My Cultural Diet

Sci-fi movies require no small amount of suspension of disbelief, and that’s especially true of “end of the world” sci-fi movies like When Worlds Collide. Not only are we supposed to believe that the world’s nations would put aside their differences to deal with the impending apocalypse, but Rudolph Maté’s film also wants us to believe that wealthy industrialists would donate their fortunes, no strings attached, for the good of humanity. Yeah, right. There is one industrialist whose donation does come with strings attached, though, which feels far more believable and on-brand. That said, When Worlds Collide takes its outlandish scenario — another star will soon pass through the solar system and destroy the Earth — seriously enough, or at least as seriously as it can within its 80-minute runtime (and 27-day shooting schedule). When Worlds Collide was produced by George Pal, who also oversaw such genre classics as Destination Moon and The War of the Worlds, and it looks great. I’m a sucker for matte paintings and miniatures, and When Worlds Collide does the best it can with them to show off a global calamity. (The movie also boasts some surprisingly daring helicopter stunts.) The film’s very final shot sets up an obvious sequel, and one was planned. It was ultimately canceled, however, after one of Pal’s subsequent films — 1955’s Conquest of Space — failed at the box office.

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