Project X (1968 film)
| Project X | |
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HD DVD cover
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| Directed by | William Castle |
| Produced by |
William Castle (executive) Dona Holloway (associate) Joseph Barbera (special sequences) William Hanna (special sequences) |
| Written by | Edmund Morris (screenplay) L. P. Davies (novels) |
| Starring |
Christopher George Greta Baldwin Henry Jones Monte Markham Harold Gould Phillip Pine Lee Delano |
| Music by | Nathan Van Cleave |
| Edited by | Edwin H. Bryant |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Project X is a 1968 independently made color science fiction film, produced and directed by William Castle, starring Christopher George, Greta Baldwin, Henry Jones, and Monte Markham. The film was distributed by Paramount Pictures and is adapted from the science fiction novels The Artificial Man and Psychogeist by L. P. Davies. The script was written by Edmund Morris and had special sequences animated by Hanna-Barbera.
Project X's story echoes some geopolitical themes of the late 1960s, such as overpopulation, emerging genetic engineering, biological warfare, and fear of Asian dominance. It mixes in science fiction concepts like holographic devices, memory manipulation and viewing, and virtual environments to create a story about futuristic espionage.
Hagen Arnold (Christopher George) is an American spy in the year 2118. The geopolitical climate of Earth has changed significantly over the years with Sino-Asia (China) being the only other superpower and enemy of the United States. Overpopulation is a looming issue. On a covert mission to Sino-Asia, Arnold sends a message to his handlers in the U. S. stating that "The West will be destroyed in fourteen days". He then takes an anti-torture drug that renders him an amnesiac. Hagen is safely brought back to the USA and placed in cryogenic preservation until the government can devise a way to get the information out of him. With the key to discovering the secret weapon the Sino-Asians were working on locked inside his mind the American scientists resort to using a holographic memory reading device that can see inside his mind while he is asleep. The scientists also create an elaborate historical reenactment of the 1960s (Arnold has a history degree centered on this tumultuous decade) as a means to create a role-playing mechanism that may coax the information to the surface of the unsuspecting Arnold. To keep his suspicions down in the 1960s mock-up, they also create a 1960s personality matrix to implant in his mind. He is led to believe he is a criminal hiding out at a farmhouse and cannot leave lest he be arrested.
As the days tick down until the East destroys the West, Hagen comes into contact with a futuristic factory worker named Karen Summers (Greta Baldwin) who causes slight anachronistic errors with the 1960s facade. An unseen sniper scares her off, leaving Hagen suspicious but none the wiser about the facade he is experiencing. The government finds and detains Karen but tension mounts as not only has Hagen not divulged the secret they need but another agent, the unseen sniper, a man known as Gregory Gallea (Monte Markham), enters the scene in an attempt to coax the memories out of Hagen. His intention is to obtain the prized info so he can double-cross the U. S. government. Gallea has been gone for two years and presumed dead, apparently killed in action while keeping tabs on Sino-Asia. It was he who helped Hagen escape Sino-Asia.
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