"The Greatest Shock of All Time!"

 When You Don’t Worry Too Much About The Science

When Worlds Collide (1951) – A rogue star and planet are streaking into the solar system. Collision with Earth is unavoidable. Humanity begins a race to build spaceships so some of the population can escape to the oncoming planet.

Directed by Rudolph Mate

Starring Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, John Hoyt, Larry Keating

Why I Liked It – It was amusing enough to get past the terrible science.

If you are that person who gets upset about the science in movies like Star Trek, Star Wars or whatever, you do NOT want to watch this movie. Even your humble correspondent, the liberal arts major, sat shaking his head at some of this. They are worried about the rogue sun colliding with Earth. The sun is roughly the size of Saturn. The gravitational forces would destroy us long before collision. They are concerned about the cargo/crew weight in the ship, as they should. But they randomly just shrug off adding a child, and then his dog. Let alone how a rogue sun can suddenly appear, racing at immense speed toward our solar system. Oh, and one character is chosen for the crew because she’s the boss’s daughter, and another because he is her boyfriend. Just silly stuff like that.

But then the science isn’t what the movie is about.

How do we deal with a planet killing event? How do you fight back when others insist that everything’s fine and you’re being hysterical? Does this sound vaguely familiar? An astronomer in South Africa detects the sun (Bellus) and discovers it, and its only planet (Zyra) are on a collision course with Earth. With the help of scientists and industrialists from the United States, there will be an attempt to send 44 people to Zyra in the hope that it is habitable. The scientist leaders decide the survivors will all come from the team that builds the spaceship. Meanwhile, one industrialist, who is a reincarnation of Mr. Potter from “It’s A Wonderful Life”, attempts to take over the project for his own use. John Hoyt is chilling as the wheelchair bound Stanton. The crew weight math struck me as dumb. After the livestock, supplies and fuel are onboard, there is 7,000 pound left for the 44-member crew. Some quick math says that means an average weight of 160 pounds! It was a different time.

There’s not any real depth to any of the characters. Even Stanton is a cardboard figure. But there’s enough there that the movie kept my attention. There’s a lot of unexplored ground in the story about how the crew is chosen, what specialties are needed, the real chance that Zyra is uninhabitable and that the crew may die horribly as well. That doesn’t even mention the fate of hundreds of millions of people left behind. As I noted above, that’s not what this movie is about.

“When Worlds Collide” is a shot at cashing in on the success of the 1950, Oscar nominated “Destination Moon”. Th sets off one of the greatest decades for science fiction in the movies. Not overwhelmed with special effects, and not taking itself too seriously allows “When Worlds Collide” to offer some science fiction fun with a tasty couple of “Hollywood Endings” along the way.

“When Worlds Collide” can be streamed on MGM+, Paramount+, Amazon Prime, Sling TV, the Roku Channel, Philo, Apple TV, and Vudu.

Rating – *** Worth A Look (But Only Barely)

 Oh, the breathless voiceover!