April 29 - Master of the World

Today’s movie is an action/adventure film with a scene happening on April 29. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

MASTER OF THE WORLD      

On April 29, 18__[10:22 to 13:30] US government agent John Strock, along with Professor Prudent, his daughter Dorothy Prudent and her fiancé, Philip Evans fly the professor’s balloon into a mountain crater to investigate a mysterious bible quoting voice emanating from there. Their balloon is shot down and the quartet end up on the Albatross, a fantastic aerial ship whose captain is Robur. The Albatross crosses the Atlantic Ocean, and on the way attacks and sinks an American navy ship.  Robur tells the captives that he has declared war on war and he plans to attack and defeat all the armed forces of the world in turn. After Strock betrays an escape attempt that he feels cannot succeed to Robur, the others wonder where Strock’s loyalties lie until Strock saves Evans’ life. Robur attacks and sinks a large part of the British navy when the British government refuses his demand to disarm. Robur attacks the French and Spanish also. The captives decide to destroy the Albatross, even if it means they must die.  Robur acts to end a war in Arabia, but flies so low he is injured by shrapnel from one of his own bombs. The ship almost crashes in the mountains, as Dorothy and Strock develop an attraction for each other. When the Albatross stops at an island to affect repairs, Strock and Evans rig the armory to explode.   Evans cowardly knocks Strock out and leaves him to die, but Strock revives and escapes in time. The bomb cripples the Albatross  and it crashes, killing Robur and his crew.   

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3809/pg3809.txt gives the date Strock tried to enter the crater.

Producers - Samuel Z. Arkoff, Anthony Carras and James H. Nicholson

Director - William Witney

Screenwriter - Richard Matheson

Runtime – 1 hour 42 minutes

Released – May, 1961

Starring –

Vincent Price as Robur

Charles Bronson as John Strock

Henry Hull as Professor Prudent

Mary Webster as Dorothy Prudent

David Frankham as Philip Evans

Richard Harrison as Alistair The Helmsman

Vito Scotti as Topage (airship chef)

Wally Campo as First Mate Turner

Ken Terrell as Crewman Shanks

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2015