Doppelganger (1969)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1969
Running Times: 97 mins
Format: Technicolor     35mm
Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Century 21 Pictures
Copyright: Universal Pictures Limited
Producers: Gerry Anderson, Sylvia Anderson
Associate Producer: Ernest Holding
Production Manager: Brian Burgess

SCRIPT
Script: Gerry Anderson, Sylvia Anderson, Donald James
Story: Gerry Anderson, Sylvia Anderson

DIRECTION
Director: Robert Parrish
Assistant Director: John O'Connor

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: John Read
Camera Operator: Godfrey Godar

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Len Walter
Assistant Editor: Margaret Miller

MUSIC
Music / Conductor: Barry Gray

SOUND
Sound Recordists: Ken Rawkins, Ted Karnon
Sound Editor: John Peverill
Sound System: Westrex Recording System

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Geoffrey Rodway
Hair: Barbara Ritchie
Wardrobe: Elsa Fennell
Wardrobe Mistress: Gloria Barnes

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects Production Manager: Norman Foster

VISUAL EFFECTS
Visual Effects Director: Derek Meddings
Special Photographic Effects: Harry Oakes

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Bob Bell
Assistant Art Directors: Chris Burke, Philip Bawcombe
Additional Designer: Reg Hill
Instrumentation and Special Props: Don Fogan, Century 21 Film Props

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Joan Davis
Production Secretary: Julie Leighton-White

LOCATIONS
Location Manager: Ivo Nightingale

CAST
Ian Hendry (John Kane)
Roy Thinnes (Colonel Glenn Ross)
Lynn Loring (Sharon Ross)
Loni von Friedl (Lisa Hartmann)
Herbert Lom (Doctor Hassler)
George Sewell (Mark Neuman)
Franco DeRosa (Paulo Landi)
Ed Bishop (David Poulson)
Patrick Wymark (Jason Webb)
Peter Van Dissel (Mallory)
Keith Alexander (EuroSEC launch controller - uncredited)
Anthony Chinn (Mongolian rescue crew member - uncredited)
Nicholas Courtney (medical data analyst - uncredited)
Norma Ronald (Pam Kirby, Webb's secretary - uncredited)
Jeremy Wilkin (trajectory analyst - uncredited)

In the 1990s, a tenth planet is discovered on the far side of the sun and two astronauts, Ross and Kane, are sent off to investigate. Kane is killed in the disastrous landing, but Ross lives long enough to discover that the new world is an exact mirror image of Earth. The authorities on the second Earth try to cover this up and get Ross back home as soon as possible, before anyone else can rumble the secret.

Something of a disappointment. With the customary excellent special effects from Meddings, the film clearly had a lot going for it, but was ultimately let down by a dodgy script and lethargic acting. Using sets, snippets of music and actors from the Anderson's subsequent hit TV series UFO (1969), Doppelganger was very much an experimental venture for the Andersons, their first tentative dip in the live-action pond. That it fails is due almost solely to the confused and frankly illogical script which, word has it, was extensively rewritten several times during production. Relationships between leading characters are arbitrary and in need of some clarification, while the whole concept of a twin world where everything is literally the reverse of the Earth is handled so badly that it virtually kills the film stone dead.

USA
Video Distributor: MCA Home Video
Laserdisc Distributor: MCA/Universal Home Video (42400)
DVD Distributor: Image Entertainment (ID4297 USDVD)

USA
Rating: G

1980
June
29: UK - television broadcast

1991
March
30: UK - television broadcast (on London Weekend Television (ITV))

1992
September
Day Unknown: UK - television broadcast (on London Weekend Television (ITV))

1994
July
10: UK - television broadcast (on Sky Movies)

1995
May
16: USA - laserdisc release (MCA/Universal Home Video (42400))

1998
August
5: USA - DVD release (Image Entertainment (ID4297 USDVD))

Man has conquered the Moon. Now take another momentous journey!

Journey to the Far Side of the Sun - US title

SEE ALSO
The Stranger (1973)
UFO (1969)

MAGAZINES

Daily Cinema no.9543 (3 July 1968) p.6 (UK)
credits

Kine Weekly no.3174 (10 August 1968) p.16 (UK)
review

Variety 13 August 1969 p.18 (USA)
credits, review

BOOKS

Reference Guide to Fantastic Films p.234
credits

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

astronauts, mirror worlds, other planets, space travel, spaceships

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008