FANTASIA OBSCURA: Move Over, Beatles! ‘Verne-mania’ is Taking Over
There are some fantasy, science fiction, and horror films that not every fan has caught. Not every film ever made has been seen by the audience that lives for such fare. Some of these deserve another look, because sometimes not every film should remain obscure.
Sometimes, it’s a joy to find yourself there, close to the beginning…
Master of the World (1961)
(Dist.: American International Pictures; Dir.: William Witney)
Jules Verne is one of the fathers of science fiction whose work has been an inspiration to both writers and scientists for over a century. His bold visions inspired for decades those who believed that humans were capable of accomplishing miraculous feats as they had amazing adventures off of and beneath the surface of the world.
Verne was also the source for a small boom in films based to varying extents on in his work that all started at about that time. The 1960s proved to be a great time for movies based on his fiction, with audacious film makers possessing the tools to do justice to his works for an audience anxious to experience the telling of these tales. One is almost tempted to suggest that the decade could have been branded with one more obsession as theatergoers exhibited an enthusiastic wave of “Verne-mania.”
Prompted by the success of the three major Verne adaptations in the previous decade, 1954’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 1956’s Around the World in Eighty Days, and 1959’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, the film is a condensation of two of Verne’s lesser known books, Robur the Conqueror and Master of the World. The script from Richard Matheson is remarkably faithful to the novels, including not just the names of characters but many of their actions and passions in the works as well. All of this is quite ironic, considering the liberties that were going to be taken in adapting his own novel I Am Legend soon.
Set in 1868, we find special agent for the Interior John Strock (Charles Bronson) in need of a balloon with which to investigate an unusual phenomenon in an inaccessible part of the middle of Pennsylvania. He enlists aerialists and balloon owners Mr. Prudent (Henry Hull), the munitions manufacturer; his daughter Dorothy (Mary Webster); and her fiance Philip Evans (David Frankham). Their flight is cut short by an attack of rockets, launched by Robur (Vincent Price), a brilliant but driven internationalist who is attempting to bring peace to the world through active disarmament, thanks to his flying machine the Albatross.
If it seems familiar, that’s inevitable. Verne’s return to the idea of a single person with a vision and killer apps that he explored through his character Captain Nemo was probably irresistible, as good themes are hard for writers to ever fully abandon if it works for them. This allowed American-International to have their own version of Nemo seven years after Disney put out its picture and be in a good position to make the most of it.
And make the most of it they did. Price’s turn as Robur gives the film a core and drive that allows you to empathize with the character, and most of the rest of the cast does fairly well filling out and expanding their roles, with one noted exception.
The exception is the approach to Strock by Bronson, who’s doing far more than just taking on a role with gusto. At this point in his career, Bronson may have felt a little self-reflective, as he had just come off of being the star in the series Man with a Camera, which ran for two seasons on ABC before its sudden cancellation. Before taking on the role of Strock, he’d been mostly cast as the good upstanding guy, a little rough maybe considering his humble background but otherwise pretty straight.
For Master of the World, though, we get something of a departure. His Strock can be a bit devious, willing to keep things close to his chest as he takes a good look at all the angles; when he sees the opportunity, he makes a play, and it’s brutal when he goes into action. This describes not just his playing off Robur’s ticks and weaknesses to get back at him, but also how he schemes to get Dorothy to dump Philip and go out with him instead.
This, right here, becomes a new direction for the roles that Bronson would gravitate towards. He shows great comfort with the characteristics he plays up in this film, which find their way into Joseph Wladislaw in The Dirty Dozen, Arthur Bishop in The Mechanic, and Paul Kersey in Death Wish. The “Bronson persona” can be traced back to his work opposite Vincent Price in Master of the World, and we may all be the better for his finding a new direction in taking on a Jules Verne character.
In terms of other characters, one needs to take a close look at the silent supporting player, the Albatross herself. She’s a beautiful centerpiece for the film, realized by Gene Warren (who designed the titular vehicle for George Pal’s film The Time Machine) and Wah Ming Chang (who designed and crafter the tricorders and communicators for Star Trek).
Their approach to the ship and her subsystems were evocative yet felt very realistic considering the demands of the subject being realized with an A-I production budget. The argument could be made that the Albatross we see here deserves note by those looking to trace the origins of the steampunk aesthetic, if not as a direct influence then as an important potential inspiration for generations that caught this film before taking on their first crafting project.
In terms of beginnings, Master of the World did soon help foster a whole new set of Verne films from many sources. Among the explosion were Irwin Allen’s Five Weeks in a Balloon, Cy Endfield’s Mysterious Island, and Filmation’s animated TV series Journey to the Center of the Earth. If you were a Verne fan, and for some reason weren’t all that thrilled with the other ’60s pop culture phenomena, you were set.
NEXT TIME: How come nasty people are so vain? Why doesn’t someone nice ever want to look young forever…?
