The Bubble
The Bubble
| 21 December 1966 (USA)
The Bubble Trailers

A couple encounter mysterious atmospheric effects in an airplane and find themselves in a town where people behave oddly.

Reviews
VeteranLight

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

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Acensbart

Excellent but underrated film

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Tayloriona

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

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Caryl

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

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mhlong

I watched this movie in first run in the Chicago area in 1966-67. I even remember the girl I was dating. And looking around at the audience all wearing the special 3D glasses.Anway, here's the spoiler. The plot, such as it was, could be compared to a bunch of kids collecting ants, grasshoppers, etc. and putting them into a glass jar, and tossing in what ever they think would make the insects seem at home, grass, twigs, leaves.So, if some alien kid did the same to humans, what would it toss in? Part of the Lincoln Memorial, bits and pieces of things from around the world. And if a specimen died, what would a kid do? Remove it quickly not knowing if its death would affect the others still in the jar.And might bugs do if trapped in a jar? Possibly try to do the things by rote they did before. And if a new bug accidentally flew into the jar unawares, it would probably spend some time trying to figure out how to get out before falling into a repetitive life.Here's the plot in brief. Husband and wife out flying with a pilot get caught in a storm (imagine the storm from War of the Worlds), and are forced to land inside the jar/bubble. Most of the other inhabitants are living their lives as if they're robots, going through the motions of their occupations. Our heroes try to get out, the pilot dies in an attempt.I believe at the end, the bubble is lifted, but I don't remember if there is any kind of conclusion.The 3D effects were silly, like firemen carrying a ladder into the audience. Most of them had little to do with furthering the plot. I believe Johnny Desmond (the pilot) got to sing a song. He was a 2nd rate Al Martino about 10 years earlier (if you get the joke).Not much of a movie, and probably helped stifle 3D for awhile...until (ta da) late 2009.

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tomtac

... this will certainly be on it.The landscape in this movie is a bunch of dirt roads, with weird stuff stored by the side of the roads. Like you would find stored by the side of the roads in the back lots of a movie studio. Things like the bottom half of the Lincoln Memorial.Yes, I think it is fair to say that some movie exec looked out the window and said, "There's a whole bunch of weird junk stored behind the movie studio. Let's see if we can film a movie back there, for free, where we never film any movies." The only reason this was not as dreary as it could be was that it was possible to re-release it in 3-D, and there is one scene (the "floating tray of beer" scene) where that was a little fun.Around that time, the Guy (Michael Cole) was starring in The Mod Squad. And as for the Girl (Deborah Walley), well there was a time when guys would line up to see her in a movie. Amazing that Cole and Walley got talked into this movie.

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trishicemagic

Yes this is a awful movie however I was in it: This was my first movie I play(name not on credits) the little girl walking around and riding on the carnival ride in a complete trance. My uncle was a producer and assisted Arch Obler on this film. I was only 7 years old but what memories. Gilligans Island,Big Valley ,Its about Time were all being filmed and I hung out with all of the actors. Michael Cole and Debra Wally were in the Bubble and were great to me. I will never forget that time. I continued on until into my 20 in the Hollywood scene and then decided to move on. I now own a successful Ice Sculpting and Event Decor company on the West Coast. I was so surprised to see this on the amazon.com I had to laugh. I even went to the opening it was at a theatre in Hollywood i got to walk down the red carpet and could barely write my name when another child asked if i was in the movie and wanted my autograph I only new how to print not write.

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Bruce Cook

[Also release as: "Fantastic Invasion of Planet Earth"]Director Arch Oboler ("The Twonky") pioneered a new 3-D process called "Spacevision" which used polarized glasses to separate the right-and-left images for the audience. The 3-D effect works remarkable well, especially in a scene involving a serving tray which floats out of the screen and (apparently) right up to the viewer's face.Oboler obviously made "The Bubble" just to show off "Spacevision"; the plot is practically nonexistent, and the film is littered with scenes that poke objects out of the screen at the audience. In Deborah Walley's first scene, she holds her arms out to the audience and exclaims "Darling!" to husband Michael Cole.The token plot is about a small town which alien invaders have isolated inside a spherical force field (the bubble of the title). A small plane piloted by Johnny Desmond and carrying newlyweds Michael and Deborah is forced to land during a storm, and the trio end up trapped in the town. The town's citizens act like broken robots, repeating routine tasks over and over, oblivious to everything around them. Olan Soule has a small role as one of the automaton Earthlings. The alleged alien invaders are never shown.Music by Paul Sawtell and Bert Schefter (the team which provided mucic for "It! The Terror from Beyond Space" and many other 1950s classics). Arch Oboler served as producer, screenwriter, and director -- so he has nobody to blame but himself.

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