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found footage

A Comet Smashes into the Earth in 1931

A French flick from 1931 called La Fin du Monde was a special effects blockbuster for its time, featuring a giant comet about to smash into the Earth, and amazing chases up and down the Eiffel Tower. So of course, an American film distributor got hold of it and decided to do the old "Raymond Burr Godzilla" hatchet job on the poor movie, editing out most of the characters and adding in a bunch of random English subtitles to "explain" the action. Plus, the Americans added a long, strange speech at the beginning from a real astronomer explaining that comets could hit the Earth, and in fact many already had. Thus the Americanized, 1934 version of "The End of the World" was born - the one you see here. This is the most action-packed part, and it's amazing how closely it resembles today's "danger from space" action sequences in movies like Deep Impact or Armageddon. More »

12:53 PM on Tue Mar 25 2008
By Annalee Newitz
2,385 views, 11 comments

Latest by Annalee Newitz: @Evil Tortie's Mom: I don't know if it's online. I got a DVD of the American version from Sinister Cinema. [www.sinistercinema.com] more »