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Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:
- Astronauts
- Science Fiction
- Space Exploration
Review:
Husband-wife team Gerry and Sylvia Anderson — best known for their marionette-based television shows such as Thunderbirds (1965-66) — were the creative forces behind this odd flop of a science fiction film, released just after Stanley Kubrick’s groundbreaking 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). The story’s premise of a mirror-image planet is intriguing but barely explored; the main gist we get is that people-in-charge are hiding things, and we can’t really trust anything we’re seeing.
I’ll quote at length from DVD Savant’s review, given that he effectively nails this film’s many frustrations.
“[The film] has unfortunately [been] designed almost identically to one of [the Andersons’] marionette shows. People stand and talk a lot… The Anderson’s script is at least 60% hardware-talk and exposition, some of it handled well, but little of it advancing the story. The characters are never really established… The film’s ‘character’ dead ends are matched by a tendency to stop dead in its tracks for frequent hardware scenes — the bread and butter of the Anderson TV shows. We see a long sequence of the landing of a jet, and then sit back for the thuddingly generic, drama-challenged main rocket launch. … The designs on view are neither attractive nor convincing… The lighting overall is garish and high key… ”
Etc. Indeed, I was curious enough the Andersons’ work (which I hadn’t heard of) that I checked out The Thunderbirds and noted that this film does indeed seem to be simply a life-action analog to that.
Oh well.
Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:
- Earnest performances by Thille and Wymark
Must See?
No.
Links:
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One thought on “Journey to the Far Side of the Sun / Doppelganger (1969)”
First viewing (1/8/21). Not must-see, though sci-fi fans will definitely want to give it a look.
‘Journey…’ has a lot going for it – until, alas, it has a lot losing for it. For most of its running time, it’s diverting and engaging, it looks good (for its time) and is well-acted and directed. I was even finding myself more involved in it than, say, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’!
But, just as things become deliciously complicated, the story starts to turn on itself, not knowing where else to turn. The script’s most crucial complication just can’t seem to claim coherence, though it tries desperately hard.
I suppose one could make the claim that the viewer is free to bring his or her own interpretation to what is actually unfolding as the story reaches its conclusion. But it seems disappointing ultimately, no matter how you slice it. ~ which is a real shame.
[I realize this overview rather diverts from the assessment given here above. Now – three years later – it seems I remember *absolutely* nothing about the movie at all and I can’t, at the moment, explain why it pulled me in at least to some degree when I saw it. However… I didn’t push it as must-see either. 😉 ]