The Inevitable Catastrophe

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The Inevitable Catastrophe ( The Swarm ) is an American disaster film directed and produced by Irwin Allen , released in 1978 .

Synopsis

South American bees mated with bees from North America. A scientist discovers a hormone pushing these bees to become real killers, who will destroy everything in their path. Moreover, they bring a disease …

Technical sheet

  • Original title: The Swarm
  • Title: The Inevitable Catastrophe
  • Director: Irwin Allen
  • Scenario: Stirling Silliphant , based on a novel by Arthur Herzog Jr.
  • Sets: Stan Jolley
  • Costumes: Paul Zastupnevich  (en)
  • Production: Irwin Allen
  • Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
  • Photography: Fred J. Koenekamp
  • Editing: Harold F. Kress
  • Music: Jerry Goldsmith
  • Country of origin: United States
  • Original language: English
  • Format: Technicolor color – 4-Track Stereo
  • Genre: disaster
  • Duration: 116 minutes
  • Release dates:
    •  United States :
    •  France :

Distribution

  • Michael Caine (VF: Bernard Dhéran ) : D r Bradford Crane
  • Katharine Ross (VF: Caroline Cellier ) : Captain Helena Anderson
  • Richard Widmark (VF: Jacques Dacqmine ) : Major General Thalius Slater
  • Richard Chamberlain (VF: Pierre Arditi ) : D r Hubbard
  • Olivia de Havilland (VF: Jane Val ) : Maureen Schuster
  • Ben Johnson (VF: Michel Barbey ) : Felix
  • Lee Grant (VF: Lily Baron ) : Anne MacGregor
  • Jose Ferrer : D r Andrews
  • Patty Duke : Rita
  • Slim Pickens (VF: Raoul Delfosse ) : Jud Hawkins
  • Bradford Dillman (VF: Philippe Ogouz ) : Major Baker
  • Fred MacMurray (VF: Jacques Thébault ) : Mayor Clarence Tuttle
  • Henry Fonda (VF: Claude Dauphin ) : D r Walter Krim
  • Cameron Mitchell (VF: Serge Sauvion ) : General Thompson
  • Christian Juttner : Paul Durant
  • Morgan Paull : D r Newman
  • Alejandro Rey : D r Martinez
  • Don ‘Red’ Barry : Pete Harris
  • Doria Cook-Nelson : M me Mary Durant
  • Robert Varney : Mr. Durant
  • Patrick Culliton : Sheriff Morrison
  • Arthur Space : Engineer

Appointment

Best Costume Design at 1979 Oscars

Box office results

While its budget was estimated at $ 21 million, the film generated operating revenue on the US territory, $ 10 million, less than half of the investment. With The Day of the End of the World , The Last Secret of Poseidon and Airport 80 Concorde , this title is one of the big commercial failures that ended the vein “disaster” of the 1970s.

Around the film

Of a cinema duration not exceeding two hours, the film counted at the beginning of copious sequences of dialogues, judged quite harmful to the narrative rhythm to be cut. Succeeding the exploitation in videocassettes conforming to its cinema version, a DVD edition of the beginning of the years 2000 integrated the said scenes with the film, which thus reached the duration of 156 minutes. Despite the misleading mention of a French audio track, the same DVD offered none, the new sequences having never been dubbed.

The enthusiasm of farmers to the topic of killer bees (we counted no less than four films in the late 1970s: The Bees of Alfredo Zacarias , when bees attack of Bruce Geller , Terror in the sky of Lee H. Katzin and the Inevitable Catastrophe) has its origin in the predictions of some scientific experts, foreseeing the dangerous migration of these insects towards the North American territories. Nevertheless the predictions proved erroneous and the films, of notorious failures.

DVD

  •  France :

The film is available on DVD media in two editions:

– The inevitable disaster (DVD-9 Snap Case) released onedited and distributed by Warner Home Video. The screen ratio is 2.35: 1 widescreen 16: 9. The audio is in English 2.0 Dolby Digital. The subtitles are in English, French, Finnish, Icelandic, Swedish, Czech, Greek, Polish, Turkish, Romanian, Dutch and English for the deaf and hard of hearing. The film has been remastered and lasts 149 minutes. In addition: behind the scenes of the film (VOST 2 min) and the original trailer. This is a Zone 2 Pal 1 .

– The inevitable disaster (DVD-9 Snap Case) released onedited by Lancaster and distributed by Arcadès. The screen ratio is 2.35: 1 widescreen 16: 9. The audio is in English 2.0 Dolby Digital. The subtitles are in English, French, Finnish, Icelandic, Swedish, Czech, Greek, Polish, Turkish, Romanian, Dutch and English for the deaf and hard of hearing. The film has been remastered and lasts 149 minutes. In addition: behind the scenes of the film (VOST 2 min) and the original trailer. It is a Zone 2 Pal 2 .

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