I Criminali della Galassia

Wild, Wild Planet
The Criminals of the Galaxy / The Galaxy Criminals / Gamma I Quadrilogy Vol.1

Italy 1965
produced by
Anthony M. Dawson (= Antonio Margheriti), Joseph Fryd for Mercury Films, Southern Cross
directed by Anthony M. Dawson (= Antonio Margheriti)
starring Tony Russel, Lisa Gastoni, Massimo Serato, Carlo Giustini, Franco Nero, Enzo Fiermonte, Umberto Raho, Vittorio Bonos, Aldo Canti, Franco Doria, Margherita Horowitz, Carlo Kechler, Renato Montalbano, Piero Pastore,Isarco Ravaioli, Franco Ressel, Claudio Scarchilli, Moa Tahi, Victoria Zinny, Goffredo Unger, Aldo D'Ambrosio, Lino Desmond, Sandro Mondini, Giuliano Raffaelli, Rosemary Martin, Kitty Swan, Michel Lemoine
written by Renato Moretti, Ivan Reiner, music by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino, assistant director: Ruggero Deodato

review by
Mike Haberfelner

While Connie Gomez (Lisa Gastoni), the girl Commander Michael Halstead (Tony Russel) is secretly in love with, goes to planet Delphus with the mysterious scientist Nurmi (Massimo Serato), Halstead stays on earth to investigate the disappearance of scores and scores of high-rank politicians, emminent scientists and the like. Soon, Halstead even has a trail to the kidnappers, a blonde and a bald man with sunglasses, but from here on the case gets weirder and weirder: It seems the couple can disappear at will, the bald guy is a robot, and for some reason the whole affair has something to do with shrinking people ... but to what end ?

Ultimately the case leads Halstead and his two assistants (Carlo Giustini, Franco Nero) to Delphus and to Nurmi, who turns out to be a scientist of the mad variety and who plans to take over the world by substituting all prominent figures of politics and science with duplicates that do his bidding while he plans to literally merge his body with Connie's - though I have no idea why and how this is preferable to sex.

Anyway, in the end Halstead and his men who have been captured by Nurmi and his army start a revolt among the prisoners, and before you know it, Nurmi's giant human-duplicating plant on Delphus is blown to Kingdom Come, the mad scientist is dealt with, and Halstead gets Connie (who by the way was saved from being merged with Nurmi.

If you want your mysteries one hundred percent plausible, you probably shouldn't watch sci-fi-movies in the first place: Wild, Wild Planet is full of unlikely plottwists and weird story elements that suggest that the fantasy of the screenwriters has gone wild. Unfortunately that alone doesn't make a good movie, on the downside, Wild, Wild Planet lacks interesting characters and a coherent storyline ... but what it does offer is wonderful 1960's futuristic outfits, miniature effects that are at times almost good, and some sci-fi sets and props that look nothing short of wonderful (in a campy way of course).

So don't expect too much from this one, but if you are into naive 1960's sci-fi designs, you will not want to miss it either.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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