IMDb RATING
6.2/10
1.7K
YOUR RATING
Based on Erich Von Daniken's book purporting to prove that throughout history aliens have visited earth.Based on Erich Von Daniken's book purporting to prove that throughout history aliens have visited earth.Based on Erich Von Daniken's book purporting to prove that throughout history aliens have visited earth.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 nomination total
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWas banned in East Germany one day after its release.
- Alternate versionsCut to 54 minutes for its UK theatrical release by EMI in 1971.
- ConnectionsEdited into In Search of Ancient Astronauts (1973)
Featured review
A Lovely Travelogue, but what's with the antiques?
Let me start off by saying that I love movies and documentaries about the paranormal, strange phenomena and unexplained mysteries. I particular enjoyed the old Rod Serling specials produced by Alan and Sally Landsburg, but I always regretted not having seen Chariots of the Gods.
I didn't miss anything.
On the face of it, this film would make a lovely travelogue of Mexico and South America because, despite the premise of exploring and/or revealing ancient mysteries, it actually does very little of either.
True, all the old familiar sites are visited, but the bland narration does little more than tell you that these places are associated with mysterious doings. It would be like a documentary on ghosts and hauntings showing only the exterior of the Amityville house and saying vaguely "...and the Lutz family claimed to have experienced something here, in this house."
The photography is very nice, the camera angles fresh and dramatic, but as I mentioned earlier, the narration (both the text itself and the narrators) is monotonously bland and surprisingly UN-informative; which negates any instructional value the film might have had as a documentary. Again, just change the narration and this could be a fine travelogue.
I suspect that the high ratings people give this title are based merely on that -the title and its association with the excellent and influential book- and less on the film itself. I also suspect that people are remembering the soundtrack LP (and later CDs) of the excellent Peter Thomas score -which ironically is almost unrecognizable in the garbled monaural sound mix of the film itself.
My opinion is that you should ignore this film and look instead at the much more dramatic and informative In Search of Ancient Astronauts (which is itself a far superior re-edit of this film, narrated by Rod Serling), or any of the other Landsburg productions, like In Search of Ancient Mysteries, The Outer Space Connection or Encounter With The Unknown.
For that matter, track down the old In Search Of... TV programs or Robert Stack ferreting out those Unsolved Mysteries.
I didn't miss anything.
On the face of it, this film would make a lovely travelogue of Mexico and South America because, despite the premise of exploring and/or revealing ancient mysteries, it actually does very little of either.
True, all the old familiar sites are visited, but the bland narration does little more than tell you that these places are associated with mysterious doings. It would be like a documentary on ghosts and hauntings showing only the exterior of the Amityville house and saying vaguely "...and the Lutz family claimed to have experienced something here, in this house."
The photography is very nice, the camera angles fresh and dramatic, but as I mentioned earlier, the narration (both the text itself and the narrators) is monotonously bland and surprisingly UN-informative; which negates any instructional value the film might have had as a documentary. Again, just change the narration and this could be a fine travelogue.
I suspect that the high ratings people give this title are based merely on that -the title and its association with the excellent and influential book- and less on the film itself. I also suspect that people are remembering the soundtrack LP (and later CDs) of the excellent Peter Thomas score -which ironically is almost unrecognizable in the garbled monaural sound mix of the film itself.
My opinion is that you should ignore this film and look instead at the much more dramatic and informative In Search of Ancient Astronauts (which is itself a far superior re-edit of this film, narrated by Rod Serling), or any of the other Landsburg productions, like In Search of Ancient Mysteries, The Outer Space Connection or Encounter With The Unknown.
For that matter, track down the old In Search Of... TV programs or Robert Stack ferreting out those Unsolved Mysteries.
helpful•815
- bok602
- May 17, 2004
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
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- Also known as
- Erinnerungen an die Zukunft
- Filming locations
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $25,948,300
- Runtime1 hour 32 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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