Hier das Kapitel über "Der Herr der Welt" in Richard Matheson on Screen.
Matheson, der Autor von Science Fiction-Romanen wie Ich bin Legende, unter anderem verfilmt als Der Omega-Mann, hat auch das Drehbuch zu der Jules Verne-Verfilmung verfasst.
Master of the World
(AIP, released May 31,1961) DIRECTOR: William Witney; PRODUCER: James H. Nicholson;
SCREENPLAY: Matheson, based on Jules Verne's Robur le Conquerant (Robur, the
Conqueror, aka The Clipper of the Clouds) and Maitre du Mond (Master of the
World); MUSIC: Les Baxter; TITLE SONG LYRICS: Lenny Addelson; SUNG BY Darryl
Stevens; MAKEUP: Fred B. Phillips; SPECIAL EFFECTS: Tim Baar, Wah Chang, Gene
Warren; PHOTOGRAPHIC EFFECTS: Butler-Glouner, Inc., Ray Mercer; SPECIAL PROPS
AND EFFECTS: Pat Dinga. Color, 104 minutes. CAST- Robur: Vincent Price. John
Strock: Charles Bronson. Prudent: Henry Hull. Dorothy Prudent: Mary Webster.
Phillip Evans: David Frankham. Alistair: Richard Harrison. Topage: Vito Scotti.
First Mate Turner: Wally Campo. Crewman Weaver: Steve Masino. Crewman Shanks:
Ken Terrell. Crewman Wilson: Peter Besbas. Talkative Townsman: Gordon Jones.
In writing Master of the World, Matheson was faced with the task of
combining Jules Verne's novel Maitre du Mond with his earlier Robur le
Conquerant (Robur, the Conqueror), in which Verne created an airborne variation
on his own Captain Nemo. Like Nemo, the charismatic character introduced with
his submarine, the Nautilus, in Verne's 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea, the
film's Robur uses his revolutionary airship, the Albatross, to make war on war
itself. According to Phil Hardy's Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction,
"Script and direction are both surprisingly lightweight, perhaps because
the problem of unifying the mood of the two novels was so great. The first
(published in 1886) sees Robur as a visionary and idealist, the second
(published in 1904) marks Verne's growing disenchantment and conceives of its
hero as a clumsy, power-hungry megalomaniac. These tensions are repressed in
the film in favor of an atmosphere in which adventure dominates." AIP
clearly aspired to the success of Disney's 20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
on a much smaller budget (albeit large by AIP standards).
"That was a biggie for American International, all of half a
million dollars!" Matheson told me in a letter. "[Charles] Bronson
was completely out of place. Strange man. The only person I ever knew who was
immune to Vincent Price's charm; Price was undoubtedly the nicest man I ever
met in the business. Actor anyway. Totally charming. Bronson? The first morning
I went in to watch shooting, I walked up to him and introduced myself as the
writer of the film. `Oh, don't talk to me,' he said and walked away. I really
seethed. I guess he must have thought it over because, later, he came over to
me and said, `I hear you're quite a good writer.' `I am,' I said coldly and
walked away from him. Then later, I had second thoughts and, after lunch
(during which Price told me that he had given up trying to get along with
Bronson) I approached Bronson and said, `Why don't we try again?' We got into a
brief conversation at the end of which he said, `I hope you don't mind if I
play [Strock] like a Polish coal miner.' I laughed and thought we had broken
the ice. The next morning, I said good morning to him and he walked past me
without a word. I gave up at that point."
He added in Midnight Graffiti, "I have a very quick temper.... If
someone rubs me the wrong way, and I can tell it immediately, because I have an
antenna, I will respond immediately. I remember [William Witney] ... who was
going to direct Master of the World. Obviously, he didn't understand the
script, had no feeling for it, and was making these comments. And immediately I
was bristling and speaking to him in a very cold, cutting tone of voice. And
Jim Nicholson knew it and tried to calm me down.... Anyway, most of the people
I have worked with may have their faults, but I haven't had any trouble with
them to a large degree.... I'm sure that it is an extrasensory thing. I mean,
some of it is obvious, of course. You can hear the tone of someone's voice, you
can hear the words they speak, but you can also pick up antipathy in other
ways.... The only thing that happens is, after you leave, the committee system
shows up ... and they just do a lousy job. The actual creation of a script, the
actual revision of a script, that's usually pleasant. The unpleasant part comes
when you go to see the screening, and you say, `Oh, Jesus. What have they
done?' That's what happens most often."
Certainly the film would have benefited from a surer directorial touch
than that of Witney, who was a veteran of Republic Westerns - including no
fewer than 27 with Roy Rogers - and serials (many of them co-directed with John
English); he displayed no particular affinity for this genre. Equally damaging
is the obvious use of anachronistic stock footage from Zoltan Korda's Four
Feathers (1939) and Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944), including a shot of
London from the latter with the Globe Theatre clearly in view. Secondbilled
Bronson, who had his first starring role in Corman's Machine-Gun Kelly,
appears acutely uncomfortable as Robur's taciturn antagonist, John Strock. But
AIP mainstay Vincent Price cuts a suitably commanding figure as Robur, and the
special effects by Tim Baar, Wah Chang, and Gene Warren of Project Unlimited
are generally passable, with the Albatross model an admittedly impressive
miniature.