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Italy
- U.S.A.
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1967
Directed
by Antonio Margheriti
Starring
Giacomo Rossi-Stuart
Ombretta Colli
Renato Baldini
Color |
90 Minutes |
G
Format: DVD-R (NTSC)
Warner Archive Collection
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Music
from the film
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Main
Theme
MP3 - 3.8 MB
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your mouse pointer over an image for a pop-up caption
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Review
by
Brian Lindsey
Film:4
DVD:4
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| Following
a couple of plodding, yawn-inducing entries, the fourth and last
of the "Gamma I Quadrilogy" manages to recapture a little
of the cheesy-cool mojo of the first film in the series, 1965's
entertainingly absurd
Wild, Wild Planet. |
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Accent
on the word little. |
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The
hero of the first two flicks, Mike Halstead (Tony Russel), was
replaced as the space station's commander in movie #3 by Rod Jackson
(Giacomo Rossi-Stuart of The
Last Man On Earth and Churchill's
Leopards, billed as "Jack Stuart"). Also departing
after the second film were devil-may-care Lt. Jake (Franco Nero)
and shapely communications officer/love interest Connie Gomez
(Lisa Gastoni). Bearded and balding Goffredo Unger is back for
his fourth go-round, however — even though his character is (again)
given a different name. Similarly, Enzo Fiermonte shows up in
all four films but plays a differently named character each time;
in The Snow Devils he's Jackson's
commanding general, but not the same general who gives
Halstead orders in Wild Wild Planet.
Confusing, I know... Continuity is haphazard at best in the Gamma
I series, even though all the movies share the same distinct universe
(sets, costumes, special effects sequences, etc.). |
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Commander
Jackson and his pal Captain Frank Pulasky (Unger) are enjoying
a bit of R&R on Earth when their vacation is hastily cut short
by an emergency summons from their United Democracies superiors.
At UD headquarters the men are briefed about a mysterious incident
at the Indus weather station located high in the Himalayas. An
unknown force has attacked the station, wiping out the crew; only
its commanding officer, Lt. Harris, is unaccounted for. At the
time communications with Indus was lost, station personnel were
monitoring a bizarre, unprecedented weather pattern — a freak
spell of super-accelerated global warming that is melting Earth's
glaciers and polar caps at a frightening rate. This can't be a
coincidence, so Jackson is ordered to mount a recon mission to
the Indus station and find out what’s happening. |
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Jackson
and Pulasky arrive in the Himalayas and begin assembling an
expedition with the help of an experienced local guide. (In
a future age of interstellar travel, mountains still have to
be climbed the old fashioned way, apparently.) Their supply
craft are blown up — sabotaged — but this merely reinforces
Jackson's determination to press on. While making the laborious
trek up to the Indus site, Jackson and company discover a stowaway
among their party: Lisa Nielson (Ombretta Colli), the scientist
fiancée of the missing Lt. Harris. She, too, is determined to
learn why the Indus crew was slaughtered and what fate has befallen
the man she loves.
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That
mystery is solved when the expedition is captured by hostile aliens
from another world, the blue-skinned, fur-covered denizens of
the ice planet Aytia. These extraterrestrial invaders have established
an advanced outpost in the Himalayas to facilitate their goal
of first melting the Earth's polar ice caps, causing catastrophic
flooding on a biblical scale, then re-freezing the water to make
our planet more like their own. The Gamma I Boys aren't going
to stand for such genocidal hijinx, of course, and after wrecking
the aliens' Himalayan outpost they formulate a plan to take the
battle to the enemy — by launching an attack on the main Aytian
base in our solar system, hidden on one of Jupiter's moons. |
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At
first glance The Snow Devils would
appear to have most of the requisite 'so bad it's good' elements
firmly in place — namely a ridiculous story and clunky dialog,
accentuated by the Styrofoam-and-plastic stylings of the Gamma
I 'retro-future' in which toy spaceships and Jetson cars are supposed
to astound and amaze. (The paunchy alien leader even struts around
in a skintight superhero costume complete with cape.) But instead
of goofy and fun it's mostly just goofy and dull. The film really
drags at times, especially in the first half; the battle at the
end is somewhat anticlimactic since the Aytians prove to be rather
inept and easily defeated. An unfortunate lack of 'WTF?' moments
— of the kind that make Wild, Wild Planet
such a gas — keep things from ever getting truly interesting.
(It's quite odd, though, that Jackson's native Himalayan guide
is a black guy who'd be much more at home in, say, Jamaica
than Nepal or Tibet.) Something more than simply going through
the motions is sorely needed here, but it just doesn't happen. |
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One
thing I do really like about Snow
Devils is composer A.F. Lavagnino's groovy main theme,
which you can check out by clicking the speaker icon on the left-hand
sidebar. (Left-click to listen; right-click to download and save
the MP3.) As I advance further into middle age, these 'easy listening'
pop-lounge confections of the '60s only seem to grow in their
appeal... especially when they've got a spacey sci-fi flavor to
'em. |
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| This
is a November 2011 addition to Warner's overpriced but high-quality
'made on demand' DVD-R Archive Collection. The source print
(1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced) is in decent overall condition, exhibiting
a strong color palette, although brief instances of inserted stock
footage look comparatively poor. Par for the course is the disc's
mono English audio track, which is serviceable enough and free
of any annoyances. The U.S. theatrical trailer is tossed in as
an extra. (NOTE: Mya Communications had announced the release
of a [pressed] DVD version of Snow Devils
slated for January 2012, but this appears to have been canceled.)
12/31/11 |
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