When Worlds Collide DVD [Region 2] - Sci-Fi Movie for Home Entertainment & Movie Nights

I'll start this review talking about the Blu-ray disc release itself and then move on to the movie proper.Although not digitally restored, Imprint clearly chose a print of this film in very good condition as the source for this Blu-ray.It simply can't touch the insane magnificence of Imprint's earlier 1950's version of War of the Worlds of course, but it is still a great looking disc that any fan of this classic science fiction film would want to own--it blows the older DVD version of this movie out of the water and it comes very highly recommended to all fans of this wonderful George Pal production.The movie itself is based on the first of two novels by authors Wylie and Balmer, entitled "When Worlds Collide" and "After Worlds Collide". They were unusually successful science fiction books in their time and broke out into the mainstream reading audience, selling lots of copies to readers who rarely read science fiction.In the novel "When Worlds Collide" a Jupiter-like gas giant planet with an Earth-like moon comes racing into our solar system and is discovered to be on a collision course with the Earth. The collision between Earth and this gas giant, which will destroy our world, will also pull the gas giant's Earth-like moon free of it and leave it circling our sun in a path between the current orbit of Earth and the orbit of Mars--right in the "habitable" zone. After the collision, the gas giant will then continue on it's long interstellar journey, exiting our solar system. In the movie the gas giant was turned into a rogue sun, but that changes the plot very little.A plan is hatched to build giant space ships, like modern arks, to carry a select few to the new Earth-like world.The film has simplified the story greatly, removing subplots and reducing the multiple great space arks being constructed to only one. The celestial mechanics were also simplified when the gas giant planet was turned into a rogue sun. This kind of simplification is a common practice for reducing novels to something that will fit into the running length of a typical movie and is not unusual.The motion picture of "When Worlds Collide" won the award for best special effects when it was made and deserved it. But, as someone who worked in special effects at one time (before CGI), it must be understood just how limited special effects were in that era. In comparison to modern special effects, they do certainly look primitive. Compared to other special effects in films of its' era, though, they were truly pushing the limits of what could be done on film at that time.Keep in mind that in the time period when this film was made, the entirety of special effects technology consisted of matte paintings, rear projection (which never looked real), models (and if they flew, models hung from wires), stop motion animation (which never passed for real), hand drawn animation (which also never looked very convincingly real), blue screen so primitive it never looked very believable either--and that pretty much covers it. Not a lot to work with for a special effects extravaganza. But, they used what they had extremely creatively and pulled the movie off surprisingly well.Although long, long, long before the era of "modern" special effects first ushered in by "2001: A Space Odyssey" it must have appeared pretty amazing to the audiences who saw the film back when it was brand new. Nothing like it had been seen on movie screens before.This film had no monsters and was an honest attempt to do an "intelligent" science fiction film--an incredible rarity in Hollywood.The intended ending, showing the new arrivals exploring their new world, was unfortunately never completed and a slap-dash final shot now completes the movie instead.The film was being screened in advance for critics and instead of displaying a simple card at the end saying the rest of the film was still to be completed, they had Chesley Bonestal do a super-quick rough painting of an alien world's landscape for them to insert behind a blue-screen shot of the new arrivals stepping down the space ship's gang plank, overlaid with text about the first day on the new world having begun.This was never intended to be included in the final film, was never intended to be the "real" ending of the movie, but was only a temporary shot utilized to give the critics some hint about what was intended to come when the "actual" ending was finally completed.But, when the critics gave the film positive reviews, the studio heads said that since the truncated version they'd been shown was already garnering good reviews, there was no reason to spend additional money shooting the ending that was originally intended. So, this quickly hobbled together, poorly done temporary shot, never intended to be seen by audiences, became the final official ending to the film. Yet, oddly, it does actually work extremely well.The movie has become a classic, slap-dash ending and all. But, it would have been truly wonderful to have been able to have seen the "real" intended final sequence in which the super advanced ancient cities and their advanced technological miracles built by the long gone original inhabitants of this alien world were discovered by the newcomers from Earth.It would probably have been a truly memorable sequence in the film if it had ever been completed.But, alas, it will never be.Never the less, as I stated previously, the "never intended" ending the film is stuck with somehow actually works surprisingly well anyway--otherwise it would never have been a success at the box office and would never have become a classic over the years.If you are a classic sci-fi movie fan, this is still among the most beloved of them all and certainly belongs in any classic science fiction film library.I have awaited a high definition version of this film for years, and am very happy it is now available at last.We have the wonderful Imprint label (which is dedicated to bringing to collectors classics the studios never seem to get around to releasing) to thank for making this Blu-ray of this classic George Pal production available.I recommend this disc very highly.