BLACK HOLE (1979)

Every year around Thanksgiving I do a series of bad film to avoid, however last year I kind of got bored with that and I did a series of films from the early 80's that were supposed to be huge and  either fizzled or are no longer talked about at all. It was an interesting walk down memory lane.

This year I'm going to do something kind of similar ad look at some of the films that Disney made in the wake of losing their way after Walt's death. By the end of the 70's there was talk of the animated films going away and the studio moving into more adult features. This resulted in some PG rated films and eventually into the creation of Touchstone. It also resulted in some films which aren't on many people's radar. The reason is most didn't do well or Disney didn't know what to do with them. In many cases the desire to do something different or more adult collided with Disney's family friendly reputation either in the studio not being able to go all the way (WATCHER IN THE WOODS for example) or audiences not being sure why they were making a scary movie (SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES despite it being based on a Ray Bradbury classic). 

Between now and next Saturday we will look at 8 Disney produced films that don't quite fit the Disney mold.

 The Black Hole is an interesting miss that you need to see- on a big screen if possible.

The film is the story of a spaceship which makes contact with the lost starship Cygnus. It was lost decades before and now sit on the edge of the safe zone of a Black Hole. In the ship the only one left is Maximillian Schell and a couple of robots. Schell is delighted to have guests. More importantly he needs to use their ship to actually dive into the black hole. A battle of wits ensues.

Grand space opera of the sort they don’t do any more, this was Disney’s attempt at getting into the Star Wars craze. Coming out at the same time as the first Star Trek film, The Black Hole had scifi fans getting into heated arguments as to which is better.

While the film is a clunky old school Hollywood film,  and the film is structured like many of the live action films that Disney had been cranking out for their TV show and theaters since the 50's, the film does entertain. Absolutely not scientifically accurate, (we couldn’t see the black hole, and the things that happen, the meteor down the hallway, are physically impossible) the filmmakers knew that they had to steer that course to make the film exciting and the result is a rip-roaring adventure film.

Yes, some of the film is cringy-tastes change over 35 years, but at the same time your eyes pop with many of the images. This is grand spectacle with no CGI anywhere.

Is it great? Visually it is, you will never unsee what you see in the film. At the same time the story is formulaic. Disney never balanced the desire to make a full on action adventure and keep it family friendly. For the most part we never have to fear that cthe good guys are going to meet a bad end, despite having fantastic villians.

The ending has freaked some people out since there is an implication that the seemingly evil robot Maximillian is the devil with a shot of a hellscape over which he seemingly rules. Religious people screamed, more so once it hit home video and I have heard tales of the final shot being removed for some screenings so as not to offend.

I really like the film. It has problems but there is enough there that not only do I own it, but I will also watch it when it makes a rare TV appearance.

The mixed reaction left Disney not sure of what to do. Yes they drifted towards more mature films (WATCHER IN THE WOODS, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES and some of the other films in the current Disney series,) but they never again tried something this big and out of the box because it was never the super hit they hoped for – Trek and films like ALIEN made the film feel quaint, even if it was entertaining.

Do take a look.