Daily Archives: August 25, 2015

When Worlds Collide
Directed by Rudolph Maté
Written by Sydney Boehm from a novel by Edwin Balmer and Philip wylie
1951/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Banner hanging over the Space Ark camp: Waste anything except TIME. Time is our shortest material.[/box]

I was looking forward to this for the special effects.  Unfortunately I did not find them convincing even for the period.

As the film opens, a group of scientists has made a terrifying discovery.  Within a year, the planet Zyra will come so close to the earth as to cause massive destruction.  Two weeks later a star will actually impact, obliterating the few survivors on earth.  Playboy David Randall (Richard Derr) is selected to take the astronomers’ top secret data to a university where a mainframe computer will be used confirm the findings.  The findings are confirmed.  The scientists conduct a special briefing for the UN but are not believed.

The scientists start fund raising for a Space Ark that will take forty hand-picked humans to Zyra to establish a space colony,  They get the final funding from an evil industrialist in a wheelchair.  Head scientist Dr. Hendron resists his demands to select the passengers.

Work begins on the Space Ark.  David Randall morphs from errand boy to critical employee/rocket ship pilot.  He has caught the eye of Dr. Hendron’s daughter Joyce (Barbara Rush) and she starts to reassess her engagement to square M.D. Tony Drake. Will the mission to Zyra survive the chaos that breaks out as disappointed prospective passengers arm themselves to storm the Ark?

I thought the use of miniatures and matte paintings was excruciatingly obvious in this one. The effects were more of a distraction than an asset as far as I was concerned.  I think maybe the same effects would have worked far better in black and white.  The story and acting don’t have much to recommend them.  The film ends with dawn on the planet Zyra.  I think there was an interesting movie to be made starting there.

When Worlds Collide won the Academy Award for Best Effects, Special Effects.  It was nominated for Best Cinematography, Color.

Trailer

Angels in the Outfield
Directed by Clarence Brown
Written by Dorothy Kingsley and George Wells; story by Richard Conlin
1951/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Aloysius X. ‘Guffy’ McGovern: Dogs have fleas, managers have reporters.[/box]

This started out really promisingly.

“Guffy” McGovern (Paul Douglas) is the manager of the Pittsburg Pirates. He swears a blue streak, is inclined to fisticuffs, and regularly gets thrown out of games.  The Priates are having a losing season.  The local paper sends out its household hints columnist Jennifer Page (Janet Leigh) out to get the “women’s angle” on the team.  She concludes the players are disheartened by the tongue lashings they receive from their manager.

Then a miracle happens.  Guffy is visited by an angel whom he can hear but not see.  The angel promises heavenly assistance if Guffy can learn to control his temper.

Then the cute little orphans and nuns show up.  One of the girls, Bridget, can see angels standing behind each of the players.  This hits the press and causes quite a stir.  Guffy’s angel has told him that they played together and his curiosity takes him out to the orphanage to see if he Bridget can tell him who the angel was.

Guffy, Jennifer, and Bridget all become really chummy.  In the meantime, Guffy’s archenemy (Keenan Wynne), a sports announcer, tries to get Guffy banned from the game due to insanity.  There is a hearing.  If you don’t know everything that happens in the last act of this movie, you have not been paying attention.  With Spring Byington and Ellen Corby as nuns, Lewis Stone as the baseball commissioner, and Donald Crisp in a cameo as a priest.  We also hear from Bing Crosby and Harry Ruby, playing themselves, on the subject of angels.

This is crisply written and pretty amusing at points.  Halfway in I began thinking I had seen the movie before.  I had.  It was called “Miracle on 34th Street.” All the best stuff in this one seemed much fresher in that film.  You could definitely find worse ways to spend your time, however.

Trailer