Film Review: B-Movies - When Worlds Collide (1951)

Figure 1 - When Worlds Collide (1951) - Movie Poster

When Worlds Collide is a B-Movie category film produced in 1951 by Rudolph Mate. It is a story about the anticipation of the destruction of the earth and a desperate struggle to prepare for lift-off and colonization of another planet much like a space-age version of Noah's ark, instead of a great flood coming it is a planet hurtling across the solar system.     

The film makes use of small areas in which to hold large scenes, the film only has one large environment which consists of when the first planet rushes past earth causing huge amounts of destruction to the apparatus and rocket, I-beams, scaffolding, fires and vehicles all occupy the scene as well as a large number of extras. The film is heavy on scenes containing dialog, this helps the narrative greatly and from a budget point of view it's cheaper to do because there isn't a need to incur costs in special effects or props other than that of the set.

The film uses miniatures for fantastical set designs like when New York floods and to show the construction of the interplanetary rocket, this helps to keep costs low because it's cheaper to build the environment on a tabletop with a backdrop instead of going to an actual location with real sized props. When Worlds Collide does well to keep some of its budgets down by investing in the use of stock footage, the film used shots from the Vatican during a period of time when crowds were gathered, it used footage from New York Time square and stills from the Brooklyn Bridge, these are only some of the examples.

Figure 2 - When Worlds Collide (1951) - Miniature Set

Although the film is categorized as a B-Movie it has a lot of redeeming qualities firstly 1) the narrative is simple to grasp and goes through the motions of a three-act structure like other disaster movies meaning it conforms well to other films in its genre. 2) The scripting is good and the audience can completely suspend their disbelief even for a modern audience the dialog has become timeless, suspense and tension work well to balance the characters. 3) Sydney Stanton the Capitalist Billionaire money pot works well to provide a sinister character to balance David Randall who embodies the selfless essence of the American peoples' hero. 4) Although Miniatures were used to create large scenes they have been done well, whereas scenes where more time is spent on them by the characters requires more investment, shots have been set up carefully to economize on what it requires to be a prop and what can simply be a matte painting. 5) The quality of acting was high, there weren't any moments when watching the actors act made them feel out of place in the film. All of the cast looked very much like they were all meant to be in the film as their characters. 

Figure 3 - When Worlds Collide (1951) - Film Still

Illustrations:

Figure 1: When Worlds Collide (1951) [Movie poster] - Rudolph Mate: Paramount Pictures 

Figure 2: When Worlds Collide (1951) [Movie Set] - Rudolph Mate: Paramount Pictures

Figure 3: When Worlds Collide (1951) [Film Still] - Rudolph Mate: Paramount Pictures