Master of the World (1961)

(On Cable TV, August 2022) I won’t insist on Master of the World being a great movie, but it’s often a lot of fun: a good helping of Vincent Price as a megalomaniac goes a long way in making this Jules Verne novel adaptation (taking bits from both Maître du monde and Robur le Conquérant) feel fun and light. Clearly modelling itself on the 1954 Disney version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in a decade that also featured other blockbuster Verne adaptations such as Around the World in 80 Days, this film is an atypical release from low-budget studio American International Pictures: more ambitious than their usual low-budget thrillers and horror, it goes for large-scale themes and spectacle. Here, a valiant crew of heroes finds itself in a submarine airship captained by a noble crackpot, and seeks to both understand what’s going on, and save the world from an overly progressive agenda. None other than Charles Bronson gets an early heroic role, but Price is still the main draw here as an anti-war madman intent on saving the world from itself. The script is noteworthy for being from noted SF writer-screenwriter Richard Matheson. Still, Master of the World doesn’t go for subtlety, and before long Bronson is the only one who can make the world safe from bombs for peace. The film is clearly limited both by technology and its budget—there are good ideas here, but even the most forgiving of twenty-first century viewers will wish it had been able to fulfill its own ambitions. In the meantime, colour cinematography keeps it more accessible than many low-budget black-and-white films of the time, and the grandiloquent nature of Robur’s speeches (as delivered by Price’s mellifluous voice) helps keep the entertainment factor above what we could have expected. I’ll forever cheer a faithful modern adaptation, but until then I have seen far more disappointing Verne adaptations.