The Bubble (1966)

Very disappointing...

Must See Movie...

As Good As It Gets

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

I watched this movie in first run in the Chicago area in 1966-67. I even remember the girl I was dating. And looking around at the audience all wearing the special 3D glasses.Anway, here's the spoiler. The plot, such as it was, could be compared to a bunch of kids collecting ants, grasshoppers, etc. and putting them into a glass jar, and tossing in what ever they think would make the insects seem at home, grass, twigs, leaves.So, if some alien kid did the same to humans, what would it toss in? Part of the Lincoln Memorial, bits and pieces of things from around the world. And if a specimen died, what would a kid do? Remove it quickly not knowing if its death would affect the others still in the jar.And might bugs do if trapped in a jar? Possibly try to do the things by rote they did before. And if a new bug accidentally flew into the jar unawares, it would probably spend some time trying to figure out how to get out before falling into a repetitive life.Here's the plot in brief. Husband and wife out flying with a pilot get caught in a storm (imagine the storm from War of the Worlds), and are forced to land inside the jar/bubble. Most of the other inhabitants are living their lives as if they're robots, going through the motions of their occupations. Our heroes try to get out, the pilot dies in an attempt.I believe at the end, the bubble is lifted, but I don't remember if there is any kind of conclusion.The 3D effects were silly, like firemen carrying a ladder into the audience. Most of them had little to do with furthering the plot. I believe Johnny Desmond (the pilot) got to sing a song. He was a 2nd rate Al Martino about 10 years earlier (if you get the joke).Not much of a movie, and probably helped stifle 3D for awhile...until (ta da) late 2009.

Like the last person leaving a comment I too have fond memories of this movie from my childhood. For over 20 years all I could remember about it was a giant dome and the haunting words "Kill the baby, kill the baby" echoing over and over from when I first saw the movie probably on Big Chuck and Lil John's late night show in Cleveland. I even "Stumped the Staff" with this plot description years ago when that was a feature of the young, fledgling IMDb.Childhood memories aside, this movie is horrible. The plot is just plain stupid, the acting mediocre at best, and the ending a complete disappointment. But you can read all that in pretty much any review of this movie.I think the version I originally saw so many years ago was the non 3-D version, so I was sort of curious what it would look like in 3-D. The Rhino DVD's red/blue 3-D effects are pathetic; the result is much more distracting than rewarding. After 90 minutes my eyes were very strained. I even tried viewing on three different monitors and adjusting the color but to no avail. The only thing saving this movie from my second ever "1 outta 10" rating is that I've read the original polarized 3-D effects were quite good.2 outta 10 stars.

This was not the first polarized 3-D movie by a long shot, as over 50 3-D movies were released in polarized 3-D in 1953 and 1954. Some of those were later downconverted to the inferior red/blue anaglyph format but they were not seen that way upon their initial release.However, this was the first film widely distributed in a single strip/one projector 3-D process instead of the dual strip/dual projector system used in the fifties.The film has been compared to an overlong "Twilight Zone" and that is an apt description. The widescreen 3-D is quite good. It's a bit slow, and the film was cut from the original 112m version to 90 mins for a wide 1976 3-D re-issue under the title FANTASTIC INVASION OF PLANET EARTH. Later 3-D video versions cut it further to 75 mins.Rhino's DVD restores the original title but is the 90 min version, and has been downconverted from polarized to inferior red/blue anaglyph. Still, the red/blue presentation is better than most; and is worth a purchase for 3-D fans. Just don't expect it to look as good as the original polarized glasses version.

Very hokey alien invasion plot but was the first (I think) 3-D movie to use polarized lenses as opposed to the old red/blue 3-D glasses. The effects were , for 1967, awesome and we were duly astounded. We went opening night and the theater in downtown New Orleans was packed. If this wasn't a 3-D movie, however, you could use it as a sedative. They kept the effects paced just enough to keep us all interested. Today it's a curiosity, conversation piece at best.