Noddin' Off At The Movies!

One of my very favorite sci-fi flicks is Battle Of The Worlds. It is an Italian film directed by Antonio Margheriti in 1961. It was released under the title Il Pianeta degli Uomini Spenti which loosely translates as Planet Of The Lifeless Men, but when it was imported to the U.S., it was changed to a much more kiddie matinee friendly title Battle Of The Worlds. This was not uncommon in those days - many foreign films had their rights bought up by American distributors, dubbed, re-edited, sometimes re-scored for the ever popular youth orientated Saturday matinee double feature.

It is set in the future - there are manned stations on the moon (or is it Mars...hell if I can remember!). Scientists on Earth have discovered that a meteor is headed on a collision course with Earth. Crusty old Professor Benson (Claude Rains) takes time out with his endless obsession of writing out mathematical formulas all over the place in his beloved greenhouse to prove the idiots wrong. He loves his greenhouse, his calculus, his little dog and he chews the scenery as much as he chews the ever present big-ass cigar that’s always stuck in his mouth.

He finally leaves the shelter of the greenhouse to cheerfully dress down the leaders of the world, and to tell them that they are ass stupid. Calculus has proven that the meteor will not hit Earth. He proves this by drawing even more formulas on the floor as he cusses out the heads of state in a futuristic video hookup that enables all to see his math wizardry in motion.

Then, things take a turn for the worse, and even Prof. Benson is caught off guard. The damn meteor has gone into orbit and is sending out saucers equipped with death rays to do away with any inquiring spaceship that gets close enough. Damn math!

He begs the powers that be to let him go there on a mission to see and learn what marvels this apparently brilliant alien race has to offer. No problem. He goes, he wanders and he finds a bunch of dead aliens and a super computer that is tirelessly still functioning enough to send out the evil-doing death saucers.

It is really hard for me to try and to sell this film, especially to today's audience. I saw it when I was about 10 years old on an old b&w TV and it bored me to tears. The hero is a mathematician? But it stuck with me. I found a VHS tape of it about 12 years ago and have been absolutely obsessed with it ever since. It’s a public domain eyesore - I have about 5 different versions of it and they all suck, but pure unadulterated deliriousness spills out of the screen every time I view it. It’s another world. A world that for some reason speaks to me. The amazing performance of Claude Rains is hard for me to dismiss. He looks as though he enjoys the...finer things in life - cigars and booze. The bags under his eyes, the disheveled hair, his utter contempt for his fellow man. My hero!

The images are typical of that particular era of Italian sci-fi - obvious plastic models convey the moon base and the spaceships. Long and colorful plastic tubes make up the alien’s inner ship. But it all works.

The sounds in this movie are the kicker for me. Every edit seems to have a different cue or strange, other-worldly electronic sound effect, and each one is a wonderful impression of what the early 60's thought space should sound like. The musical tracks are incredible. There is an opening song, probably called The Outsider that is deliciously eerie and off the wall. This piece puts me into orbit. An orbit that could only exist in 1960. The future was then. And it sends me there. I go very happily.

Here's the Italian trailer:



Here is a recording I made from a VHS tape I have of the title song: The Outsider. Turn off the lights, close your eyes, and take a little trip back..into the future!
The Outsider