I mentioned this film a mere five and half years ago. “Universe” is a black and white documentary produced by the National Film Board of Canada in 1960, and gives a general overview of the universe as revealed by astronomers. Some pretty spiffy visual effects are used; as a result, this film was one of the inspirations for the film “2001.” Additionally it was narrated by Douglas Rain… HAL 9000 himself.
It’s now available to view on and download from YouTube:
I’m generally not a fan of colorized films, but it’d be interesting to see what a skilled colorizer could do with this.
Another film that helped inspire “2001” was “To The Moon and Beyond,” made by Graphic Films for exhibit at the 1964 New York Worlds Fair. That’s one I’ve *never* seen, sadly, but much of the work done by Con Pederson and Douglas Trumbull on “Moon” was of great value for “2001.” “Moon” was projected onto a spherical screen, apparently something like an early Omnimax. The technical requirements for this might explain why the film doesn’t seem to have been shown since the 64 Fair. I don’t know if a copy even exists anymore, though it seems probable.