It could be my love of vintage SF in general, but still, there's something about these creeky old Italian space movies that keeps me coming back to them. Despite their often formulaic natures they somehow end up being oddly memorable, even if perhaps for the wrong reasons.The movie here is notable because it's Antonio Margheredi's first feature. He would go on to do the mostly-charming Gamma 1 movies, along with lots of entertaining gothics, gialli, action and horror films. This is a clunky hard SF picture (or at least, it's trying to be hard SF) without the weirdness of the Gamma cycle and thus ends up being really dry and a bit unexciting.nevertheless, the film prefigures 2001 by showing spaceship crews placed in cryogenic suspension for long space journeys. It's clear that someone involved in writing the script did some background reading and that is pretty cool. Unfortunately they get a lot of things totally wrong. The film shares in common with many others of its type, along with vintage TV shows, some real howler scientific errors. First off, nobody really seems to know what a galaxy actually is. This is just something you have to ignore, and when someone urgently shouts a line like "it's in the next galaxy, Commander!" with a worried look and a frisson of sweat, you just have to pretend they're actually saying something else. The ships all have annoying and totally unmemorable names like ZX226 and LD410. This is another characteristic of the Italian space opera. Why can't they call 'em Gladio, Roma or something? Italians surely would give colourful names to their spacefleet. But wait, I forgot, this is dubbed in English of course with pompous American voice actors shouting the dialogue at one another! Actually I believe there are some real-life Americans in the cast, too, this time.It's cool that a black guy has a position of respect on board ship and nobody even mentions it, but that's slightly undercut by the reporter's utterly flummoxed reaction to there being a woman in the crew. This leads to a totally bad non-sequitur romance, of course. In the end the black fellow, a friendly guy named Al, who is a really fun character, has to sacrifice himself. He was the best character in the movie.There's some really poor model-work and an infamous explosion shot that is supposed to be in space but is actually clipped straight out of a movie about cars. Probably looked ok on the tiny low-resolution screens of the day. But what's really hilarious about this movie to me is the absolute gravity and seriousness with which everything is done. You just don't see this anymore. Normally, I actually appreciate this quality of old SF films, but this one's attempt to be hard science fiction and its simultaneous utter failure in that department renders the stiff acting and dialogue a real scream. nevertheless, I appreciate how hard they were trying with this -- I really do.

I only read the first line of the summary and it's completely false but what do you expect from IMDb?At one point a guy says "Do you think you're back in the 21st century?"That means this didn't take place in that century. Anyway, a reporter is sent into space for reasons that are never explained.He fears he won't be accepted by the astronauts and of course he's not and that's 50% of the story. After talking to the only female in space for 1 minute,they fall in love because that's realistic. At only 70 minutes there's not much time to fill yet the whole movie is filler.At least 1/3 of the movie is spent watching people move in slow motion because they are in space.Apparently low gravity makes you stay on the floor but you have to bend over to walk painfully slow.They even turn their heads in slow motion yet the low gravity doesn't affect their mouths,they have no problem talking at regular speed.All the inside scenes are tight shots of way too many people and all the outside shots are the same toy rocket moving very unnaturally. I could explain how stupid this movie is all day but I won't. If you can find a plot or anything that makes sense in this movie, I'll eat my hat.

This is possibly Antonio Margheriti's first film, as I've read somewhere, or perhaps his second feature, as I've read somewhere else. It may also be the first Italian sci-fi film ever made, but then in the crazy world of cinema from a foreign country from almost 60 years ago, who knows what is true and what isn't? This one stars Rick Von Nutter (great name) as a roving reporter sent into outer space to a space station to report on something or other. Once awoken from hypersleep (just like Alien!) he's told that basically he's a pain in the arse and no one likes him. He space walks from the shuttle to the space station and it's round about this time where you can guess that the special effects budget perhaps wasn't that large. Also, when Rick tires some fancy moves out in space and almost gets himself killed, you get the feeling  that Rick's brain isn't that large either.Once he eventually gets to the space station he's basically told he's a pain in the arse again! Rick sort of proves them right when he ventures back into space, saves someone from a meteorite, but destroys gallons of space fuel in the process! Turns out the Cosmonaut he saved is a girl, which seems to confuse him for a moment, until the film then becomes Assignment: Under Garments.Rick's got to get into this lady's pants and also get involved in stopping a runaway space station that's heading for Earth! We also get a sequence here involving another space ship which crashes on Venus, and we're given a split second shot of an explosion taking place in a car park, complete with cars? I'm not making this up. I guess you couldn't really ask the projectionist to pause and rewind the film to the head scratching thing you've just witnessed while watching the film in the cinema.First time I tried to watch this film I was in a coma almost straight away, but second time round it's not so bad. It's the weakest Margheriti film I've watched so far but is still full of his trademarks: namely loads and loads of miniature sets! Tiny models of astronauts floating about in space certainly help the film along, as do all the crappy shots of people floating through space, simulated anti-gravity acting from the cast, and the idea that it's impossible to conceive that women might work in scientific fields in the 22nd Century.

I was quite impressed when this movie opened with the character of a black astronaut engineer named Al and played by Archie Savage. Where this movie "Assignment: Outer space" (also known as "Space Men")had serious crazy plot issues, Savage's portrayal of a White haired black astronaut engineer really stole the show. I was astounded considering this was a 1960 movie. His was the only performance which wasn't wooden and was really the central character we noticed the most from the very first scene even though they gave higher billing to Nutter & the commander.Savage gave credence, character & realistic believability to the movie. When Savage was not in the scenes, the movie trailed into the doldrums and only held our interest when Savage reappeared. The plot, however, was downright crazy going from one ridiculous inane event to another. But the technical scenes & Archie Savage's character were the key features worth watching. The quality of this movie was quite impressive for a 60's space flick as was the film quality & sound considering this was an Italian film which are usually quite poor. The color has definitely faded. If they could fix the plot problems, it might be worth restoring the color. The Audio track was excellent. Crystal clear & exceptional enunciation. Better than most recent new movies.This movie is actually better produced than some in the past 15 years.There is no doubt the movie drags on slowly but nothing could be slower & more painful than the movie 2001. Thank goodness for fast forwarding. Sometimes reality of slowness of space in movies like 2001, Marooned, stranded & Gravity go too far for patience sake. Same with those long laser sword battles of Star Wars not to mention gruesome amputations. I have no patience for slow dragging scenes, extended battles, fistfight scenes or drawn out rescue scenes where they spend half the movie trudging from point A to B... such as Armageddon, Voyage to the prehistoric planet (planet of prehistoric Women), Red Planet and a dozen others which have the actors trudging over miles of tedious wasteland for rescues or wasting endless time on boring battles.What made Star Trek unique was the interpersonal relationships between the characters & their experiences & new civilization encounters, technologies & differences. Not battles, fistfights or drawn out ordeals & endangerment. Oblivion was a breath of fresh air as was Moon, Robinson Crusoe on Mars & Capricorn One. Enemy Mine was also excellent due to the interpersonal interactions between the characters.Hollywood still does not understand what makes sci-fi work. It is character relationships where the audience invests their emotions, new technology, adventure to see new alien societies & civilizations & building on those interactions. We rarely get to see alien planets & civilizations or successful, thriving human colonies. How many were PO'ed about not seeing the alien planet & civilization on Prometheus? Or how "one note" Ridley Scott used the same formula in every Alien & Prometheus film. Always a loudmouth, cigar smoking bully black man in charge (who the heck would smoke on a spacecraft?), an android, 2 greedy scum prospectors, a male & female throw away victims, a lone surviving female heroine, the alien which never dies and the corrupt Company employer. The exact same format in every film Ridley made. Yet people rave about his films. Clearly they failed to compare them.But don't take advice from these post Xgen kids Commentaries. Ignore the plot issues & screwups of this film and take notice of the character Al, played by Archie Savage & it makes this movie worth watching. His performance will surprise you. He never would have had such a prominent role in a US produced 60's film. Thank the director for his foresight. And the producer for the film & audio quality. However, the scriptwriter should have been drawn & quartered. Everything else in this movie pales by comparison to Savage's role.Surprisingly refreshing & quality condition for a 60's sci-fi. You can find it on those 100 pack Sci-fi film sets.