WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE: 1951 Cecil B. DeMille had considered bringing this tale to the screen as early as 1934, but it was George Pal who made the film a vivid reality.
	Pilot Dave Randall transports a sealed case from South Africa to New York, and learns he is the bearer of really bad news. He's helped astronomers confirm that another planet, Bellus, is on its way to collide with the Earth, and there is no hope of avoiding or stopping it.
Dr. Hendron is laughed out of the U.N. as a fool or hoaxter when he pro- poses that rockets be built to carry refugees to Zyra, a habitable satellite of Bellus. The damning facts become undeniable as scientists check the calculations. The Earth is doomed.
	Hendron's rocket is privately financed by Mr. Stanton, who is like the evil Mr. Burns of The Simpsons, in a wheel- chair. Stanton wants to decide "who lives and who dies", but Hendron says "Your money for your life."
The plan is to launch the aerodynamically finned rocket up a hillside on a track and trolley system over a mile long. The angled ascent is to gain added lift from ship's wings. Meanwhile, Hendron's daughter dumps Dr. Boyfriend for pilot Randall. Zyra will pass the Earth 19 days before Bellus strikes. Its passage will bring all manner of disasters due to gravitational stresses.
	Stanton mocks Hendron when Zyra is 30 seconds overdue. The quakes do come, and civilization is smashed. Volcanoes, tsunami, you name it, but the launch site is still usable when the dust begins to settle. The later they wait to take off, the less fuel they will need, but the ship is still not ready and there is pressure from all sides. Work continues, and Randall makes himself useful carrying supplies to refugees by helicopter. He and his romantic rival rescue a young rascal from a rooftop.
This provides the best non-special effects scene in the film. That had to really be Randall (Richard Derr) that lept from the chopper to the flooded rooftop where the boy was tied to the chimney. It was very convincing stuntwork. Later, when lots are drawn to name the 2-3 dozen passengers to go, riots break out.
	Bellus draws near, and the reddened sky darkens as lift-off time closes. In the ripping wind, Hendron seals the rocket's huge loading doors leaving Stanton and himself outside the ark, all but saying "See you in hell, Stanton."
	The trolley system comes off perfectly, and the shining ark knocks its crew out with G-forces. They wake to find the instruments have not failed them, and turn their boosters to land the rocket. Gliding in, they kiss the surface of Zyra.

Okay... when they crack the awesome hatchway, we are shown, compared to the rest of the film, this cheesmatic painting of Zyra's surface. Explanation: Paramount rushed the production when G. Pal's previous biggie (Destination Moon) won the Oscar for effects. The Bonestell work in question was a pre-production piece to guide the building of miniature sets: just a really good sketch. So good, in fact, that to expedite its release, the film's last scenes of Randall and Co. treading Zyran soil are chopped in favor of a pan across this pinky mural from some really nice restaurant. Overall, this movie is an obvious classic for its era, and genre. Pal was on a roll. When he and his team, (including Leith Stevens on his 3rd consecutive Pal soundtrack) unveiled their next project, the phrase "love thy neighbor" presented a whole new challenge.

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