When Worlds Collide

1951
G
1h 23m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

9.6K

YOUR RATING

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Space Sci-Fi Action Sci-Fi Thriller

As a new star and planet hurtle toward a doomed Earth, a small group of survivalists frantically work to complete the rocket which will take them to their new home.As a new star and planet hurtle toward a doomed Earth, a small group of survivalists frantically work to complete the rocket which will take them to their new home.As a new star and planet hurtle toward a doomed Earth, a small group of survivalists frantically work to complete the rocket which will take them to their new home.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

9.6K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 1 win & 1 nomination total

Dr. Tony Drake
(as Peter Hanson)

John Hoyt

Sydney Stanton

Larry Keating

Dr. Cole Hendron

Rachel Ames

Julie Cummings
(as Judith Ames)

Stephen Chase

Dr. George Frye

Frank Cady

Harold Ferris

Hayden Rorke

Dr. Emery Bronson

Sandro Giglio

Dr. Ottinger

Kirk Alyn

Rioter Bringing Guns
(uncredited)

Gertrude Astor

Traveler
(uncredited)

Mary Bayless

Club Patron
(uncredited)

Nina Borget

Translator
(uncredited)

Steve Carruthers

Delegate
(uncredited)

Robert Chapman

Student
(uncredited)

Gene Collins

Newsdealer
(uncredited)

James Congdon

Eddie Garson
(uncredited)

Director
- Rudolph Maté
Writers
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin saw this film as a ten-year-old, and has cited it as "the beginning of the emergence of philosophy" in his life. In The Dialogue: An Interview with Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin (2007), he explains that right after he and a boyhood friend saw the film, they spent hours discussing the end of the world. Rubin mentions this memory while explaining that Steven Spielberg approached him to do the screenplay for a remake of "When Worlds Collide," and that it eventually evolved into Deep Impact (1998), with Rubin credited as one of its two writers.

Goofs
Throughout the film, Bellus is referred to as a star; this is presumably how life is able to be sustained on Zyra. However, if this was the case, Earth would have been destroyed from the heat long before Bellus collided with it, even if it was a small brown-dwarf star. Also, departure should have been at least 17 days earlier, before descending deep into Bellus' gravity well and needing far more fuel. This part of the plot, and the time to build the ship, could have been resolved by sticking to the novel's pair of planets and a longer time frame - Zyra and Bellus both passing by with Bellus, a gas giant planet, ripping up Earth's surface, then returning months later for Bellus' direct collision with Earth, as Zyra enters orbit around the sun.

Quotes
Sydney Stanton: Your salvation doesn't interest me; mine does.

Connections
Edited from Spawn of the North (1938)

User reviews148

Review

Featured review

8/10

For Its Genre, This Is Surprising How Good It Is - Nice Effort!

First, this is a nice-looking film with a good DVD transfer. Seeing an early '50s sci-fi film Technicolor is nice.

Also, having just watched - I'm not kidding - "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "Invaders From Mars," this George Pal film looked like multi-million dollar Oscar winner in comparison. Except for the ending scene, the special-effects were passable, the acting was good and the dialog pretty realistic. The story plausible? Of course not, but what they did know of space travel in 1951? Hell, we didn't send a man on the moon until almost 20 years after this movie. No, this is not one of those popcorn flicks that "is so bad, it's good" or just plaint stink. No, this movie is just good......period....even today, almost 57 years later!.

This was a no-nonsense survival story without an overdone corny romance, no stupid or obnoxious kids nor goofy-looking adults. It had a solid reverence for God and to science at the same time, a realistic portrayal of people under stress and how they would react knowing their world was coming to end. For a mostly talky film, it moved fast with few, if any lulls.

John Hoyt, who plays the wheelchair-bound millionaire "Sydney Stanton," may not be a "name" actor but he's very good. Check his resume: it's awesome. The man was in about every good television show for decades. The man could act. So did the rest of this cast.

Overall, this "modern" Noah's Ark story was a good one, and far, far better than your normal sci-fi flicks from the time period. Well done!