Year: 1967
Duration: 01:34:22
Directed by: Primo Zeglio
Actors: Lang Jeffries, Essy Persson, Luis Dávila
Language: English
Country: Italy|West Germany|Spain|Monaco
Also known as: …4 …3 …2 …1 …morte
Description: An exploratory moon flight goes awry when a beautiful alien (Essy Persson) detours the Stardust ship to help her sick shipmate and repair their damaged mothership. Unknown to the crews of the alien and terrestrial ships, the true reason for the flight is for valuable minerals on the moon. This fact is not unknown to the criminal master mind, Mr. Arkin (Pinkas Braun), who plants a spy on the Stardust to try to cash in on the rich mineral stores of the moon and causes quite a few problems for our space adventurers. The plot is complicated by the fact that the alien race is dying and needs an injection of fresh DNA from a more virile, primitive race. Major Perry Rhodan (Lang Jeffries) is only too eager to provide that injection. Lasers, robots, African military, force fields, tractor beams, impostor doctors and nurses, and bodies flying into the void of space all compound to make this an interesting Earth space adventure culminating in the salvation of a race. An excellent soundtrack rounds out this late 60’s Italian Sci-Fi extravaganza.
Most of the reviews have focused on the way the film strays from the books, and on the technical aspects of the special effects and acting. They do this from a 21st century prespective failing to try to see the grand appeal of this movie on an imaginative 20th century preteen. Thora provided ample stimulation to countless adolescents I am sure. The special effects were great for the time and what they lacked were made up for with imagination. The review also ignores the effective use of stock footage. The acting while not top notch was more than adequate and the action and romance was fast paced. They really packed a lot into the 90 minute runtime. So basically, I think this review misses the point. The point is stimulating fun and adventure!Oh yeah, and who the hell is Reggy and why should he get screen time? Now that I’ve been reading the books, I can tell you that Reg Bell from the books has been changed into Mike Bull in this film. He doesn’t get much more mention in the part of the book that corresponds to the movie than he gets in this film. So I’ll give it 1.5 out of 5.
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My FIRST exposure to this then-unknown movie–which I discovered was called “Mission: Stardust”, was during a “channel flipping” on my TV back in 1971 (on the channel I was looking for, there was supposed to be a auto race–which was canceled, so they aired this film in it’s place). The first thing I saw was Essy Pearson in that Space Body Suit, and then the Euro-pop soundtrack which just blew my (then-)8-year-old mind. Found it again on VHS back-in-the-day, and wore the tape out from repeated watching. The designs, color, soundtrack, Essy Pearson. Ahhhh, heaven. Thanks for the upload.