Battle of the Worlds

Rating:
Summary: "Increase the level of the micro waves."
Review: A rogue planet hurtles toward Earth. Alien saucers emerge and engage toy rocket ships from Earth. The hostile planet has its own electronic super-brain. Irascible Prof. Benson (Claude Rains) tries to communicate with the "other" before Earth can blow-up the galactic interloper. The best visual display is the brief scene early in the film of forty-something Mrs. Collins bulging out of her tight swimsuit. Great cheeks. After that, the outer space FX suffer in comparison. What Claude Rains, of all people, is doing in this Italian sci-fi flick is a puzzle. This movie was produced in the same era as Rains' appearance as irascible Professor Challenger in "The Lost World." Perhaps, the producers wanted to exploit the popularity of that other '60s popcorn flick among pre-teens. Today this movie is of value only for determined fans of the esoteric delights of low budget flicks. The rest of the cast is as boring as they are obscure. The script is ambitious, but tends to go off in various directions that make continuity elusive. The rest of the film is too pretentious and somber to be good camp. Although, viewing an aging Claude Rains in a space suit complete with a bubble-glass helmet verges on comic. From this point forward, you are on your own. ;-)

Rating:
Summary: "Increase the level of the micro waves."
Review: A rogue planet hurtles toward Earth. Alien saucers emerge and engage toy rocket ships from Earth. The hostile planet has its own electronic super-brain. Irascible Prof. Benson (Claude Rains) tries to communicate with the "other" before Earth can blow-up the galactic interloper. The best visual display is the brief scene early in the film of forty-something Mrs. Collins bulging out of her tight swimsuit. Great cheeks. After that, the outer space FX suffer in comparison. What Claude Rains, of all people, is doing in this Italian sci-fi flick is a puzzle. This movie was produced in the same era as Rains' appearance as irascible Professor Challenger in "The Lost World." Perhaps, the producers wanted to exploit the popularity of that other '60s popcorn flick among pre-teens. Today this movie is of value only for determined fans of the esoteric delights of low budget flicks. The rest of the cast is as boring as they are obscure. The script is ambitious, but tends to go off in various directions that make continuity elusive. The rest of the film is too pretentious and somber to be good camp. Although, viewing an aging Claude Rains in a space suit complete with a bubble-glass helmet verges on comic. From this point forward, you are on your own. ;-)

Rating:
Summary: A spaghetti sci-fi snoozer
Review: Battle of the Worlds (I watched the VHS version) had both good and bad (really) features. Claude Raines, who was hot in the 1930's (Invisible Man), was quite the eccentric mathematician in this low budget Italian attempt at star wars. A mix of both Italian and American actors produced some entertaining voice overs to keep it in english. The acting is pretty rigid and the military emphasis is rather stilted. The film was shot in color for the earth scenes but the shots of outer space are all black and white. However, once they reach the "Outsider" planet and enter into its core, some fairly interesting color schemes emerge. I only paid [$$] for this one. I guess you get what you pay for!