The Master of the World

Strange events are occurring around the world, involving lights, sounds and flags that are hung in seemingly impossible to get to locations. At the meeting of the Weldon Institute in Philadelphia, Uncle Prudent (President) and Phil Evans (Secretary) and the membership debate about whether their balloon the Goahead, should have its directional screw located in the front or the back. A man called Robur interrupts and takes over their meeting; he insists that to master the skies, a flying vehicle must be heavier than air. His remarks infuriate the balloonists and after their meeting, Uncle Prudent and Phil are kidnapped and taken on an around the world trip in the Albatross, Robur's heavier than air "Clipper of the Clouds." Though Jules Verne made his brilliant prediction of the flying machine and its effects on the world more than a hundred years ago, time has not erased the magnitude of his imagination. For in this adventure, the mighty airplane invented by Robur is still in many respects far ahead of our modern aircraft! Robur's "Albatross" could hover like a helicopter, sail the ocean like a battleship, dive beneath the waves like a submarine, and even travel across dry land. The exciting film, Master Of The World, based on these novels, is dramatic evidence of Verne's timeless appeal. Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who helped pioneer the science-fiction genre. He is best known for novels such as A Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Verne is often referred to as the "Father of science fiction" as he wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before navigable aircraft and practical submarines were invented, and before any means of space travel had been devised.