"War Between the Planets" is the third film in the Spaghetti Sci-Fi series known as "Gamma One". It stars Giacomo Rossi Stuart as the ramrod-straight commander Rod Jackson, just one of a handful of astronauts who will be called upon to save the day. Various natural disasters are plaguing the Earth, and it would seem that a newly discovered rogue planet is the culprit. Rod and company have to destroy it before it collides with our planet.
If you're like this viewer and enjoy this sort of thing to begin with, "War Between the Planets" yields adequate entertainment. It's pretty colorful, like the other films in the series, with so- so direction by Antonio Margheriti, who guided most of these features. The problem is, it threatens to choke on its dialogue, with not enough incident to sustain it through a fairly uninteresting first sixty minutes. It only starts getting fun when our heroes land on the planet, and find that it has a life of its own. It's even got arteries and lungs! The landscapes on this planet are pretty cool, as is the creation of some enjoyable atmosphere. The special effects are very damn crude, but charmingly so. You can clearly see most of the strings used to manipulate actors and objects.
Rossi Stuart is a stiff plank of wood in the lead role. Ombretta Colli is appealing eye candy as his leading lady, Lt. Terry Sanchez. Series regular Enzo Fiermonte is fine as the concerned General Norton. And Goffredo Unger and Pietro Martellanza are acceptable as other key characters. You do miss the presence of the almighty Franco Nero, who co-starred in the first two films.
Entertaining enough but also rather forgettable.
Six out of 10.
If you're like this viewer and enjoy this sort of thing to begin with, "War Between the Planets" yields adequate entertainment. It's pretty colorful, like the other films in the series, with so- so direction by Antonio Margheriti, who guided most of these features. The problem is, it threatens to choke on its dialogue, with not enough incident to sustain it through a fairly uninteresting first sixty minutes. It only starts getting fun when our heroes land on the planet, and find that it has a life of its own. It's even got arteries and lungs! The landscapes on this planet are pretty cool, as is the creation of some enjoyable atmosphere. The special effects are very damn crude, but charmingly so. You can clearly see most of the strings used to manipulate actors and objects.
Rossi Stuart is a stiff plank of wood in the lead role. Ombretta Colli is appealing eye candy as his leading lady, Lt. Terry Sanchez. Series regular Enzo Fiermonte is fine as the concerned General Norton. And Goffredo Unger and Pietro Martellanza are acceptable as other key characters. You do miss the presence of the almighty Franco Nero, who co-starred in the first two films.
Entertaining enough but also rather forgettable.
Six out of 10.