- Original theatrical poster - image courtesy of Open the Pod Bay Doors, HAL
The disaster genre is so frequently ripe with trashy visions of human suffering (When Time Ran Out..., 2012, etc.) that it's with a sigh of relief when one finds a movie that explores the territory of mass destruction for more than just cheap thrills. If a bit too brisk in its consideration of extinction and too ideologically easy in its religiously tinged bookends, When Worlds Collide nevertheless avoids exploiting the apocalyptic, even as it features what is probably the penultimate in doomsday scenarios.
Not only is humanity almost completely wiped out in this film, but so is all that has come before it on, and including, this miniscule rock orbiting our sun. Although the films are—forgive me—worlds apart in terms of style, overall plot, and mood, it would make for a fitting double feature with Lars Von Trier’s similarly premised Melancholia, in which the cast of characters carry on with their wedding as end of the world similarly approaches.
The title of the film is actually a misnomer, as it isn’t another world, but a star, that eventually makes contact with Earth, disintegrating it in a matter of seconds as it finally breaches the atmosphere. Named Bellus and discovered by Dr. Emery Bronson (Hayden Rorke) approximately eight months prior to its eventual collision, its trajectory has been confirmed beyond any doubt.
Knowing with certainty that their paths will cross and that waiting until the danger is imminent will be too late to act, Dr. Cole Hendron (Larry Keating) and other sobered scientific minds forgo their reputations and, despite being laughed out of the United Nations, proceed with building a vessel with which to leave the Earth—a modern day Noah’s Ark.
The theory—and it's a long shot—is that a select few passengers (roughly forty or fifty) would be able to leave the Earth and begin a new civilization on the planet orbiting Bellus, Zyra, which is believed to be host to vegetation and passable living conditions, should they be lucky enough to reach it and land safely before their fuel runs out. As Zyra passes by several weeks before Bellus, the Earth's gravitational pull will be disrupted, signaling the beginning of the end.
The sequence in which this takes place is a powerful montage of rising floods and crumbling structures, excellently captured via detailed miniatures, a terrifying vision of chaos that even the technically superior effects of The Day After Tomorrow can’t compare to. Compared to the awesome power of nature as seen here, Roland Emmerich’s visions of destruction suggest a bratty child destroying their Lego sets. When Worlds Collide sees tragedy from the human perspective, not a God’s-eye-view.
What separates this from the majority of disaster pictures is the depth of human interest, which operates as a kind of soap opera as the days count down to destruction. A romantic triangle forms the emotional core of the narrative, but other archetypal characters round out the diverse cast: the everyman who refuses to leave Earth, concerned he isn’t worth the space and fuel that could be used by another; the wealthy narcissist who only cares for his own safety; the heartbroken man who gives up his place when his love is denied passage on the vessel.
The film ultimately focuses only on a small fraction of humanity—the roughly 600 people who collaborate on the building of one of several ships that will attempt to escape Earth—but in its attention to detail, it manages to cover nearly all walks of life.
This examination of how people operate under the most unimaginable of stress is admittedly slim, what with the film’s brisk running time, but it’s far from superficial; George Romero’s Day of the Dead explores similar end-of-days territory to exponentially more profound effect, but then, the clock isn’t ticking quite so loudly in that film.
The tragic human conflict of When Worlds Collide reaches its final crescendo when a group of the people being left behind attempt a last-ditch revolt, even as the image of Bellus swallows up the sky, in hopes to taking the ship for themselves. Foreshadowing Dr. Strangelove, the filthy rich misanthrope manages to find some of his lost humanity at the end of all things.
The film admittedly skimps of some basic scientific aspects of this premise (at the range of less than a day before collision, wouldn’t the Earth already be burnt to a crisp?), but it plays its cards where they count the most, dramatically speaking. Too bad the finale plays like a greeting card you wish someone had just given you the money for instead.
Compulsively watchable and not without a moral compass, but lacking a larger philosophical one, When Worlds Collide is a deep shallow movie. How else to describe the elation at being amongst the handful of survivors when the rest of humanity amounts to politely discarded toast?
When Worlds Collide. Dir. Rudolph Maté. Perf. Richard Derr, Larry Keating, Barbara Rush, John Hoyt, Peter Hansen, Alden Chase, Hayden Rorke, Frank Cady. Paramount Pictures, 1951. Running Time: 83 min.
