World Without End
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{{For|the unrelated novels of the same name|World Without End (Haldeman novel)|World Without End (Follett novel)}}
{{Infobox Film | name = World Without End
| image = worldwithoutend.jpg
| caption = [[film poster]] by [[Reynold Brown]]
| director = [[Edward Bernds]]
| producer = Richard G. Heermance
| writer =[[Edward Bernds]]
| starring =[[Hugh Marlowe]]<br>[[Nancy Gates]]<br>[[Nelson Leigh]]<br>[[Rod Taylor]]
| music = Leith Stevens
| cinematography = Ellsworth Fredericks
| editing = Eda Warren
| distributor = [[Allied Artists Pictures Corporation]]
| released = [[Image:Flag of the United States.svg|22px|North America]] July 30, 1956 <Br>[[Image: Flag of the United Kingdom.svg|22px|Europe]] March 25, 1956
| runtime = 80 min
| language = English
| budget =
| imdb_id = 0049964
}}
'''''World Without End''''' is the title of a [[science fiction]] [[B-movie]], released in [[1956]] by Allied Artists. The first science fiction thriller in [[Cinemascope]], it starred [[Hugh Marlowe]], [[Rod Taylor (actor)|Rod Taylor]], [[Nancy Gates]], [[Christopher Dark]], and [[Nelson Leigh]] and was directed by [[Edward Bernds]].
This film marked an early 'big-screen' performance of [[Rod Taylor (actor)|Rod Taylor]]. The Australian-born actor would soon make his mark in science fiction [[film history]], portraying another [[time traveler]] in the [[George Pal]] production of ''[[The Time Machine (1960 film)|The Time Machine]]''.
==Plot==
This film chronicles the exploits of four [[astronauts]], whose 1957 spaceship accidentally exceeds the [[speed of light]] as they return from a trip circling Mars. They are knocked unconscious, and land in a snow-covered area. They venture out, and discover that they have traveled in time to what they eventually find out is the year [[2508]]. Five hundred and fifty one years have passed. They learn that [[human race|humanity]] has been largely destroyed by a devastating [[atomic war]]. One of the four astronauts, Henry Jaffe, is particularly grief-stricken as he realizes that his wife and children have long since died without his being with them.
After surviving attacks by giant, horrifying mutant spiders, they are later attacked by one of two competing remnants of human society that still exist. There are surface dwellers who live in a primitive [[Hunter gatherer|hunter-gatherer]] system, with a group of one-eyed violent [[mutant]]s, deformed by generations of exposure to residual radioactivity, dominating the majority of 'normal' (non-mutated) human tribesmen. The leader of the mutants is the vicious Naga. It is the one-eyed mutants that assault the astronauts.
Living underground are descendants of those who were lucky enough to relocate permanently beneath the surface when the [[A bomb|A-bombs]] started falling. The latter live in a high-tech, sophisticated living space.
These survivors are a peaceful, reasonable group, led by the elder statesman Timmek ([[Everett Glass]]), president of the council of the underground people. But the men have grown increasingly feeble and nearly sterile from their many generations out of the sun. The women, on the other hand, are vital and ready for romance. The astronauts soon become romantically involved with the women. This puts them direct conflict with Mories, a male member of the underground survivors. He views the four astronauts as being dangerous marauders bent upon conquest-driven behavior.
The astronaut heroes, led by John Borden ([[Hugh Marlowe]]), help to re-introduce sophisticated [[weaponry]] back into the world. Borden's romance with Garnet ([[Nancy Gates]]), daughtter of Timmek, puts him in conflict with Mories ([[Booth Coleman]]) who had thought Garnet was his girlfriend. Mories plants weapons in their quarters to retaliate, and commits murders to further implicate the astronauts, and injures Deena, a non-mutant surface survivor saved by the underground humans. Timmek orders them expelled from the underground civilization, but relents when their innocence is proven. When Mories' treachery is finally unmasked, he escapes to the surface but he is swiftly killed by the violent human mutants.
The differences between the time travellers and the underground humans is emphasized by comments made by Garnet, who admires a shirtless Herbert Ellis ([[Rod Taylor]]) while saying that the astronauts are "more muscular than our men."
After a battle with the mutants above, in which the subterranean dwellers repeatedly fire a recreation of a WW II-era [[bazooka]] at their enemies, and a one-on-one confrontation between Borden and Naga to free the non-mutant humans for the rule of the violent, cyclops-like mutants, the underground civilization regains the surface.
The film ends in a hopeful note, with the now-free, non-mutants surface dwellers and cave dwellers now living in the open and in peace. The tag line reads "The Beginning".
==External links==
*{{imdb title|id=0049964|title=World Without End}}
* [http://www.badmovieplanet.com/unknownmovies/reviews/rev422.html The Unknown Movies: ''World Without End'']
[[Category:1956 films]]
[[Category:Time travel films]]
[[Category:Post-apocalyptic science fiction films]]
[[Category:Science fiction films]]
[[Category:Universal Pictures films]]
[[Category:Monster movies]]
[[it:Mondo senza fine (film)]]