Who Got The Power?

 

 (imdb)

THE POWER-1968-A space project on human endurance to test how much pain future astronauts can endure is run by Dr. Tanner (George Hamilton). Washington representative Arthur Nordland (Michael Rennie) comes to check things out. He meets the whole team: Prof. Melnicker (Nehemiah Persoff), biologist Prof. Scott (Earl Holliman), genetics Prof. Margery Lansing (Suzanne Pleshette) and eccentric anthropologist Prof. Hallson (Arthur O'Connor), headed by Prof. Van Zandt (Richard Carlson}. Hallson says that based on his findings someone in the committee has an extraordinary power. They really don't believe him but later he's killed by some invisible force. His wife (Yvonne DeCarlo) is pretty upset. Detective Corlane (Gary Merrill) investigates. 

Almost immediately Tanner suspects someone on their committee is responsible. But suddenly Tanner is fired because his background appears to be phony. After having a bad time on a merry go round, he goes to the hometown of Prof. Hallson to discover who the mysterious Adam Hart is. Along the way he meets gas station attendant Bruce (Aldo Ray) and a waitress (Barbara Nichols) and Hallson's parents (Celia Lovsky and Vaughan Taylor). Then Bruce gives him a ride and strands him in the desert. Things get worse when he seeks shelter where the Air Force does target practice. Later he visits Mrs. Hallson, now a drunken floozy who can't remember what Hart looked like. When he goes to visit Margery, he's attacked by Prof. Melnicker, who knows someone is trying to kill them. They are invited to a party by a guy (Ken Murray) and after much useless partying Melnicker dies. They visit Norland who seems to be attacked but lives. Now Tanner suspects Van Zandt. While snooping at Van Zandt's house, a force tries to kill him. After Scott is killed by the police, Tanner has a showdown with the real killer, Nordland, where it's revealed who has the real power. Forrest J. Ackerman has a cameo as a hotel clerk. 

THE POWER is an interesting Sci-Fi movie that keeps you guessing for a while and features a good cast. It was the penultimate film produced by George Pal (WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS) and the last directed by Byron Haskin (WAR OF THE WORLDS, FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON). According to Haskin MGM “sabotaged the film” because they wanted to be done with Pal.

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George Pal and The Moon

DESTINATION MOON-1950-In the near future a rocket is set to the moon but doesn't make it. Dr. Cargraves (Warner Anderson) suspects sab-otage. Two years later he and the designer of the rocket's engine General Thayer (Tom Pow-ers) convince aircraft honcho Jim Barnes (John Archer) to help gather private investors to back their new design (called “Luna”). However, public outcry over radioactivity leakage seems to doom the project. Barnes decides to circum-⁹vent all the red tape and take off in 17 hours! He, Cargraves and Thayer enlisted skeptical Joe Sweeney (Dick Wesson) as the radio operator (“It'll never budge”). After some quick goodbyes and just beating a court order not allowing them to go, they take off and head to the moon. All goes well despite trouble with g-force and weightlessness until it's learned Sweeney put too much grease on an antenna and it has to be fixed. So three of them take a space walk on the side of the ship. Thayer is almost sent adrift in space but Barnes saves him with a pretty clever use of an oxygen tank. The group make a precarious moon landing and two of them go out and do some exploring. After everyone treks around Barnes is informed that they wasted too much fuel on their botched up landing and may not have enough to take off. They have to get rid of all non-essential equipment but it's not enough. One of them must stay behind! While the three scientists argue which one of them should be sacrificed. Joe takes it upon himself to be the one but Barnes' quick thinking saves Joe and they all return to Earth heroes. Woody Woodpecker is seen in a film explaining how going to the moon is possible.

Produced by George Pal, DESTINATION MOON is a serious early look into how space travel would be. Its level headed script doesn't go over the top in speculation and employs more science than fiction. This is probably due to the fact that it's based on a novel by the legendary Robert Heinlein who also co-wrote the screenplay! It should be boring but director (and former actor) Irving Pichel puts a lot of good SFX to use and doesn't let all the scientific talk bog down the story line.  

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