However, the newfangled computer machine bears no weight in the political community, as Joyce's father (Larry Keating) discovers when his doomsday news gets him laughed out of both the U.S. Congress and the United Nations before he can even get to his punchline.
What punchline is this? As it turns out, Zyra may be capable of sustaining human life, so Dr. Hendron wants to build a space ark to ensure that some people make it to the renegade moon before the Earth is destroyed.
Alas, the mocking laughter of politicians forces him to turn to special interest groups -- namely cranky crippled millionaire Sydney Stanton (John Hoyt) -- for funding. Stanton forks over the money on the condition that he's given one of the seats on the ship and the opportunity to be generally annoying for the rest of the film.
Venture funding secure, the building of the spaceship begins. The unstoppable technocratic team of Stanton and Hendron entice 600 young men and women to work long hours with lousy pay, dangling the hope that one of them will be picked for the 40-member crew as an incentive.
First it takes Manhattan...
Of course, time is short. The ship is nearing completion when Zyra first passes near Earth, a scant 19 days before the final collision.
While it would make the most sense to finish the ship in a hurry and depart for Zyra at that time, the scientists hold off, presumably to watch producer and legendary special-effects artist George Pal's Oscar-winning destruction of New York City.
Two years later, while Barbara Rush was fighting those alien eyeballs, he would repeat this performance by destroying Los Angeles in his
.
After the tremors, Randall sets out with Joyce's former fiancée Dr. Drake (Peter Hanson) in search of survivors, only to find one of those horrendously annoying SF tykes (Rudy Lee).
Dr. Hendron, who's awfully free with the limited seats, promises the kid and his dog a seat at the unspoken cost of one of the crew -- as we will see, youth is king in his book.
Some terrible thrills
Finally, the day of the apocalypse is at hand. The colonists have all been picked, although it's disconcerting to realize that Zyra will be populated by an all-white contingency, leaving the remaining workers to mutter about mutiny.
At the last minute, Dr. Hendron pulls the pistol-packing Stanton off the ramp and physically restrains him from boarding, justifying that future planet is only for the young -- perhaps he's double-booked Stanton's seat for the kid.
The ship, minus both old men, flies off a roller-coaster launch pad moments before Bellus fatally collides with Earth.
After an uneventful trip, the ship lands on Zyra, a planet that uncannily resembles a quaint Alpine valley with green grass, snow, flowers and breathable air. The scientists emerge in their new Eden and watch their first sunrise, filtered through the last remains of Earth, as the music swells and the closing credits roll.
Our devils travel with us
While this film is venerated as a classic in the genre, its plot still contains several implausible elements.
Over and above the fact that the probability of a rogue planet (complete with satellite) invading the solar system is astronomically low, the social framework of Pal's world is somewhat naive by 21st-Century standards.
Why does nobody accept the fact that the world will be destroyed? Everyone seems frozen into inaction (or denial?) except for the privately-funded scientists, and there are no further attempts at saving Earth.
Such a short-sighted species might not be worth saving.
As far as humanity goes, it should be noted that it's rather presumptuous of Dr. Hendron to deny Stanton his seat in order to save fuel for the youngsters. While Stanton was grouchy, he put up the money for his seat (and in fact funded the project that made all the seats possible) in good faith.
Hendron, however, like most cinematic scientists of the 1950s saucer cycle, seems to enjoy playing god, getting to decide who lives and who dies.
Beyond the naked hubris, there's an ominous feel of enforced Darwinism at work in his reasoning that the crippled, old members of the tribe -- or species -- must make way for the younger ones. Granted, nature has reasserted its power on a cosmic scale, but should humanity abandon the wisdom of experience or the civilized virtue of trust in order to survive?
How long in Eden?
As for the survivors, they seem none too depressed over the obliteration of Earth, but how long do they really have in their adoptive paradise?
Significantly, they do not seem to have planned wisely for their new home. Instead, they have packed the space ark with food-guzzling, environment-damaging livestock, while the colonists' lack of apparent concern about their new home's prospects betrays their refusal to plan ahead.
It seems likely that the planet-destroying collision of Earth and Bellus would have some effect on Zyra. Would the planetoid be battered by debris from the mother world? Would clouds of dust infiltrate the atmosphere, making the already Alpine climate too cold for comfort?
Finally, Zyra's final trajectory around the sun remains dubious. Since the planetoid was on such a hellbent course into the solar system, crossing the range of 1951 telescopes in a matter of months, it is moving fairly fast. Where is it going?
When everything's said and done, When Worlds Collide leaves humanity adrift in an unreasoning universe, where catastrophe can strike almost at random and where planets disobey the laws of physics with malignant intent. It's no wonder this film gave children nightmares, happy ending and all.
advertisement
