Humanity sucks.

People are selfish, no one cares about anyone else's survival, and we're all just looking out for Number One. Numbers One and Two, tops.

That was as true in 1951 as it is today.

See, back then there was this planet called Zyra, orbiting a sun called Bellus, and these two heavenly bodies decided to come to our solar system for a little gravity-destabilizing visit. And you know what that means, of course.

The end of the world! (And, yet.)

Meet, then, our intrepid hero, pilot David Randall (Richard Derr), who is hired to fly his itty-bitty model plane to the States with some secret, as yet undisclosed, information. His plane lands, and that's when he meets the inevitable babe. Her name is Joyce Hendron (Barbara Rush), and she is, naturally, the daughter of the scientist to whom the package must be delivered. Joyce assumes that ol' Dave is in on the secret (whatever that could be), and takes him to her father. It is there, while playing along, reporter-Téa Leoni-in-Deep Impact-style, that Dave learns that he had been courier to the results of calculations that could confirm Dr. Hendron's apocalyptic fears.

And lest we think that the movie was accidentally mistitled, Dr. Hendron somberly tells us: "There is no error."

DA DUM!

Flash forward an unspecified length of time, and a UN subcommittee or somesuch is being told that the world is about to end, and that the only hope for survival is in the building of a super-huge rocket-ship to send a select few to sanctuary on the planet Zyra as it passes. They, skeptical bastards, don't believe a word of it, but nasty millionaire industrialist, Sydney Stanton (John Hoyt), does, and he pledges to fund the building of the spaceship that will save the human race by taking... er... forty people to Zyra. Now, if a lifetime of watching sci-fi stuff has taught me anything, it is that forty people do not a viable gene pool make.

But we'll let that pass.

Trials and tribulations abound. The truth is finally made obvious (even to the dimwitted and fussy French ambassador guy, one assumes) and it is apparent to all that their idyllic, fifties, Doris Day world is doomed. Anarchy ensues. We then see people at their very worst -- and you haven't seen people at their worst until you've seen them attempting to riot while wearing slacks and cardigans.

But, of course, after the evil millionaire is punished and the obligatory self-sacrifice has taken place, the ship finally takes off. Does it land on Zyra? Is the air there be perfectly breathable for humans and their livestock? Do Joyce and Dave get together?

What do you think?

This movie stars practically no one you've ever heard of (unless you're such a serious Trekkie that you recognise Dr. Philip Boyce on sight -- or you're a Major 7th Heaven fan.) This is a movie full of disaster movie clichés, before they were yet clichés. There're the young lovers, torn apart and reunited. There's the evilness of the rich guy. There's the notion that no one over the age of fifty can possibly be useful to society. And there's a dog! A little boy and his little dog, and they... they... oh my god, they don't die!

When Worlds Collide is a Science Fiction Classic. Don't just take my word for it. It's on the DVD cover. Says it right there. It even won the Oscar for its "spectacular" special effects -- despite the worst matte painting background in the history of the world. What, did they hire the kids from the local kindergarten?

Although, when that terrifying tidal wave hit, and those teetering sticks were washed away by the vengeful, torrential, unstoppable bucket of water, it was very spectacular indeed.

No doubt the forthcoming remake, currently in pre-production with Stephen “The Mummy” Sommers at the helm, will be on the very cutting edge of special effects technology, as this original apparently was in the early 50’s.

How very, very far we’ve come, in only sixty years.

But I should not mock. After all, we all owe a great debt of gratitude to this movie. Without it, we might not now have the wonders of ID4, Armageddon, Deep Impact, The Day After Tomorrow and their ilk, and all of our lives would be infinitely the poorer.

Apocalyptic movies put our lives in perspective. Careers, possessions, those new shoes we can't afford, trying to get laid -- all formerly life-and-death concerns pale before the possibility, be it ever so remote, that it could one day be us running for our lives, engulfed by a wall of water or buried by a landslide, perhaps forced to decide between saving the life of a child or a cat.

The other thing about apocalyptic movies? They adhere to a strict formula (which, needless to say, a real extinction event will probably not). And a large portion of the winning ingredients for such things were refined and perfected in this very film.

Hmm. I’m genuinely not sure whether that’s a good thing or not.

   -- Rachel Hyland

Portions of this article first appeared in The 11th Hour Web Magazine.