There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Rated 9 for the Kitsch factor!! I do have a problem, it says that the role of Jake (what's his name) is played by Franco Nero, but I do believe it's played by Terence HIll, who lately can be seen on MHz Networks in Don Matteo. And he was also in the 'Trinity' movies in the 1970's. One thing I do love about these Italian movies is that the music (opening/closing themes) is nicely done. Franco Nero was in Wild Wild Planet. I could be wrong because they're both handsome blue-eyed Italians but I'm pretty sure about that. I think Wild WIld Planet is my favorite. It's SO pre-Stepford Wives. It's the height of corn, but it cracks me up every time I watch it. Very contemporary for the mid 60's....I love all the sleek design costumes, cars, and furniture. And of course, who wouldn't have a crush on Captain Mike!!

in this Italian, American sci-fi 'thriller',our intrepid crew sets about outer space and some of them are brainwashed into believing that if they do as they're told, it will be "all for the good of all"(or some such gobbledygoop). the "aliens" in this case are pretty much made of green smoke...there are no actual solid monsters or creatures per se. the miniatures, lighting and camera work all come off incredibly toy-like and unrealistic even by 1965 standards. their rifles, which they refer to as "lasers", look like refurbished Tommy guns..which spit out fire..and their space pistols, they refer to as "38's"!!! the Italian actors (like in many dual-country offerings) are obviously speaking Italian with the English dubbed in and the American actors speaking English. the producers evidently thought this movie was so good they followed it up with "wild wild planet"..which i haven't seen and don't plan to. i actually love bad sci-fi that's somewhat original and unintentionally funny...this wreck was neither.

Steadfast, but dreary and second-rate low-budget b-grade sci-fi matinée by Italian director Antonio Margheriti (better known for such films as; "Cannibal Apocalypse" and "Naked You Die"). Anyhow "The War of the Planets" (the second addition to the Gamma One series) is typical fodder, that can't escape its over melodramatic sub-plotting with stodgy dialogues and the direction is limply brought across. Its budget shows with the obviously fashionable miniature sets and models… as well as all-out plain and spotty effects (where the aliens are a glowing green mist or light of energy that possesses its victims). Some of the junky space sequences are rather laughable too (like astronauts floating in space, which is clearly by rope). The idea is workable, but the lacklustre execution is less accommodating despite some spaced-out atmospheric visuals and colourful set decors. Textbook performances (with the likes of Tony Russel and Franco Nero) come across shallowly flat, but there seems to be too many characters that at times it got hard to tell which space station / ship the action was focusing on. On the other hand the patchy score remains effectively uncanny. Not entirely awful, but still an utter drag.

It's not even close to being the best spaghetti science-fiction film ever made - far from it, in fact - but Antonio Margheriti's War of the Planets is another refugee from TNT's 100% Weird that recently popped up commercial free (and sadly pan and scan) on Turner Classic Movies. Starring American expat Tony Russel - who got his screen start as a bartender in Elvis' King Creole - as the commander of Earth's space forces, War of the Planets is a very low-budget story of alien invaders attacking our solar system from their base on Mars. The aliens, ever mindful of the filmmakers' need to keep costs down, are represented by dry ice and flashing green lights. The great Franco Nero co-stars and there's a suitably spacey Angelo Francesco Lavagnino score.