest epic comedy films ever (can you tell I love it?) Its a Mad, Mad,Mad, Mad, World.

[Bud Brewster]

One of my favorite roles by Terry-Thomas is Charles the butler, servant to Jack Lemon in "How to Murder Your Wife". I recently got the Blu-ray of that movie, and I watched it twice in one week -- it's that good.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several intesting trivia items for this production,
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~ Mike Connors has said that he performed the stunt where he hangs from a rope attached to a helicopter flying around the Christ the Redeemer Statue because a local Brazilian stuntman refused to do it.

Note from me: Connors did a lot of his own stunts in Mannix, too! What a guy, eh?

~ At least for the time of the film, according to actor Mike Connors, the production was the only film that was allowed permission to film at Rio de Janeiro's sacred landmark of the Christ the Redeemer Statue.

Note from me: It's obvious in the movie that the scenes were indeed filmed on location.

~ This film was rushed into release in the USA in January 1967 so as to beat the much bigger studio James Bond parody Casino Royale (1967) which was launched in April of that same year.

Principal photography of the film was actually shot whilst the official James Bond movie You Only Live Twice (1967) was in pre-production with the intention of beating that picture to the screen as well but Casino Royale (1967) was more of a threat as it was also a Bond spoof.

Note from me: It's a far better spy spoof than Casino Royal, and I enjoy it as much as You Only Live Twice!

~ The movie has a plot that is considered highly similar to the James Bond film Moonraker (1979) which was made thirteen years later.

Note from me: This was fact not lost on yours truly the first time I watched it.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

__ Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1966) Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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YouTube offers a fine looking copy of this movie for low price of nothing-at-all! Get 'em while they last, folks!

________ Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die 1966


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)