In 1957 humans invent the "Super H-Bomb" sixty years ahead of time, so now the
"High Tribunal of Outer Space" must convene to decide whether humans are worth
keeping around or should we just be allowed to blow ourselves up. Taking
the side of the humans in this pathetic court room drama is poor Ronald Colman
as The Spirit of Man. On the other side is dapper Vincent Price (probably
the only actor to get out of this disaster unscathed) as The Devil a.k.a. "Mr.
Scratch". Both sides present evidence for their case. The Spirit of
Man spouts off moralistic soliloquies about Joan of Arc, Moses, Shakespeare,
early Christians, Alexander Graham Bell, Sir Isaac Newton and reads from the
Bible (vomit!) while The Devil makes a much more convincing argument by showing
Nero, Hitler, Cleopatra, Khufu, Attila the Hun and talking about stuff like
genocide, slavery and the Salem Witch Trials. Good thing he didn't mention
SLIMED
or we'd all be dead right now. Anyway, as expected, the High Tribunal of
Outer Space's final decision is a total cop out complete with a "Is This The
End?" flashing across the screen in giant red letters.
As much of a train wreck as all that sounds it's actually more dull than
anything else. The historical events are all short with background sets
that look like they were just slapped together with stuff found laying around
the studio, there's a bunch of mysterious stock footage (the burning train came
from 1939's
DODGE CITY) and the actors all look pretty embarrassed.
Worth a watch for the curiosity value, but I'd be much more interested in
reading about how this misguided turd ever got green-lit in the first
place? Also, what was the budget and did it make any money at all?
What did audiences and critics back in 1957 think? In the book "The Fifty Worst
Films of All Time" where they quote Newsweek as saying "...some of the weirdest
casting ever committed". A 44-year-old Hedy Lamarr as 19-year-old Joan of
Arc or Harpo Marx as Sir Isaac Newton...yeah, I can see what they are talking about.
"The Great Clock of Outer Space"
