Master of the World (1961 film)

Master of the World
film poster
Directed by	William Witney
Produced by	Samuel Z. Arkoff Anthony Carras James H. Nicholson
Written by	Richard Matheson
Based on	the novels Robur the Conqueror and Master of the World by Jules Verne
Starring	Vincent Price Charles Bronson Henry Hull Mary Webster Richard Harrison
Music by	Les Baxter
Editing by	Anthony Carras
Distributed by	American International
Release date(s)	1961
Running time	102 min / USA:99 min (including prologue)
Country	USA
Language	English

Master of the World is a 1961 science fiction film based upon the Jules Verne novels Robur the Conqueror and Master of the World. The movie stars Vincent Price, Charles Bronson, and Henry Hull, was written by Richard Matheson, and directed by William Witney.

The film was an attempt by American International Pictures to create a prestigious epic adventure along the lines of 1956's Around the World in 80 Days. While it boasted a larger cast and more location work than was then the norm for AIP, it still utilised stock footage, including the opening miniature shot of Elizabethan London from Laurence Olivier's Henry V as a stand-in for Victorian London, with the skyship Albatross superimposed over the top. Additional scenes of the Albatross destroying both sides in a naval engagement are created in the same manner, with stock footage borrowed from model shoots of Napoleonic sea battles. Vincent Price played the dangerously idealistic Captain Robur, who traveled the globe in his Albatross, in order to force peace on the world.

The script combined elements of both Jules Verne's novels, Master of the World, and Robur the Conqueror. Robur, genius, inventor and in this instance, creator of powered heavier than air craft Albatross, with his hand picked crew chooses to use weapons of war to force the governments of the world to lay down their arms and live in peace.

Cast

Vincent Price as Robur
Charles Bronson as John Strock
Henry Hull as Prudent
Mary Webster as Dorothy Prudent
David Frankham as Philip Evans
Richard Harrison as Alistair The Helmsman
Vito Scotti as Topage
Wally Campo as First Mate Turner
Ken Terrell as Crewman Shanks

External links

Master of the World (film) at the Internet Movie Database

Richard Matheson

Novels	I Am Legend (1954) • The Shrinking Man (1956) • A Stir of Echoes (1958) • The Beardless Warriors (1960) • Hell House (1971) • Bid Time Return (1975) • What Dreams May Come (1978)

Short stories	"Born of Man and Woman" (1950) • "Blood Son" (1951) • "Button, Button" (1970)

Screenplays	The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) • House of Usher (1960) • "The Last Flight" (1960) • "Nick of Time" (1960) • "A World of Difference" (1960) • "A World of His Own" (1960) • Master of the World (1961) • The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) • "The Invaders" (1961) • "Once Upon a Time" (1961) • Night of the Eagle (1962) • Tales of Terror (1962) • "Little Girl Lost" (1962) • "Young Man's Fancy" (1962) • The Raven (1963) • "Death Ship" (1963) • "Mute" (1963) • "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (1963) • "Steel" (1963) • The Comedy of Terrors (1964) • The Last Man on Earth (1964) • "Night Call" (1964) • "Spur of the Moment" (1964) • Fanatic (1965) • The Young Warriors (1966) • "The Enemy Within" (1966) • The Devil Rides Out (1968) • De Sade (1969) • Duel (1971) • The Night Stalker (1972) • The Night Strangler (1973) • The Legend of Hell House (1973) • Dracula (1973) • The Morning After (1974) • Trilogy of Terror (1975) • The Martian Chronicles Mini-Series (1980) • Somewhere in Time (1980) • Jaws 3-D (1983) • Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) • "Button, Button" (1986) • Loose Cannons (1990) • The Dreamer of Oz (1990) • Rod Serling's Lost Classics (1994) • Trilogy of Terror II (1996)

Adaptations by others	"And When the Sky Was Opened" (1959) • "Third from the Sun" (1960) • Cold Sweat (1970) • The Omega Man (1971) • The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) • What Dreams May Come (1998) • Stir of Echoes (1999) • "Dance of the Dead" (2005) • "My Ambition" (2006) • I Am Legend (2007) • I Am Omega (2007) • The Box (2009) • "The Splendid Source" (2010) • Real Steel (2011)