When I was a kid back in the 70s I remember seeing snatches of the same movie on weekend TV a few different times, and just lately for no reason I have been racking my brains trying to figure out what it is. Keyword searches on IMDB aren’t bearing any fruit either.
Disclaimer: The way I remember it is pretty disjointed and I may be remembering stuff in the wrong order, or stuff from a couple of different movies, but here are a handful of key points that I have scraped from the deep well of my memory:
a spy guy getting carded into a secret room where he takes his eyeball out and they mount it in some sort of widget where the eyeball projects pictures on the wall…like he had been using it to take pictures of blueprints or something
space explorer / pilot of some kind flies off planet and comes back, but everything seems backward. There’s a bunch of subtext about mirrors and reflections, like he has somehow come back down on an alternate earth?
for some reason this explorer is accused of doing something wrong during his mission (like coming back too soon or bailing or something) which has something to do with the reverse nature of where he has landed but he does not realize it yet. At this point he is being interrogated by supposed superiors while he sits in a rotating chair and they all sit above him and around him, and as different ones question him they remotely spin the chair to face the speaker
now it gets a little weird: I remember something about this pilot encountering an unknown spacesuited figure on his mission, and when this character raises his visor, he is an oriental? blueish skinned? guy speaking an odd language
at the end of the film one of the chars is an old man in a wheelchair who runs his chair full speed into a big mrror to “get to the other side”
sheesh, seems unlikely looking at this that we are talking about one film here. Any bites on any of this?
The only part of this that rings any bell for me is the idea of an astronaut discovering an alternate earth. Two films that spring to mind are “Journey To The Far Side of The Sun,” starrng Roy Thinnes and Ian Hendry and the TV flick, “The Stranger,” starring Glenn Corbett.
The other details sound intriguing, though. Sounds sort of like a twisted Prisoner-esque thing.
Most of what you said is definitely “Journey to the Far Side of the Sun”. It’s a Gerry Anderson production; he did “UFO” and “Space:1999” too. The blue-skinned alien may be a mis-remembering of “UFO”; the aliens were somewhat Asian looking and breathed a dark-green fluid. The styles of the movie and the show were similar, which may be why you thought that. I don’t remember aliens in the movie.
The movie “Journey” was odd; there is an alternate Earth on the other side of the Sun where everything is exactly the same as here except left and right are switched. A guy is sent there in a rocket, and accused of coming back early, but in reality came from the other Earth. So they thought he had traveled all the way to the other planet and back, but in reality had only traveled one way, so appeared to have arrived in half the time.
… or if Cal is away, the erudite Bad Astronomer will save the day.
Still, the most intriguing part is where did the spy with the info-packed eyeball come from. Now that sounds “way cool.”
It sort of reminds me of a 1968 flick called “Project X,” wherein Christopher George, an American agent in the 22nd century, who infiltrated the Sino-Asian Empire, but returned with amnesia, is made, through some leap of bizarre logic, to believe he is a bank robber hiding out on a farm in 1968. The scientists in chrage then tap his brain each night to find out his secrets, to attempt to get through his amnesia, and his buried memories are projected on a screen. Later, the bad guy is killed trying to off George, and hisbrain is put into a vat and his memories are flshed on a screen. It’s actually a little better than it sounds.
But I doubt you mistook a brain for an eyeball, though.
I distinctly remember the scene with the eye but maybe it was from a different film … cos this bit with the other planet directly opposite earth “across” the sun sounds awfully familiar…
I am reasonably sure that the opening few minutes of “Journey” is where we see the spy with the removable eye. I believe it had a camera or some such in it. However, I have not seen the movie in a long time, so I may be wrong.
Also, I will note that in the opening credits of “UFO”, a quick montage of scenes making up the credits (and a signature of Anderson’s stuff) starts with the removal of a protective plastic eye coating, possibly of an alien. I cannot remember, and of course this casts doubt on my first paragraph in this post.
I vaguely remember a TV series pilot or made-for-TV movie that follows the plot. There is another Earth, called Terra, in an orbit that exactly opposes ours, so that it’s always hidden by the sun… and it’s discovered by a secret government satellite sent to monitor the sun.
I don’t remember the characters, or much of the plot- just that the secret of the existence of either Earth was being guarded by shadowy figures for unknown purposes.
Now you’ve got me started- was the series called Terra, or something like that?
When the hero’s landing shuttle crashes on counter-Earth, a mysterious craft drops a figure in helmet and suit on a cable to the crash site. When the hero is brought aboard the craft, the rescuer takes off his helmet and introduces himself as “Sarent Ming of the Mongolian Rescue Service” or something similar.
well, I just buzzed over to IMDB and read the summary blurb for “Journey…” a.k.a. Doppelganger (hmmm…) and it’s definitely the one. (even mentions an opening scene with an interesting eyepiece!)
Now I just have to find a place that will rent me the silly thing because of couse now if I CAN’T see it I’ll go off my rocker altogether…
Many thanks to one and all! If I can find it I will let you know how re-viewing it stood up after 20-odd years since seeing it last.
I too immediately thought of JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN, even thought I haven’t seen the film since the early '70s. I definitely remember the removable eyeball gadget. Wasn’t the actor Herbert Lom?
sheesh, seems unlikely looking at this that we are talking about one film here. Any bites on any of this?
