When Worlds Collide

First published in 1932, Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer's speculative novel When Worlds Collide was immediately purchased by Paramount as a possible project for director Cecil B. DeMille. But because none of Paramount's scriptwriters were able to come up with an adequate screen treatment, the ...more

Even though the acting in this 1951 production is mostly average, the film is nonetheless praiseworthy for its special effects and lickety-split pacing. From the opening scene to the last, the film races along as scientists scramble to cope with the ultimate disaster -- the end of the world. Legendary special-effects guru George Pal dots the sky with an ominous speck that soon burgeons into a great fireball -- a sun-sized body called Bellus -- as it hurtles toward earth. As civilization awaits ...more