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Battle Beyond the Sun (1962)
Starring Edd Perry, Arla Powell, Andy Stewart, and Gene Tonner. Edited by Andrew Kousin and Mitchel Kellogg. Produced by Tomas Colchart. Written by Nicholas Colbert and Edwin Palmer. Directed by Thomas Colchart.
With the tragedy of “The Great Atomic War” now behind them, the survivors of the nearly apocalyptic conflict have begun to move forward. They have split the world along the equator into two governing bodies referred to as North and South Hemis. Both Hemis’ are currently hard at work developing the technology to send the first man to Mars. On November 7th, 1997 South Hemis’ top secret space project codenamed “Red Planet” launched the first phase of their Mars bound mission.
While preparing for the second phase on a space station orbiting the Earth, a distress call is received from the North Hemis spaceship Typhoon. Despite the new Cold War that has recently developed between the two sides, the Typhoon is allowed to dock for repairs. While aboard the space station, the crew of the Typhoon learns of the South Hemis’ plans. They quickly leave the station in effort to foil South Hemis’ plans. The next day South Hemis launches their own ship, the Mercury, hoping to win the space race to Mars.
In the early sixties independent “Z-movie” producer Roger Corman obtained the rights to a Russian film called Nebo Zowet (with roughly translates into The Heavens Call). The film was about Russian astronauts fighting evil aliens in space and was laced with Cold War propaganda. Corman contacted the film department at UCLA and asked if they had any students talented enough to edit the film into something that he could showcase in America.
After an impressive interview Francis Ford Coppola got the job. Coppola started the “Americanization” process by rewriting the dialog to portray a less political viewpoint and had the voices dubbed by domestic actors. He later shot some new special effects sequences and then edited everything back together.
Nebo Zowet was now an entirely different picture retitled Battle Beyond the Sun. Though the credit goes to a pseudonym of “Thomas Colchart”, Coppola had earned his first directorial and producer credit.
Perhaps the most memorable aspects of Battle Beyond the Sun are the menacing aliens that live on the planet of Angkor, a small Martian satellite. Exaggerating Corman’s request to make the space creatures look more male and female, Coppola literally crafted his two aliens into a giant penis and a giant vagina. This scene has become one of the most memorable in Corman’s entire cinematic library.
Battle Beyond the Sun is exactly what it appears to be; a sci-fi action drama that plays itself so straight that it’s hilarious. And all that with bad dubbing over Russian actors… what more could you ask for?
Budget: $65,000
Total US Gross: $???
Genre: Science Fiction
Runtime: 64 Minutes
US Release Date: 1962
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Awards: none
Tagline: Billions Of Light Years Away… Out In Space Beyond The Sizzling Sun… In Terrifying Unknown Worlds!
Quote: “Just think… a new world is almost within our grasp.”
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