This 1961 film did not lack classic grand fantasy predecessors, most relevantly Disney's "20,000 Leagues under the Sea". Not everything that followed reached that standard but nothing prepared me for this cheap* and ineffective effort. The economy nature of the sets - the flying craft itself- resembles the standard of children's television of the era. Even the great Vincent Price appears diminished appearing as he does in the reduced circumstances of this film.This is B feature stuff in comparison with which the original Flash Gordon serials appear mightily impressive and certainly effective. Given the established high standards of Hollywood feature films and the skill at making low budgets for B features go a long way, it is unaccountable that something so comprehensively second rate in all departments could be released. Other reviewers complain about the weakness of the story. I couldn't summon up the interest to watch long enough to judge this.*The budget for "20,000 Leagues" was $5m in 1954, the budget for "Master of the World" was $500,000 in 1961

I see where other reviewers compare this film to "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", but while watching I was reminded of another film based on a Jules Verne novel - "From the Earth to the Moon". Perhaps that was because of the ornate furnishings of Captain Robur's (Vincent Price) sky ship. At least he had a little more room to work with than Joseph Cotten's space ship. Both stories were set in 1868 too.Say, did you notice something when the Prudent party first took off in their balloon to inspect The Great Eyrie? The railing around the basket platform was only knee-high!! It wouldn't have taken much of a bump to send one of the passengers out into the wild blue yonder. For a highly skilled scientist, Prudent (Henry Hull) didn't live up to his name on that one.There's an interesting 'Wizard of Oz' connection going on here I might mention. The Prudent woman's first name was Dorothy (Mary Webster). Dorothy and Toto used a balloon to return home to Kansas at the finale of that picture, so it made me curious as to which story came first. Turns out Jules Verne wrote his serialized novel in 1865 while 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' was published in 1900.So back to Robur and his plan to rid the world of war, I actually thought that was a pretty noble idea. The idea that each man is responsible to every other man only goes so far however. In a simpler time perhaps a dictator powerful enough could exert that kind of threat and fear over other nations but it sure wouldn't work today. What we need is a powerful entity like the one from "The Day the Earth Stood Still" to insure that everyone stays rational in an insane world. Well I can dream too, can't I? Vincent Price was quite the cool evil genius in this one, separate and apart from the kinds of villains he portrayed in his horror flicks. He also looked the part as he towered over his crew as the master of his domain. Charles Bronson did a pretty good job too, but for a minute there when Robur and Strock (Bronson) discussed heading over to Ireland, I thought they might have been stopping by to pick up his wife.

Despite effects that are a bit weak even for it's time period, I find this rendition to be very charming. I must confess that I find Vincent Price's Robair to actually be a sympathetic character and Mr. Price gives the roll a dignity similar to James Mason in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Of course he was billed as a villain at the time, but attitudes have changed quite a bit since this was filmed. This was filmed in a widescreen format, so if you can find it, that is the way it was meant to be viewed. The hacked version shown occasionally on TV should be avoided at all costs! The sound is not outstanding but executed well enough and the score is very good. I've read that Lex Baxter provided the score. Bravo Mr. Baxter your sweeping score provides an exceptional enhancement to the film. There are obligatory comedy elements in some parts that seem pathetic now, but audiences of the period expected some comedy even in serious adventure dramas like this. Im proud to have this in my film library, and you will be too.

This is an OK film. Vincent Price does his usual hammy bit, and if you like Price you will like the film, if you don't, you won't. This however, is far from his best film ("Theatre Of Death", "The Raven" and "The House On Haunted Hill" are a few that come to mind). What is interesting is Charles Bronson's presence in this film, he was badly miscast I can tell you, John Strock is probably one of the lightest roles that Bronson ever played in his career (Although most of his characters had some humor to them (Jack Murphy "Murphy's Law" comes to mind)). Perhaps only Josh Corey in You Can't Win 'Em All (Without question Bronson's WORST film), Graham in "From Noon Til Three" and Jay Killion in "Assassination" were lighter characters. There are other films that were lighter in scope ("Four For Texas" where he played Matson, comes to mind, but his character was nothing to laugh at or about). Basically watch it for Price, not Bronson.