Sorry, this movie sucks

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Absolutely Fantastic

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

I am a fussy critic when it comes to sci-fi and horror, not so much into space movies as I am into campy rubber monsters or the results of atomic energy abuse. To discover this film, however, at least on my first viewing, I found it surprisingly unique and even intelligent. Some of the details, especially the 2001 setting with an allegedly peaceful planet Earth, are too far fetched to be remotely realistic, but the idea of Uranus being occupied by an all knowing basically invisible ruler was intriguing. The group of astronauts (lead by John Agar) must face their worst fears, or their most haunting emotions, and the evil being uses this for control over their every move. Certainly, some of the psychedelic effects are very dated, but you can't judge a 55+ year old film by that. What you can judge it by is how it effects you emotionally or what kind of a message it leaves you with, or the artistic feelings that it brings on, and this touched me in all three aspects.The transition of Uranus from its alleged reality to the emotional memories of one of the astronauts is powerful. I, too, grew up in a forest filled landscape that had a stream running through it, complete with a large rock in the middle that was a child hideaway. I too would be manipulated by that, as I would be by certain fears that resulted in recurring nightmares. There are several appearances by some scary giant creatures, and the voice of the ghoul of Uranus is frightening as well. One of the beautiful female creatures quickly becomes a demonic monster of manipulation, still beautiful physically but obviously a ploy of evil by the sinister mastermind who may seem like God in his fierceness, but is closer to the Lord of the underworld. Give this one an open mind outside modern expectations. Some elements may not quite work, but overall it's much better than many other science fiction space films of the same era, and one of American International's best films.

The movie's setting is 2001, when according to the opening monologue, "the planet earth is no longer racked by wars and threats of annihilation. Man has learned to live with himself." Really? A bit optimistic there! Anyway, the United Nations, the world's governing body (Yikes!), has undertaken missions to determine if life exists on the planets of the solar system. So far there has been no luck. The current rocket mission is to explore the surface of planet Uranus (pronounced as Ur-ah-nus), which has a cloud-top temperature of 200° Centigrade. After all, it's almost 1.8 billion miles from the sun! It emits a "strange radiation" and is not very dense, being composed of ammonia and methane. These facts do not faze the five men in a rocket ship who seem to land in a forest (actually an icy surface). It is obvious that little or no pre-landing preparation was accomplished, for there were no orbiting satellites, no unmanned probe, and no specific information gathering. Ah, details, details . . .After boring dialogue that consumes nearly one-half of the picture, the explorers finally depart their spacecraft with their rubber suits and headgear. They find weird happenings, like green plants that do not belong there; they lack root systems. Houses and windmills automatically appear when the spacemen think about them. It seems that the planet is using mind control to dominate the spacemen. The memories of the men are used to format illusions instead of the realities of the planet. They include the Danish pastries, er, alluring earth women who do not really exist on Ur-ah-nus. When Captain Graham (John Agar) is rescued after sinking in a quicksand-like substance (ammonia snow particles), he says rather haltingly, "I . . . am . . . glad . . . you were here . . . to pull me out." "Be careful," the boss wisely utters. The men do encounter a one-eyed Allosaurus – they think it's a rodent. It seems that one of the crew has a fear of rats. "That's it," utters the commander, "Our deepest and greatest fears are being dug up by our subconscious by whatever the power is out there and pitted against us!" The novice astronaut chimes in that it is not only the fears that are used but also the desires (cute chicks) as part of mind control. Oh, the tension! What to do?Before long the space heroes are smooching on the Danish pastries (Ingrid, Greta, Ann, Mimi). But time is running out for them to blast off from their optimum orbital position. If they miss it there will not be enough fuel to return to earth. Oh, the horror! Then they encounter other oddities, like the giant tarantula. They soon (not soon enough) encounter the telepathic Big Eye-on-Brain, which is exposed without any covering! Big Eye's sinister plan is to conquer the earth (HA HA HA HA HA). "You will submit, and I shall possess you." Oh, the pressure! Can they stop this maniacal alien? The ludicrous ending will not be revealed here. Darn!Directed and produced by the incomparable Sid Pink, who gave us "The Angry Red Planet" (1959) and "Reptilicus" (1961), this Danish honey was made on the cheap ($75,000). Filming could not have taken more than a few weeks. It shows: wretched dubbing, laughable dialogue, wooden acting, cheap sets, and meager production values. The film was sent to American International, who reportedly made several special effects changes before the American distribution to theaters. So aging is not an issue with this stinker, as it was awful at the very beginning! Hard to believe it was even worse than it is! John Agar, that creature from Earth, made such films as "Tarantula" (1955), "The Brain from Planet Arous" (1957), and "Attack of the Puppet People" (1958). Surprisingly he is only the second-in-command here. The other actors are better left unnamed.

An international team of astronauts is dispatched to the planet Uranus. It seems that the U.N. has been receiving radiation signals from the seventh planet, so these brave men have the task of exploring and determining the cause of this signal. They land to find a strange environment where an all-powerful alien intelligence has the power to turn the thoughts of man into reality. Fortunately, since these men often have women on the brain, a succession of beautiful babes materialize, to entice and confuse them.This could have and should have been more fun. Alas, it's not that enjoyable, because even if one approaches it as a "so bad it's good" schlock production, it doesn't work that well because it's basically too dull. Sidney W. Pink (who also wrote the screenplay with the famed writer Ib Melchior) isn't much of a director, because he brings no energy and a fatally slow pace to these proceedings. The women, including Greta Thyssen...as Greta...and Ann Smyrner as Ingrid, provide some appreciable eye candy, but the acting from most everybody concerned is atrocious. Starring actor John Agar, playing Captain Don Graham, has some fun playing a cheerfully sleazy guy, but his talents alone can't spark much life into this movie.At the very least, "Journey to the Seventh Planet" can boast what are reasonably amusing visuals given the obvious cheapness of the production, and a priceless one eyed rat monster, which sadly isn't on screen for very long. The evil alien antagonist is likewise a hoot. Also, this has a rather lengthy (and innovative) closing credits sequence for a movie of this age, accompanied by a silly theme song.If you're a dedicated sci-fi junkie, you might want to give this one a look, but you're advised to go in not expecting very much.The pronunciation of the name Uranus here is funny; whether or not the filmmakers wanted their audience to keep from snickering is uncertain, but this approach backfires.Five out of 10.

In the year 1962 this Science Fiction film arrived in our small home town at the local theater. It was called " Journey to the Seventh Planet. " All the kids ran to see it. Most of us were innocent youngsters and few knew anything of Science and fewer of the Solar System. During the movie with a large box of 10 cent popcorn and 5 cent coke, we watched in awe at the planet monsters, screaming in terror. The story was interesting enough, Earthmen of the future (2001) unite under the United Nation Flag, build a space ship, blast off to visit Uranus, the 7th planet. There the four spacemen wearing flimsy rubber suits, plexi-glass helmets and kitchen gloves, encounter a Blob or Mind-Creature who plans to conquer Earth and enslave the population. The giant creatures they encounter in the movie were exactly what attracted small children. As adults today, we wonder just how a cheesy, simple and hokey movie could produce such ear-splitting screams from an audience full of kids. John Agar stars as Capt. Don Graham, with Carl Ottosen, Peter Monch, Karl Ove Sprogøe as the crew. If you're an adult today, you too can create some modern nightmares in your kids, if they promise not to laugh too hard. Recommended for very young monster-seeking five-year-olds. *