Sci-fi 50's DBFE

Warner Home Video sneaked out this superb DVD as only available exclusively to BestBuy stores in the U.S., who don't ship items outside the U.S. Luckily for myself and many others in the UK, amazon market place sellers in the U.S. know when they're on to a good thing and bought up a lot of copies of this DVD from BestBuy and I was able to obtain mine from a seller in New York.I was aged nine and three quarters when I went to the cinema on Monday, January 7th, 1957, to see WORLD WITHOUT END. It was an "A" certificate film (children not allowed in to see it unless accompanied by an adult), so I asked a man to take me in and I was totally enthalled by it. In fact, nothing at that time captured my boyhood imagination like WORLD WITHOUT END.The premise of the film is excellent (I won't go into the plotline, as Prof D has already done that in his review) and the acting, music and photography are also salutory. Although the special effects seemed marvellous when I first went to see it, they do seem pretty ropey now, but the rest of the film more than makes up for this. If the plot seems a little familiar, it bears more than a passing resemblance to H.G. Wells The Time Machine, which itself was made into a successful film four years later in 1960 and, oddly enough, it also starred Rod Taylor, playing a similar role to that which he played in WORLD WITHOUT END...that of a time traveller.I have had the pan and scan VHS video of the film for many years, but this wonderful DVD release, with it's superb picture and sound quality, has given me the opportunity to see the film in it's original CinemaScope wide screen ratio for the first time in nearly fifty-two years and I am delighted with it. The Technicolor is also very beautiful. If only modern films looked as good as this.As for SATELLITE IN THE SKY, I never went to see that and my viewing of it on this disc marks the first time I've seen it. The transfer is equally as good as WORLD WITHOUT END and the film is more than adequate, but, of course, it doesn't hold the same importance for me as WORLD WITHOUT END, which was so much a part of my childhood of long, long ago.The DVD has only the two films on it. There are no scene selections and no extras of any kind, not even a trailer for either film. Perhaps, with this release selling so well, Warners with give it a proper release with scene selections and extras. Although most of the cast and crew of WORLD WITHOUT END are no longer with us (after all, it was filmed in 1955 and released in 1956), Rod Taylor is, as far as I know, still around. So maybe they could ask him to do a commentary on the film. Anyway, I wholly recommend this DVD and give it five stars!David Rayner in Stoke on Trent, England, UK.

Remember seeing this when I was seven years old on a tiny 9" Back and White tv on on Saturday nite Creature Feature. Been searching for it ever since. That was over 57 years ago. I didn't even know of the name of the film until 15 years ago as they mention Operation Stardust a number of times. I though that was the name until I caught the last 10 minutes of it on TCM. I remember it scaring the hell out this 7 year old. It old and cheesy. Yes they story drags on but the first 10 minutes of the film with that beautiful Avro Vulcan aircraft. Two used in film silver one was XA 890 long ago made into razor blades. The white one was one of the very first Avro Vulcan's to fly. I didn't know the name of these aircraft until I got station in the UK in the 70's. In the Air Force at RAF Upper Heyford in the fire dept. They used to fly by on touch and goes from RAF Scampton. Every time the did there was a huge crowd watching. Just loved the story and the music. So happy to finally have a copy after 57 year

My brothers and I have been "World Without End" fans since it ran continously on the "Million Dollar Movie" on WOR-TV from NYC over the weekends of our youth. As a sci-fi fan, this movie also features Hugh Marlowe, a lead in two other sci-fi classics: Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (with special effects by Ray Harryhausen) and The Day The Earth Stood Still (as the love interest for Patricia Neal).The plot is fairly straightforward and is driven by the same fears in many other movies from the era: space travel and nuclear war. For the former, the crew leaves Earth on a "simple expdeition" and hits an unknown phenomenon that hurls them to the year 2508 (I know this because the lobby card is hanging over my desk.) The crew also include a young and hunky Rod Taylor, who would go on to lead roles in other thrillers like The Time Machine and The Birds. In this future world, they land in an arctic wasteland but quickly hike to a more verdant climate (have to suspend that disbelief) where they are attacked by savages. They take refuge in a cave, where they are jumped by the most tacky giant spider ever seen on film. They eventually make their way into a tunnel that leads to the underground habitat of what seems to be the remainder of the human race. The men are scrawny (we termed them "the pune-asses") and the women vital, buxom, and in short skirts with high heels. These new Earthmen are seen by some as the saviors of the human race. And, after some predictable flack from one of the more threatened men, Rod and the boys save the day, led by Hugh, who takes on Naga, the lead of the "mutants", with only a knife, a hatchet and his superior wits.They all live happily ever after.

Ever since I saw this movie on TV and taped it, I have always enjoyed watching it. In fact, I still have the video-cassette and after all these years, still works great. But I thought getting it on a DVD, the picture would be sharper and last much longer. Well, Amazon did indeed have this movie which I enjoyed watching so much. The picture was indeed great, watching it on my new smart TV was a delight and plus getting another Sci-Fi movie as well was a real treat since I've never seen this one before. Two movies for a very good price was worth it! If you like old Sci-Fi movies, this would be worth looking into and enjoy watching!!

Enjoyed Both Older SiFi Movies

Both World Without End and Satellite in the Sky are great old 1950s movies. The transfers on this DVD are pretty good, though not excellent.By the way, World Without End is available on Blu-ray, and the video and audio quality are excellent. I already have that however, so I just bought this for Satellite in the Sky. Given that I bought it used for $5 with $3.99 shipping, it was a very good deal.

Both films where good and had choice of subtitles but the DVD disc itself was a purple/blue colour and not the usual metalic colour on the facedown/play side. The top did have a film graphic on but my Bluray plater labelled it a DVD+R on the on-screen info, which may mean 'rewrite/recordable' so I'm not sure that it is a genuine DVD. Given the choice I'd rather not have a copy but the genuine article so at the moment of writing I'm not sure of its validity, thats the only reason the score is 2/5.

Satellite in the sky is the better of the two

Very good value.

BRILLIANT FILMS

'World Without End' is an American production and stars Hugh Marlowe as the leader of a group of astronauts who are monitoring conditions on Mars from a safe position outside the planet's atmosphere. Having completed their mission, they blast off but something goes wrong with the spaceship's controls and their velocity increases to such a degree that they are thrown into Earth's future where a nuclear holocaust has taken place. Most of the human race have been destroyed, but a small group of survivors are living underground in fear of mutants who live on the surface ( looking rather like cavemen ).This movie could easily have been an extended episode of the original 'Star Trek' TV series, as the four astronauts try to persuade the survivors to fight the mutants before the human race dies out completely. A young Rod Taylor plays one of the astronauts with a very educated English accent. Although he was Australian by birth, he could do English or American accents as required.'Satellite In The Sky' is a British production starring Kieron Moore as a test pilot who is to take the world's first space satellite outside of Earth's atmosphere. Unfortunately, what is not known by him or the crew is that a new 'Tritonium' bomb is on board which the military want to explode in space as a warning to the world that war is no longer practicable with such weapons in existence. The ending is not entirely unexpected.Leith Stevens provides a nice music score for 'World Without End' and Albert Elms does equally well with his score for 'Satellite In The Sky'.Both films are in widescreen and the quality of sound and picture is excellent. A nice double-bill, but nothing special.