Battle of the Worlds (1961)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

We are used to dull science fiction films about alien invasions to this very day: alien presence discovered, a threat imminent, fighting breaks out, hero prevails, Earth barely gets away. This is the commonly found pattern. Rarely we see this pattern challenged, let alone the spectator's view point. "Il pianeta degli uomini spenti" is one of those seldom efforts. The apparently imminent invasion turns out to be stillborn. A threat has never existed. Mankind's reaction is short-sighted and followed the baser human instincts. One man, Professor Benson (Claude Rains), is not only able to predict the behaviour of the alien "planet". He is even able to gain control over it but at the same time he's willing to learn from it. While his eccentricity is alienating him from the influential yet sterile people surrounding him, he for his part seems to be enraged over their ignorance and blindness in front of a great opportunity and the scientific possibilities there are in general.The sets of this interesting film are outlandish in the truest sense of the word. The location of the observatory on the desertic cliffs surrounded by those weird lime rocks and the sea bears an oddly futuristic and peculiar atmosphere right from the beginning. We also get a glimpse of Phobos' surface, the major Martian moon. Professor Benson's greenhouse then again is a stark contrast to the waste surroundings of the observatory. What a beautiful metaphor! The vanguard music and sound effects contribute nicely to these cinematographic landscapes.The Italian background of this film is most of the times overemphasised by its audience. There is not much "Italian" about this film, it seems to have been made specifically for a wider international audience. European sci-fi movies exist since the earliest days of cinema. They rarely dealt with alien invasions. There is a clear American or rather international aspect to this film which laid the groundwork for a cycle of more trivial films that would follow the moniker of "space opera".

Forgettable early 1960s Italian-made space opera -- except for one thing. That one thing is 70-year-old Claude Rains playing a mad scientist. An asteroid that looks remarkably like a real planet and not all like a hunk of rock begins orbiting the Earth and sends out flying saucers that attack our space fleet. Before the military destroys it, a team of astronauts, including Rains, is sent to the asteroid to have a look at what's inside. Mostly, they find miles of suspended plastic tubing. Very talky, but anytime Rains is on-screen, the movie comes to life. His character is as daffy as the mad scientist he played in "The Invisible Man." Special effects are pathetic and the dubbing is typical for an Italian cheapie of the period.

Claude Rains' worst part?This flick is a strong contender!Like his compatriots Bette Davis and Joan Crawford,he tries his hand at camp!Overacting is an euphemism.Wearing horrible glasses ,writing mathematical gibberish everywhere ,lazily lying on his hammock in his greenhouse,and ranting ceaselessly about the power of the army. .A new war of the worlds is about to break out! The flying saucers are hardly superior to Ed Wood's stuff,but the "il pianeta degli uomini spenti" (Rains finds the place so fascinating he decides to stay there till he dies ,impending death anyway)shows painstaking film sets ,and there's a smart nod at Noah's Ark but the desultory script borrows a lot from the highly superior "Forbidden planet" .Claude Rains' fans?Do they really have to choose this,among all his other films around?

Wow. Really, wow. This movie has tons of potential, and goes absolutely nowhere! The special effects are top notch considering the time in which it was made. The technology smacks of the odd "computer" style of the sixties where lighted buttons with no labels dominated the sci-fi realm. Very "Star Trek"-esquire.That aside, the only saving grace of this film is Claude. His charatcer actually has life to it. It is a bit much, but considering his co-stars, it is no wonder why.The whole film is perfect to be ripped on. Get your sci-fi buddies, grab a bag of chips and some cheese dip, and wail away at this one. Tom Servo and Crow would be your best co-pilots on this journey into the horribly lame.