Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Paramount
EAN: 9780792173045
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 079217304X
Label: Paramount
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Paramount
MPN: PARD051064D
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Paramount
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2001-09-25
Running Time: 83
Studio: Paramount
Theatrical Release Date: 1951-08

When a group of astronomers calculate one planet is on course to pass close enough to the earth to cause havoc on land and sea while a few days later a second will record a direct hit they set about building a rocket so a few selected individuals can escape to the first of the unwanted intruders. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 04/11/2006 Starring: Richard Derr Peter Hanson Run time: 83 minutes Rating: G Director: Rudolph Mate
Winner of the 1951 Academy Award for Best Special Effects, this science fiction extravaganza set a new standard for the realistic depiction of cinematic disasters. Of course, it's a quaint curiosity by today's technological standards, but as produced by visual effects pioneer George Pal, this story of Earth's collision with a runaway star is still a dazzling example of screen sci-fi from the '50s, when special effects were entering a new stage of advancement. Despite scientists' warnings about the star's destructive potential, government officials refuse to take action that could cause international panic, but a consortium of private industrialists prepare for the worst by building a gigantic spaceship--an ark for humanity to begin life anew on a distant planet. Who will be chosen to go, and who left behind? As earthquakes roar and massive tidal waves devastate entire cities, the huge rocket prepares for take-off from its miles-long launching ramp--ready to abandon the shattered Earth! Although it's more enjoyable now as a cinematic museum piece, When Worlds Collide remains a milestone of its kind, leading the way for many more screen disasters that followed this movie's still-worthy example. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Rating:
Summary: Fun Sci-Fi Classics
Comment: I loved the book (and it's sequel, After Worlds Collide) when I was young. The movie is certainly not as good, but still a lot of fun. Its too bad they never made a movie of the sequel.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Early George Pal
Comment: After DESTINATION MOON and just before WAR OF THE WORLDS, Pal's adaption of The Phillip Wylie/Edwin Balmer classic is, itself, a classic. Effects that were top of the line for the early 1950's but may seem abit lame to today's viewers. The grand daddy of all disaster movies, this is one film it would be interesting see it remade with CGI. Still an wonderfully entertaining film. Have to admit, except for John Hoyt as a ruthless cripped millionaire (his man servant is played by a guy whose name escapes me who ended up in either Petticoat Junction or Green Acres) and Barbara Rush I can't think of anything else I've seen the rest of the cast in.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Classic Movie At A Fantastic Price!
Comment: "When Worlds Collide" is one of my very favorite Sci-Fi movies. It is based on a book by the same name, co-written by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer (which is a great book with and enjoyable sequel, "After Worlds Collide"). The movie is appropriate for all but the youngest viewers and rates highly on my family's "Lazy Saturday" movie list. The plot is fast moving, the acting is good, and the "classic" special effects are enjoyable (matte-paintings :-)

This is a bargain priced DVD for a fantastic movie! Highly recommended!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: From Nuclear Paranoia to Kitsch Fun - I love it!
Comment:
This movie freaked me out when I was 5. Now it is so kitsch I just can't stop laughing.

Special effects are ludicrous. Oil-painted canvas as background scenarios; a butane lighter as rocket engine. Acting lines are poor (except for the memorable: "You are scientific crackpots! Nothing will happen!"). On top of that, lip-locked kisses, and the absurd amount of cigarettes.

Its sci-fi concepts are beyond illogical, even for the genre criteria: a settler-rocket flying into a zooming Terran planet that crushes Earth, not to mention the life-saving lottery in which the doctor's daughter and her boyfriend are absurdly left hors-concour. The overt references to the Bible are amusing, as well as the long show-off scene of a first-generation helicopter. More seriously, the complete absence of African-Americans actors must be noted.

"When Worlds Collide" kicked off the wave of sci-fi (and horror) movies expressing anxieties over a Nuclear Holocaust during the emerging Cold War. The approaching planet is red, red, red. As interestingly, the movie also anticipates the white exodus from the city towards suburbia.

All in all, an interesting movie, which I recommend for a goofy time with some fun friends.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Movie by George Pal!
Comment: This is a great movie about the end of the world. No, not by global warming, but by a heavenly body colliding with Earth. A space arc is constructed, and everyone fights for a seat. The only negative, there does not seem to be any racial diversity on the all-white flight.

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