Ib Jørgen Melchior (born September 17, 1917) is a novelist, short story writer, film producer, film director, and screenwriter of low-budget American science fiction movies, most of them released by American International Pictures. He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Melchior's novels include Code Name: Grand Guignol, Eva, The Haigerloch Project, The Marcus Device, Order of Battle: Hitler's Werewolves, Sleeper Agent, The Tombstone Cipher and The Watchdogs of Abaddon. His non-fiction includes the books Quest: Searching for Germany's Nazi Past (with co-author Frank Brandenburg) and Lauritz Melchior: The Golden Years of Bayreuth, the latter a biography of his father, the opera singer and movie star Lauritz Melchior. With his wife, L.A. architect Cleo Baldon, Ib Melchior wrote the non-fiction books Reflections on the Pool: California Designs for Swimming and Steps & Stairways. Melchior also wrote Hour of Vengeance, a play based on the Viking story of Amled that also inspired William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. In 1982, it was awarded the Hamlet Award for best playwriting by the Shakespeare Society of America. As a filmmaker, Melchior wrote and directed The Angry Red Planet (1959) and The Time Travelers (1964). His most high profile credit was as co-screenwriter (along with John C. Higgins) of Byron Haskin's critically acclaimed Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964). He cowrote the screenplays for two U.S.-Danish coproductions, Reptilicus (1961) and Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962), and provided the English language script for Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires (1965). For television, he wrote "The Premonition" episode for the second season of the original The Outer Limits series. The episode was broadcast in 1965. Melchior's short story The Racer was adapted as Paul Bartel's cult film favorite, Death Race 2000 (1975), starring David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone and produced by Roger Corman. It was later remade as Death Race (2008), starring Jason Statham and Joan Allen, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and produced by Tom Cruise. He claims to be the creator of the original idea upon which Irwin Allen based his television series Lost in Space, although he never received onscreen credit for this. In 1960, Melchior had created an outline for a series he called "Space Family Robinson", which later became a Gold Key comic book. Ed Shifres' book Lost in Space: The True Story is a detailed documentation of how Irwin Allen allegedly plagiarized Melchior's script, with the two outlines presented side by side. Decades later, Prelude Pictures hired Melchior as a consultant on its Lost in Space feature film adaptation, but later sold his contract to New Line Cinema, its production partner on the film. New Line agreed to pay Melchior a $75,000 production bonus and $15,000, but refused him his contractually promised two percent of the producer's gross receipts from the film.
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Biography from TMDB.
- September 17, 1917
- March 14, 2015 (aged 97)
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Writer and director
- 16 on MovieCove · 21 credits in all
What are Ib Melchior's films like?
Across their 15 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Survival and Power.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 2 · Wry 0 · Earnest 13
A split, not a type: Light 4 · Serious 5 · Dark 6
Grounded 5 · Stylized 7 · Heightened 3
Gentle 0 · Charged 8 · Intense 7
Steady 5 · Shifting 8 · Whiplash 2
Straight-faced 11 · Some laughs 4 · Funny 0
Slow burn 1 · Even-paced 9 · Relentless 5
Casual 6 · Engaged 8 · Full focus 1
Easy watch 7 · Affecting 7 · Heavy 1
Resolved 14 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 1
Moods and endings
- Happy1
- Bittersweet12
- Ambiguous2
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Ib Melchior's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 13 of their 16 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Ib Melchior's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
21 credits, 16 with a MovieCove page; 2 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Death Race 2050(2017)
Midcredits score: 5th percentile of all films
Death Race 3: Inferno(2013)
Midcredits score: 24th percentile of all films
Death Race 2(2010)
Midcredits score: 25th percentile of all films
Death Race(2008)
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all films
My Lovely Monster (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1991)
Death Race 2000(1975)
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all films
Keep Off the Grass (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1970)
Ambush Bay(1966)
Midcredits score: 20th percentile of all films
Planet of the Vampires(1965)
Midcredits score: 52nd percentile of all films
The Time Travelers(1964)
Midcredits score: 20th percentile of all films
Robinson Crusoe on Mars(1964)
Midcredits score: 61st percentile of all films
The Outer Limits(1963)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all shows
Midcredits score: 10th percentile of all films
Reptilicus (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1961)
Reptilicus(1961)
Midcredits score: 3rd percentile of all films
The Angry Red Planet(1959)
Midcredits score: 19th percentile of all films
Men Into Space (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1959)
Midcredits score: 9th percentile of all films
When Hell Broke Loose (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1958)
Live Fast, Die Young(1958)
Midcredits score: 27th percentile of all films
Godzilla Raids Again(1955)
Midcredits score: 28th percentile of all films
Career shape
A full career of 19 titles from 1958 to 2013.
Biggest box office
Death Race (2008)
Highest rated
Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964)
Most popular right now
Death Race (2008)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Ib Melchior's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 24th percentile, the median of all 15; across their 15 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 26th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up1
- 50th to 74th4
- 25th to 49th3
- Below 25th8
Shape of the crowd
8 of their 16 titles are Mixed.
- Universally Loved1
- Universally Panned2
- Crowd Pleaser2
- Broadly Agreed3
- Mixed8
Reviewers score the dialogue 25/100 and the plot and story 39/100 in their films, across 15 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a writer.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Ib Melchior's work okay for kids?
Across up to 7 MovieCove titles with content scores, sex & nudity runs heavier than most films.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.
Who does Ib Melchior work with?
People who share at least 2 of Ib Melchior's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Charles B. Griffith shares the most, 5.
Directors
- Sidney W. PinkShared titles: Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962), Reptilicus (1961), The Angry Red Planet (1959)See all 3 shared titles with Sidney W. Pink
- Roel ReinéShared titles: Death Race 3: Inferno (2013), Death Race 2 (2010)See all 2 shared titles with Roel Reiné
- Ishirō HondaShared titles: Gigantis: The Fire Monster (1959), Godzilla Raids Again (1955)See all 2 shared titles with Ishirō Honda
- Motoyoshi OdaShared titles: Gigantis: The Fire Monster (1959), Godzilla Raids Again (1955)See all 2 shared titles with Motoyoshi Oda
Writers
- Charles B. GriffithShared titles: Death Race 2050 (2017), Death Race 3: Inferno (2013), Death Race 2 (2010), Death Race (2008), Death Race 2000 (1975)See all 5 shared titles with Charles B. Griffith
- Robert ThomShared titles: Death Race 2050 (2017), Death Race 3: Inferno (2013), Death Race 2 (2010), Death Race (2008), Death Race 2000 (1975)See all 5 shared titles with Robert Thom
- Paul W.S. AndersonShared titles: Death Race 3: Inferno (2013), Death Race 2 (2010), Death Race (2008)See all 3 shared titles with Paul W.S. Anderson
- Tony GiglioShared titles: Death Race 3: Inferno (2013), Death Race 2 (2010)See all 2 shared titles with Tony Giglio
Actors
- Frederick KoehlerShared titles: Death Race 3: Inferno (2013), Death Race 2 (2010), Death Race (2008)See all 3 shared titles with Frederick Koehler
- Danny TrejoShared titles: Death Race 3: Inferno (2013), Death Race 2 (2010)See all 2 shared titles with Danny Trejo
- Luke GossShared titles: Death Race 3: Inferno (2013), Death Race 2 (2010)See all 2 shared titles with Luke Goss
- Robin ShouShared titles: Death Race 3: Inferno (2013), Death Race 2 (2010)See all 2 shared titles with Robin Shou
Composers and editors
- Radu IonShared titles: Death Race 3: Inferno (2013), Death Race 2 (2010)See all 2 shared titles with Radu Ion
- Paul HaslingerShared titles: Death Race 2 (2010), Death Race (2008)See all 2 shared titles with Paul Haslinger
- Richard LaSalleShared titles: Ambush Bay (1966), The Time Travelers (1964)See all 2 shared titles with Richard LaSalle
- Kazuji TairaShared titles: Gigantis: The Fire Monster (1959), Godzilla Raids Again (1955)See all 2 shared titles with Kazuji Taira
Producers
- Roger CormanShared titles: Death Race 2050 (2017), Death Race 3: Inferno (2013), Death Race 2 (2010), Death Race (2008), Death Race 2000 (1975)See all 5 shared titles with Roger Corman
- Jeremy BoltShared titles: Death Race 3: Inferno (2013), Death Race 2 (2010), Death Race (2008)See all 3 shared titles with Jeremy Bolt
- Samuel Z. ArkoffShared titles: Planet of the Vampires (1965), Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962), Reptilicus (1961)See all 3 shared titles with Samuel Z. Arkoff
- Alan ShearerShared titles: Death Race 3: Inferno (2013), Death Race 2 (2010)See all 2 shared titles with Alan Shearer