This Italian production is a largely unknown film with many surprisingly well-known names, if not major stars. The plot bounces frequently between a couple of story lines for the first half of the film, and can be both boring and complicated at times.
To summarize, a rich American, "Professor Handley" (Ray Milland) designs a machine capable of controlling minds. In order to show how this machine can bring about world peace(?), he goes to the US military(!?) and shows how it can keep peace by making men do a demolition derby before soldiers start blowing up their cars (This display of peacekeeping would satisfy the most devoted pacifists). The professor's assistants, Leyton Van Dyk (Stephen Boyd, in the twilight of his career) and Bruno Carstens (Cameron Mitchell, in one of the 20,000 movies he was in during the 1970's) decide to send this machine to Australia via a fishing boat. Before you scoff at that, consider this: would the soviets EVER have imagined this is what they would do with such a machine? Going along on the cruise are two sons of Professor Handley, Jim (Brendan Boone) and Mark (Michael Kirner, who easily gives the best performance in the entire film). Well, brother Jim happens to be a US diplomat that was seduced by "the other sides" sexy female spy Atanga (France Nuyen).
As you can guess, there is a big battle on the fishing boat, and thanks to Mark Handley's tremendous gun play, the world is safe from oppression. Despite some good action in the finale, the best moment in this movie is when Mark Handley receives golfing lessons from Bruno. Actors Michael Kirner and Cameron Mitchell have a great chemistry in this movie, and that alone is enough reason to check it out! My only warning to anyone viewing this is to prepare to suffer through the first 40 minutes, especially the scenes with Brendan Boone and France Nuyen. The payoff in the film's second half, and any Michael Kirner scene, make the hard parts worth enduring.
I guess the machine has been effective at keeping peace, because to my knowledge nobody has successfully invaded Australia since this movie was made.
To summarize, a rich American, "Professor Handley" (Ray Milland) designs a machine capable of controlling minds. In order to show how this machine can bring about world peace(?), he goes to the US military(!?) and shows how it can keep peace by making men do a demolition derby before soldiers start blowing up their cars (This display of peacekeeping would satisfy the most devoted pacifists). The professor's assistants, Leyton Van Dyk (Stephen Boyd, in the twilight of his career) and Bruno Carstens (Cameron Mitchell, in one of the 20,000 movies he was in during the 1970's) decide to send this machine to Australia via a fishing boat. Before you scoff at that, consider this: would the soviets EVER have imagined this is what they would do with such a machine? Going along on the cruise are two sons of Professor Handley, Jim (Brendan Boone) and Mark (Michael Kirner, who easily gives the best performance in the entire film). Well, brother Jim happens to be a US diplomat that was seduced by "the other sides" sexy female spy Atanga (France Nuyen).
As you can guess, there is a big battle on the fishing boat, and thanks to Mark Handley's tremendous gun play, the world is safe from oppression. Despite some good action in the finale, the best moment in this movie is when Mark Handley receives golfing lessons from Bruno. Actors Michael Kirner and Cameron Mitchell have a great chemistry in this movie, and that alone is enough reason to check it out! My only warning to anyone viewing this is to prepare to suffer through the first 40 minutes, especially the scenes with Brendan Boone and France Nuyen. The payoff in the film's second half, and any Michael Kirner scene, make the hard parts worth enduring.
I guess the machine has been effective at keeping peace, because to my knowledge nobody has successfully invaded Australia since this movie was made.