2+5: Missione Hydra (1966)

Continuing our theme of to what extent we can truly judge movies when the only version available has been dubbed, cut and extensively re-edited, a while ago I sat down to watch what I thought was 2+5: Missione Hydra (1966), an Italian space movie, but what I actually found myself watching was the re-edited English language re-release: Star Pilot.  In this version, while the film starts interestingly enough, in its second half it descends into a fairly aimless, meandering and episodic narrative that loses all impetus, not to mention focus, before finally juddering to a halt.  It is all too clear that there have been extensive cuts made in this section of the film, with various bits of footage from other, unrelated films, (some Japanese, some American), inserted.  The dubbing of this footage reflects this version of the film's release date - it was put out in the late seventies to try and cash in on the science fiction boom kicked off by Star Wars (1977) - as it is full of terminology and jargon designed to put audiences in mind of Star Wars and Star Trek.  Not only does this inserted footage derail the film's narrative flow, but it also contradicts the film's initial premise - when it opens, we are clearly in 1966, but the new scenes of spaceships and space stations depict an earth in possession of advanced space technology (even a 'Star Fleet' according to the dialogue) on a par with the aliens the heroes encounter earlier, whose technology is supposed to be far in advance of earth's.

But is it fair to judge the film on the basis of this version?  Would the film be any better in its original form?  Well, it would certainly be longer: Italian language versions run just over ninety minutes, compared to Star Pilot's eighty minute running time, giving some indication of the amount of material cut for the English language version.  Now, I probably should watch the Italian language version to get a better idea of its quality.  But, to be frank, I just don't have the stamina.  Viewing the first half of Star Pilot, however, which is retained pretty much intact from the original, can give a good indication of its quality.  It seems to start out as a serious science fiction film, in the vein of the Hammer Quatermass adaptations, or X-The Unknown (1956), with an Italian professor and his assistants (which include his attractive daughter) investigating a mysterious fungus that has started appearing at a particular site in Sardinia.  Their investigations take them underground, where they discover an apparently abandoned alien spaceship.  The occupants of the ship, as it turns out, had been n suspended animation and now awaken.  Led by their female leader, they realise that, in order to get back to their home planet of Hydra, they will need help to repair and fly the ship.  So, of course, they co-opt the scientist and his assistants, along with a couple of foreign agents also interested in the secrets of the space ship, (but they aren't Chinese, they insist - they are Oriental).

Once the spaceship takes off with its unwilling crew, the film, even in the original footage from the second half, the film shifts into a different gear, with serious tone of the first half abandoned in favour of a more movie-serial like action as the two agents plot to rebel and hijack the ship, while the scientists embark on a series of attempts to put the aliens in touch with their human feelings in order to win them round.  It is tempting to think that much of the latter action is intended to be humourous, but the cast play it all straight-faced.  What clearly is meant to be humourous is the scientist's daughter's continued change of costumes, which become increasingly scanty - she exchanges clothes with the female space commander at one point in an attempt to 'humanise' her.  By the end of the film both women are wearing ridiculously revealing 'space' attire, which also includes various frills and feathers.  The rest of the original footage in this section involves the usual cliches such as encounters with ape men and abandoned drifting spaceships.  None are done with any particular flair or originality.  While the film does end on an unexpected twist, there's nothing in the original footage on view to indicate that the full length film in its original form would necessarily be any better.  Like most Italian science fiction and fantasy films from this era, 2+5: Missione Hydra features some distinctive production design but there is little in the way of the visual flair often seen in such films in the direction.  Indeed, the cinematography is distinctly mediocre.  In truth, director Pietro Fransisci was more at home directing peplum movies and seems ill at ease in the science fiction genre.  Ultimately, the film is scuppered by a script that, after a good start, seems to have no real idea of where it is going.  It's not unenjoyable, but even in the shortened Star Pilot version it oustays its welcome some time before the end.