ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Several nice special effects enhance this somewhat lackluster tale about a space crew's desperate efforts to stop an out-of-control spacecraft which is being (mis)guided by a malfunctioning computer.





The craft is on a collision course with Earth. An on-board love triangle complicates the plot.

Starring Rik Van Nutter, Archie Savage, and Gabriella Farinon. Directed by Anthony Margheriti (listed in the credits as Antony Dawson) who also directed "Battle of the Worlds".
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Robert (Butch) Day]

Loosely based upon one of the Perry Rhodan novels from Germany.
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Common Sense ISN'T Common

[Gord Green]

Yes, Perry Rhodan was a paperback craze in the 60's-70's, and I bought quite a few of them , but had trouble getting through any of them.

Forest J Ackerman was the editor-packager of the series.

[Krel.]

A lot of commercial model kits were used as the spaceships in this film.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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I Googled "spaceship model kits from the 1960s" and found this picture. I wish some of the American movies had used the great models kits instead of the rather lame original creations they inflicted on us!



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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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I'm pretty sure the narrator of this trailer is a Dick Tufeld, the robot in Lost in Space, and boy does he make a strong pitch for this movie! I wish I had a good copy of it!

Love that poster in the thumbnail, too.
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___________ Assignment: Outer Space (1960)


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

[bulldogtrekker]

I have a fondness for this movie and I prefer it to the well-regarded Planet of the Vampires. It is easy to find (public domain) but like Bud said, there are no good videos of it available.

[Bud Brewster]

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Here's a pretty good copy of this movie. I compared it to theVideo.me download I've had for few years, and the picture quality is the same in both. The second picture in my post above is a screen shot from that video.

The special effects are very good, with a great spaceship model like this one used in the movie.







There's another ship shown as well which has a more "realistic" design than the "finned rockets" of the 1950s. And it's presented from several dramatic angles!







ASSIGNMENT OUTERSPACE | Free Films from SCI-FI-LONDON


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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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A few comments about this Italian movie.

The sets are very impressive! The hibernation units are terrific.

The music is borrowed from several movies; I heard music from Destination Moon and World Without End, both by Leith Stevens. But most of the music was not familiar.

The spacesuits were elaborate, but the helmets were much too large.

The dubbing of the Italian dialog is well done.

In the early liftoff scene we see the three stage rocket actually separate. Late we see the stages reconnect!

The female character is attractive, and she's a botanist / chemist who runs the hydroponics plant, as well as being a navigator.

The scenes aboard a small space station were all filmed with the camera at a slight angle, which was an effective way of keeping the sets from look quite as much like movie sets with level floors, instead of a outpost in space. It was a clever technique which worked really well. It took me a while to even notice the suitable effect and realize what it was meant to do!

The set was built with curved floors to support the fact that the narrator stated earlier that the station rotates to create artificial gravity. The tilted camera was a constant reminder that the deck as not just a flat floor (a set) on Earth.

The story is intelligent and imaginative. It's better than most of the other Italian sci-fi movies I've seen!

The narration by the heroic young reporter who is the main character is effective.

The cockpit of the rocket employed an interesting design. The room was small and circular, so the four crewmen’s chairs were arranged with their backs to each other, facing their instruments. During the acceleration scenes, the chairs tilted back until the crewmen’s heads almost touched. It was an clever and efficient use of the available space — a very NASA-like way of dealing with a problem!

When a disabled three-man ship is in danger of crashing into Phobos before the rescue ship can reach them, one of the two surviving crewmen panics and tries to “bail out” in this spacesuit. He plummets to the satellite below, screaming all the way down!

The damaged ship with the surviving crewmen crashes on Phobos, and the magnificent rocket executes a beautiful maneuver in space to turned the ship and land it like all good rockets should.

Phobos is depicted with a magnificently detailed miniature as a full-fledged world of mountains and valleys and plenty of fog-filled regions in the low areas. It was dry ice, of course, but it looked great for us fans of “practical special effects”.

But after the ship sets down, it tips a bit, threatening to crash over! A very dramatic moment. The attractive female astronaut informs the captain that the tilt is “Nine degrees to starboard. One more degree and we’d have remained here forever.” They even establish the fact that the ship is preventing itself from tipping over with its gyroscopes!

Wow . . . that’s a subtle and serious piece of sci-fi screenwriting.

The young reporter, who is depicted realistically as a young ambitious man who looses his nerve in several dangerous situations and does a bit of forgivable whining, is calmly told by the four professional astronauts that he is going with them to rescue the stranded man in the ship which crash landed. I loved the way professionals compelled the cocky young guy to “man up” and make himself useful!

The rescue team retrieves the surviving crewman, and they blast off quickly.

The young reporter is shocked when the captain informs the reporter that they aren’t taking the injured man to the medical facilities on Mars — they’ve been order to go to Venus because the Earth is danger from an unexpected threat.

This part knocked me for a loop . . .

The ship’s sensors pick up an approaching object which is radiating heat as intense as the sun, a man-made object entering the solar system. The captain tells the young reporter that a malfunction interstellar spacecraft called Alpha 2 has “reentered the solar system” and is now threatens mankind.

Alpha 2 is propelled by Photonic Energy. Now without a pilot (for reasons not explained), it's floating back towards the sun and it's only being controlled by it’s computer. It has wandered back into the solar system and will fall into an orbit around the Earth — destroying it completely with the intense heat it radiates.

But before that happens, the heroes can intercept Alpha 2 as it passed Venus and deal with the threat.

All this happen during the first 40 minutes of this 1 hour and 21 minute movie!

The miniature of the station of Venus was pretty good, and we got to see a rocket blast off from it!

This movie has a lot going for it.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)