When Worlds Collide (1951 film)

When Worlds Collide
File:When Worlds Collide DVD.jpg
Directed by	Rudolph Maté
Written by	Edwin Balmer Sydney Boehm Philip Wylie
Produced by	George Pál
Starring	Richard Derr Barbara Rush Peter Hansen John Hoyt
Cinematography	W. Howard Greene John F. Seitz
Music by	Leith Stevens
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	August, 1951
Running time	83 min.
Language	English

This article is about the 1951 film. For the 1932 novel, see When Worlds Collide. For the professional wrestling event, see When Worlds Collide (wrestling).

When Worlds Collide is a 1951 science fiction film based on the 1932 novel co-written by Philip Gordon Wylie and Edwin Balmer. The movie was filmed in Technicolor, directed by Rudolph Maté and was winner of the 1951 Academy Award for Best Effects, Special Effects.

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler Scientists, led by Dr Cole Hendron (Larry Keating), warn the United Nations about an impending collision between the Earth and a marauding star (Bellus) approaching the solar system with a planet (Zyra) in tow, but are not believed. They set about building an "ark" privately, financed by wealthy, wheelchair-bound industrialist Sidney Stanton (John Hoyt) in exchange for taking him along. The ark, a rocket designed to land like a glider, is intended to give a few selected individuals a chance to escape to Zyra in the faint hope of saving the human race. The ship's construction is a race against time as doomsday approaches. Groups in other nations also begin building ships. As time begins running out, formerly-sceptical scientists admit that Hendron's group was right about doomsday, and governments eventually admit the inevitable.

Zyra passes by first, its gravity disrupting the Earth's surface. As the appointed day of destruction draws closer, the ship is loaded with food, microfiche copies of books, equipment, animals and approximately fifty individuals selected by lottery. The cynical Stanton, having bought weapons to defend the base, becomes more anxious as time passes.

In the final hour, many of the lottery losers riot, taking up arms to try and force their way aboard the ship. Hendron stays behind at the last moment, forcibly keeping the crippled Stanton from boarding as well in order to lighten the spaceship. His sacrifice proves to be crucial as the fuel runs out too soon and the ship barely manages to glide to a rough landing on Zyra. The passengers debark and find the new planet to be (miraculously) hospitable. Template:Endspoiler

New version planned for 2008

Steven Spielberg has announced that he will be the executive producer of a new version of When Worlds Collide to be released sometime in 2008. The film is currently listed as being in the pre-production stages, and will be a co-production of Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks.

Trivia

• Tagline: Planets destroy earth!

• The name When worlds collide was used in a Far Side cartoon, portraying aliens resembling giant buttocks with eye stalks on top landing on Earth, and seeing a goat.

• The Iron Maiden song "When Two Worlds Collide" is apparently based on the novel.

• The band Powerman 5000 has a song called "When Worlds Collide".

• When Worlds Collide is one of the many classic movies referenced in the opening theme ("Science Fiction Double Feature") of both the stage musical The Rocky Horror Show and its cinematic counterpart, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The film's producer, George Pál, is also mentioned.

• Pál considered making a sequel based on the novel After Worlds Collide, but the box office failure of Conquest of Space made it impossible.

• Frank Cady, who played Stanton's much-abused lackey, is better known for his roles in two TV series, Green Acres and Petticoat Junction.

External link

• When Worlds Collide at IMDb