Assignment: Outer Space
About Assignment: Outer Space
In 2116, Interplanetary Chronicle of New York reporter Ray Peterson rides Bravo Zulu 88 to an orbiting station, where the commander calls him a leech and botanist Lucy is drawn to both men. Spaceship Alpha Two enters the inner solar system with photon generators hot enough to destroy Earth. Sullivan and pilot Al die in separate missile runs. Peterson boards Alpha Two in Space Taxi B91, shuts down its power, and is trapped until the commander disobeys orders and pulls him off. The ship is turned away from Earth.
Cast & crew
More about Assignment: Outer Space
Antonio Margheriti's first feature as director, written with Ennio De Concini, was shot while Mario Bava filmed Black Sunday on the next stage, with Margheriti handling the space miniatures. Titanus opened Space-Men in Rome in August 1960, and the United States release on December 13, 1961, played with The Phantom Planet or Journey to the Seventh Planet. Wikidata lists Samuel Z. Arkoff as producer and Mario Serandrei as editor.
Themes
Making
Margheriti had read science-fiction comics and took the directing job as soon as it was offered.
Reviews
Phil Hardy's Science Fiction: Complete Film Source Book (1984) called the narrative unclear and jerky and treated the visuals as the compensation.
Technique
The outer-space shots use miniatures that Margheriti supervised in the studio next to Mario Bava's Black Sunday.
Music
Lelio Luttazzi is the composer credited on Wikidata.
Notes
- Rik Van Nutter plays Ray Peterson, Gabriella Farinon plays Lucy, David Montresor the commander, Archie Savage plays Al, and Alain Dijon and Franco Fantasia are also billed.
- Peterson's assignment, before the crisis, is a story on the infra-radiation flux in Galaxy M12.
- Wikidata also names Netflix among the distributors. That is not a theatrical credit from 1960.
- Margheriti went on to direct 55 films after this one, according to the English Wikipedia.
Scenes
- Sullivan and Al die in separate attempts to missile Alpha Two.
- Peterson is shut inside Alpha Two when cutting the power also kills the emergency hatch.
Also available
- Internet Archive (Assignment_Outer_Space)
- Wikimedia Commons (Assignment Outer Space.ogv)
