In 1966 and 1967, Margheriti made these four sci-fi films loosely connected by the same space station (Gamma One), the same sets, and the same characters. (Margheriti also directed, among many other films, Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules (1964) which was part of my sword and sandal obsession over the past couple of months). Ivan Reiner wrote the screenplay for all four movies.
Resources:
Table of Contents
The quadrilogy
- Wild, Wild Planet (1966)
- War of the Planets (1966)
- War Between the Planets (1966)
- Snow Devils (1967)
The lead characters in the first two are:
- Tony Russell as Cmdr. Mike Halstead
- Lisa Gastoni as Lt. Connie Gomez
- Franco Nero as Lt. Jake Jacowitz
- Carlo Giustini as Lt. Ken
- Enzo Fiermonte as General Paul H. Fowler (Wild, Wild Planet) and General Halstead (War of the Planets), and General Norton in the subsequent movies
And in the second two:
- Giacomo Rossi Stewart as Cmdr. Rod Jackson
- Ombretta Colli as Lt. Terry Sanchez (War Between the Planets) and Lisa Nielson (Snow Devils), she played Princess Cori in Tyrant of Lydia Against the Son of Hercules (1963)
- Halina Zalewska as Janet Norton (War Between the Planets) and Lt. Terry Sanchez (Snow Devils), also in Triumph of the Ten Gladiators (1964)
- Enzo Fiermonte as General Norton, also in Messalina vs. the Son of Hercules (1963) and Hercules vs. the Giant Warriors (1964)
- Goffredo Unger as Capt. Frank J. Perkinson (War Between the Planets) and Capt. Frank Pulaski (Snow Devils), also in Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules (1964) and Blood and Black Lace by Mario Bava (queued up for my next Giallo film festival)
I haven’t read an explanation of why Colli and Zalewska swapped roles as Lt. Sanchez. Possibly an error on IMDB. Unger’s credits as Perkinson/Pulaski may be the same.
All but Snow Devils (#4) are stream-able (see below) and all are available on DVD or BluRay. Unfortunately, War Between the Planets is only available packaged with another movie from 1962, by a different director and writer, called Creation of the Humanoids.
I’d watched Wild, Wild Planet back in 2006 when I purchased it on DVD, and have re-watched many times since. It is a groovy, odd bit of Italian 60s cinema and has been a favorite. I’ve just now learned of the other three and am on a mission.
Random notes:
- United Democracy Space Command (UDSCO) seems to be a world coalition government
- “Laser” guns shoot a six in burst of fire a la Logan’s Run (1976)
- Technobabble, lots of technobabble
Posters
Wild, Wild Planet – I criminali della galassia (Criminals of the Galaxy)
[ IMDB, 1:33:00 (1:34:00 TCM print) | Streaming (Amazon, 1:34:00) | Wikipedia ]
A renegade scientist starts kidnapping important people and cloning them for body parts. The kidnappers are some sort of genetically-engineered, four-armed men. They enfold their victims in their black plastic duster coats, shrink them to 1/10th size, and place them in briefcases and bring them to the cloning lab. Cmdr. Halstead and his team must fight through the four-armed men and the scientist’s sexy agents, then infiltrate the organ harvesting factory and destroy it.
[ Updated 1 Nov 2020 ] I just purchased an original poster from eBay. This has made my day. Also bidding on one for War Between the Planets.
War of the Planets – I Diafanoidi vengono da Marte (The Diaphanoids Come from Mars)
[ IMDB, 1:17:00 | Streaming (YouTube, 1:36:22) | Wikipedia ]
Millions of glowing green lights descend on Earth and its many space stations and inhabit individuals, turning them into slaves of a collective, alien mind. One of the possessed officers takes Cmdr. Halstead, Lts. Jackowitz and Ken, and several of the unconscious victims, including Lt. Gomez, to Mars. There, he reveals that the “spawn of the Diaphs” from the Andromeda galaxy plan to possess all of Earth’s inhabitants and kill those they cannot.
War Between the Planets – Il pianeta errante (The Wandering Planet)
[ TAMB | IMDB, 1:20:00 (1:17:00 remastered) | Streaming (Amazon, 1:17:00) | Streaming (YouTube, 1:17:23) ]
The poster presents some confusing syntax to summarize the movie (there are floods etc. until a planet is discovered?) and I just watched it but I swear there were no giant, ribbed alien arms grabbing the astronauts.
The Earth is beset by natural disasters and we learn that they’re caused by a large object in space that matches Gamma One’s trajectory exactly. They investigate. There are a few scenes with loss of gravity on the space station (cue the string-attached notepads and pens and phones swinging back and forth) and space walks to save stranded astronauts (absolutely no attempt is made to hide the wires and harnesses that they hang from). The planet-thing they find is kind of alive, with arteries of jam-like blood and pulsating rocks. There’s a helmet switch that creates dramatic irony in it’s true sense, and we lose Frank Pulaski (but he comes back in the final movie as Frank Perkins). Less charming than the first two primarily because of the grating and uncharismatic lead.
I am bidding for an original poster over at eMoviePoster.com, and have my eye on the same over on eBay if I lose.
[ updated 5 Nov 2020 ] Was losing the eMoviePoster.com bid so just went with eBay. These two are going to look amazing together.
Snow Devils – La morte viene dal pianeta Aytin (Death Comes from the Planet Aytin)
[ IMDB, 1:18:00 (1:30:00 TCM print) ]
A mysterious beast kills almost everyone at a weather station at the North Pole, taking one person captive. The Gamma One team of Jackson and Pulaski are called in to investigate.
