P.C.
Tom Campbell is attacked by robbers raiding a jewellery store. He
rushes to the nearest police box and discovers that he has fallen into
the Tardis of Doctor Who (Peter Cushing). The Tardis materialises in
London, 2150 and the travellers find the city broken and in ruins, it
soon emerges that the Daleks have invaded the planet. The Doctor's
niece and granddaughter are rescued by Wyler (Andrew Keir), a member of
the human resistant movement, while the Doctor and Tom are captured by
the Daleks and taken to their space-ship. It emerges that the Daleks
have constructed a huge mine near London, but for what purpose, and can
they be stopped?
After the sucess of Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965), Amicus quickly began work on a sequel. David
Whitaker again scripted an adaptation of one of the TV serials and this
time around the film is darker, scarier and generally much better - the general
storyline is much more detailed than before, with a solid and
relatively plausible explanation, while the characterisation is much
stronger. Again, the film is targeted at the younger U-rated market,
and there are several comedy scenes, however for the most part the film
is quite strong with a lot of often quite vivid deaths and
violence. The Daleks are much better rendered here, gone is their banal
dialogue from the first film, instead they are enigmatic, menacing and
actually scary. The story is paced well and builds to a very good
climax with a fitting ending.
The earth bound setting gives this
film a real advantage over the previous alien world entry, and allows
the use of exterior shoots with much grander scale - good use is made
of matte paintings to create a ruined London. The sets are nicely
detailed, with the Dalek base awash with dials, levers and flashing
lights. Director Gordon Flemyng's use of the camera is very nice,
following the Daleks up ramps and around their base with some nice long
takes. Composer Barry Gray, who worked on many of the Gerry Anderson
series, including Stingray (1964) provides the movie's theme tune and it should sound familiar to fans of these series.
Peter
Cushing reprises his role from the first film, and gives a good
performance, toning down the sometimes disliked eccentricity of the
first film. Bernard Cribbins, who starred alongside Cushing in Hammer's
epic She
(1965), gives the film some comic relief, while Andrew Keir gives a
very good performance as the gruff rebel Wyler, who is stuck with the
Doctor's granddaughter - ably played again by Roberta Tovey.
Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.
is all over a better film than Amicus' first Dr. Who entry - it is
better written, much darker and more enjoyable. Fans of the TV serials
should enjoy this, provided they can accept the Who-lore changes made
in the first film and retained here. It comes recommended to
anyone looking for some entertaining cinema.
In brief:
Anyone famous in it?
Peter Cushing - Hammer horror favourite, best known as Van Helsing and Baron Frankenstein. Andrew Keir - A frequent Hammer star best known for the title role in Quatermass and the Pit (1967) Bernard Cribbins - a comedy actor who starred in several of the popular Carry On films.
Directed by anyone interesting?
Gordon Flemyng - a little known British director who also worked on the first film in this series.
Is it scary?
Some scenes might scare.
Any violence?
Some rather violent deaths, although no blood.
Any sex?
None
Who is it for?
Recommended to all.
The DVD
Visuals
Original Aspect Ratio - 2.35:1. Anamorphically Enhanced. Colour The picture quality
is good with strong colours, although some noticable grain throughout. There
is infrequent print damage, a slight orange fringe at the bottom of the
screen in some scenes. Some scenes have a higher contrast with notably
stronger colours.
Note: This print has notably more print information and a clearer image than the previous WB UK release as illustrated below:
Comparison images (lower) courtesy of Warren Andrews and are from the UK R2 WB DVD.
Audio
Original English mono - sounds great, no hiss.
Subtitles
None
Extras
This disc includes the 1995 Dalekmania
documentary about the films and including various interviews.
Interesting although over-long and rather dated, with some rather poor
quality footage in several scenes (57 minutes). More extras in the
boxset.
