Right, so curiosity got the best of me. Childhood memories aren't easy to erase, and I remember a few things about this Disney film freaking me out when I was a kid so when TCM aired it last week I had to check it out.I guess the Black Hole could be summed up in two words: "Camp" and "Plagiarism." (Philip K. Dick called it "Crap")
Camp: If there is a shot in this film that isn't unintentionally funny, I'd be surprised.
- This film has an overture. No kidding.
- Anthony Perkins, never good at acting anything but squirrelly and effete, simply acts squirrelly and effete, adding strong homosexual overtones to his worship of Dr. Reinhart. They renamed this film in Russia since "Black Hole" is something of an obscenity there. Perkins' performance may have informed that decision.
- Yvette Mimieux, dressed as someone's 67 yr. old aerobics instructor, communicates telepathically with Vincent, a robotic precursor to Bob the Tomato.
- Ernest Borgnine, who I can't believe is still alive and working in 2007, waddles around sweating and wearing a skin-tight sweater.
- Reinhart is crushed to death by a Sony Bravia widescreen plasma television. He is then eaten and taken to hell by his robot pal, Max.
- The film's dark overtones are subverted by the dopey camaraderie of robot Vincent and robot Bob (voiced by Slim Pickens???).
- Vincent and Bob are lame comic relief, as in R2D2 and C3PO lame comic relief.
- Maximillian Schell as Dr. Reinhart is no more than a direct rip of James Mason as Capt. Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
- There are about 20 minutes of scenes involving robots and people shooting red lasers at each other. If there is anything more lame than George Lucas, it is someone imitating George Lucas.
- The film concludes with a mind-bending 3-D ride into unknown territory, our characters ending up in some ambiguous otherworld. I fully expected to see them end up looking at themselves as old men in an empty room, a la Dr. Dave Bowman and his mysterious obelisk. Kubrick indeed.
The moral of the story has something to do with Star Wars holding hostage the collective imagination of sci-fi and action filmmakers everywhere for the last 30 years, sullying the legitimacy of both genres and even marring the final years of Anthony Perkins' distinguished filmography.
