''World Without End'' (also known as ''Flight to the Future'') is a 1956 science fiction film directed by

Edward Bernds Edward Bernds (July 12, 1905May 20, 2000) was an American screenwriter and director, born in Chicago, Illinois. Career While in his junior year in Lake View High School, he and several friends formed a small radio clique and obtained amateur li ...

and starring

Hugh Marlowe Hugh Marlowe (born Hugh Herbert Hipple; January 30, 1911May 2, 1982) was an American film, television, stage and radio actor. Early life Marlowe was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was born Hugh Herbert Hipple. He was of primarily Engli ...

and

Nancy Gates Nancy Gates (February 1, 1926Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. .P. 471. – March 24, 2019) was an American film and television actress. Early ...

. It was made in CinemaScope and

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

by Allied Artists and produced by Richard Heermance. ''World Without End'' features an early screen role for Australian-born Rod Taylor. The film was distributed on a double feature with the

Lon Chaney Jr. Creighton Tull Chaney (February10, 1906 – July12, 1973), known by his stage name Lon Chaney Jr., was an American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film '' The Wolf Man'' (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard (Dra ...

film ''

Indestructible Man ''Indestructible Man'' is a 1956 American crime horror science fiction film, an original screenplay by Vy Russell and Sue Dwiggins for producer-director Jack Pollexfen and starring Lon Chaney Jr., Ross Elliott and Robert Shayne. The picture ...

''.

Plot

In March 1957, commander Dr. Eldon Galbraithe, engineer Henry Jaffe, radioman Herbert Ellis and scientist John Borden, are returning to Earth from the first spaceflight, a reconnaissance trip around

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

. Suddenly, their spaceship is somehow accelerated to incredible velocities, and they are knocked unconscious. Their ship crash lands on a snow-covered mountain. When they venture out, they discover that they have become victims of

time dilation In physics and relativity, time dilation is the difference in the elapsed time as measured by two clocks. It is either due to a relative velocity between them ( special relativistic "kinetic" time dilation) or to a difference in gravitational ...

and are now in the future. They theorize, from seeing time-worn gravestones and after their ship's instruments register heightened residual radiation, that a devastating

atomic war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear w ...

had broken out in 2188, and that they are at least 200 years past that date. (They later learn that the year is 2508). Jaffe is particularly hard hit, as he realizes that his wife and children have long since died. After surviving an ambush by giant, mutant spiders, they are attacked by one of the two remnants of human society. The "mutates" (as the astronauts label them) are violent, primitive surface dwellers. They have mutated due to generations of exposure to heightened radioactivity. (However, the

background radiation Background radiation is a measure of the level of ionizing radiation present in the environment at a particular location which is not due to deliberate introduction of radiation sources. Background radiation originates from a variety of source ...

has decreased to tolerable levels, and the men later learn that normal humans are often born to the mutates. These, however, are enslaved.) Seeking shelter from the attacking mutates in a cave, the four men discover the entrance to an underground city, whose residents are the descendants of those who fled there from the atomic war. These people live in a high-tech, sophisticated culture. They are a peaceful group led by Timmek, the president of the ruling council. Underground, the men have grown less virile, and there are fewer and fewer children born each generation. In contrast, the women remain physically vital (and ready for romance). Elain, admires a shirtless Herbert Ellis, commenting that the astronauts are "more muscular than our men". Deena, rescued from the surface as a child, falls in love with Ellis. The astronauts try to persuade the underground people to arm themselves and reclaim the surface, but they are content with their comfortable existence. When Timmek's daughter Garnet shows she is attracted to John Borden, Mories, an already hostile member of the council, becomes jealous. He retrieves the astronauts' confiscated pistols, but has to kill a man when he is caught in the act. Mories plants the guns in the astronauts' quarters. Finding the weapons, Timmek orders the astronauts expelled, but Deena testifies that she saw Mories hide the guns. Mories flees to the surface, where he is killed by mutates. With Timmek now cooperative, the astronauts manufacture a

bazooka Bazooka () is the common name for a man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was among the ...

and head back to the surface. Fleeing the deadly bazooka fire, the mutates take shelter in caves. Borden offers to fight their chief, Naga, in single combat for leadership of the mutates after Naga threatens to slaughter the unmutated slaves. Borden slays Naga and orders the remaining deformed mutates to leave. The astronauts then establish a thriving settlement, including members of both groups.

Cast

as Borden *

as Garnet *

Nelson Leigh Nelson Leigh (born Sydney Talbot Christie; January 1, 1905 – July 3, 1985) was an American motion picture actor of the 1940s and 1950s. Early years Born in Mississippi, Leigh was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Christie. He was a graduate ...

as Galbraithe * Rod Taylor as Ellis *

Lisa Montell Lisa Janti (born July 5, 1933), known as Lisa Montell when performing as a Hollywood actress of the 1950–60s, later shifted her career to one of advocacy and service to various disadvantaged groups and to her adopted religion, the Baháʼí Fa ...

as Deena *

Christopher Dark Christopher Dark (born Alfred Francis DeLeo, April 21, 1920 – October 10, 1971) was an American actor. He graduated from Cornell University and did post graduate work at Columbia University. He served as an army medic in the Philippine ...

as Jaffe *

Booth Colman Booth Colman (March 8, 1923 – December 15, 2014) was an American film, television and stage actor. In his later years he played older authority figures, such as doctors and lawyers. Colman appeared in films since 1952, when he debuted (uncredi ...

as Mories *

Everett Glass Everett Glass (July 23, 1891 – March 22, 1966) was an American character actor who appeared in more than eighty films and television shows from the 1940s through the 1960s, including ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' (1956) and episodes of '' ...

as Timmek * Shawn Smith as Elaine * Stanley Fraser as Elda

Production

Under the working title, ''Flight to the Future'', principal photography took place from July 19 to early August 1955. Locations included the

Iverson Movie Ranch Iverson may refer to: Computing * Iverson Award, an ACM honour for APL contributions * Iverson bracket, a mathematical notation * Iverson Notation, the syntactic basis of APL (programming language) Other uses * Iverson Movie Ranch, Chatsworth, Ca ...

Chatsworth, California Chatsworth is a suburban neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. The area was home to Native Americans, some of whom left caves containing rock art. Chatsworth was explored and colonized by the Spanish b ...

.Smith, Richard Harland
"Articles: 'World Without End'."
''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: May 25, 2016. Edward Bernds was a prolific director with experience in both television and cinema, and worked in many different genres. In 1956, he also helmed the comedy '' Navy Wife'' and crime thriller ''Calling Homicide''. In directing ''World Without End'', Bernds "crammed" in order to make a science fiction film. He studied

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

's theory of relativity to give his space and time travellers a plausible way to go into the future. ''World Without End'' was partly made in order to reuse footage and costumes from the earlier Allied Artists science fiction film '' Flight to Mars'' (1951). A number of people who worked on the film went on to have notable film careers, including

Sam Peckinpah David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic '' The Wild Bunch'' received an Academy Award nomination and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Institut ...

(dialogue director) and

Walter Mirisch Walter Mortimer Mirisch (born November 8, 1921) is an American film producer. He is president and executive head of production of The Mirisch Corporation, an independent film production company, which he formed in 1957 with his brother Marvin ...

(an executive at Allied Artists).

Alberto Vargas Joaquin Alberto Vargas y Chávez (9 February 1896 – 30 December 1982) was a Peruvian-American painter of pin-up girls. He is often considered one of the most famous of the pin-up artists. Numerous Vargas paintings have sold and continue to se ...

(set sketches) was a famed artist whose only screen credit was ''World Without End''."Notes: 'World Without End'."
''

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of A ...

''. Retrieved: May 25, 2016.

Reception

''World Without End'' was "sufficiently successful" and drew attention from the estate of H.G. Wells. The similarities to ''

The Time Machine ''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively for ...

'' (1895) led to a threatened lawsuit."Details: 'World Without End'."
''American Film Institute''. Retrieved: May 25, 2016. The plot of ''World Without End'' was later repeated in other films, ''

The Mole People ''The Mole People'' is a 1956 American science fiction adventure film distributed by Universal International, which was produced by William Alland, directed by Virgil W. Vogel, and stars John Agar, Hugh Beaumont, and Cynthia Patrick. The st ...

'' (1956), '' The Time Travelers'' (1964), and ''

Planet of the Apes ''Planet of the Apes'' is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on Frenc ...

'' (1968). Rod Taylor would later star in

George Pal George Pal (born György Pál Marczincsak; ; February 1, 1908 – May 2, 1980) was a Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer, principally associated with the fantasy and science-fiction genres. He became an American citizen after ...

's ''

'' (1960), based on an adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel. As a "B" movie, ''World Without End'' received few critical reviews, although one reviewer commented that the appearance of a shirtless Rod Taylor, contains "... the best bit of beefcake in the entire genre". In a later 1986 interview in ''Starlog'' magazine, Taylor recalled: "I was so thrilled to have a sizable role in an American movie. It gave me the confidence to know that I could work with established Hollywood professionals and come out maybe equally as well". The director was taken with the enthusiasm of his fifth-credited actor, who literally threw himself into the role (struggling with a mutant spider).Tomasik, Dian
"World Without End."
''rodtaylorsite.com''. Retrieved: May 25, 2016.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Vagg, Stephen. ''Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood''. Albany, Georgia: Bear Manor Media, 2010. . * Warren, Bill. ''Keep Watching The Skies Vol I: 1950–1957.'' Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1982. .

External links

* * * * * {{Edward Bernds 1956 films 1950s monster movies 1950s science fiction films American monster movies CinemaScope films American science fiction films Allied Artists films Films about astronauts Films about time travel Films scored by Leith Stevens Films set in 1957 Films set in the 26th century American post-apocalyptic films Films directed by Edward Bernds 1950s English-language films 1950s American films