Planets Against Us – 1962
A B/W Italian movie that has a novel concept but is flawed. Partly because it’s Italian, and partly because it was made in 1962, and partially because this print is not the clearest. For instance, occasionally, we loose the English dubbing, and the characters start talking in Italian for a few minutes. I’m assuming that these are sections that are missing from the English print, and they stuck them back in from an Italian print. Only problem is, there are no subtitles. So there are two sections where we have no idea what anybody is saying.
According to IMDB, this is the first movie to depict a true cyborg. Now, my definition of a cyborg is a mechanical body with a human brain, and usually a few other human parts. The problem is, there’s no such thing in this film. Basically, if I understood correctly (and of course, after all those Gin and Tonics, and the terrible dubbing, it’s possible I misunderstood) these are robot bodies with an energy being from another world living inside. Or something like that.
I do have to admit that Michael Lemmoine sells the fact that he’s an emotionless machine from another world that doesn’t understand human traditions. I haven’t seen acting this wooden since Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
There are either still missing scenes, or the Italians really don’t seem to need continuity. I mean, where does that ray gun the cop has that melts the alien’s chest come from. That scene does lead to one of the cooler scenes, where he melts. The clayamation here is pretty good, for a low budget Italian flick. I mean, they didn’t have Ray Harryhausen, do they?
There was, however, a great paranoid ending. You know, the late 50’s and early 60’s were such a hotbed of paranoia, and this flick’s ending key’s right into that. Just something else to worry about.
Two beers out of five.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
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