''Wild, Wild Planet'' ( it, I Criminali della Galassia, , lit=Criminals of the Galaxy) is a 1966 Italian
science fiction film directed by
Anthony Dawson and written by Renato Moretti and Ivan Reiner.
Tony Russel
Tony Russel (born Antonio Pietro Russo, and sometimes credited as Tony Russo or Tony Russell; November 23, 1925 – March 18, 2017) was an American film, stage, and television actor. He was noted for having worked extensively in the Italian film ...
stars as Commander Mike Halstead.
Plot
In 2015, Commander Mike Halstead, commander of space station Gamma One of the United Democracies Space Command, is assigned to investigate the alarming number of missing person reports on Earth.
Dr. Nurmi is engaged in secret bio-engineering experiments on the same base as Halstead, which causes an issue for Halstead, who disapproves of the experiments. While Nurmi's assignment is to study miniaturization of human organs, he starts kidnapping influential world leaders for use in his eugenics program. Nurmi is actually working for the planet Delphos, using four armed androids to assist in the kidnapping and is transporting the miniaturized world leader to Delphos.
Halstead confronts Nurmi over his suspicions of illegal experiments but is confined to quarters by his superiors. Lieutenants Jake and Ken free him.
Nurmi seduces Halstead's girlfriend, Lieutenant Connie Gomez. Nurmi wants to use Gomez in his experiments to build a genetically perfect, immortal race of humans. Halstead comes to the rescue in outer space.
Cast
*
Tony Russel
Tony Russel (born Antonio Pietro Russo, and sometimes credited as Tony Russo or Tony Russell; November 23, 1925 – March 18, 2017) was an American film, stage, and television actor. He was noted for having worked extensively in the Italian film ...
as Cmdr. Mike Halstead (as Tony Russell)
*
Lisa Gastoni
Lisa Gastoni (born 28 July 1935) is an Italian film actress. Gastoni was named "Best Italian Actress of the Year, 1966" as she received both the Nastro D'Argento Award and the Golden Globe Award from Italy's Foreign Press Association.}
Biograp ...
as Lt. Connie Gomez (as Jane Fate)
*
Massimo Serato
Massimo Serato, born Giuseppe Segato, (31 May 1916 – 22 December 1989) was an Italian film actor with a career spanning over 40 years.
Serato was born in Oderzo, Veneto, Italy and started appearing in films in 1938. He played leading roles in ...
as Mr. Nurmi
*
Carlo Giustini
Carlo Giustini (born 4 May 1923), sometimes credited as Carlo Justini, is an Italian retired actor.
Life and career
Born in Viterbo, the son of a railway employee, Giustini debuted at twenty years old in ''The Materassi Sisters'', after having ...
as Lt. Ken (as Charles Justin)
*
Franco Nero
Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero (born 23 November 1941), known professionally as Franco Nero, is an Italian actor, producer, and director. His breakthrough role was as the title character in the Spaghetti Western film '' Django'' (1966), ...
as Lt. Jake Jacowitz
*
Enzo Fiermonte
Enzo Fiermonte (17 July 1908 – 22 March 1993), sometimes credited as William Bird, was an Italian actor and boxer.
Early life
Vincenzo "Enzo" Fiermonte was born on 17 July 1908 in Casamassima, a rural village near Bari, in southern Italy to Do ...
as General Paul H. Fowler
*
Umberto Raho
Umberto Raho (4 June 1922 – 9 January 2016) was an Italian stage, film and television actor.
Life and career
Born in Bari, the son of an Italian father and a Bulgarian mother, Raho graduated in philosophy and then, immediately after the w ...
as Umberto Raho ... General Maitland (as Bert Raho)
*
Vittorio Bonos as Delfos Scientist (as Victor Bonos)
*
Aldo Canti as Gymnasium Victim (as Aldo Kant)
Production
The English translation of the original title was ''The Galaxy Criminals'', but it was changed for release in the United States in hopes of capitalizing on the then-popular TV show ''
The Wild Wild West''.
The film is the first of four "
Gamma One" science fiction films. The films were originally contracted by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
to be
made-for-TV movies, but were released theatrically instead in some countries. The films were shot consecutively, often reusing the same sets and actors
Reception
Moria found the movie to have a fun, schlocky plot and a colorful bizarreness, but found the direction lacking and the movie ultimately dull.
''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008.
Corpora ...
'' found the movie fun but the acting wooden. Creature Feature gave the movie one star, finding it dull.
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of At ...
found the campy movie fun, with much of the dialogue and special effects unintentionally funny.
''
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo, Locus and British SF Awards. Two print editions appeared in 1979 and 1993. A third, continu ...
'' found the premise and set up to be interesting, but that the movie fails to live up to its promise.
It further found the space sequences good, but the Earth-bound portion of the story dull and the plans and motivations of Nurmi absurd.
''The Buffalo Courier-Express'' found the film "a wilder than a wild stretch of the imagination, and a poor one at that.... Aside from some interesting backgrounds and props, it hasn't much to offer except to the staunchest of science-fiction fans. A confused plot involves the rivalry between world and planetary governments."
Release
''Wild, Wild Planet'' was released in Italy in 1966, where it was distributed by
Titanus
Titanus is an Italian film production company, founded in 1904 by Gustavo Lombardo (1885–1951). The company's headquarters are located at 28 Via Sommacampagna, Rome and its studios on the Via Tiburtina, 13 km from the centre of Rome.
Lom ...
.
It opened in New York on August 9, 1967.
As of January 2021, the movie is available to rent from many services, including
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
and
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
. It was released on DVD in 2010.
See also
*
List of films featuring miniature people
There is a body of films that feature miniature people. The concept of a human shrinking in size has existed since the beginning of cinema, with early films using camera techniques to change perceptions of human sizes. The earliest film to have a s ...
References
External links
*
*
*
Rotten Tomatoes listingBadmovies.org Review*
{{Antonio Margheriti
1960s science fiction films
1966 films
Films about astronauts
Films directed by Antonio Margheriti
1960s Italian-language films
Italian science fiction films
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Films scored by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino
1960s Italian films