Movie Review: World Without End (1956)
Synopsis: A 1957 spaceflight is thrown off course and its crew are rendered unconscious. When the spacecraft crash lands, the crewmembers discover they have managed to reach a fast enough velocity to break the time barrier, and they are on Earth 551 years in the future, where nuclear war has left the surface inhabited by mutants and the remaining humans are hiding underground.
Who's in it? The movie stars Hugh Marlowe, Nancy Gates, Rod Taylor, Lisa Montell and Nelson Leigh.
Review: After spending the weekend watching several movies I've seen a dozen times before, I scrolled through my movie library and picked out one that has been there for some time, World Without End. It was my first time seeing this science fiction classic and, for the most part, I thought it was a good choice.
To be honest, I was expecting the film to be a bit more action filled. Instead, there was quite a bit of action to start, as the astronaut crew discovered where they were and had to fend off giant spiders and mutated humans. However, once they found the underground civilization, it became a movie with a lot more talking, at least until the end.
That said, I did find there were parts of the film I thought were entertaining. For example, I was amused that the film would think the established 1950s gender roles would still apply more than 500 years later, especially in a society that, over the generations, had left men less virile. I also thought the immediate attraction the society's women had to the more, for a lack of a better term, manly men, was an interesting development that could have a wide variety of implications.
There was also the question about what would ultimately happen to the astronauts. While the movie made it clear their ship wasn't beyond repair, there was no guarantee they'd be able to make it back to their time. This left the ending a bit less predictable, especially since there was at least one who left a wife and children behind.
I did think the ending, while full of action, was a bit too simple. It was as though the writers realized they gave the men too great of odds for success and had to give them a last-second loophole. I didn't necessarily hate the way the film ended, I just didn't think it was an ending that was earned.
Final Opinion: If you like science fiction films with non-stop action, you're probably going to be a bit disappointed by this one. However, it does have an intriguing story and wasn't as predictable as I was expecting so I'd still say it's worth taking the time to watch.
My Grade: B
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