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Review
by
Brian Lindsey
Film:5
DVD:4
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| Handicapped
by a conspicuously inadequate budget, this Jules Verne-inspired
steampunk fantasy ultimately fails to soar. Those notorious penny-pinchers
at American International Pictures, Messrs. Nicholson and Arkoff,
should've known you can't produce an epic on the cheap. |
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Vincent
Price is — as heralded in the theatrical trailer — perfectly cast
as the enigmatic Robur, scientific genius and man of mystery (essentially
an aerial version of Captain Nemo). Robur's goal is an end to
war for all time. To achieve this utopian dream he is nonetheless
prepared to shed blood, using a technologically advanced weapon
that no nation in the year 1868 can hope to match: the heavier-than-air
flying ship Albatross, capable of circling the earth in
ten days and dropping bombs from the sky with impunity. As yet
the world at large is unaware of Robur and the existence of his
fabulous machine, but this is soon to change. Just prior to launching
his crusade, however, events compel Robur to take aboard the Albatross
a quartet of unexpected 'guests'. |
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Strange
phenomena are observed in Pennsylvania: loud roaring noises, booming
thunder in a cloudless sky, sudden earth tremors — even what sounds
like the voice of Almighty God reading passages from the Bible.
With no valid scientific explanation to offer for the weird disturbances,
the Department of the Interior assigns federal agent John Strock
(Charles Bronson) to investigate. Because the area in question
is an inaccessible mountain ridge, Stock approaches members of
a private aeronautical society in Philadelphia to negotiate the
services of their latest balloon for the purposes of aerial observation.
Being patriotic citizens, both the president of the society, wealthy
arms manufacturer Mr. Prudent (Henry Hull), and his prospective
son-in-law, Phillip Evans (David Frankham), agree to put aside
their latest squabble — over placement of the propeller on a new
powered balloon design — in order to assist the government. Accompanying
Strock and the two gentlemen on their excursion is Prudent's daughter/Evans'
fiancée Dorothy (Mary Webster), an experienced balloonist
in her own right. They've barely arrived over the site of Strock's
interest, a mountain crater, when rockets are fired at them from
below. Their balloon is shot down and crashes inside the crater. |
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The
four escape death but are all knocked unconscious by the impact.
When they awaken they find themselves airborne aboard Robur's
Albratross, which had been hidden inside the crater to
perform maintenance and repairs. They're
introduced to their 'host' and his small, dedicated crew, and
given a tour of the ship (a sort of zeppelin/helicopter
hybrid). As long as they don't interfere with its operations they're
free to move about as they please.
Still, Robur emphasizes, they are prisoners
aboard his ship and will never leave it until he gives the word
—
and that word won't be given until he has completed the great
mission for which the Albatross was built. The captives
can only watch helplessly as Robur first sinks an American warship
at sea, then rains bombs on England's Royal Navy in its home waters.
Leaflets demanding the unconditional demobilization
of the major powers' armed forces, or else face obliteration from
the sky, are dropped over London and other European capitals.
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A
Christian, Robur is loathe to simply execute the prisoners to
keep his secrets; he brought them aboard rather than leave them
to die in the crater. Nevertheless, he sternly warns that any
attempt at escape or sabotage with be dealt with harshly. Has
he not shown that he is perfectly willing to kill in order to
fulfill his dream, that there are limits to his tolerance? Even
so, Strock is determined to try. Robur's machine is not just a
threat to the U.S. government but to the entire international
order, and Strock has no desire to live under a global dictatorship
no matter how benevolent it might potentially be. If necessary
the lives of his fellow prisoners, not just his own, may have
to be sacrificed in order to stop Robur... |
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The
script for Master of the World
was written by genre author Richard Matheson (I Am Legend),
who did such fine work on many of Roger Corman's gothic horror
films of the early 1960s. He performed a similarly commendable
job with this loose adaptation/amalgamation of two Jules Verne
novels; it's kid-friendly without being too juvenile, emphasizing
fantasy over science without getting ridiculous. (Colored by
a century of cinematic versions, people tend to forget that
Verne's books are much more scientific travelogues than rip-snortin'
sci-fi adventures.) Working in concert with Matheson's approach
is the score by composer Les Baxter, one of his all-time best
for AIP, certainly his most majestic.
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Also
benefiting the film is the great Vincent Price, bearded and festooned
with extra-bushy eyebrows to give him a subtle 'mad inventor'
look. He gives a measured, restrained performance, recalling James
Mason's Captain Nemo in Disney's 20,000
Leagues Under the Sea — the sympathetic antagonist. (Indeed,
Price would've made a fine Nemo himself.) Faring surprisingly
well is Charles Bronson as government agent Strock; many critics
seem to dislike him in this atypical role, labeling him miscast,
but I
disagree — he plays the thoughtful and patient hero quite well.
This
stands in stark contrast to the elderly Henry Hull (1935's Werewolf
of London), whose sometimes histrionic overacting makes
one worry that his dentures might come flying out at any moment.
The character of Prudent is supposed to be pompously arrogant
but Hull takes it way too far at times. |
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What
really brings the movie crashing to earth, though, are the cheap-looking
special effects (even for 1961) and a sad over-reliance on stock
footage raided from other films. The model of the Albatross
is sufficiently intricate and detailed but virtually all the FX
around it are pathetically prehistoric; the poor rear projection
employed is an especial millstone to one's suspension of disbelief.
(When Strock and Evans are subjected to an aerial keelhauling
over Ireland, the landscape suddenly morphs into an Arizona-like
desert.) A fly-over of London uses a model shot from 1944's Henry
V (making the Albatross a time machine
as well!); extensive battle scenes from That
Hamilton Woman (1941) and The Four
Feathers (1939) are used to portray, respectively, Robur's
attack on the Royal Navy and his bombardment of warring African
factions. (Which is why the warships being blown up are from the
Napoleonic era instead of a half-century later, as would be proper.) |
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Now
I love 'old school' special effects as much as the next Monster
Kid but it would be great to see all the FX sequences in Master
of the World
replaced with new CGI (as was done a couple of years ago with
the original Star Trek TV series), or better yet the film
remade entirely. That's really the only way Robur's Albatross
will ever convincingly fly. |
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| Another
MOD (made on demand) release in MGM's "Limited Edition"
line of DVD-Rs, Master of the World
is given a 1.85 anamorphic transfer from a source print in generally
good condition; colors are vivid and damage minimal.
(The stock footage and FX shots naturally fare the worst.) Audio
is clean and robust. The theatrical trailer, in surprisingly good
shape, is offered as an extra. |
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As with titles in Warner's Archive MOD
line, I deducted a point from my DVD Rating due to disc's cost.
The big studios
really shouldn't be charging more than $13 for these DVD-Rs. 9/28/11 |
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