When Worlds Collide
When Worlds Collide (1951)
Image From IMDB
An out of control Sun and orbiting planet are heading across the galaxy on a direct collision course with Earth. With less than a year to make our peace with Judgement day, maybe we can find a way to save some of the human race by hopping onto the planet orbiting the renegade Sun via a newly designed rocket ship before the Sun collides with us…
… What an outrageous and thoroughly ridiculous concept, yet I absolutely love it. I miss the days of truly speculative sci-fi. When so much was either unknown, or writers simply didn’t give a shit and would just tell a crazy story. A Sun travelling across the galaxy and colliding with us, preposterous! Yet, it’s a pretty cool idea. Let’s go with it.
When World’s Collide might be slightly hampered by its budget, but that doesn’t stop it having big ideas. We don’t get too many space shots of the celestial planet killers, but there’s a fair attempt at chaos on Earth when the runaway planet disrupts the tides and general workings of the planets. We get a host of miniatures, model disasters, matte paintings, and stock or reused footage as the Earth begins to fall apart. An early look at cities crumbling. New York, as often the case in these types of movies, gets the worse of it.
Outside of the the spectacular disaster aspect of When Worlds Collide I really enjoyed the characters used within the story. Everyone was so damn nice, even when they knew the world was coming to an end. Sure, there was a revolt towards the end as people clambered to get on the only space ship out of town, but outside of that, and one particularly nasty man with too much money, everyone was in it together. Everyone kept making the right choices, rather than purely selfish ones.
The relationship between our heroes David and Joyce was lovely, and the scene when her dad gives his blessing is one of the nicest things i’ve seen in a while. The other love interest, the Doctor, also has a very touching scene with David. They’re just characters you believe in, and want to be ok… yet you know the disaster is unavoidable. It’s not about saving the world, it’s about giving humanity some kind of hope.
I really enjoyed When Worlds Collide. The pace was great for a sci-fi film from the 50’s. The performances were all really good. The effects tried their best for the time and budget. The plot was insane, but treated with a seriousness that other so-called B-Movies wouldn’t. Budget and concept wise, this one is probably considered a B-Movie, but I think the end product is better than that. Either way, it works for me.
I think When Worlds Collide is a great film. It had me glued to the screen from start to finish, and as mentioned, it helped that I liked every character. The UN scene made me mad, but it’s also exactly how i’d expect that to go down, and the design of the rocket ship, including the launch pad, was fantastic. (see picture above)
It’s a film that maybe deserves a bigger place in history. Not one I see mentioned as often as it should, but one of the best of its time, and still a great watch now. Highly recommend When Worlds Collide… just ignore the science.
