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[tab title="Movie Review"]
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Aligning its release with NASA’s Project Mercury accomplishments but predating man’s landing on the moon is Denmark’s laughably silly Journey to the Seventh Planet. Directed by cult producer Sidney W. Pink (Reptilicus, The Angry Red Planet) and starring John Agar and Greta Thyssen, this B-movie wraps itself in optical effects, miniatures, groovy screen swirls, and largely takes place inside a rocket ship with laminate wood floors. I kid you not.
And that’s why its amassed a cult following over the years since its release.
This is not a good film. But you will laugh. Everything that could have been great about it is killed with a plot that lays everything out for its audience to trip over. It’s camp-tastic through and through and even American International Pictures, who originally distributed here in America, cashed in on its cheese.
For this team of astronauts, a trip to Uranus to investigate a strange radiation signal that is being picked up sends them tripping through their own subconsciousness. The responsible party is an alien life form of some sort. They discover this after penetrating the black barrier that protects the real surface of Jupiter but the audience already knows this fact due to its appearance inside the rocket ship right after the men lock their ship’s orbit around the seventh planet. Oh, and of course there’s some weird shenanigans causing the men to freeze in place – a fairly hysterical scene – in which a voice announces its intentions to control them. When the men are unfrozen, they realize – thanks to a fairly clever use of an apple – that a lot of time has passed.
Now before you start singing Pink Floyd’s “Time” from The Dark Side of the Moon, know this: Journey to the Seventh Planet cost a mere $75000 to make. I’m still at a loss as to where that money is because the optical effect that created the invading alien is just damn silly. And, of course, the movie has shot itself in the foot with its own laser gun because – with the announcement of the alien’s intentions – there’s simply no tension or surprises when the surface of Jupiter becomes their own memories.
The alien is using their brains against them. Complete with familiar family barns, girlfriends from days gone by, and a one-eyed monster with issues of depth perception, Journey to the Seventh Planet is one long entertaining joke. Highlighted by the team’s goofy spacesuits and campfire comradery, the film’s science is way more fiction than it is fact.
The “acting” is stilted, telegraphed, and the screenplay by Ib Melchior and the film’s director isn’t any better. They might have been aiming for the stars or even an entry into The Twilight Zone but, obviously, they fell short and suffocated somewhere out in the farthest reaches of this solar system. Doesn’t really matter.
Time itself is on the side of this expedition. Without helmets. Without flashlights. Without much at all, Uranus gets plundered by these fools. Journey to the Seventh Planet is offered on blu-ray thanks to Kino Lorber, a company who knows classics when they see ’em.
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[tab title="Film Details"]
MPAA Rating: Nor rated.
Runtime: 77 mins
Director: Sidney W. Pink
Writer: Sidney W. Pink
Cast: John Agar, Greta Thyssen, Carl Ottosen
Genre: Fantasy | Sci-fi
Tagline: What is this monstrous THING? With the power of mind over matter?... There beyond the stars your unspeakable fears...deepest desires...come alive...and you are trapped in a spectacle of terror- your secret fears pitted against you!
Memorable Movie Quote: "Because nothing in front of us is real. It doesn't exist."
Distributor: American International Pictures (AIP)
Official Site:
Release Date: March 10, 1962
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: April 5, 2016
Synopsis:Earth sends a five-man team to explore the frozen planet Uranus, only to find a temperate forest and sultry women from their past on it, courtesy of an alien brain with evil designs.
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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]
Blu-ray Details:
Available on Blu-ray - April 5, 2016
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: None
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: 25GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Region Encoding: A
Kino Lorber Studio Classics presents Journey to the Seventh Planet with a crisp 1080p transfer. There aren’t a lot of deficiencies in the print used but the production values are, as expected, noticeably low. From the wood floors in the rocket ship to the optica effects, this one will make you believe in the power of the HD format. Colors are well-saturated and resist bowing to the ravages of time. Black levels are good. Shadows are surprisingly deep and the contrast is high. The release is offered in a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- Film Historian Tim Lucas waxes poetic about Pink’s film on this feature-length commentary.
Special Features:
As is the typical path of Kino’s cult releases, there is a theatrical trailer and nothing else.
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[tab title="Trailer"]
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