wes-connors
"A space mission goes awry when the experimental rocket malfunctions, forcing the astronaut to eject in an escape capsule an sending the rocket into deep space, where it explodes. The explosion causes a group of asteroids to veer from orbit around the sun, setting them on a collision course with Earth. With the impending doom approaching the planet, the nations of the world desperately attempt to come up with a plan to destroy the rogue planetoids," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis."The Day the Sky Exploded" in English, with Swiss star Paul Hubschmid (as John McLaren) becoming the first man in space. The movie optimistically suggests admirable cooperation between nations of the future. Yet, its scientific knowledge misfires. The American rocket man's accident causes asteroids to run amok. Is it Armageddon, or can danger be adverted? Sit through acres of stock footage, and little excitement, to see the answer... ** La morte viene dallo spazio (9/4/58) Paolo Heusch ~ Paul Hubschmid, Fiorella Mari, Madeleine Fischer
Michael_Elliott
Day the Sky Exploded, The (1957) * 1/2 (out of 4) Poor science fiction film about the first spaceship being sent to outer space where it accidentally sets off a missile, which sends debris back to Earth. This is yet another science fiction film that bites off more than it can chew. A lot of the films from this era worked on low budgets because they worked with what they had and didn't try doing to much. Then, there's this film, which tries to be a lot bigger than the budget will allow and this makes the film come off looking very cheap. It also leads to a lot of boring dialogue through the bad dubbing. The dubbing here is perhaps the worst I've ever heard but I doubt the film would play any better in its original language. Mario Bava did the cinematography.
lastliberal
It is hard to give a rating to old movies like this. This Italian/French film is a predecessor to modern fare like Meteor or Armegeddon.No Bruce Willis, but Paul Hubschmid, the first Swiss film star. He is on a team of astronauts that included a Frenchman and a Russian and was selected for the first mission in space. Such international cooperation! Absolutely brilliant for the time. It will be even more amazing as the film goes on.Don't look for great acting or fancy special effects. Stock footage is the norm and the dialog is corny, but there is a bright shining moment when they know they are all doomed and some scientist wigs out.The solution to the falling meteor is the use of all the nation's atomic warheads. Like that would happen. You know the USA or Russia, probably both, would hold a few in reserve. I am sure the USA did, as I saw no missiles leaving silos.It's interesting to see the first films of this type before CGI, which is why I am investing the week exploring them.
vtcavuoto
I think one of the most disappointing things in this film is the role of John McLaren.It's the same actor(Paul Hubschmid, who is sometimes billed as Paul Christian) from "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms". For one thing, it's not even his voice in the dubbing! He seems emotionless 95% of the time. Other character development is only so-so.I did get a kick out of all the old machinery. The plot was OK but not original. The movie seemed to just plod along without much in the way of action. The cinematography was very good(from Italy's Mario Bava).I expected much more from this movie but the fact that I only paid $5.00 for it makes it a little better for me to tolerate. I wish this movie was as good as I anticipated.
AD
