Battle of the Worlds

2001 and Star Wars were the death knell for most cinematic sci-fi produced before their release.  Suddenly all the imaginative special effects used in films like Forbidden Planet just seemed hopelessly out of date.  And “C” movies like Battle of the Worlds (1961) were relegated to afternoon nostalgia items sold to local TV stations.  But, ironically, that sort of exposure created a fan base far beyond the film’s theatrical release, making Film Detective’s Blu-ray a welcome addition to the classic sci-fi home video library.

Set sometime in the near future, Earth is threatened by a rogue planet from beyond the galaxy.  But rather than colliding, this “outsider” settles into a stable orbit perplexing scientists across the globe…except for the lovably arrogant Professor Benson (Claude Rains) who sees the incursion as a precursor to something much worse.  And he’s proven right when an exploratory mission to the orbiting body unleashes a fleet of death-dealing spaceships.  The only solution is a mission into the heart of the “outsider” to unravel the mystery from the inside out.

 

No bones about it, Battle of the Worlds is a talky affair.  But luckily, it’s Claude Rains who does most of the talking.  Colorfully cantankerous, his performance is miles above anyone else in the cast and keeps the plodding plot moving along by sheer force of will.  Director Antonio Margheriti, a genre-hopping craftsman from Italy’s glory days, fills the screen with colorful ray guns, flying saucers, secret bases and at least two romantic subplots.  Its inspiration is undoubtably the pulp sci-fi novels of the ’30 and ‘40s, which offer their own dated pleasure as well.  But there’s something special about these now-quaint visions of the future, when cinema – and our own scientific achievements – seemed to have no limit.

 

Another fine addition to The Film Detective’s burgeoning library, their Blu-ray has its share of audio-visual hiccups inherent in the archival print used to create the new 4K hi-def transfer.  But the widescreen image looks miles better than anything released on disc before.  And to sweeten the deal, historian Tim Lucas provides a 30-minute visual documentary to go along with an astute commentary track by Justin Humphreys.

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