Journey to the Far Side of the Sun
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Actor: Franco Derosa, Herbert Lom, Ian Hendry, Lynn Loring, Roy ThinnesBrand: UNI DIST CORP. (MCA)
Cinematographer: John Read
Composer: Barry Gray
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-06-24
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Journey to the Far Side of the Sun
DVD Review: See you in three weeks
Summary: 5 Stars
"Journey to the far side of the Sun" is almost unique in SciFi films - fondly remembered from the last time I watched it, probably 20yrs ago on British TV - it's almost pure cheese, but sublime, magnificent, exquisitely produced cheese of the finest vintage!!! This is a B film that - no pun intended - reaches for the stars, that aspires to cinematic greatness, and the fact that it fails to reach those heady heights in no way diminishes it. For those who are familiar with the Anderson's live-action work, and who haven't yet seen the film, imagine a cross between UFO, Space 1999, and 2001 - A Space Odyssey. Yup, hard to imagine I know, but that'll give you SOME idea of what you're in for when you pop this "classic" into your shiny-disc player!
For years "Journey..." has been the Holy Grail of Gerry & Sylvia - Da da - Anderson's oeuvre. Released for the first time on disc back in '98 I believe, it's been, as far as I know, unavailable at least since I got my first DVD player in about 2002; I almost fell out of my chair when I saw that it had been re-issued at LAST!!!
Staring Roy "The Invaders" Thinnes, Ian Hendry, and Patrick Wymark, who comes off as a poor-mans Anthony Hopkins, it also features a good chunk of the "Anderson Repertory Company." Yes, Ed Bishop is there - sans UFO blond wig - along with George Sewell, Vladek Sheybal - he of the cadaverous countenance and Peter Lorre vocal stylings - Philip Madoc, Keith Alexander, and a bunch of others you would see wandering around in the background of just about any UFO, Space 1999 etc. episode. Plus, as an added extra, for Patrick Troughton/Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker era Doctor Who fans, there's a blink and you'll miss 'im appearance by the once and future "Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart," Nicholas Courtney, as a medical technician during a rocket launch. There's also a guest appearance by the wonderful Herbert Lom in a brief but pivotal role.
The basic idea of the film is great; an automated solar probe orbits behind the Sun for the first time, and brings back proof of the existence of an unknown planet, in exactly the same orbit as the Earth, to an astonished EUROSEC, the European space agency. The scientific and military potential of this discovery is incalculable, and the no-nonsense CEO of EUROSEC, "Jason Webb," played by Patrick Wymark, browbeats the board, made up of the other European spacefaring members, into accepting the need for a manned mission. That is until he drops the cost of the project on them, Three Thousand Million Pounds Sterling; after much politicking and arm-twisting he convinces NASA to cough up a measly one billion Dollars, which forces everyone else to fall into line. This allows said "Journey..." to proceed, but the mission then seems to fail in the most spectacular fashion, and it is during the resulting inquiry that the real adventure begins!!!
First, the good stuff; the main actors are more than serviceable. Wymark dominates the early part of the film as the head of EUROSEC, alternating between arrogant British smugness and scenery-chewing tirades, Thinnes and Hendry, as astronaut "Colonel Glenn Ross" and astrophysicist "John Kane" respectively, do all they need to make their characters believable in the context of the film. The fantastically, almost fetishistically, detailed models and miniatures of Derek Meddings and his team are a joy to see; no terabytes of CGI here, these are real, solid, they have a sense of weight, of mass, the way they move, but they are ALWAYS "models!" However in spite of this they do manage to pull off a couple of wonderful scenes; there's a shot of the ship in orbit with the sun rising over the planets rim that, given the technology available at the time, is astonishingly beautiful. Then there's a crash landing on the planet and its immediate aftermath that is incredibly well done, a wonderful mix of Meddings' model work and live action on full-size sets, with some incredibly eerie and atmospheric lighting effects and music! Then there's a scene that many other reviewers disliked, the main journey to the planet itself, where Ross and Kane are put into a kind of suspended animation, and you get a very dreamlike, expressionistic version of the trip and time passing; I thought that was exceptionally well realized!
And now to the bad; the execution just doesn't live up to the premise, from the recycled, and sometimes jarringly inappropriate, musical themes, to dear old Sylvies wince inducing "Century 21" fashions; dear viewer, if you are of delicate disposition try not to gouge your own eyes out after seeing what they forced poor Ian Hendry to wear for the "airport" scene when we're introduced to Thinnes' character for the first time!!! Then there's the aluminum foil spacesuits, the sometimes shaky model work, the F.A.B. groovy, "futuristic" cars and run-a-bouts that were recycled into UFO, and the most ludicrous photo-developing process known to man; this is so bad it's wonderful!!! And as for the ending, oh my GOD, what WHERE they thinking?! But hey, at least there're no Moonbase babes wearing silver micro-mini's, purple wigs, and glitter eye shadow!!!
And bizarrely, in amongst all of the above there's a much darker edge that moves the film away from purely kiddy-fare into much more adult areas. There's the brutal extra-judicial execution of a spy ordered by a snarling Jason Webb, and a scene where Ross' wife viciously taunts him about his "manhood" and their inability to have a child, that made me wince when I watched the film again after all these years.
Well, what can I say, I've watched this twice now since it arrived, it may be cheese, but it's wonderful! Highly recommended for Anderson fans, and lovers of the kitsch and the camp everywhere!!!
Description of Journey to the Far Side of the Sun
Sci-fi adventure and suspense has never been more exciting or intense as when you Journey to the Far Side of the Sun! One hundred years in the future two astronauts are sent to uncover the secrets of a "duplicate" Earth on the other side of the Sun. When they crash land three weeks earlier than they had planned they must embark on a life-or-death mission to determine whether they have arrived back home or on the strange mirror world. This imaginative space adventure offers a journey few will ever forget!Bestsellers in DVD
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