When
Worlds Collide
Paramount, 1951, Technicolor, 83 min.
When
Worlds Collide Paramount, 1951, Technicolor, 83 min. The rocketship
in this George Pal effort is based on a classic Chesley Bonestell
design: sleek, needle-nosed, swept-winged. It is 400 feet long
and 75 feet diameter. Instead of taking off vertically, the Space
Ark is mounted on a rocket-propelled undercarriage that in turn
runs along a twin-railed track. Beginning horizontally, the track
descends at 10 degrees for 3000 feet, gradually turns up the side
of a mountain, for another 2000 feet, like a ski jump in reverse.
The velocity, combined with angle of elevation, enables the ship
to break free the Earth's gravity just before Bellus collides
with our world. The 38-passenger veicle soon lands - horizontally
- on the planet Zyra and a new civilization begins.
Picture from the book "The Dream Machine" by Ron Miller
edited by Krieger Publishing Company
