DISNEY - BLACK HOLE, THE(1979)
I watched this for the first time in 2020! Of course
the special effects aren't up to the quality of today,
but for its time it was quite good! Only a few spots
where wires and such are apparent! As for the story,
it's very interesting and keeps your interest throughout!
Star Wars it isn't, but it's still good and worth a
watch or two! B+
A review from Amazon:
Disney's foray into big-budget science fiction, close
on the heels of Star Wars, had some of the most impressive
special effects to grace theater screens in the 1970s. Graced
by handsome production design--most notably a glass and
latticework interstellar craft that looks like a battleship crossed
with a modern skyscraper--The Black Hole is in many ways the
most beautiful science fiction film of its era. Unfortunately,
the graceful and gorgeous picture is jarred by dialogue that
wouldn't pass muster in a comic book and a silly conclusion
that plays like a murky, dime-store knockoff of 2001. Too bad,
because the visual realization of the film is a veritable haunted
house of futuristic phenomena, from the cloaked zombie-like
drones shuffling through corridors to the devilish, crimson robot
Maximillian, the strong arm of the mad scientist played by
Maximilian Schell (a kind of wild man Captain Nemo with an
even more ruthless temperament). Only the way-too-cute robot
V.I.N.CENT (voiced by Roddy McDowall), a merchandising gimmick
that looks like a Fisher-Price toy, mars the technological landscape.
Robert Forster is the quietly authoritative captain of an exploration
ship that stumbles across the seemingly derelict ship, and Anthony
Perkins, Yvette Mimieux, Ernest Borgnine, and Joseph Bottoms fill
out his crew. This is one case of a triumph of art direction and
special effects over story--it's worth sitting through it to see the
magnificent scene of the fireball rolling through the ship's enormous
hull alone. The rest is just atmospheric gravy. --Sean Axmaker