Wild, Wild Planet (1965)

- I criminali della galassia
So bad it's not so bad, 10 June 2005

The plot gets a bit muddled, but I'll give it a go. A mad scientist is trying to create a superior race. To do this, he has his henchmen kidnap and shrink his victims to the size of a Barbie doll. The "dolls" are then transported to his research facility for . . . I'm not sure what. Anyway, the scientists picks the wrong woman when he kidnaps the girlfriend of a space commander. He and his buddies go looking for the mad doctor's lair.

Antonio Margheriti made several of films I really enjoy - The Virgin of Nuremberg and Castle of Blood immediately come to mind. I cannot, however, include Wild, Wild Planet on the list of my favorite Margheriti films. If I had any inkling of an idea why the mad doctor was kidnapping and shrinking people then I might have enjoyed it more. I'm not asking for the movie to come out and spoon-feed me all of the plot points, just have a plot that's coherent.

The mad doctor's henchmen are about as un-threatening as a basket of puppies. The henchmen work in pairs - one is a beautiful woman with a beehive hairdo while the other is a bald, black trench coat wearing guy. The henchmen look more like 60s European models than evil kidnappers.

The sets are obviously made of miniatures. A couple of the scenes are unintentionally hilarious. The first involves a small flying craft that maneuvers around the city. Ed Wood's hubcap on a string doesn't look to bad in comparison. The second is a shot of a futuristic land vehicle that runs of the road and catches fire. The tiny fire looks like someone lit a couple of matches. It's really bizarre to see.

4/10