1961's Master of the World is an adaptation of the Jules Verne novel of the same name starring Vincent Price and Charles Bronson. Vincent Price plays Robur, a man without a nation who creates an airship he calls the Albatross which he will use to force the nations of the world to disarm and enforce peace.
To be honest there isn't a lot that's different from Disney's 20,000 Leagues except the differences we see between Price's Robur and James Mason's Nemo. Also, they replaced a submarine with an airship. Mason's Nemo is contemptuous of man and is punishing him where we see Price's Robur conflicted about using force to enforce peace and the cognitive dissonance that arises from that stance. And Price does a fantastic job of showing us that conflict, a performance on par with his 1964 role as Robert Morgan in The Last Man on Earth.
Sadly, the rest of the cast just doesn't measure up and, at least for me, I felt more sympathy for Robur and the crew of the Albatross than for the supposed protagonists. Perhaps that's because I was born after the counter-culture movement of the 60's and 70's, but to me it felt like the good guys lost and the status quo was enforced by a loyal and obedient government man played by Charles Bronson.
Eventually I'm going to have to come up with some sort of rating system, but for now I will just say if you get a chance go ahead and stream it. It's well worth it.
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