SNOW DEVILS (LA MORTE VIENE DAL PIANETA AYTIN) (director: Anthony Dawson; screenwriters: Ivan Reiner/Charles Sinclair/William Finger/from the novel by Aubrey Wisbert; cinematographer: Riccardo Pallottini; editor: Otello Colangeli; music: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino; cast: Jack Stuart (Commander Rod Jackson), Amber Collins (Lisa Nielson), Rene Baldwin (Lt. Jim Harris), Wilbert Bradley (Sharu), Halina Zalewska (Lt. Teri Sanchez), Freddy Unger (Capt. Frank Pulasky), Enzo Fiermonte (General Norton), Furio Meniconi (Snow Devil Leader); Runtime: 78; MPAA Rating: G; producers: Joseph Fryd/Anthony Dawson; MGM/Mercury Films/Warner Archives; 1967-Italy-in English)
“A schlocky cheapo futuristic sci-fi film made in Italy that is a weird rather than a good one.“
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A schlocky cheapo futuristic sci-fi film made in Italy that is a weird rather than a good one. The Italian film was funded by MGM. It’s directed by Italian filmmaker Anthony Dawson (“War of the Planets”/”Wild, Wild Planet”) from a script by Ivan Reiner, Charles Sinclair and William Finger. It’s based on the novel by Aubrey Wisbert. At an observation space station called Gamma 1, in the Himalayas, a team of military scientists are tracking the weather when suddenly a severe change in the weather occurs and an unseen monster kills all the lab workers except for the missing station leader Lt. Harris (Rene Baldwin). At the UN home base, General Norton (Enzo Fiermonte), the head of the program, sends Commander Rod Jackson (Jack Stuart) and his sidekick Captain Frank Pulaski (Freddy Unger) down from space to the Himalayas to investigate, thinking this might be the work of the legendary Yeti. The zoology scientist, Lisa Nielsen (Amber Collins), the girlfriend of Harris, joins the investigation by being a stowaway and disguising herself as one of sherpa leader Sharu’s (Wilbert Bradley, a black man) porters. It’s soon learned that a group of evil aliens (the so called Yetis or Snow Devils) from the dying planet Aytia have set up a secret lab in the Himalayas to control the Earth’s weather and cause extreme weather conditions that will kill all humans which will allow them to take over the planet in the kind of extremely cold conditions they prefer. All the Snow Devils are blue bodied giants, bearded, covered in white hair and wear green vests (I mistook them for the waiter outfits in the Italian restaurant I frequent). In any case, the saviors of the world discover Harris is alive and has been taken a prisoner. Despite being imprisoned they stop the bad aliens on their mission and then trek to the alien planet to get the rest of these suckers. You can enjoy goofing on the hokum as you take in its absurdly produced mountain climbing scene, the look of its inert monsters, the cheap looking futuristic plastic interplanetary ships, its putrid dialogue and the way it takes itself so seriously as if this was a big-budget Kubrick space film.
REVIEWED ON 5/14/2018 GRADE: C+ https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/
Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”
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