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| The Late Great Planet Earth | 
 enlarge | Directors: Robert Amram, Rolf Forsberg
Actors: Orson Welles, Norman Borlaug, Eric Forsberg (ii), George Kistiakowski, Desmond Morris
Studio: Vci Video
Category: DVD
Buy New: $39.99
New (2) Used (5) from $18.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 125210
Format: Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 87
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Academy Ratio
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
UPC: 089859821226
EAN: 0089859821226
ASIN: B00000IO3V
Theatrical Release Date: January 1979
Release Date: January 25, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Items are guaranteed to play perfectly - US orders will arrive within 14 business days. International Orders & Military APO/FPO orders may take longer. US releases unless stated otherwise.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
An Inconvenient Prophecy August 16, 2008
THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH (1979)
directed by Robert Amram & Rolf Forsberg
approx. 1 hour 26 minutes
"The earth is defiled under the inhabitants
thereof; because they have transgressed
the laws, changed the ordinances, broken
the everlasting covenant. Therefor hath
the curse devoured the earth and they that
dwell therein are desolate."
~Isaiah 24:5,6
This is the video adaptation of Hal Lindsey's hugely successful book of the same name. The Late Great Planet Earth book popularized the dispensationalist interpretation of prophecy. This movie version is features narration by the great Orson Welles, and the production value is surprisingly high.
The first twenty minutes is made up of a reenactment of John the Apostle's visions on the Isle of Patmos as recorded in the Book of Revelation. After this reenactment we see the first onscreen appearance of Mr. Lindsey. He explains how two of three major events that were predicted in scripture have occurred during the twentieth century. These are the forming of the nation of Israel in 1948 (Ezekiel 38) and the Six Day War of 1967 (Luke 21)*. The effect of the latter was the capture of Jerusalem. Lindsey says that the next event to occur will be the the rebuilding of Solomon's Temple atop Mount Moriah. Today, the Islamic Dome of the Rock occupies this space. How a new temple will be built on this space is not dwelled upon in this video.
Next we move onto an as yet unresolved situation involving power plays for Jerusalem. Lindsey believes that the energy crisis will lead to strong tensions between the oil states and the West and that this will be used as leverage in gaining territory. Welles speaks that Jerusalem will become the "burdensome stone" (mentioned in Zechariah 12), and that many will be united against Israel.
I would say that this is the point that the video takes a less focused turn. However it is also easy to see why the book version of Late Great Planet Earth was popular with hippies. We witness the collapse of the natural world, the injustice of famine, the toxic effects of technology and pollution and the overwhelming brutality of nuclear war. Lindsey reasons that the Biblical prophets were using ancient terminology to describe modern phenomena, so for example when the apostle John writes that a plague of "great hail" will rain from heaven (Rev.16:21) and this is a foretelling of airplanes dropping explosives. The strategy of this video is not to say that the world will end a certain way, only that life as we know it will get progressively worse due in part to mankind's actions. There is a sequence regarding poison in the water and our food supply that would fit perfectly into something from the Sierra Club. The scene on the killer bees sounds paranoid due to the chosen example, is a warning against the practice of genetic engineering. If this video were made today, perhaps they would have substituted the bizarre practice of human-pig "xenotransplantation".
After the segment on catastrophies, Lindsey takes us through the fragmentation of society. In the 1970s many saw the civil unrest and political conflicts as precursors to a period of violence. People wanted answers and solutions. During the same time, many new religions and guru types were popping up, promising to lead people. Lindsey himself muses about what the antichrist might be like. He says that the antichrist is alive at the time of the filming, and that he doesn't know what his destiny is for mankind's future. Footage of several prominent figures is shown, including Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Fidel Castro.
Finally we have an extended sequence on end times political alliances which will mobilize against Israel. The Treaty of Rome, which led to the European Common Market (which ultimately became the E.U.) is suggested to be the ten crowns of Rev. 17:3. There is a very interesting experiment in this segment where footage is edited together so as to demonstrate what the opening stages of the battle of Armageddon will look like. There is no dialogue for almost five minutes! This is followed by a montage of the beauty of the natural world, presumably a sign of eternal paradise.
This is a good video, although obviously it is very dated. I will say that I do not agree with some of the interpretations in this tape, but it is less spotty than the eponymous book. This is definitely a "cliff notes" take on theology and certainly should NOT be your only source on these subjects. Thankfully the central focus of the video isn't the "pre-trib rapture" found in so many dispensationalist products. Nevertheless I would recommend the tape, even to non-Christians, as it demonstrates a set of concerns not normally attributed to fundamentalists.
Here are some of the people that appear in this video:
Dr. Aurelio Peccei, Club of Rome
Dr. George Wald, Nobel Prize
Dr. Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize
Dr. Emile Benoit, Columbia University
Desmond Morris, author of 'the Naked Ape'
Dr. John Gribbin, author of 'the Jupiter Effect'
Dr. Paul Ehrlich, author of 'the Population Bomb'
Dr. William Paddock, author of 'Famine'
Rep. Joe Waggoner, Jr. (D-LA)
Dr. George Kistiakowsky, Harvard scientist
Dr. George Rathgens, M.I.T. professor
Maj. Gen. Chaim Herzog, UN ambassador
Dr. Jacques Piccard, Swiss engineer
Albert Rosenfeld, author of 'the Second Genesis'
"Babetta", witch, Penthouse magazine model
Tal Brooke, author of 'Lord of the Air'
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, trancendental meditation guru
Robert Nisbet, Columbia University sociologist
*- please note that these verses aren't explicitly mentioned in the movie,
but they are probably those which Lindsay is referring to.
 Great, for what it is... September 18, 2002
14 out of 22 found this review helpful
Post-Vietnam and post-Watergate, Americans back in the mid-1970's were, frankly, afraid. The world had turned upside down, and people were looking for something, anything, to say that we would be alright, or taken care of, or most especially, that we were not alone. Could we rely on a benign force of Nature, or God, or aliens, or other mysterious forces to save us? This fear and wonderment took the form of a blossoming interest in ESP, witchcraft, UFOs, Ghosts, Bigfoot, the Burmuda Triangle, and the mysterious magic of pyramids, King Tut, Stonehenge, and Easter Island. To fuel this public interest and acceptance of the Unknown, a new genre sprang up in film and television; the pseudo-science documentary. "The Late Great Planet Earth" is one of the earliest of these anecdotal, half-baked suppositions based on misread documents, bad science, and wishful thinking to justify its bizzare claims.Toward the end of his life, Orson Welles hosted a number of pseudo-science documentaries, and even had his own TV show about the mysteries that surround us (think, a low rent version of "In Search Of"). "The Late Great Planet Earth" is one of these projects, and one of the better ones. In fact, it is actually one of the better examples of the genre. The production values are surprisingly good. The re-enactments are, for the most part, well handled. And of course, we have Welles, intimidating in his silvered beard and black suit, posing the questions of bible prophecy in that powerful voice. Certainly worth a viewing, even if you don't buy into bible prophecy. Of course the "science" here is worthless, and has been debunked a million times over. However, that isn't the reason people read Lindsey's book or watched this movie. The film is actually quite well made, so I encourage you to check it out. The opening sweep alone of Earth in space is a better-looking planet effects shot than any I can recall. And again, we have Welles. Pseudo-science documentaries died out in the early 1980's when the national mindset changed, and are deucedly hard to find today, especially on DVD. Perhaps it is a sort of national embarassment that keeps them from being more readily available, or perhaps the copyright holders of these films feel there is no value or profit in releasing them. This is unfortunate, for they need to be viewed, not only for comedy value, but as a window into the thinking of a past generation. After the events of September 11, the innocence and wonder on display in these projects is all the more poignant.
 great late planet earth February 4, 2002
5 out of 13 found this review helpful
I really like the movie ,but i had seen it on cable a long time ago ,and at the end there are parts cut out , this is very sad to do this to the movie , sense Hal Lindsey lost control of his movie , who has control seems to feel they can cut out some of it ,i was going to buy 6 more copys for my family ,but i won't now ,
I WAS HORRIFIED .... I want to know how to Survive-healthy. September 16, 2001
11 out of 25 found this review helpful
First viewed in 1986! Now purchasing this video to find clues.
HATED the TOPIC .... IN AWE of the VIDEO ... Subsequently I have never forgotten the content. It is ultra - frightening to see the present day being talked about, by Orson Wells, on this video produced in 1976.
I always remembered how the narrator and Nostradamus were not sure of where on the east coast the new city was; nor were or what the fire in the sky was, as well as location of the twin brothers falling. I still do not know where or what the temple or church they spoke of is located - only that when it is destroyed it marks the beginning of the reign of a new [evil] leader ... IT WAS THE BEST VIDEO EVER SEEN on this depressing topic. The topic offers no SOLUTIONS, only mentions there are survivors of the chemical war. Was horrified by the mention of the land producing no growth for more years than you could ever stock pile food or water ... bringing man to eat man, as a result of chemical warfare . LIKED the fact that this IS ALL FOR A GREATER PURPOSE: which brings about 1000 years of World Peace.
Hence the topic, a bit depressing, once you realize you are living in this mess RIGHT NOW, and you may or may not live to experience the beginning of 1000 years of World peace. Suppose we all have to find our own methods for security, food, water, & health. Money in the bank certainly isn't going to be important with all the RAMPENT LOOTING from HOME TO HOME. Security, Food and Health seem to be the biggest issues. NOT TO MENTION ~ avoiding being killed by your fellow man to be a meal!
Anything For Money. August 9, 2001
3 out of 12 found this review helpful
This film attempts, in its own ridiculous way, to show the viewer that we're living in the "last days", before Jesus' Second Coming. (You know, the Rapture, the Antichrist, and other weird stuff that's been written about for the last 35-40 years.) Hal Lindsey tried to do the same thing, in his best-selling, but far-fetched book, upon which this film is based. Supposedly, both ventures make the claim that that it's all based upon the Bible. I guess that statement is supposed to make it all true, and cause us to quake in our boots. Unfortunately, the film doesn't make its case. Not even close. Like the book, it simply piles claim upon amazing claim. In the process, it quotes, what look like, authoritative Bible passages, as "proof". But all of those verses are either ambiguous, taken out of context, or irrelevant to the issue being soken about. To say they pertain to the 20th, or 21st, century, is seriously distorting the plain meaning of the sentences. It's reading too much into those passages, for the sake of getting people to make impulsive faith decisions out of fear. And, quite frankly, to make some big bucks. The bottom line is that the existence of unicorns has more "proof" than any of these supernatural claims. The sad part about it is that otherwise intelligent people have fallen for this claptrap, and invested a good part of their lives in these beliefs. For many believers, as long as an authority figure guides them along, they'll believe anything. When did Orson Welles become a Bible scholar? Mr. Welles might have been one of the greatest film directors and actors of all time -- and I'm a BIG fan of his cinematic efforts -- but he was also a great showman and magician. (He would take on any project for the cash.) The problem is that there are too many gullible people who will fall for these wacko theories. When I say that the book and the film are both absurd examples of hucksterism, it's after I've read the book, and viewed the film. Then I asked myself the question: "Is this REALLY what the Bible is saying?" Do yourself a favor, and think, think, think, before you take that leap of faith. Stop, relax, check it out. Listen to what he's saying. And ask a lot of questions. Are all of these Bible passages describing events before the end of the world? Or are many of these verses describing things that already happened? Orson Welles, or Hal Lindsey, for that matter, won't tell you that these verses have been interpreted in five different ways, throughout the last 2,000 years. Check out a library book about the history of Bible theology. It's all documented. Shame on Orson! This was not one of your brighter moments.
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