“I haven’t the courage to face the end of the world.”
Dave Randall (Richard Derr) is a pilot. He is hired to ferry a briefcase containing secret documents and photographs from the Mount Kennah observatory in South Africa to Dr. Cole Hendron (Larry Keating), a scientist in the United States at the Cosmos Observatory. All during his trip he receives radiograms from reporters offering him money to disclose what is in the documents he is carrying. Having some scruples Dave tears up the radiograms. However, his curiosity as to what he is carrying has been peaked.
When he arrives in the United States, he is met by Dr. Hendron's daughter Joyce Hendron (Barbara Rush). In the cab to the observatory Joyce, believing the Dave already knows what he is carrying, begins chatting away about its contents. Dave lets her chat. At the observatory Dave is ushered in to see Dr. Hendron. Joyce tells her father that Dave knows all about what he is carrying and should be allowed to stay in the room when they discuss it. Dave just nods and lets Joyce do the talking.
The briefcase he is carrying is uncuffed from his wrist and opened. Inside are some photographic plates and some papers. The documents and photographs made from the plates point to a rogue star named Bellus with a planet called Zyra revolving around it. And they are heading straight for the Earth. They have six months. Once they get here planet Zyra will pass close enough to cause earthquakes and affect the Earth's tides. Nineteen days after that Bellus will hit the Earth and the Earth will be destroyed.
The scientists think that if they can build a rocket, they can send some people to the planet Zyra and save at least some of civilization. With backing from one percenters the scientists build the rocket. John Hoyt (Sydney Stanton) a really nasty one percenter is footing a lot of the money to build the rocket, provided he has a seat on it. As the time gets shorter Stanton gets nastier. As do the people left behind. When the world is ending, all you have left is anarchy. The same as with any other disaster.
"When World's Collide" was released in 1951 and was directed by Rudolph Mate. I was OK with the beginning and the end, but I felt that in the middle there were a couple slow spots. Not enough to lose my interest. And the movie’s nail-biting conclusion makes up for it splendidly. Special effects are pretty much limited to the rocket ship and the disasters on earth once the planet Zyra passes by. Of course, that's mostly stock footage. My favorite. Even so except for the bad matte painting of the new world, the effects are quite good. The acting is also good with some well-known veterans of the cinema.
Even though the science may not be accurate it’s more of a disaster movie anyway. As a disaster movie it does quite well. With George Pal running the show it’s not surprising. Disaster seems to be his middle name. Even then he seems to interject a sense of hope in his endings. Of course, with the cold war always in the background audiences seemed to need that in the 50’s. I’ve heard the rocket described as a Noah’s Ark, however, to me it seems more of a life raft. Even though they are not trying to get back to civilization they are trying to save it and bring it with them. A survival movie so to speak.
It’s a good movie and done well.