World Without End (1956) [Blu-ray]

“CinemaScope’s first science-fiction thriller” sees four intrepid astronauts (Hugh Marlowe, Nelson Leigh, Rod Taylor and Christopher Dark) successfully complete mankind’s first Mars mission, only to run afoul of a warp in space. Tossed centuries into the future, they discover an Earth devastated by nuclear war, where mutant beast-men rule the surface. Underground is a society marked by listless males and lustful ladies (future- wear designed by Vargas!). Trapped in a tomorrow they never made, the four astronauts take on the mutant and the malicious while fighting to bring humanity back to the surface.

BOTTOM LINE: Spaceships, cyclopean mutants, hot leggy gals, sweaty he-men and not-so-special effects make this B-grade outing from the Golden Age of 1950's sci-fi a rollicking good time. CGI-weaned kids and those with short attention spans will likely find this flick kinda dull & boring. Outstanding hi-def transfer really makes this Cinemascope Technicolor film pop. 4 STARS

THE STORY (contains spoilers): A rocketship returning from the first manned reconnaissance of Mars accidentally over-accelerates, hurling the quartet of astro-scientists on board some 500 years forward in time. Stranded on a bizarre, post war-to-end-all-wars future Earth, our stunned heroes struggle to survive all manner of threats, including deadly cave spiders & psycho cyclops. They eventually encounter a civilization of "normal" healthy folks, who moved underground eons ago to escape the radiation-soaked world above. Well, they're normal with one small exception: the male population has grown soft over the generations and are now almost entirely sterile, whereas the women (for some unexplained reason) are still plenty fertile. To the gals these headstrong, testosterone-fueled newcomers are all but irresistible. And if that wasn't threatening enough to the sissy-fied subterrestrial menfolk, our hearty back to the future boys then try to convince everyone to move up to the surface and reclaim it. Sure there are tribes of bloodthirsty musclebound mutants to conquer, and of course reestablishing a colony topside will certainly take lots of hard work... but hey! think of the benefits! Right? The all-male council of future wimps naturally balk at this frightening suggestion, especially one hyper-paranoid fellow (played to perfection by a twitchy Booth Coleman), who takes every opportunity to poison the council against our heroes. A grim battle of wills inevitably ensues, and when things turn ugly... what will the outcome be?? Tune in and found out!