Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1695 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-09-25
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 82 minutes

Amazon.com
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 Reviews

Early George Pal
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.

Great Classic Movie At A Fantastic Price!
"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!

From Nuclear Paranoia to Kitsch Fun - I love it!

This movie freaked me out when I was 5 (in mid 1970s). Now it is so kitsch I just can't stop laughing.

As background scenarios, it uses oil-painted canvas; the rocket has propane gas lighters as fire engines. Acting lines are poor (except for: "You are scientific crackpots! Nothing will happen!"); plus, lip-locked kisses, and the absurd amount of cigarettes they smoke.

Likewise, its sci-fi concepts are beyond illogical even for the genre criteria, such as flying a settler-rocket into a zooming Terran planet that crushes Earth, besides the life 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, it must be noted the complete absence of African-Americans actors.

"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 hilarious time with some fun friends.