Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

mstomaso The appearance of Claude Rains is not the only surprise in Anthony Dawson's Il pianeta degli uomini spenti (A.K.A. Battle of the Worlds). Rains plays an eccentric, reclusive, contemptuous elderly scientist who leads a powerful research team. Professor Benson is the best, and he has little patience for lesser minds. His only link to humanity seems to be Eve (Maya Brent), his assistant. Her coming of age, the insubordination of one of the younger members of his research team, and the impending arrival of an enormous and mysterious space object - The Outsider - combine to challenge "the old man's" carefully-constructed self concept, his arrogance, and, ultimately, the continuation of life on earth.Ultimately, this is one of Italy's best and most serious sci-fi films, and one of the better early '60s sci-fi films to come out of Europe. The relatively primitive (but creative) effects coupled with the very serious and dramatic tone of the dialog may be difficult for most American viewers. Giorgio Giovannini's soundtrack is jarring and intense. And the excellent, but sometimes surreal, Marcello Masciocchi cinematography won't help the average viewer enjoy this film. The international cast (mostly Americans) does very well.Given the film's dubious pedigree and silly cliché title, I can certainly understand why some reviewers felt compelled to use the words "cheesy" and "spaghetti" in their reviews. I am tempted to point out that macaroni and cheese is a very tasty dish, but I will refrain. Approach this film with an open mind and you might just be able to get something more than guilty pleasure from it.

aaronmocksing1987 "CORNFIELD!!... YOU'RE WONDERFUL!" Claude Raines stars in a movie in which I was forced to watch with the volume set very high (at my mother's, who bought this terrible movie, wishes). I never really understood the plot as it doesn't seem explained much at all; the only things I got was that the world was in danger and a senile old man that everyone likes (despite his hatred and constant acts of crudeness to everyone else) is sent in to help. Then they enter a tunnel, with what looks like a bunch of children's toys holding it together, where the old man laughs again before going out with the planet. As said before, I never got the plot and I chose not to watch it again. If I put it up, I deal with Claude's bombastic insults towards his annoyingly "quaint" co-workers. If I put it down, I still won't get the plot as no one will be speaking.Thank goodness for Star Wars to come along and make a TON of more sense, as well as something likable.I also never truly understood what the song is playing in the opening titles. It sounds like she's saying, "We are but SPIDERZCH.." followed by a direct shout of the director's name: "ANTOOOOOOOOOINE!!!!!"

classicsoncall I guess every great actor is allowed at least one poor casting decision, and with this film, that distinction goes to Claude Rains. It's hard to believe the Professor Benson of this film is the same man who brilliantly portrayed Captain Renault in 1942's "Casablanca". Here he's one dimensionally annoying as a bull headed scientist who's undeniably impressed with himself and isn't shy about letting you know it - "There's only one opinion that interests me, and that's my own."Benson's mathematical calculations convince him that a body in outer space will come within ninety five thousand miles of Earth, even though colleagues and military strategists fret over it's seeming collision course with our planet. What Benson didn't count on, and by his own admission the only time he was ever wrong, is that once the asteroid reaches it's predestined location, it starts orbiting the Earth. With obvious implications that a guiding force is at the core of the mysterious body, Benson demands that Earth's 'High Command' not destroy it, but allow him and a team of his fellow scientists investigate.I always get a kick out of the way sci-fi flicks of the era took such liberty with the vast amounts of time involved in space travel, and reduced them to mere minutes for purposes of the story. In about the time it took to count down from ten to one, blast off, Benson's team was on the asteroid, investigating a cable laden labyrinth with an ominous red glow. With a destruct sequence in effect, Benson prefers to confront the truth of the mystery of the 'Outsider', while everyone else with him wisely decides that maybe it's time to go. On that note, one of the team members sadly concludes that Benson had a formula where his heart should have been, as the planet goes kablooey."Battle of the Worlds" is a gross exaggeration in selection of a title. Nothing on that vast a scale occurs, though there are occasional skirmishes between Earth rockets and alien flying saucers. If there's a positive to be found here, at least the sci-fi elements of the picture were a notch above other films of the era, as film making technology relentlessly moved toward breakthroughs that would appear in "Star Trek" in a few more years.

march9hare Claude Rains stars as Prof. Benson, a cynical mathematical genius/recluse who must save the world from implacable aliens. The movie has an interesting premise - a planetoid enters into orbit around the Earth causing widespread upheavals of Nature, and turns out to be a sort of alien Noah's Ark - but is marred by a tiny budget, hambone acting (except for Rains), oafish direction, and really crummy effects even for 1961. This may not have been Rains' last film, but he certainly deserved better. Having said all that, for some odd reason this one remains a favorite. Guess there's no accounting for taste. Seriously though, there are worse. MUCH worse.