ASSIGNMENT OUTER SPACE (1960)

ASSIGNMENT OUTER SPACE (1960)

Tagline: Fear awaits ...... in the murky mists of outer space!

(Sci-Fi, Drama, The Electronic Brain) [R]

Note: This movie was not given an MPAA rating, but I think it would have landed at a [G]. The original title for this film was SPACE MEN. 

The Electronic Brain, Ray, you must disconnect Electronic Brain!

In this one, we are taken to the future year of 2016. A reporter named Ray Peterson who works for Interplanetary News is sent to a space station to write about it. While on the space station, they end up running into a spaceship called Alpha Two that is just out there floating around. Meanwhile, none of the crew aside from Lucy is nice to Ray and they seem to want to get rid of him as quickly as possible, but ultimately he may be the key to saving the earth from the photon generators on Alpha Two causing enough platonic heat to microwave earth. 

It should be noted that TOHO was involved with this thing and you can tell because TOHO’s models always had a similar back in the day. Apparently one of the hopes of this film was to capitalize on the popularity of sci-fi films at the time which were really gaining steam in Italy. 

What works in this movie are the cool space suits. They look a little more “Michelin Man” than a lot of the space suits in other films which I actually thought was pretty awesome. I also liked that we got another rad-looking rocket in this thing. I think of the 1960’s movies I have seen, the rocket designs are superior to what came out in the 50s. I really liked the landscape on the planets they land on. They are pretty fantastic looking for the era and props to the modeling team.

This thing has a few issues as well though. A few of the rocket landings look very rough. There is one scene where Ray says that Lucy is crying. They show a close-up of her eyes and face and she is clearly, “not crying”. Outside of maybe 3 or 4 of the cast members, the rest of the cast looks like they are purposely trying to read their lines with as little emphasis as possible. Ray is also given one of the most sadistic and selfish lines I have ever heard the “hero” say. It’s so crazy that I am shocked no one just took it out altogether. 

Acting wise I thought a LOT of this was needlessly stiff, but Rik Van Nutter is fine as Ray. They weren’t asking him to use a lot of emotion. Archie Savage is also better than most of the cast as Al-X15. Archie was in several movies but is best known for his contributions to dance. The other stand-out would be  Gabriella Farinon as Lucy Y-13. She isn’t given a lot of lines or screen time, but I like that they at least addressed her love for Ray even if they don’t really show us how their relationship got to that point. 

Pacing wise this thing is okay, the beginning is slightly slow, but nothing worth complaining about. When it comes to spatial awareness this thing is just all over the place. Unless you are doing the math in your head (and even that is probably not well thought out) it is hard to tell where anything is in relation to where anything else is. It’s just super convoluted and the director does nothing to help us out in this department. The score is effective so I don’t have any complaints on that front. 

ASSIGNMENT OUTER SPACE at least manages to stay interesting and the models are pretty great once you get past the first 10 minutes or so. Even with its issues, I can still give this a 4 out of 7. There was enough effort on the visuals, entertainment value, and passable acting to make it worth a watch.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF ULTRA FILMS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.