Compared to other screen adaptions of Jules Verne novels like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth, Master of the World definitely comes off as second rate.
Maybe that's because it was produced by the independent American International Pictures and didn't have the good studio facilities for really good special effects. Or maybe it was because it combined two of Verne's novels involving the same character, the megalomaniacal Robur who has built himself one big dirigible and is looking to become the title character. The editorial stitching between the two novels is none too good.
What the film does boast is the grand casting of Vincent Price as Robur who has developed a dirigible warship half a century before the Germans were bombing London with them in the First World War. Price alone is worth watching the film for, he plays the role absolutely seriously and keeps his audience that way.
Four people have been taken aboard Price's ship to keep them from spilling the beans about it, munitions manufacturer Henry Hull, his daughter Mary Webster, her fiancé David Frankham, and Charles Bronson who works for Uncle Sam. This was one of Bronson's first starring roles as a hero.
Frankham's character is one real horse's patoot. His character is very poorly defined with some exaggerated ideas about honor, that don't really stand up when the chips are down. Bronson saves his life at one point and then has good cause to regret it later on.
I have to say that at 14 I was far more impressed with this Captain Nemo of the Skies than I am today.
Maybe that's because it was produced by the independent American International Pictures and didn't have the good studio facilities for really good special effects. Or maybe it was because it combined two of Verne's novels involving the same character, the megalomaniacal Robur who has built himself one big dirigible and is looking to become the title character. The editorial stitching between the two novels is none too good.
What the film does boast is the grand casting of Vincent Price as Robur who has developed a dirigible warship half a century before the Germans were bombing London with them in the First World War. Price alone is worth watching the film for, he plays the role absolutely seriously and keeps his audience that way.
Four people have been taken aboard Price's ship to keep them from spilling the beans about it, munitions manufacturer Henry Hull, his daughter Mary Webster, her fiancé David Frankham, and Charles Bronson who works for Uncle Sam. This was one of Bronson's first starring roles as a hero.
Frankham's character is one real horse's patoot. His character is very poorly defined with some exaggerated ideas about honor, that don't really stand up when the chips are down. Bronson saves his life at one point and then has good cause to regret it later on.
I have to say that at 14 I was far more impressed with this Captain Nemo of the Skies than I am today.