A Trailer a Day Keeps the Boogeyman Away! Halloween A-Z

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Creature with the Atom Brain 1955

Read more here: Keep Watching the Skies: The Year is 1955

The Creature with the Atom Brain released in 1955 was directed by Edward L. Cahn with a script by Curt Siomak it’s the story of a nefarious plot involving reanimated, radioactive zombies controlled by a criminal mastermind.

An ex-Nazi mad scientist uses radio-controlled atomic-powered zombies in his quest to help an exiled American gangster return to power. A huge mug with superhuman strength Karl ‘Killer’ Davis and a metal dome riveted to the top of his head climbs inside the back of a gambling spot and breaks the back of the mob boss. Then he goes on a rampage destroying buildings and railways.

Dr. Chet Walker (Richard Denning) who is a doctor working for the police is called in to investigate the murder. Walker discovers that the Hulk is atomic-powered. Soon he learns that an exiled mobster Frank Buchanan (Michael Granger) has returned to the States and is working with an ex-Nazi scientist Dr. Wilhelm Steigg (Gregory Gaye) to create radio-controlled atomic zombies who will carry out his plot of revenge against those responsible for betraying him. Steigg removes the tops of corpse's skulls, removes parts of their brains, and replaces it with as Bill Warren refers to it a "glittering sponge." Once resurrected from the dead, these atomic-powered zombies exact their revenge by breaking their enemies' backs.

Several years ago, the notorious gangster Frank Buchanan, portrayed by Michael Granger, found himself forced into exile to his native Italy, orchestrated by a coalition of law enforcement agencies and rival criminal organizations who had chosen to betray Buchanan. During his time in Europe, a clandestine assembly led by Buchanan himself approached the enigmatic scientist Dr. Wilhelm Steigg, played by Gregory Gaye, with a sinister plan.

The brilliant Steigg has unlocked a groundbreaking secret"” a way to reanimate an army of dead bodies through the power of atomic energy. He has successfully developed a technique for reviving the dead and exerting control over their actions through spoken commands.

Buchanan generously supplied the resources necessary for Steigg to assemble an army of radioactive zombies, reanimated corpses who possess enhanced strength and resilience infused with atomic energy coursing through their bodies. Utilizing Steigg’s innovative experiments, driven by cutting-edge atomic technology, Buchanan and his malevolent cohort aimed to unleash their vengeance upon those who had crossed their paths.

As the authorities become aware of the bizarre crimes committed by the radioactive zombies, a determined police detective, Police Capt. Dave Harris (S. John Launer) takes on the case. Richard Denning plays Dr. Chet Walker involved in the investigation into the mysterious and deadly creatures. With the help of Dr. Walker and his assistant, Joyce (Angela Stevens), the trio embarks on a mission to uncover the identity of the mastermind behind the undead army and eventually deploy radiation-detecting devices such as Geiger counters to identify the origin of this sinister scheme.
The Creature with the Atom Brain explores themes of scientific ethics, the consequences of tampering with the forces of nature, and the dangers of unchecked power. For its day – the scenes with the method of killing by the dead assassins – are told through shadows on the wall, revealing their victim’s back being broken. It is surprisingly brutal.

Caltiki The Immortal Monster 1959

WILL THE FIRST LIFE ON EARTH BE THE LAST TERROR OF MAN?

Caltiki, the Immortal Monster is a 1959 Italian-American science fiction horror film directed by Riccardo Freda (as Robert Hampton) and an uncredited Mario Bava who also was the cinematographer on the film and added the noir-like eerie chiaroscuro and striking and savage and gruesome visual effects, expertly supervised by Bava, which is why it’s known for its eerie and suspenseful atmosphere. The cast includes John Merivale, Didi Perego (as Didi Sullivan), Gerard Herter, Danila Rocca, and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart.

In 1956, Ricardo Freda and Mario Bava joined forces to create “I Vampiri,” marking the revival of Italian-produced horror cinema after a hiatus of more than three decades. It did have a good reception but was released in the U.S. until 1963 and still, it was hacked to pieces under the title The Devil’s Commandment

So in 1959, they got together again at took a stab at another horror/sci-fi hybrid called Caltiki, the Immortal Monster with most of the cast adopting Anglicized pseudonyms.

Deep within the Mexican jungle, a group of archaeologists under the leadership of Dr. Fielding (portrayed by John Merivale) meticulously explore the ancient Mayan ruins looking for a priceless collection of Maryan gold artifacts. However, this invaluable treasure lies submerged at the lake’s depths within a cave. Inside, they discover a pool of mysterious and deadly water safeguarded by a ravenous, gelatinous creature known as Caltiki, revered by the Mayans as a god. They unexpectedly encounter an amorphous blob-like monstrosity that sends shockwaves through their expedition. When one of Fielding’s greedy colleagues (Daniele Vargas) tries to get his hands on the sacred plunder, he is devoured alive by the oozing blob and left as a steamy pile of skeletal muck.

Fielding discovers the creature is a grotesque, amorphous mass of cells that can absorb and grow from any organic material it comes into contact with. It is revealed that this creature, known as Caltiki, was once a Mayan deity and has been dormant for centuries.

Afterward, the monstrous glop goes on a violent rampage, inflicting pain on Max (Gerard Herter), a fellow member of the expedition, who is left with a skeletal arm and hand. Before meeting its ultimate demise in a blazing inferno, amid the chaos, Fielding skillfully manages to safeguard precious samples of Caltiki, preserving the fragments for scientific examination. Fielding makes a chilling discovery: the creature had been resurrected centuries ago when a comet made a close pass by Earth. Now, purely by happenstance, that very same comet is set to return in just a matter of days, posing a looming threat of reviving the blob monster once more.

In the midst of their investigation, the celestial event looms on the horizon: and the comet is poised to make a close approach to Earth. Remarkably, this comet mirrors the same cosmic visitor that brushed near our planet during the enigmatic collapse of the Mayan civilization.

Meanwhile, Max becomes unhinged and goes on a murder spree killing a nurse and escaping from the hospital, while Caltiki comes to life and runs amok along the countryside. The team faces a race against time to contain and destroy Caltiki before it consumes all life in its path. They also try to uncover the secrets of its origin and its connection to Mayan civilization.

Caltiki includes several genuinely jarring scenes, in particular, Herter’s intensity as the crazed Max, drawing inspiration from Richard Wordsworth’s memorable portrayal in a similar capacity as Victor Carroon in “Quatermass Xperiment,” Fielding’s urgent moments unfold as he races to rescue his wife and daughter from the advancing monstrosity that relentlessly breaches every landscape and interior setting.

Bava considered Caltiki the Immortal Monster to embody the spirit of (READ KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES:1955 HERE) The Quartermass Xperiment 1955, but it’s got a bit of (READ KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES:1956 HERE) X the Unknown 1956 thrown in.

Curse of the Fly 1965

Curse of the Fly is a 1965 British science fiction horror film and the third installment in the “Fly” film series that began with its blockbuster hit in 1958. This film reunites director Don Sharp with a screenplay by Harry Spalding (they worked on Witchcraft together in 1964) and takes a different approach compared to the previous films, as it is the Fly movie without the fly!

A generation following the events portrayed in The Fly in 1958 Henri Delambre, portrayed by Brian Donlevy, becomes consumed by the relentless pursuit of perfecting his father’s experimental matter-transportation device that he runs in a remote research facility within his estate in Canada. His two grown sons, Martin (George Baker) and Albert (Michael Graham), who yearn to get on with their lives still actively participate in the research, although they do not share Henri’s fanatical dedication to the transporter project. The transporter has successfully bilocated people and objects from Quebec to London and back, but not without a frightening aftermath, including deformed human subjects, ‘mistakes’ locked away at the Delambres’ Canadian manorhouse.

Henri is enraged when he learns that Martin has married a mysterious young woman named Patricia (Carole Gray) who in the opening of the film has managed to escape from an institution. Soon the police come looking for Patricia at the Delambre estate, which forces them to hide any evidence of their secret research lab. Ultimately, Henri’s obsession leads to tragic results.

Spalding’s clever screenplay seamlessly weaves together the exploration of advanced scientific discovery and the plight of ill-fated lovers, capturing the essence of romantic tragedy that resonated so effectively in the original Fly 1958.

Countess Dracula 1971

Directed by Peter Sasdy, Countess Dracula is a 1971 British horror film starring Ingrid Pitt in the lead role. The film is loosely based on the real-life story of Countess Elizabeth Báthory, a Hungarian noblewoman notorious for her alleged crimes of torturing and murdering hundreds of young women and bathing in their blood. The film co-stars Nigel Green as Captain Dobi, Maurice Denham as Master Fabio, Sandor Elès as Imre Toth, Niki Arrighi, Patience Collier as Julie, and Leslie Ann-Down as Ilona.

Set in 17th-century medieval Hungary, the story revolves around the aristocratic vampire Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy, an aging noblewoman who rules with an iron fist, aided by her lover, Captain Dobi. She discovers a dark secret bathing in the blood of young girls restores her youth when she accidentally comes into contact with the blood of a young virgin, she realizes that it has a rejuvenating effect on her appearance.

Obsessed with maintaining her youth and beauty, Elisabeth embarks on a gruesome killing spree, using her position and power to abduct young women and drain them of their blood. She coerces Dobi into abducting potential victims. Under the guise of her own daughter, the Countess engages in romantic dalliances with a younger man, much to Dobi’s chagrin. As the disappearances sow increasing fear in the local community, the Countess learns that only the blood of a virgin can resurrect her youthful beauty. As her crimes escalate, suspicions grow within the castle, and her daughter Ilona becomes increasingly concerned about her mother’s erratic behavior.

Ingrid Pitt delivers a captivating and chilling performance as Countess Elisabeth, portraying her transformation from an aging woman into a seductive, bloodthirsty monster. Countess Dracula is known for its blend of historical horror and Gothic atmosphere, offering a unique take on the vampire mythos by drawing inspiration from real historical events.

Chosen Survivors 1974

Chosen Survivors is a 1974 science fiction horror film that combines elements of suspense, survival, and post-apocalyptic drama directed by Sutton Roley and stars READ My Dillman TRIBUTE HERE Bradford Dillman (Fear No Evil 1969, Revenge! 1971, Escape From the Planet of the Apes 1971, The Mephisto Waltz 1971, TV movie The Resurrection of Zachary Taylor 1971, TV movie The Eyes of Charles Sands 1972, TV movie Moon of the Wolf 1972, Deliver Us from Evil 1973, A Black Ribbon for Deborah 1974 Giallo, The Dark Secrets of Harvest Home 1978 mini-series, The Swarm 1978, and the cult classic Piranha 1978),  and actors who are no strangers to horror & sci-fi -such as Diana Muldaur, Alex Cord (The Dead are Alive 1972), Jackie Cooper, Richard Jaekel (The Green Slime 1968, Day of the Animals 1977, The Dark 1979), Barbara Babcock, Gwen Mitchell and Lincoln Kilpatrick (Soylent Green 1973, The Omega Man 1971).

A group of select people abruptly find themselves yanked out of their homes and airlifted via helicopter to a state-of-the-art underground bomb shelter, buried deep beneath the desert’s surface at a depth of one-third of a mile. There, they are confronted with the grim reality of a nuclear apocalypse unfolding above ground and the unsettling revelation that a computer has chosen them as the survivors tasked with preserving the human race in this subterranean haven. The shelter is meticulously engineered to sustain their existence underground for an extended duration, but an unforeseen menace emerges: a massive colony of bloodthirsty vampire bats breaches their defenses, launching a relentless onslaught that claims the lives of the humans one by one.

The story unfolds against the backdrop of the Cold War era, as tensions between superpowers escalate, and the threat of nuclear war looms large. In response, the U.S. government selects a group of 11 people, including scientists, military personnel, and other specialists, to take part in a top-secret experiment. They are chosen to survive a potential nuclear holocaust by living in a well-fortified underground bunker designed to sustain life for an extended period.

As the selected survivors enter the underground facility, they must adapt to their new isolated existence and the challenges it presents. Tensions rise, and personal conflicts emerge among the diverse group. However, their already stressful situation takes a terrifying turn when they discover that they are not alone in the bunker. Unbeknownst to them, a colony of bat-like creatures has also taken refuge there, posing a deadly threat to their survival.

Chosen Survivors explores themes of human nature under extreme circumstances, the consequences of government secrecy and experimentation, and the terror of being trapped in an enclosed space with an unknown and lethal enemy. The film blends science fiction and horror elements to create a suspenseful and claustrophobic narrative.

Children of the Corn 1984

Children of the Corn is a 1984 horror film adapted from Stephen King’s short story of the same name. The film is set in the rural town of Gatlin, Nebraska, and revolves around a group of children who have formed a deadly cult worshiping a malevolent entity known as “He Who Walks Behind the Rows.”

The story begins with a young couple, Burt and Vicki (Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton), who are traveling through rural Nebraska. They stumble upon Gatlin, a seemingly deserted town. Unbeknownst to them, the town’s adult population has been brutally murdered by the children under the influence of an overzealous young preacher named Isaac and his nasty ginger-haired enforcer, Malachai (Courtney Gains). The children believe that sacrificing adults to “He Who Walks Behind the Rows” will ensure a bountiful harvest.

Burt and Vicky soon become targets of the cult, and they must navigate a terrifying ordeal to survive. Along the way, they encounter a young boy named Job, who has doubts about the cult’s beliefs, and the three of them attempt to uncover the truth behind the sinister force that has overtaken Gatlin.

As the story unfolds, it becomes a chilling exploration of religious fanaticism, the corrupting influence of power, and the primal fear of children turning against adults.

Children of the Corn is celebrated for its unsettling ambiance and the chilling spectacle of a seemingly picturesque town under the dominion of malevolent little monsters who are more menacing than the Lovecraftian Deity that lurks behind the bucolic rows of corn.

The Children 1980

Shot at the same time as the iconic slasher Friday the 13th and sharing some of the same behind-the-scenes creative minds, director Max Kalmanowicz’s The Children emerges as a bizarrely low-light theatrical drive-in horror classic in the ‘scary little kids‘ subgenre.

Complementing the spine-tingling narrative is an eerie score by Harry Manfredini known for his work on Sean Cunningham’s Friday the 13th.

Ravenback’s children (not unlike the mindless dead in Romero’s landmark Night of the Living Dead) are in the grip of something terrifyingly unnatural. When their school bus travels through an odd cloud of yellow smoke, the innocent little ones undergo a horrifying – ghastly metamorphosis into bloodthirsty zombies.

The film takes a deeply nihilistic and chilling swerve as it introduces a group of children who, after passing through this toxic fog, appear outwardly innocent but possess blackened fingernails and a horrifying ability to melt the flesh of anyone they touch. The Children‘s dark subtext by using seemingly angelic children who are the epitome of a promising future, takes on a bleak tone, as these once harmless yet outré -creepy kids destroy even those they once loved.

The story begins with the origins of the toxic fog, where Sheriff Gil Rogers sets out to uncover the mystery surrounding the abandoned school bus on the side of the road. As he discovers more dead bodies, it is revealed that it is in fact the children who are killing the townspeople. This is at the core of the film’s fundamental subliminal ‘shock’ warning- that we cannot always have faith in the façade of innocence. Sometimes it can disguise a horror from within.

As unsuspecting parents and townsfolk fall victim to their deadly touch, the local police force embarks on a frantic search for the missing children, at first oblivious to their deadly embrace, they must face an even more horrific reality. The parents must kill their own children in an extremely repulsive way.

Director Max Kalmanowicz and cinematographer Barry Abrams (who also worked on Friday the 13th) work their magic when it comes to the night sequences and the atmosphere of dread and the queasy pangs in the gut whenever those sinister little faces appear in the black night and raise up their hands in a wantful embrace, eerie calling out for their mothers. It’s truly a disturbing visually bad dream.

The Children challenges horror conventions by making it imperative that the children be destroyed. The manner of their death is even more gruesome than their black-nailed phantasmagoria. What’s hauntingly effective is the final slaughter underscored by the ethereal screams that creep up and revisit your mind decades after your first viewing. It’s just that authentically creepy.

This is your EverLovin’ Joey sayin’ C you at the snack bar, and remember D is the dangerous letter in the next installment of trailers to keep the Boogeyman away!

A Trailer a Day Keeps the Boogeyman Away! Halloween from A-Z

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Beast with Five Fingers 1946

Read my Andrea King tribute here:

Beast with Five Fingers directed by Robert Florey and written by Curt Siodmak stars Andrea King as the heroine nurse Julie Holden, Peter Lorre as Hillary Cummins a creepy astrologist and personal assistant to the eccentric pianist Francis Ingram (Victor Francen), and Robert Alda. The film is a classic supernatural horror centered around a disembodied hand (which is locked in a safe). The original tale was written by W. F. Harvey, and published in 1919.

The story is set in a turn-of-the-century secluded Renaissance mansion in a remote Italian village and revolves around the eerie events that unfold after the death of its tyrannical owner, a wheelchair-bound recluse Ingram. Following a visit from a scam artist (Robert Alda), Ingram crashes down the stairs to his death — and a plague of bizarre events ensues that are attributed to the musician’s disembodied left hand. Lorre is superb as usual as he experiences a feverish delirium – persecuted by the five-fingered nightmare.

Ingram a brilliant but reclusive scholar and collector of ancient manuscripts has amassed a remarkable collection, but his greatest fascination lies in the world of the occult and at the heart of the mystery lies the severed hand that possesses a malevolent intelligence of its own.

Brain From Planet Arous 1957

It Will Steal Your Body And Damn Your Soul!

The Brain from Planet Arous is a cult science fiction film directed by Nathan Juran and released in 1957. The movie’s premise revolves around an evil brain from the planet Arous that takes control of a human scientist’s body (John Agar), leading to a battle of wills for control over the Earth.

When a brilliant scientist named Steve March (played by John Agar) stumbles upon a strange, glowing rock in the desert cave, he inadvertently becomes the host for Gor, an evil extraterrestrial brain from the planet Arous. Gor’s intelligence far surpasses that of humans, and he uses his newfound control over Steve’s body to embark on a nefarious plan to dominate Earth. He demonstrates his powers to destroy any target using his mind and his black-eyed radar stare. As Gor’s sinister actions escalate, Steve’s girlfriend, Sally (played by Joyce Meadows) and her father played by Thomas Brown Henry become increasingly suspicious of his erratic behavior. With the help of a benevolent brain from Arous named Vol, who inhabits the body of Steve’s dog, they discover the truth about the alien invasion.

A high-stakes battle of wills ensues as Vol and his human allies attempt to thwart Gor’s diabolical schemes and save Earth from his malevolent control. The fate of the planet hangs in the balance as they race against time to stop the brain from Planet Arous.

The Brain from Planet Arous is a campy and entertaining example of 1950s B-science fiction cinema, known for its over-the-top performances and quirky premise.

Blood of Dracula 1957

Blood of Dracula is a 1957 horror film directed by Herbert L. Strock. It’s a part of the sub-genre of the 1950s horror genre that focuses on teenagers, the supernatural, and the rampant sexuality of burgeoning youth.

Nancy Perkins (played by Sandra Harrison) is a troubled teenager who is sent to the Sherwood School for Girls due to her rebellious behavior and her mother’s new romance which motivates the couple to abandon Nancy. At the school, she becomes the unwitting victim of an experiment conducted by the school’s science teacher, Miss Branding played by Louise Lewis), who secretly wants to release Nancy’s primal force by using an ancient amulet to regress her unleashing her primal nature.

Branding uses Nancy as a test subject for her bizarre and sinister experiments, injecting her with a serum derived from Dracula’s blood. As a result, Nancy undergoes a dark transformation, developing a newfound taste for blood and exhibiting vampire-like tendencies.

As her behavior becomes increasingly erratic and dangerous, the film follows Nancy’s descent into darkness and her attempts to resist the vampiric urges that now consume her.

Blood of Dracula is a classic example of 1950s teen horror cinema, blending elements of the vampire myth with the era’s fascination with juvenile delinquency and science fiction. The film co-stars Gail Ganley as Myra, Heather Ames as Nola, Thomas Brown Henry as Mr. Paul Perkins, Mary Adams as Mrs. Thorndyke, and Malcolm Atterbury as Lt. Dunlop.

The Black Torment 1964

The Black Torment is a British Gothic horror film released in 1964.

Set in the rural English countryside during the 18th century, The Black Torment follows the ominous events that unfold at the mansion of Sir Richard Fordyke (played by John Turner). Sir Richard has recently returned home after marrying the beautiful Elizabeth (played by Heather Sears) from a nearby village.

Shortly after their arrival, strange and unsettling occurrences plague the Fordyke household. Local villagers claim to have seen Sir Richard committing acts of violence and cruelty, including the brutal murder of a young woman. However, Sir Richard vehemently denies these allegations, asserting that he is the victim of a sinister conspiracy.

As tensions rise, the truth behind the accusations remains elusive. Sir Richard’s loyal servants and his new wife, Elizabeth, are torn between their loyalty to him and the mounting evidence of his alleged crimes. Elizabeth becomes determined to uncover the dark secrets hidden within the mansion.

As the suspense builds, the film explores themes of paranoia, betrayal, and the supernatural. It delves into the mysterious history of the Fordyke family and their connections to the vengeful spirits of the past. Elizabeth’s quest for the truth takes her on a harrowing journey through the mansion’s shadowy corridors, where she confronts the malevolent forces that threaten to tear her world apart.

Blood Bath 1966

Directed and written by Jack Hill and Stephanie Rothman, Blood Bath (1966)is a unique and atmospheric horror film that takes viewers on a surreal journey into the twisted mind of an artist turned murderer. Set against the backdrop of 1960s Southern California, the film follows the enigmatic and disturbed character of Antonio Sordi, portrayed by the charismatic William Campbell. Sordi is a deranged artist whose obsession with his belief that he is the reincarnation of a vampire, and this macabre fixation drives him to commit a series of gruesome murders. He uses his victims as subjects for his paintings, turning their violent deaths into grotesque works of art. As the bodies pile up, the police are baffled by the bizarre and seemingly unrelated murders, while the art world begins to take notice of his disturbing creations.

Blood Bath is a visually striking cult classic that blurs the lines between reality and nightmare. With its psychedelic visuals, eerie soundtrack, and a mesmerizing performance by William Campbell, the movie creates a dreamlike, nightmarish atmosphere. The film co-stars Marissa Mathes as Daisy Allen, Lori Saunders as Dorean, Sandra Knight as Donna Allen, and Hill regular Sid Haig as Abul the Arab.

Blood on Satan’s Claw 1971

I’ll be doing a Saturday Nite Sublime to further explore this atmospheric nightmare, for now, enjoy the trailer/teaser.

Blood on Satan’s Claw is a 1971 British horror film set in the 17th century. The story unfolds in a rural English village, where the peaceful community’s harmony is shattered when a young farmer uncovers a mysterious, demonic skull while plowing his field. This gruesome discovery triggers a series of disturbing events as the villagers, particularly the children, become increasingly possessed by an evil force.

As the malevolent influence spreads, the villagers’ behavior takes a dark turn, marked by witchcraft, sadistic rituals, and a descent into madness. A local judge, played by Patrick Wymark, attempts to unravel the sinister mystery and confront the evil that has taken hold of the community.

Blood on Satan’s Claw is a chilling tale of folklore, superstition, and the battle between good and evil, as the villagers must confront the demonic presence threatening to consume their souls. It’s a classic example of British folk horror, known for its atmospheric tension and disturbing imagery. The film is co-stars Linda Hayden as the enigmatic Angel Blake and directed by Piers Haggard credited as assistant director on Blow-Up 1966.

The Bat People 1974

The Bat People (1974) is a chilling and atmospheric horror film that combines elements of science fiction and creature-feature genres. The movie follows the terrifying transformation of a man into a vampire bat-human hybrid and the nightmarish consequences that follow. The bat-man makeup was designed by the great Stan Winston.

Dr. John Beck (played by Stewart Moss) and his wife, Cathy (real-life wife Marianne McAndrew), decide to spend their honeymoon exploring remote caves in rural Texas. Unbeknownst to them, these caves are inhabited by a colony of bats carrying a strange virus. When Dr. Beck is bitten by one of the infected bats, he soon begins to undergo a horrifying transformation into a monstrous creature.

As John’s condition deteriorates, he becomes a nocturnal predator with a thirst for blood. Fearing for his wife’s safety, he isolates himself in a hidden chamber deep within the caves. Meanwhile, Cathy is desperate to find her missing husband and uncovers the shocking truth about the deadly virus and its origins.

This obscure horror film directed by Jerry Jameson from the 1970s is a suspenseful and eerie tale of a man’s descent into madness and monstrousness. With its atmospheric cinematography by Matthew F. Leonetti (a slew of made-for-TV movies – Poltergeist 1982 and the remake of Dawn of the Dead in 2004), creepy cave settings, and practical creature effects, the film delivers a sense of dread and tension. As the Beck’s marriage is put to the test and the townsfolk become suspicious of the mysterious disappearances, “The Bat People” explores themes of isolation, transformation, and the primal fear of the unknown.

“The Bat People” (1974) is a cult classic that offers a unique twist on the vampire genre, blending science fiction and horror that also co-stars horror genre regular Michael Pataki.

Beyond the Door 1974

Beyond the Door is a 1974 supernatural horror film starring Juliet Mills in a role that pays its dues to Linda Blair, featuring episodes of bile-spewing disgust. In one scene underscored by a chilling heightened low-pitched soundtrack by Franco Micalizzi that radiates a disturbing aura of infernal euphoria, Mills floats up to the ceiling in her spectral white nightgown reminiscent of The Exorcist 1973.

Juliet Mills portrays a devoted wife and mother of 2 children, Jessica Barrett, a young pregnant woman living in San Francisco with her husband, Robert (played by Italian stage actor Gabriele Lavia with dubbing), and their two children. Their seemingly ordinary life takes a terrifying turn when Jessica begins to experience bizarre and increasingly disturbing supernatural phenomena.

Jessica’s peaceful life is shattered when her ex-lover, Dimitri (portrayed by Richard Johnson), meets a tragic demise in a car accident. Yet, as Dimitri’s car races toward the precipice of a cliff, an ominous pact is forged between him and a malevolent spirit, granting him an extra decade of existence on earth in return for aiding the devil in a wicked scheme: impregnating a virtuous woman with his evil offspring. Jessica finds herself mysteriously pregnant with an unplanned third child, while Dimitri lurks about. As Jessica’s pregnancy progresses, her behavior becomes erratic, and she appears to be possessed by a malevolent force. Her family is thrown into a nightmarish ordeal as they witness her undergo terrifying transformations, including levitating and speaking in strange tongues.

Co-directed by grindhouse virtuoso Ovidio G. Assonitis the 1974 horror film has acquired a distinct allure over the years. Unforgettable is the film’s remarkable beginning, as Satan himself delivers a captivating introduction. The narrative unfolds with dramatic head-swiveling and disturbing manifestations of demonic possession, It’s an unconventional start to a bizarre take on the ’70s possession flick.

It’s known for its eerie atmosphere, shocking special effects, at times delving into absurd abstractions and idiosyncrasies. The lovely Juliet Mills gives a compelling performance as a woman caught in the grip of a malevolent entity. It remains a classic of 1970s horror cinema, offering a unique and memorable take on the possession subgenre that delivers some unsettling moments. The film also delves into unsettling 1970s sensibilities, including eerie and ambiguous elements such as a possessed Jessica in a scene with her young son that evokes the oddly fixated kiss between Deborah Kerr and Martin Stephens in Jack Clayton’s The Innocents 1961.

Bad Dreams 1988

Bad Dreams is a 1988 horror film directed by Andrew Fleming. The movie revolves around a young woman named Cynthia (played by Jennifer Rubin) who, as a child, survived a mass suicide at a cult led by a charismatic and sinister leader named Harris (played by Richard Lynch). Cynthia wakes up from a 13-year coma to find herself in a psychiatric hospital, haunted by disturbing nightmares of the cult’s traumatic events.

As Cynthia struggles to piece together her past and deal with her traumatic memories, she becomes increasingly convinced that Harris’ malevolent spirit is still pursuing her and the other surviving cult members. The film explores themes of psychological horror and the blurred lines between reality and the supernatural as Cynthia and the other patients in the hospital are plagued by terrifying visions and gruesome deaths.

Richard Lynch (read my piece The Premonition here:) is a prolific actor known for his distinctive appearance, psychological intensity, and commanding presence, often portraying intense villains and the primary antagonists throughout his career in movies and television shows. His acting style was characterized by a brooding intensity and a knack for playing menacing, enigmatic, and morally ambiguous roles conveying torment, obsession, and madness convincingly.

His tall stature, chiseled features, and deep, gravelly voice made him an ideal choice for roles such as sadistic criminals, menacing cult leaders, and power-hungry villains. He had a unique ability to convey a sense of malevolence through his physical presence and facial expressions. Lynch was also adept at portraying characters with layers and complexity, often driven by personal demons. He made a significant mark in the thriller, horror, science fiction, and fantasy genres.

This is your EverLovin’ Joey sayin’ B’EWARE the letter C is up next!

🚀 Keep Watching the Skies! Science Fiction Cinema of the 1950s: The Year is 1956 — Part One

CapturFiles_7

BODY SNATCHERS, MAN BEASTS AND MOLE MEN

1984

1984 (1956)

Will Ecstasy Be a Crime… In the Terrifying World of the Future?

Directed by Michael Anderson, the film is based on the novel by George Orwell that tells of a totalitarian future society in which a man whose daily work is rewriting history, rebels by doing the unthinkable– he falls in love. 1984 stars Edmund O’Brien as clerk Winston Smith of The Ministry of Truth for the Outer Party who refuses to accept the totalitarian state of 1984, where all the citizens are under surveillance at all times. When Winston meets Julia they bask in their physical pleasures outside of the watchful eyes of Big Brother but are betrayed by a member of the Inner Party, O’Connor (Redgrave). Each state functionary must adhere to their designated positions and Redgrave gives a superb performance as a proud drone who possesses a drive as he demonstrates his responsibilities to the state.

The underrated Jan Sterling plays Julia of the Outer Party, and David Kossoff is cast as Charrington the junk shop owner. Co-starring in the film are Melvyn Johns as Jones, Donald Pleasence as R. Parsons, Carol Wolfridge as Selina Parsons, Ernest Clark as Outer Party Announcer, Patrick Allen as Inner Party Official, British character actor Michael Ripper as Outer Party Orator and Kenneth Griffith as the prisoner.

It was in 1954 that Nigel Kneale (writer-creator of the Quatermass trilogy, The Quatermass Xperiment 1955, First Men in the Moon 1964, The Witches 1966, Quatermass and the Pit 1967, The Woman in Black 1989 first adapted George Orwell’s dystopian Ordeal for BBC television starring Peter Cushing as Winston Smith.

Director Michael Anderson (who would later take on another futuristic cautionary tale, Logan’s Run 1976) unveils Orwell’s bleak vision and its passage of vigilance, yet it has been criticized for lacking the deeper essence of his novel and the gravity of its contributions – a premonition of things to come. The ferocious inclinations of man create- Big Brother. A destiny intent on tyranny, depersonalization, the all-watchful eye of the totalitarian state, and the loss of free will.

There were two endings made. The British release presents Winston Smith (O’Brien) defying Big Brother and dying for his principles. The American version has lovers O’Brien and Sterling brainwashed, reconditioned and ultimately abandoning their relationship.

“Thus, in place of Orwell’s savage satire on the rise of the authoritarian state ( and specifically Stalinism), producer Rathvon and Anderson mount a vapid romance in which beefy O’Brien and mousey Sterling are clearly intended to represent the undying spirit of rebellion. Even the drabness of life in Oceania that Orwell creates so convincingly, is lost in the film which, like so many literary adaptations, centers on the slim storyline of the novel.” -Phil Hardy

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Continue reading “🚀 Keep Watching the Skies! Science Fiction Cinema of the 1950s: The Year is 1956 — Part One”

Postcards from Shadowland no. 16 Halloween edition –

The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) Directed by Jack Arnold adapted by Richard Matheson and starring Grant Williams
Five Million Years to Earth (1967) Directed by Roy Ward Baker, written by Nigel Kneale starring Barbara Shelley and Andrew Keir
The Manster (1959) Directed by George P. Breakston starring Peter Dyneley, Jane Hylton and Tetsu Nakamura
The Twilight People (1972) Directed by Eddie Romero
Bluebeard (1972) Directed by Edward Dmytryk. Starring Richard Burton, Raquel Welch, Virna Lisi, Natalie Delon, Agostina Belli, Karen Schubert, Sybil Danning, Joey Heatherton and Marilù Tolo
The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) Directed by Robert Florey with a screenplay by Curt Siodmak. Starring Robert Alda, Peter Lorre, Andrea King and J. Carrol Naish
Carnival of Souls (1962) Directed by Herk Harvey starring Candace Hilligoss
The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) Directed by Robert Florey Starring Robert Alda, Peter Lorre, Andrea King and J. Carrol Naish
Bedlam (1946) Directed by Mark Robson Starring Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, Ian Wolfe,Billy House, Richard Fraser, Glen Vernon and Elizabeth Russell. Produced by Val Lewton
Dracula (1931) Directed by Tod Browning adapted from the novel by Bram Stoker-Starring Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Dwight Frye, Frances Dade and Edward Van Sloane
Blood and Roses (1960) Directed by Roger Vadim. Adapted from the novel by Sheridan Le Fanu- Starring Mel Ferrer, Elsa Martinelli, Annette Stroyberg
Black Sunday (1960) La maschera del demonio-Directed by Mario Bava Starring Barbara Steele, John Richardson and Andrea Checci
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) Directed by William Dieterle Starring Charles Laughton, Maureen O’Hara and Cedric Hardwicke adapted from the novel by Victor Hugo
War of the Colossal Beast (1958) Directed by Bert I. Gordon Starring Sally Fraser and Roger Pace
It Conquered the World (1956) Directed by Roger Corman- Starring Beverly Garland, Peter Graves Lee Van Cleef and The Cucumber Monster
Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) Directed by Edward L. Cahn–Starring Richard Anderson, Elaine Edwards, Adele Mara and Luis Van Rooten
The Old Dark House 1932 directed by James Whale-Gloria Stuart and Boris Karloff
Dead of Night (1945) Directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, and Robert Hamer.–Starring Michael Redgrave, Mervyn Johns, Roland Culver, Googie Withers, Mary Merrall, Sally Ann Howes, Frederick Valk, Anthony Baird
Die! Die! My Darling! (1965) directed by Silvio Narizzano with a screenplay by Richard Matheson adapted from a novel by Anne Blaisdell–Starring Tallulah Bankhead, Stephanie Powers, Peter Vaughan, Donald Sutherland and Yootha Joyce
The Tenant (1976) Directed by Roman Polanski–Starring Roman Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Jo Van Fleet, Bernard Fresson, Lila Kedrova, Claude Dauphin and Shelley Winters
House of Horrors (1946) Directed by Jean Yarborough starring “The Creeper” Rondo Hatton, Martin Kosleck and Virginia Gray
Spirits of the Dead (Italy/France 1968) aka Histoires extraordinaires
Segment: “William Wilson” Directed by Louis Malle
Shown from left: Brigitte Bardot, Alain Delon
Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965) Directed by Freddie Francis–Screenplay by Milton Subotsky–Starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Neil McCallum, Ursula Howells, Peter Madden, Katy Wild, Alan Freeman, Ann Bell, Phoebe Nichols, Bernard Lee, Jeremy Kemp
Doctor X (1932) Directed by Michael Curtiz-Starring Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Lee Tracy, Preston Foster, John Wray, Harry Beresford
Frankenstein (1910) Produced by Thomas Edison Directed by J. Searle Dawley
Horror Hotel aka The City of the Dead (1960) Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey Starring Christopher Lee, Patricia Jessel, Dennis Lotis, Tom Naylor and Betta St. John. From a story by Milton Subotsky
House of Frankenstein (1944) Directed by Erle C. Kenton from a story by Curt Siodmak. Starring Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. J.Carrol Naish, John Carradine, Anne Gwynne, Peter Coe, Lionel Atwill and George Zucco
Island of Lost Souls (1932) Directed by Erle C. Kenton Starring Charles Laughton, Bela Lugosi, Richard Arlen, Leila Hyams and Kathleen Burke based on a story by H.G.Wells
Isle of the Dead (1945) directed by Mark Robson written by Ardel Wray-Starring Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew, Marc Cramer, Katherine Emery, Helene Thimig, Alan Napier, Jason Robards Sr.
Carl Theodor Dreyer Leaves from Satan’s Book (1921) starring Helge Nissen
Diabolique (1955) Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot adapted by Pierre Boileau Starring Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot and Paul Meurisse
The Wolf Man (1941) Directed by George Waggner Starring Lon Chaney Jr. Claude Rains, Warren William, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Bela Lugosi, Maria Ouspenskaya, Evelyn Ankers and Fay Helm original screenplay by Curt Siodmak
Night Must Fall (1937)
Directed by Richard Thorpe
Shown from left: Robert Montgomery, Dame May Whitty
Phantom of the Opera (1925) Directed by Rupert Julian and Lon Chaney. Starring Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin story by Gaston Leroux
Strangler of the Swamp (1946) directed by Frank Wisbar-starring Rosemary La Planche, Robert Barrat with an original story by Leo J. McCarthy
Nosferatu (1922) directed by F.W.Murnau Starring Max Schreck
The Abominable Snowman (1957) Directed by Val Guest starring Forrest Tucker, Peter Cushing and Maureen Connell written by Nigel Kneale
The Bat Whispers (1930) Directed by Roland West-starring Chance Ward, Richard Tucker, Wilson Benge, DeWitt Jennings, Una Merkel Grace Hamptom, and Chester Morris
The Curse of the Cat People (1944) directed by Gunther von Fritsch- Starring Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, Ann Carter, and Elizabeth Russell. Screenplay by DeWitt Bodeen
Mighty Joe Young (1949) Directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack
Young Frankenstein (1974) Directed by Mel Brooks Starring Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Teri Garr, Kenneth Mars and Liam Dunn.
The Devil Bat (1940) directed by Jean Yarborough Starring Bela Lugosi
The Fly (1958) directed by Kurt Neumann screenplay by James Clavell, Starring David Hedison, Patricia Owens and Vincent Price
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) directed by Tobe Hooper. Starring Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger and Gunnar Hansen as Leatherface
The Undead (1957) Directed by Roger Corman written by Charles B. Griffith and Mark Hanna Starring Pamela Duncan, Richard Garland, Allison Hayes, Val Dufour, Bruno VeSota, Mel Welles, Dorothy Neumann and Billy Barty
The Witches (1966) directed by Cyril Frankel Written by Nigel Kneale Starring Joan Fontaine, Kay Walsh and Alec McCowen
The Uninvited (1944) directed by Lewis Allen Starring Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp, Cornelia Otis Skinner and Gail Russell
THE NIGHT CALLER [BR 1965] aka BLOOD BEAST FROM OUTER SPACE MAURICE DENHAM, JOHN SAXON, JOHN CARSON Date: 1965
Poltergeist (1982) directed by Tobe Hooper written by Steven Spielberg. Starring JoBeth Williams, Beatrice Straight, Craig T. Nelson, Dominique Dunne Heather O’Rourke

🚀 Keep Watching the Skies! Science Fiction Cinema of the 1950s: The Year is 1954

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Find previous editions of Keep Watching the Skies! Science Fiction Cinema of the 1950s here: 1950, 1951, 1952,1953

A GILL MAN , A DEVIL GIRL , ROCKET MEN , KILLERS FROM SPACE and JULES VERNE…!

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

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A visual masterpiece directed by Richard Fleischer (Soylent Green 1971) and a screenplay by Earl Felton, who chose to weed out the extremely detailed and descriptive novel by Jules Verne and create a fast-paced visual fantasy that became this fabulous adventure. The film is scored by Paul J. Smith (The Parent Trap 1961) whose splendid music creates a world of majesty surrounding the sets with wonderfully colorful and inventive art direction by John Meehan, (The Strange Love of Martha Ivers 1946, The Heiress 1949, Sunset Blvd 1950, Studio 57 1955-58, M Squad 1957 -58 Boris Karloff’s THRILLER-ep.A Wig for Miss Devore 1962), production design & un-credited art direction by Harper Goff (Fantastic Voyage 1966, Willy Wonker & The Chocolate Factory 1971 also un-credited set design on A Midsummer’s Night Dream 1935,The Life of Emile Zola 1937, Sergeant York 1941, Casablanca 1942) and set direction by Emile Kuri (It’s a Wonderful Life 1946, The Paradine Case 1947, Rope 1948, The Heiress 1949, Dark City 1950, A Place in the Sun 1951, Detective Story 1951, War of the Worlds 1953, The Actress 1953, Shane 1953) brought the enigmatic ship to life as almost creature-like, flaunting interiors that are lavish with gadgets that flirt with scientific-industrious designs of the future!

The film stars Kirk Douglas as Ned Land and James Mason as Captain Nemo. Co-stars Paul Lukas as Prof. Pierre Aronnax, Peter Lorre as Conseil, Robert J. Wilke as first Mate of the Nautilus, Ted de Corsia as Capt. Farragut, Carlton Young as John Howard, J.M Kerrigan as Old Billy, and Percy Helton as the coach driver. 20,000 Leagues helped Peter Lorre step out of his sinister-mystery roles and add great comedic versatility as a character actor to his full career.

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Nautilus

Walt Disney began to depart from the expensive endeavor of producing animated features and started to experiment with live-action films. Disney became aware of George Pal’s desire to persuade Paramount to allow him to produce Verne’s beloved novel initially utilizing a screenplay by Kurt Neumann. Disney got George Pal to relinquish the rights and took over the project, hiring Richard Fleischer (Follow Me Quietly 1949, The Narrow Margin 1952, Compulsion 1959, Fantastic Voyage 1966, The Boston Strangler 1968, Tora! Tora! Tora! 1970, 10 Rillington Place 1971, See No Evil 1971, The New Centurions 1972, Soylent Green 1973), to direct, and Neumann’s script was out.  It’s no wonder Fleischer was tapped to do more fantasy science fiction films, though his psychological thrillers/documentary-style crime films are outstanding contributions.

Adapted from Jules Verne’s fabulous adventure the action takes place in the 19th century – where sailors told tall tales of giant sea creatures that wrecked and devoured sailing ships and the oceans held deep unknowing secrets as unfathomable as the heavens above. The legend of a strange horned sea monster has been wreaking havoc with sailing vessels in the South Pacific. Professor Pierre Arronax (Paul Lukas) and his sidekick Conseil (Peter Lorre) join an American expedition that includes crooning whale hunter Ned Land (Kirk Douglas) in search of this calamitous sea creature. The trio is confronted by the beast and is swept overboard then taken prisoner by the mysterious Captain Nemo (James Mason) whose drill-ornamented submarine ‘the Nautilus’ turns out to be the sea monster of legend.

Nemo turns out to be a fanatic who’s dark mission is total destruction of all the warships responsible for the evils of mankind. There’s a memorable underwater hand-to-tentacle fight with a giant squid!

Capt. Nemo: Think of it. On the surface there is hunger and fear. Men still exercise unjust laws. They fight, tear one another to pieces. A mere few feet beneath the waves their reign ceases, their evil drowns. Here on the ocean floor is the only independence. Here I am free! Imagine what would happen if they controlled machines such as this submarine boat. Far better that they think there’s a monster and hunt me with harpoons.

Captain Nemo: “The natives over there are cannibals. They eat liars with the same enthusiasm as they eat honest men.”

Ned Land: There’s one thing you ought to know, Professor: Nemo’s cracked. I’ve yet to see the day you can make a deal with a mad dog. So while you’re feeding him sugar, I’ll be figuring a plan to muzzle him.

IMDb Trivia: Actors portraying the cannibals chasing Ned Land painted humorous messages on their foreheads (not legible on-screen). In particular, one actor wrote “Eat at Joe’s” while another actor behind him wrote “I ate Joe”.

The climactic squid battle on the Nautilus was originally shot with a serene sunset and a calm sea. Director Richard Fleischer was troubled by the look of it because the cams and gears that operated the squid could easily be seen, making it look obviously fake. Walt Disney visited the set one day and Fleischer told him about the problem. Disney came up with the idea of having the squid battle take place during a fierce storm (another story is that it was actually screenwriter Earl Felton who came up with the idea). The scene was reshot that way and is considered by many to be the highlight of the film.

One of the models of the Nautilus created by Harper Goff was a “squeezed” version which could be filmed with a standard lens and still look normal when projected in Cinemascope.

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Creature from the Black Lagoon

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Clawing Monster From A Lost Age strikes from the Amazon’s forbidden depths!–Creature from a million years ago!… every man his mortal enemy… and a woman’s beauty his prey!–From the Amazon’s forbidden depths came the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Julia and the Gill Man

Creature From the Black Lagoon showcases Universal’s iconic Gill Man directed by science fiction & noir icon Jack Arnold. (The Glass Web 1953, It Came from Outer Space 1953, Tarantula 1955, The Incredible Shrinking Man 1957, Man in the Shadow 1957, The Tattered Dress 1957) Stars Richard Carlson as Dr. David Reed, Julie Adams as Kay Lawrence, Richard Denning as Mark Williams, Antonio Moreno as Carl Maia, Nestor Paiva as Lucas, and Whit Bissell as Dr. Edwin Thompson.

The Creature or Gill Man is one of the most famous monsters that has endured, and perhaps one of the most emblematic figures of 1950s science fiction. His suit was designed by Bud Westmore and a team of uncredited designers. As Tom Weaver points out the creature suit “is so logical in design that designers of other underwater monsters have to be very careful not too obviously to imitate the monster they are imitating”  Visionary Master Guillermo del Toro’s team of designers and special effects artists did an outrageous job of paying homage to the Gil Man while still maintaining an original, and arresting modern edge to the Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water (2017) The Gill Man still remains the most iconic monster of the 1950s

Creature From The Black Lagoon was also adapted to be shown in 3D! It was after Universal had a hit with Jack Arnold’s It Came From Outer Space in 1953 that they saw the potential for box office success with a science fiction film especially one they could easily adapt to 3D format.

Producer William Alland –(according to writer/historian Tom Weaver)– had heard of a legendary half -man half-fish creature who lived in the upper regions of the Amazon. The Creature suit was extremely form-fitting, too tight to be worn over aquatic breathing equipment. The swimmer would have to hold his breath for extended periods of time. Ben Chapman played the part out of the water wearing ‘the land suit’ modeled with paint (a dark silvery green and red highlights) by Millicent Patrick– Chapman not being a good enough swimmer. Ricou Browning wore the underwater suit which was lighter is color in order to make it stand out in the darker underwater scenes. Because he was able to hold his breath for five minutes, Browning was responsible for the stunning underwater scenes.

“Jack Arnold, started adding fins and gills to a sketch of the Motion Picture Academy’s Oscar statuette, and arrived at the basic look of the new monster. Arnold and Alland did play their originating the design , but actress and artist Millicent Patrick was chiefly responsible for the look of the Gill-Man. At the make up shop, Chris Mueller developed a bust of the Creature using one of Ann Sheridan as the basis. Also contributing to the design were Jack Kevan and Westmore himself, head of the make up division.”

Both Browning and Chapman had full body molds made, so that suit would fit their bodies perfectly. “The result is a remarkably convincing monster, which looks like a suit almost solely because it has to be a suit (…) a tendency fir the suits to look a little rubbery around the joints, The Gill Man is life-like, enough so as to engender a happy suspension of disbelief by most viewers, as the film proved enormously popular.”

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Lucas:-There are many strange legends in the Amazon. Even I, Lucas, have heard the legend of a man-fish.”

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We can sympathize with monsters, like Dr. Victor Frankenstein’s undead creation, & The Gill Man from Creature From the Black Lagoon. We can find our involvement (at least I can), as one viewed with empathy toward the monster's predicament. Embedded in the narrative is a simultaneous pathos, that permits these monsters to express human desires, and then make sure that those desires are thwarted, frustrated, and ultimately destroyed.

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Richard Carlson Julie Adams Richard Denning and Whit Bissell and Dr. Edward Thompson study the fossil of an amphibian man found near the Amazon.
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The crew catches something in their net… and whatever it was… has ripped a giant Gill Man size hole in it leaving behind a claw!

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Mr. ‘It’s mine all mine” and Kay and Mr. “But think of the contribution to science!” looking at the poor trapped Gill Man-a lonely prisoner of scientific hubris and egocentric men.
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The creature trapped in a bamboo cage… floats, quietly thinking deep thoughts–while the three look on pondering what to do with him.

"˜The Outsider Narrative" of 1950s science fiction can be seen so clearly in Jack Arnold’s horror/sci-fi hybrid Creature From The Black Lagoon. Film monsters like The Gill Man form vivid memories for us, as they become icons laying the groundwork for the classic experience of good horror, sci-fi, and fantasy with memorable storytelling and anti-heroes that we ‘outliers’ grew to identify with and feel a fondness for.

As David Skal points out in The Monster Show, he poses that films like Creature From the Black Lagoon …are the “most vivid formative memories of a large section of the {American} population…{…} and that for so many of these narratives they seem to function as “mass cultural rituals.”

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Continue reading “🚀 Keep Watching the Skies! Science Fiction Cinema of the 1950s: The Year is 1954”

🚀 Keep Watching the Skies! Science Fiction Cinema of the 1950s: The Year is 1953

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BUD & LOU, CAT-WOMEN, JEKYLL & HYDE, HOSTILE BRAINS, and HOSTILE MARTIANS… IT CAME FROM… AND MUCH MUCH MORE!

Abbott and Costello go to Mars

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They’re too wild for one world!

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Directed by Charles Lamont. Starring those 2 brilliant comedians Budd Abbott and Lou Costello, as Lester and Orville. With Mari Blanchard as Allura, Robert Paige as Dr. Wilson, Horace McMahon as Mugsy, Martha Hyer as Janie Howe, Jack Kruschen as Harry, and Jean Willes as Capt. Olivia and Anita Ekberg as a Venusian guard.

From Keep Watching the Skies by Bill Warren –“To children in the 1940s and on until the mid-50s, a new Abbott and Costello movie was better than a trip to the circus.”

We all noticed that Bud Abbott was the straight man and Lou Costello was the mechanism to draw out the comic gags. At times Bud even came across as Warren says, “cruel” to Lou and I know for me it made me a bit uncomfortable even back then. Lou was lovable and wasn’t considered an idiot, but rather like a little boy trapped in a man’s body. Again I cite Bill Warren who sums it up beautifully-“His curiosity and haplessness got him into trouble and assured that he would stay there, but the film’s essential unreality always made us feel that Lou and Bud would be out of problems by the end…[…] There was always a sadness to Lou Costello, as there is with almost every clown.”

Go to Mars

Directed by Charles Lamont who did all of Bud and Lou’s films here, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953) Bud plays Lester, a handyman who works for a rocket research institute, and Lou plays Orville, a handyman who works at an orphanage. Of course, the story’s title indicates that they take a trip to Mars when the pair accidentally launch one of the rockets with them on board! They take a short trip, a very short trip as unbeknownst to Lester and Orville they haven’t landed on Mars, but in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. So when the outlandish and bizarre costumes parade around the duo, they have no reason to think they’ve landed on another planet…

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The film co-stars two wonderful character actors Horace McMahon who plays Mugsy  (Naked City tv series 1960s) and Jack Kruschen who plays Harry– both are bank robbers on the lam, who have used spacesuits they stole from the ship as disguise when pulling the heist. The two criminals hide away on the spaceship equipped with paralyzer guns and lots of science fiction gadgets. And it gets launched yet again with our two characters Lester and Orville. This time they are heading for Venus. To go with this silly gendered plot line you’ll have to take it that Venus is run by a Matriarch name Queen Allura (Mari Blanchard)

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Allura banished all the men from the planet 400 years earlier because the King had been unfaithful to her. She also falls in love with Orville. Lou has eyes for Anita Ekberg (who wouldn’t…) she plays a Venusian guard. Queen Allura finds out that Lou is also unfaithful ‘like all men’ and goes crazy with anger. The passengers of the renegade ship manage to get away and crash land back on Earth.  There’s a funny scene as they zip around Manhattan in the ship they make the Statue of Liberty duck then they zoom through the Holland Tunnel giving New York a piece of science fiction slapstick. The film also co-stars Robert Paige as Dr. Wilson, Martha Hyer as Janie Howe, and Jean Willes as Captain Olivia.

In Jim Mulholland’s The Abbott and Costello Book he talks about the film, “The futuristic sets on Venus look expensive , but the film is so silly and is so obviously geared to kiddie matinee audiences that it is almost impossible to endure.”

Well if the adult child in you still adores seeing the antics of Bud & Lou then it should be included in their list of films you want to see.

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Mary Blanchard as Queen Allura.

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Anita Ekberg as a Venusian Guard.

Venusian #1: “What is it?”

Allura: “I could be wrong, but I think it’s a man.”

Venusian #2: “That’s a man?”

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Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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The Laughs Are Twice as MONSTER-OUS as Ever Before!

Again directed by Charles Lamont. Lee Loeb and John Grant wrote the screenplay working from a story by Sid Fields, based on the character from Robert Louis Stevenson’s immortal science-fiction fantasy novel. With camera work by cinematographer George Robinson (Son of Frankenstein 1939, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman 1943, Tarantula 1955)

With make up both Mr. Hyde and the mouse mask by Bud Westmore!

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Our two heroes Slim and Tubby meet Boris Karloff as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde.

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Bud and Lou had already met Frankenstein, Dracula, the Invisible Man, and The Wolf Man, it was just a matter of time until they met the conflicted dual personality of Dr. Jekyll and his darker alter ego Mr. Hyde. It was the first time the boys came up against a monster since 1951.

Bud and Lou are American detectives who tag along with Scotland Yard and come to find out that the menacing Mr. Hyde has been terrorizing London for years. Meanwhile, the mild-mannered Dr. Jekyll is one and the same man… Boris Karloff. Of course, Lou tries so hard to get Bud to believe that the kindly Dr. Jekyll is actually Hyde. The other players in the film include Craig Stevens as Bruce Adams a newspaper reporter who is in love with Vicky Edwards (Helen Wescott) which poses a problem as Dr. Jekyll himself is in love with Vicky as well.

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Bill Warren writes- “This romantic triangle is extremely artificial-Karloff at all time seems avuncular, not predatory-and was apparently added for the obligatory romantic elements, to enlarge the plot beyond Bud & Lou fleeing from Hyde.”

The film shows Warren pointing out a “series of set pieces” as they chase Hyde around a wax museum, filled with homages to other films like wax likenesses of Frankenstein’s monster and Dracula.

Sadly, the film was not well received, people had started to tire of the ‘meet’ films of Bud and Lou and the popularity was waning. Universal had actually been planning a Abbott and Costello Meet the Creature from the Black Lagoon but it never got off the ground.

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Craig Stevens co-stars as Bruce Adams, Helen Wescott as Vicky Edwards, and Reginald Denny as the Inspector with John Dierkes as Batley.

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Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Hyde

Slim: Now look! You can’t make two persons out of one. If there’s a monster, there’s a monster. If there’s a Dr. Jekyll, there’s a Dr. Jekyll. But one can’t be the other.

Tubby: Now listen Slim. All I know is that I locked up the monster and when I came back, Dr. Jekyll was there. You know I’m no magician.

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The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

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FANTASTIC SEA-GIANT CRUSHES CITY!

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Eugène Lourié who was an art director working with Jean Renoir. Directed The Colossus of new York 1958, The Giant Behemoth 1959, and Gorgo 1961. He started out designing ballets in Paris and was the art director for Strange Confession 1944, The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry 1945, Limelight 1952, Shock Corridor 1963, The Naked Kiss 1964, and The Strangler 1964. Eugène Lourié designed one of Renoir’s most influential films, Rules of the Game (1939), he also designed work on The Southerner (1945) Diary of a Chambermaid (1946), and The River (1951) To say the least he has had a wide range of eclectic films.

Eugène Lourié worked with the master Ray Harryhausen on the special effects and the creature which are spectacular!

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Screenplay by Bronx-born Fred Freiberger ( Garden of Evil 1954, Beginning of the End 1957)

The film stars Paul Hubschmid as Professor Tom Nesbitt, Paula Raymond as Lee Hunter, Cecil Kellaway as Prof. Thurgood Elson foremost paleontologist, veteran science fiction hero Kenneth Tobey (The Thing 1951, It Came from Beneath the Sea 1955) as Col. Jack Evans, Lee Van Cleef as Corporal Stone, Steve Brodie as Sgt. Loomis, Ross Elliot as George Ritchie, Frank Ferguson as Dr. Morton, and King Donovan as Dr. Ingersoll.

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A ferocious dinosaur awakened by an Arctic atomic test terrorizes the North Atlantic and, ultimately, New York City. The film begins when they are testing a nuclear device inside the Arctic Circle, which winds up freeing a prehistoric ‘Rhedosaurus’ which is a carnivorous giant beast that walks on four legs and lives under water and can walk on land too! Tom Nesbitt played by Paul ‘Hubsschmid’ Christian is the only survivor to tell about the prehistoric creature, but no one believes his story.

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Eventually the Beast emerges again and sinks a small ship with that survivor telling the same story, identifying the ‘Rhedosaurus’. Cecil Kellaway plays a well known paleontologist that Nesbitt seeks out for help. Now the Beast starts moving toward New York City believed to be the ancestral origin and breeding ground for the Rhedosaurus. It comes ashore on Manhattan, right near the Fulton Fish Market. Elson is lowered in a type of diving bell called a bathysphere so the paleontologist can study the creature up close. Unfortunately he becomes a tasty morsel, a hard candy with a soft center… Yikes!

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It then proceeds to smash and stomp everything in it’s path, until it returns to the river. What complicates things is that while it becomes wounded, they discover that it’s blood is highly infectious and deadly, so they need to find a way to destroy it even more than ever.

The wounded Rhedosaurus takes refuge in an old fair ground on Coney Island near a roller coaster which it takes out it’s aggression on by snapping it like twigs in it’s massive jaws and claws.

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Prof. Thurgood Elson: [in the diving bell, to view the monster] “This is such a strange feeling, I feel as though I’m leaving a world of untold tomorrows for a world of countless yesterdays….[…] It’s unbelievable he’s tremendous!”

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Professor Tom Nesbitt: “The world’s been here for millions of years. Man’s been walking upright for a comparatively short time. Mentally we’re still crawling.”

George Ritchie: [referring to the A-bomb test] “You know every time one of those things goes off, I feel as if I was helping to write the first chapter of a new Genesis.”

Professor Tom Nesbitt: “Let’s hope we don’t find ourselves writing the last chapter of the old one.”

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Cat-Women of the Moon

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SEE THE DEADLY CAVE OF MOON-GOLD!

SEE THE BLOOD-THIRSTY BATTLE OF MOON MONSTERS!

SEE THE LOST CITY OF LOVE-STARVED CAT WOMEN!

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Directed by editor Arthur Hilton, who worked on noir classics  The Killers 1946, and Scarlett Street 1945. The film stars Sonny Tufts as Laird Granger, Victor Jory as Kip Reissner, Marie Windsor as Helen Salinger, William Phipps as Doug Smith, Douglas Fowley as Walt Walters, Carol Brewster as Alpha, Susan Morrow as Lambda, Suzanne Alexander as Beta, Cat-Woman are Bette Arlen, Roxann Delman, Ellye Marshall, and Judy Walsh. originally in 3D– it’s Schlock at it’s very best!

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An American space crew is led by the uptight straitlaced Laird Granger (Sonny Tufts) who does everything by the book, but as Kip (Victor Jory) says “some things aren’t in the book” And that’s for sure when you wind up on a planet with Cover Girls in black leotards. From the moment they leave the base on route to the moon, the crew find themselves in trouble when a meteor creates trouble for the ship, a fire in the bottom of the craft started by acid forces them to land, as suggested by Lt. Helen Salinger who is the ship’s navigator and Laird’s girlfriend. She picks the area in between the dark and light sides of the moon. This makes Kip very suspicious though he’s pretty skeptical about most things that’s why he carries a gun with him at all times.

Don’t be too impressed with Windsor’s character playing a Lt, after they crash land she still has to grab for her compact and fix her face, and powder her nose. Marie Windsor (whom I adore) is sultry and perfectly suited for film noir (Force of Evil 1948, The Sniper 1952, City that Never Sleeps 1953, The Killing 1956, The Narrow Margin 1952 ), and is a joy to see in this film even if it’s a true stinker! She’s much better suited for the science fiction obscure gem that has its shocking moments, The Day Mars Invaded Earth (1963).

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Helen leads the crew when they go out to investigate their surroundings and find a nearby cave, they realize that the atmosphere is exactly the same as it is on earth. There’s water and oxygen and so it is safe to take their space suits off. The gang is attacked suddenly by some cheesy hairy horned spiders which they manage to kill. In the meantime, someone has stolen their spacesuits and helmets. They go deeper into the cave until they stumble onto an ancient Greekesque city inside the moon where they are greeted by women who look like a dance troupe for Martha Graham and Twyla Tharp in their black leotards. Helen slips away to meet Alpha (Brewster) the leader of the Cat-Women who is telepathic.

They are called Cat-Women for no reason I can glean, or that emerges from the entirely silly narrative. Alpha tells Helen- “Our generation predates yours by centuries.”

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The Cat-Women led by Alpha (Carol Brewster) has been in telepathic communication with and controlling Lt.Helen Salinger for years, unbeknownst to the men in the crew. There are no men on the moon but Zeta (Alexander) explains, “We have no use for men.”

Alpha tells Helen-“You are one of us now.”

Alpha has been controlling Helen by imprinting an image of the moon, a white spot on her hand. Once this spot is covered it breaks the control over her.

It’s not that the Cat-Women haven’t been enjoying their lives cavorting around with each other dancing and creeping around in their oh so Mod-erne leotards, it’s that their planet’s atmosphere is breaking up, and in order to survive they must seek out a new planet. So the plan is to steal the crew’s rocket and go to Earth, control the mind of the Earth women, and eventually take over the planet! First, they must truly gain Helen’s male compatriot’s confidence in order to find out how to run the ship.

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Of course, the cynical Kip doesn’t want any part of these gorgeous moon gals…

Kip secretly in love with Helen gets her alone, and puts his arms around her, which breaks Alpha’s spell, and Helen tells him what’s going on.

Once Kip (Jory) figures this out he covers Helen’s hand and quickly asks her three questions, two that inquire whether she’s truly in love with Laird or him, and the other is to find out how to get away.

But Alpha has already gotten information out of Laird and Walt has taken Zeta back to the ship to show her how it operates.

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It was Alpha who helped Helen get her assignment to the space crew. Of course, the men become enamored of Cat-Women in leotards, except for Kip (Victor Jory) who is suspicious of this beguiling tribe of moon temptresses. Walt Willis (Douglas Fowley) wanders off with one of the women to explore the cave that is filled with gold, she stabs him but not before he teaches her how to fly their spaceship. Another of the Cat-Women has fallen for one of the crew members, Lambda (Susan Morrow), falls hard for Doug Smith (Bill Phipps) the radio operator. All she wants is to go back to earth with Doug and romp around on a sandy beach drinking a Coca-Cola.

In this soap space opera, the staid and steady Laird has fallen for Helen, and under a sort of mind control has given all the information the Cat-Women need to take over. They make plans to return to earth with Alpha and Beta (Suzanne Alexander). Lambda tries to intervene but gets brutally conked on the head with a large rock and killed. Kip shoots the evil Zeta and Alpha off-screen, and the remaining earth crew kills the rest of the Cat-Women, escaping with Helen and heading back to earth.

Cat-Women of the Moon is one of those so bad it’s good movies that’s just fun to watch! It’s more space soap opera than science fiction but those girls are so outré Mod-erne in their black leotards BUT no physical attributes that make one think of any similarity to cats, their features or feats of skill… The best part of the film is the dance scene by the Hollywood Cover Girls in their unlike cat costumes. The film was remade in 1959 called Missile to the Moon.

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As Bill Warren illustrates how badly filmed this is and in particular how ‘excruciatingly stupid’ the script and visuals are… (i.e.) the chairs the crew sit in are standard swivel desk chairs that roll around the floor on castors.– “Take the spaceship cabin. Ignoring the fact that it looks like someone’s front room and that down is always in the direction of the floor, even when the ship spins end-for-end in an effort to make the meteor fall off (which it does), there is still enough in the room to make a good technical director faint.”

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Laird Grainger: “The eternal wonders of space and time. The far away dreams and mysteries of other worlds. Other life. The stars. The planets. Man has been face to face with them for centuries, yet is barely able to penetrate their unknown secrets. Sometime, someday, the barrier will be pierced. Why must we wait? Why not now?”

Alpha: “Four of us will be enough. We will get their women under our power, and soon we will rule the whole world!”

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Donovan’s Brain

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Directed by Felix E. Feist (The Devil Thumbs a Ride 1947, The Man Who Cheated Himself 1950)

Based on a story written by Curt Siodmak who wrote the script for The Wolf Man 1941, with the script co-written with director Feist. This above average Science Fiction suspense stars Lew Ayres as Dr. Patrick J. Cory, Gene Evans as Dr. Frank Schratt, Nancy Reagan as Janice Cory, Steve Brodie as Herbie Yokum, Tom Powers as Donovan’s Washington Advisor, Lisa Howard as Chloe Donovan.

Donovan’s Brain is perhaps the caviar of Brain in a Tank films to all the other Velveeta films of that sort. Although it is a remake of the quite engaging Lady and The Monster (1944) and Vengeance (1962) both based on the novel Donovan’s Brain by Curt Siodmak.

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Siodmak’s story has been retold several times, first with director George Sherman’s  The Lady and The Monster (1944) starring Erich von Stroheim, Richard Arlen, and Vera Ralston. Then in 1962, it was re-visioned as a British Sci-fi chiller directed by Freddie Francis called The Brain starring Anne Heyward. Because of Siodmak’s talent for storytelling, the film is an intelligent and compelling film

And there was at least one radio adaptation I believe through the Suspense series, which is a wonderful version, I own cast with Hans Conried, Jerry Hausner, John McIntire, and Jeannette Nolan.

And Boris Leven’s set design lays out the eerie ‘science gone awry’ landscape, with tanks filled with brains, it doesn’t hearken back to Strickfaden’s elaborate mad scientist milieu but it works for this particular science fiction/horror narrative.

Bill Warren-“One of the few sets apparently actually constructed for Donovan’s Brain is the laboratory, which looks satisfactorily jury-rigged and inexpensive. Unlike most ‘mad scientists’, Pat Cory hasn’t bothered to build elaborate consoles with labeled switches. The tank for the brain is literally a large tropical fish tank, again adding to the air of improvised science.”

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Essentially Dr. Patrick Cory (Lew Ayres) and his associate Dr. Frank Schratt (Gene Evans) are doing brain research, they’ve been trying to remove a monkey’s brain and keep it alive outside of the body, though the foundation for doing these experiments aren’t truly spelled out. We just hear that it’s “for the good of humanity.” In these fascinating Science Fiction tales where science hubris and it’s idolization by often well-meaning doctors –often see their experiments go awry.

Assisting them is Pat’s wife, Jan played by Nancy Davis, who had just become Mrs. Ronald Reagan. Now, the experiment with the monkey was encouraging –“A brain without a body, alive!” I suppose in 1953, these three hadn’t met Jan in the Pan (The Brain that Wouldn’t Die 1962), or they wouldn’t have been that excited over the prospect of live brains in tanks looking like a benefit to humanity.

As fate would have it, the same day they have success with the monkey brain, a small plane crashes very close to the lab, being doctors Cory and Schratt are called upon to help the victims. There is but one survivor, a multi-millionaire named Warren H. Donovan. Donovan is close to death so the two operate on him, but it’s no use and the millionaire dies. But, it is Dr. Pat Cory who has the idea –“Science can use Donovan’s brain,” though his wife Jan and partner Frank fervently object at first. “What an idea, stealing a man’s brain”-they go along with Pat’s operating to remove the dead man’s brain and keep it alive in the tank…

In many ways, looking past the sci-fi elements of the story, it is a stark crime thriller about the evils of power. This is also one of those science fiction morality plays that informs us that is it ‘science’ itself that is the villain and is ‘evil and dangerous’, especially in the hands of a scientist, even if he is altruistic at heart. Dr. Pat Cory is a good man, who happened to trigger a very bad series of events. It is a story about “tampering with things man (and women) was not meant to know.” In the end, he tells us, “I did many foolish things.”

The 1953 film is the closest to the novel. Dr. Patrick Cory, the scientist, attempts to save the life of millionaire Donovan “Donovan carried to an extreme the independence of the self-made man”, Dr. Pat Cory, who is working with the research of the powers of the brain, is seduced by the potential of unlocking the secrets of the brain, seizes the opportunity to explore his theories. The danger ensues once he removes Donovan’s brain from the severely damaged body and under very clandestine experimentation, not unlike our old Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Pat Cory manages to keep the brain alive in a tank in his laboratory.

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W.H. Donovan had been a very famous yet shady character in his business dealings, so his death draws a lot of media attention. So Pat and Frank have to keep their experiment a dark secret. The two scientists also run into a free-lance journalist Herbie Yocum played by Steve Brodie, who wants to take some sensational photos like the operating table where Donovan died. This, Pat Cory, agrees to because he doesn’t want to create any suspicion around his death, especially near his laboratory. But Yokum takes a photo of the brain in the tank.

The experiment is a success and Donovan’s brain is taking in all the nourishment it needs to become stronger, it actually begins to increase in size. The equipment in the lab also indicates that there are thought waves occurring in the brain. Donovan’s brain is actually sending out thoughts telepathically. “Donovan’s brain is giving out thoughts. All I have to do is use my brain to receive them.” Pat Cory tells Frank. So he sits in front of the tank and concentrates leaving his mind open, and it works, he goes into a trance and starts to write notes in W.H. Donovan’s handwriting. This terrifies Jan and Frank, who worry about Pat’s state of mind. The next day, Donovan’s brain takes hold of Pat once again, this time actually causing him to limp the same way Donovan used to when he was alive. At this point, Donovan is in complete control of Dr. Pat Cory.

But Donovan alive was a very powerful and ruthless businessman, one of the wealthiest men in the world who is still asserting his influence from his remote tank. He forces his will over the poor scientist and actually possesses Dr. Pat Cory like an evil demon.  Lew Ayres is a wonderful actor who does a great job of playing Dr. Pat Cory. So good at playing sensitive civilized men, here he is at the mercy of a very strong-willed cutthroat, who wants to see his missions carried out as planned right before his plane crashed. Pat charters a plane where he takes Donovan’s favorite suite in a hotel he was famous for hanging out in, and he closes out his bank account for $27,000 that Donovan kept under a false name. He purchases new equipment so the poor doctor can now boost his brain power even more. He even orders suits like the ones Donovan used to wear and takes up his dirty business dealings.

Pat runs into Yocum, who has figured out the truth behind the secretive veil surrounding Donovan’s death/life. He knows that Donovan is still alive and starts to blackmail Pat Cory.

Steve Brodie who plays the smarmy reporter Yocum pays the price of finding out about Dr. Cory’s stealing Donovan’s brain and his plan to blackmail the doctor backfires. It isn’t long before, the ruthless mind of W.H. Donovan takes over Cory’s body again hypnotizing Yocum and sending him off into the desert so he can drive his car off a cliff into a fiery mess…

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Gene Evans is very subtle as the inebriated colleague Dr. Frank Schratt. Donovan forces Dr. Pat Cory to continue his tax evasion scheme. He also cuts Donovan’s children out of his will and plans to have his brain placed in permanent residency at a special installation to house and protect his criminal brain.

Frank tries to shoot the brain in its tank-“It’s unnatural, unholy”-but it forces him to shoot himself instead.

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From Bill Warren- “When the brain takes over, Ayre’s transformation from Good Dr. Cory to Bad W.H. Donovan is subtle and powerful.”

During a moment when Donovan is not in control, Pat Cory takes the opportunity to send a message to his wife, with instructions on how to destroy the monstrous brain, but we do not hear what he instructs her to do. Later Donovan thinks that Frank (Gene Evans) and Janice (Nancy Reagan) are in the way and plans on having them taken care of the same way he did with Yokum. That’s when Frank tries to shoot the brain as it forces him to turn the gun on himself. Once Donovan has taken over Pat Cory’s body fully, the doctor no longer exists. He tries to strangle Janice Cory, during a thunderstorm when a bolt of lightning strikes the lab’s lightning rod, which we now learn was part of Dr. Pat Cory’s instructions. He has hooked up a special conduit so when the bolt of lightning hits, the juice charges the tank and Donovan’s brain becomes fried dumplings.

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Of course, Dr. Pat Cory must pay for his profane crime of tampering with science and using an unauthorized brain in his experiments, but his faithful wife Janice promises to wait for him.

Gene Evans (The Giant Behemoth 1959, Shock Corridor 1963) plays the good friend who drinks too much, but he’s dependable and likable. And have no fear, though he shoots himself he does not die by the film’s end.

Dr. Patrick J. Cory: [after Cory wakes Dr. Schratt up from a drunken stupor] “My dear Dr. Schratt, you sober up with more"”[pauses and shrugs] grace than anyone I ever saw. You’re terrific. C’mon, let’s go.”

Dr. Frank Schratt: “Are you kidding?"”[He hold out his shaking hand]"”Look! Nope.”

Dr. Patrick J. Cory: “Frank, don’t let me down.”

Dr. Frank Schratt: “What’s more useless than a surgeon with a hangover? I’m a drunken zero.! I pass!”

Dr. Patrick J. Cory: “No, you don’t. I’d rather have you do a corneal transplant for me drunk than anyone else sober"”[Pulls him by the arm] Let’s go boy.”

Dr. Frank Schratt: “You’re brilliant but not normal.”

Dr. Patrick J. Cory: [Laughs] “So are you, but are you and who is?”

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Dr. Patrick J. Cory: [after Cory wakes Dr. Schratt up from a drunken stupor] “My dear Dr. Schratt, you sober up with more.” [pauses and shrugs]
… Grace than anyone I ever saw. You’re terrific… C’mon, let’s go.”

Dr. Frank Schratt: “Are you kidding?” [He holds out his shaking hand]
… Look! Nope.”

Dr. Patrick J. Cory: “Frank, don’t let me down.”

Dr. Frank Schratt: “What’s more useless than a surgeon with a hangover? I’m a drunken zero.! I pass!”

Dr. Patrick J. Cory: “No, you don’t. I’d rather have you do a corneal transplant for me drunk than anyone else sober.” [Pulls him by the arm]
… Let’s go boy.”

Dr. Frank Schratt: “You’re brilliant but not normal.”

Dr. Patrick J. Cory: [Laughs] “So are you, but are you and who is?”

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Dr. Patrick J. Cory: -“Perhaps I’ll cure Frank and every other alcoholic if I can solve the mystery of Donovan’s Brain. I think it’s a matter of chemistry how the brain thinks. The problem is to find out what chemical combinations are responsible for success… failure… happiness… misery.”

Janice Cory: “Sounds impossible.”

Dr. Patrick J. Cory: “But it is not. It can’t be. There has to be a way.”

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Four Sided Triangle

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Directed by Terence Fisher this is a rare and obscure little film! Stars Barbara Payton as Lena/Helen, James Hayter as Dr. Harvey, Stephen Murray as Bill, John van Eyssen as Robin, and Percy Marmont as Sir Walter.

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Photo courtesy of Alamy

The 1950s had some memorable science fiction films within the genre that entertained us in the decade that saw the heyday of the illusory American dream"”where the books and films forged out of fantasy were a great release from the anxiety of WWII and the advent of McCarthy Era paranoia. It was a rarity to find American science fiction films of the early 50s that were based on novels of the same name. This was even more of an oddity for British films. Then there was the very provocative Four-Side Triangle, adapted from the novel by William F. Temple and scripted by the prolific Terence Fisher who also directed, and co-scripted by Hungarian-born Paul Tabori who went on to write several science fiction novels himself, the most well-known being The Green Rain. The novel was published in 1939. The first fantasy feature by Hammer with director Fisher that predates his stint with the Hammer brand horror/sci-fi The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Horror of Dracula (1958)

Four-Sided Triangle wasn't received very well, and it's still considered quite dreary and so it remains pretty obscure today.

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And I find it sort of possesses an air of deviance and a serious curiosity piece concerning a love triangle that becomes a twisted kind of quadrangle. The film stars Barbara Peyton who plays a dual role "”the object of both men’s desires.

Lena who returns to her English home town to see her old child hood friends, Robin (John Van EYSSEN) and Bill (Stephen Murray) have invented a machine that can duplicate objects by reconstructing matter into energy. Not unlike the transportation device in The Fly (1958) that messed with atomic particulars that re-assembled matter and then sends it to another location re-assembling it, sans any contamination in the field like let's say a house fly"¦ "Eeeeeee…Help me, Help me!"

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They try out their experimental machine first using a totally innocuous object "” a watch, which they manage to duplicate. Meanwhile, Lena and Robin get engaged and leave to get hitched, leaving Bill to mess around with their new discovery. He uses a living subject instead of just an inanimate object. He's also madly, tragically in love with his brother's girl, Lena. This is where the story becomes if not risqué it bares the element a of twisted Sci-Fi melodrama. His brother Robin returns from the honeymoon and heads out to London on business. Poor lovesick Bill asks Lena to please submit to his very profane request… to allow him to duplicate her, using the machine, so that he may fulfill his desire for her in some way.

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Lena actually agrees to this, and her doppelgänger Helen is born. But as they say careful what you wish for, and while the machine is effective in duplicating the subject, it does exactly that! And what happens"¦ Helen falls in love with her brother Robin as well. Oh, what a tangled web we weave. It's a theme about life's song of irony and the lesson that we shouldn't meddle with nature. The constant trope that runs through most to all Science Fiction stories. Not to play god, not to tamper with the nature of things, nor to be as bold to force our will upon other people or the natural world, at least not without paying the consequences for these sacrilegious actions.

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Of course, Bill is devastated by the outcome, and instead of learning his lesson, he delves deeper into the dark recesses of his lower self and tries to wipe out Helen's memory, in hopes of being able to seduce a blank slate. Bill does wash her mind clean, by electronically eradicating Helen's memory but there is a fire in the laboratory and one of the women is killed.

I'm sorry, but you get what you deserve when you’re willing to create a woman in a machine that mimics the object of your desire. It is pathetic and outré creepy, and it says that any woman will do as long as she's from the same atomic particle ‘mold’ rather than accepting fate. It doesn't create much sympathy, even if it is born out of a broken heart. Get over it, or get a puppy!

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Lena: An empty mind… and a new beginning!

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Invaders from Mars

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Murderous Martian creatures from out of space! From out of space… came hordes of green monsters! Mankind’s oldest fear…The Alien’s last conquest!

Invaders from Mars is innovative designer William Cameron Menzies‘ (Things to Come 1936) landscape of the altered mind, it’s a surreal & beautiful science fiction dreamscape with a screenplay by Richard Blake. Starring Helena Carter as Dr. Pat Blake, Arthur Franz as narrator/Dr. Stuart Kelston, Jimmy Hunt as David MacLean, Leif Erickson as George MacLean, Hillary Brooke as Mrs. Mary MacLean, Morris Ankrum as Col. Fielding, Max Wagner as Sgt. Rinaldi William Phipps as Sgt. Baker, Milburn Stone as Capt. Stone.

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Cinematography by John F. Seitz (The Lost Weekend 1945, Double Indemnity 1944, Sunset Boulevard 1950) and music composed by Raoul Kraushaar (Cabaret 1972)

Invaders From Mars is perhaps one of the most recognizable science fiction gems of the 1950s partially due to William Cameron Menzies’s eye and experience for artistic design, he creates a dreamlike colorful yet terrifying landscape, with the feel of a comic book horror/sci-fi/fantasy. It's a vision of alienation, alien occupation, and paranoia that we can all relate to at some point in our lives. I know it effected me as a kid, while not growing up in the 1950s I certainly was fed a substantial dose of the product of horror/sci-fi/fantasy that came from the contribution of literature and film that preceded my childhood growing up in the following decade of the turbulent 60s.

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The story uses as its protagonist a little boy who experiences a nightmare journey that recycles itself in the end, creating the dreaded sense of entrapment. The young protagonist finds his "Own reality is being twisted into the kind of horror"¦["¦] the story is literally a nightmare."

The story is told from the point of view of David MacLean played by Jimmy Hunt. Bill Warren in his terrific overview of Keep Watching the Skies published by McFarland. "Children operate with a different kind of logic than adults: events proceed from cause to effect, but the causes adults and children see don't produce the same effects, and vice versa. Adults and children are not frightened of all of the same things, nor do they find the same things interesting. It takes a special imagination to achieve this kind of viewpoint."

David is a young star gazer who is awakened one night by a flash of bright light when he looks out his bedroom window and sees a flying saucer land out over the hill. He wakes his parents, George and Mary (Leif Erikson and Hillary Brooke) to inform them of what he's seen. The artistic direction and color palette reminds me of Finnish painter Hugo Simberg. The set pieces have a surreal, simplistic yet fantastical color scheme and composition.

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Menzies art directions were “like a daisy chain” of dream sequences.

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In the morning, Father George goes out to investigate near the place David saw the craft go down, the fence seems to disappear into the sand dune. A mysterious hole in the sand swallows up George, who doesn't return home, his wife phones the police until George suddenly comes back but with a completely different temperament. He seems like a changed man. He has no emotions at all, yet he bares a strange ill-tempered streak, verging on violent when unprovoked he strikes David hard with the back of his hand when David questions him about a strange mark on the back of his neck.

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"Say Dad when you were out there did you see anything?"
"let’s not start that flying saucer nonsense again.'

he notices the implant in the back of his father's neck "Hey Dad" "Yeah what do you want!" "What happened to your neck, it looks like there's a "¦.?"

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Imagine the nightmare of a twist of fate where the people who love you now hate you and the ones who are supposed to keep you safe, become the most dangerous!

The next to disappear in the sand pit are the two policemen Douglas Kennedy and Charles Kane -who called out to find David's father. Once they return they appear to have the same eerie ill mood as George, zapped of any human emotion. Now, when a little girl also disappears, seemingly swallowed up by the sand and disappears in front of David, he tells his mother, but she too returns just as a fire starts in the basement of the little girl’s house. David panics and goes to the police station. Seeking out the symbol of authority and protection right"¦ wrong"¦!

The little guy talks to the chief. "You wouldn't believe me."

"What makes you think the chief will?"

One of the cops who has been taken over by the invaders asks, "What's the trouble, Mac?"
it's a very creepy tone, that seems menacing in its coldness…

David sees that the guy has the same wound on the back of his neck. Pulling his collar over it to conceal it.

When the little guy runs into the police station asking to see the chief, it goes to that place where we feel most vulnerable and the panic sets in when we realize there is no one you can trust, no one to believe you. There is no safe place. And those you love are gone. The threat goes to the issue of trust and a sense of safety and not just about creepy aliens lurking around. A film of paranoia and insecurity.

Spielberg says that Menzies gave himself the license to work on the film doing homages using BERTOLD BRECHTIAN sets because it was a dream. Also, the fear that it kept recurring is the notion that there isn't any escape you can wake up from the nightmare, but it only begins all over again. “It's a trap. It's absurd. it's deadly frightening.”

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There the chief of police Bert Freed has also been taken over by the Martians who have submerged themselves in the land behind his house. David is locked up until a psychologist Dr. Pat Blake played by Helen Carter comes to see him and realizes how genuinely frightened he is. He is petrified when his parents come to pick him up, his mother now showing the same frozen demeanor as his father. So Dr. Blake keeps David in her care and takes him to see a colleague Dr. Stuart Kelston played by Arthur Franz. Dr. Kelston is also an amateur astronomer who not only believes that David saw a spacecraft land in the backfield, but that the earth could very well be under siege by Martians, and an immanent invasion could be near. That they might be trying to interfere with local rocket experiments being launched in the area. And of course, that's where David's father works.

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Invaders from Mars

Kelston has a telescope and he, David, and Dr. Pat Blake see David's father lure General Mayberry (William Forrest) to the sand dune that swallows him up. Soldiers are sent to surround the sand pit, overseen by veteran science fiction supportive actor Morris Ankrum who plays Colonel Fielding alongside Sergeant Rinaldi (Max Wagner). Meanwhile, the Martians are systematically sending out their possessed humans to sabotage the works. The Martians act like puppet masters who can also control their subjects by exploding the devices implanted in their brains –the marks on their necks are where they've been drilled. Lovely thought"¦

David is told that his parents are getting their control devices taken out through surgery, just as the sand trap opens up right under his and Pat's feet, they fall beneath the sand into the underground lair that the Martians have been operating from. We get to see two green Martians who walk like they shuffle (excuse me for saying, back in the day my older brother used to say that they walked as they had shit in their pants) actually these Martians do sort of qualify as "˜pants monsters'.

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Anyway, the two Martians bring David and Pat to the grand Martian leader, a very kitschy Martian –a goldish green head including shoulders with nasty tentacles encased in something like a glass orb. The main Martian telepathically uses its eyes to communicate its creepy menacing power not with squinting veracity but more with a comical sort of soullessness.
The nefarious Martian Intelligence is portrayed by Luce Potter.

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Thank God the military saves the day as Fielding, (poor General Mayberry gets killed), enters the Martian's underground chambers and rescues David and Pat, she was just about to get her brain drilled into it, they blow up the spacecraft. After this climatic scene as David is on the surface running away, he awakens from this nightmare, (the rolling flashback in his head is a terrific touch) as it was truly a nightmare"¦ runs into his parent’s bedroom, thank god the nightmare is over, he goes back to his room falls asleep until he is again awakened by a space craft landing out in the field behind his house, the entire cycle of events to repeat all over again. It's quite a stunning conclusion"¦ that doesn’t give us any release.

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In honoring Menzies incredible eye for design, and how the film was envisioned as if we are experiencing the nightmare through a child's eyes, I defer to the way Bill Warren sums up some of the visual highlights of the film- "The jail set is especially impressive. The only things on the set are those that would impress themselves on a boy; (I'll ignore that presumptive gender bias) there is a police chief, one sergeant at a towering desk, and on the wall behind him a clock with hands that don't move, one cell and one key to the cell. The walls are white and almost not there at all; the hall from the front door to the desk is long and tall, it is a set out of a dream, as if it is only partially real"¦["¦] The interior of the Martian flying saucer is equally imaginative and equally minimal. It's composed almost entirely of greenish plexiglass. There are no instruments visible at all, there are a couple of tubes which reach up out of sight and a large inexplicable hole in the floor. The sphere with the Martian Intelligence inside rests on a pillar, and is brought to it brought to its perch by the giant green mutants."

Not to mention the surreal space behind David's house, the sand pit and the fence that disappears out of site, and the winding trees that melt into space. It's all very much a dreamscape. A reduction of images in which the minimalist elements actually add to the eerie atmosphere the opposite of Grand Guignol and Gothic old dark house set pieces. How can something so simplistic be so menacing? I guess that's why Menzie's film is still so gorgeous to experience today.

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Actor Mark Hamill-"The Invaders From Mars were no angels. They were here to bend our minds. They were the thieves of love and trust. The film was directed by the great art director William Cameron Menzies who gave it a memorably surreal design on a tiny budget."

Director Steven Spielberg talks about how Invaders From Mars turned his world around "it got to a primal place which basically says the first people not to trust is your father and mother."

Director James Cameron "What is the deep-seated psychological fear that's happening here? Maybe it's simple and elemental as you're in a relationship with somebody whether it's a child/parent husband/wife but you never really know what that other person's thinking. And they might be evil."

Steven Spielberg "It certainly touched a nerve among all the young kids like myself who saw that movie at a very young age. That you would come home and that you would not recognize your mom and dad they would have changed into people who hate you."

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When the father hits his son so violently that it knocks him down, as Spielberg says “It's a shattering primal attack on us.”

I had the same reaction, I came home one night and felt like my parents had been exchanged somehow. they were not cruel like David’s parents in Invaders from Mars, yet I felt that they were somehow duplicates. I walked around the block for an hour afraid to go inside the house. These movies certainly made impressions in that deep-rooted primal way. The subtleties of films like Invaders from Mars will still leave their mark on your psyche.

The giant green Martian Mutants must have zippers up the back of their velour costumes"¦

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The idea of not being believed works as a trope and it possesses a powerful persuasive tone that seeps inside and effects you as a kid watching Invaders From Mars.

All of a sudden, parents turn into aliens, monsters, and cruel. It could be a metaphor for any number of difficult issues children might confront, like alcoholism, abuse, etc. It is the changes that the child experiences in private which they cannot convey to people outside the home, that tell the story of alienation and estrangement. It is a terrifying journey they must navigate on their own, while they try to negotiate what is happening to them.

The ship has crashed into the land, over the hill. The sand sinks down like quicksand that drags down anyone who walks over it. The mutants who walk like my brother used to say to me like they've got shit in their pants, worship and serve this giant tentacled head in a glass orb. The whole vision of the ground "˜literally' collapsing where you stand. it gives the idea that you can't even feel safe where you stand. It will suck you down into the bowels of the earth where evil creatures will turn you into a mindless image of yourself.

Spielberg says "What really unseats you as a child seeing that movie? it's all a dream. He wakes up and his mom's normal and his dad is normal and they don't believe him, but what happens in the last scene."

“It starts all over again"¦Â  It's the groundhog day of science fiction "”lol I thought the same thing Spielberg. that's pretty much what it is"¦. he'll just go through the whole loop and then wake up over and over again. There's a twilight zone episode like that where Dennis Weaver keeps getting sentenced to death by a jury and goes through the execution only to wake up and do it all over again"¦ Spielberg puts it like this "It'll be a never-ending mirror tunnel of nightmares.”

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Narrator: The heavens. Once an object of superstition, awe, and fear. Now a vast region for growing knowledge. The distance of Venus, the atmosphere of Mars, the size of Jupiter, and the speed of Mercury. All this and more we know. But their greatest mystery the heavens have kept a secret. What sort of life, if any, inhabits these other planets? Human life, like ours? Or life extremely lower in the scale? Or dangerously higher? Seeking the answer to this timeless question, forever seeking, is the constant preoccupation of scientists everywhere. Scientists famous and unknown. Scientists in great universities and in modest homes. Scientists of all ages.

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It Came from Outer Space

It Came From Outer Space poster

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XENOMORPHS INVADE OUR WORLD! They can look like humans or change to objects of awesome terror!–From Ray Bradbury’s great science fiction story!–Amazing Sights Leap at You in 3-DIMENSION

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From a story by the master of fantasy and science fiction Ray Bradbury

The science fiction film that brought us the amorphous bubbly one-eyed Xenomorph.

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Jack Arnold’s amazing foray into an alien crash landing that involves stolen identity, invasion fear, and the possibility that life on other planets might be benevolent but still really really creepy.

The film stars Richard Carlson as displaced reporter John Putnam, the wonderful Barbara Rush as Ellen Fields, Charles Drake as jealous Sheriff Matt Warren, Joey Sawyer as Frank Daylon, Russell Johnson as George, and Kathleen Hughes as June.

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Art direction by Robert F. Boyle (North by Northwest 1959, In Cold Blood 1967, Cape Fear 1962, The Thomas Crown Affair 1968) and Cinematography by Clifford Stine (This Island Earth 1955, The Incredible Shrinking Man 1957, Touch of Evil 1958, Imitation of Life 1959, Operation Petticoat 1959, Spartacus 1960, Patton 1970) Read Stine’s credits on IMBd they are far too many to list! The mesmerizing musical score is by an un-credited Henry Mancini, Irving Gertz, and Herman Stein. The memorable visual effects are by David S. Horsley-(The Killers 1947, Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein 1948, This Island Earth 1955) It Came From Outer Space was also filmed in the sensationally hyped 3D!

It Came From Outer Space 1955 Carlson and Rush

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The music is wonderfully inspiring to the mood, especially with the desert’s sense of estrangement and when the presence of the Xenomorphs is near. I think they use it as some of the stock music for Night of the Living Dead"¦ I need to check that out… From what I see about their contributors I cannot link to any of the three music contributors to It Came from Outer Space… but I always get a thrill when the ‘coming near’ motif music happens in both!

In reading Bill Warren'sKeep Watching the Skies his overview of It Came from Outer Space, gets into the discrepancies about Ray Bradbury's full participation in writing the screenplay, being totally replaced by Harry Essex who is credited for the screenplay, if it was his memory that was failing in recollecting what happened or if he had been misunderstood and his work co-opted by Essex because Universal didn't like Bradbury's treatment of the script. Warren is totally supportive of Bradbury being an un-credited contributor to the script. While he delves into the weeds a bit more about the mystery and contradictions of the facts behind – the- scenes, I think I'll just stick with Jack Arnold's beautifully executed science fiction masterwork here. But the entire section on the film is fascinating if you want a good read and 1950s science fiction is of particular interest, pick up a copy of Keep Watching the Skies by Bill Warren, it's a sensational compilation of a decade of gems and stinkers, informative, funny engaging even including old published reviews of the films during the time of their theatrical release. I highly recommend it.

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First of all, this is one of those science fiction films that's actually a really good film, with so many elements that work fabulously to transcend genre. This is one of the first major studios Universal – International to release a film in 3D, and one of the first to be shown in what was called wide screen and in stereophonic sound.

It was also the first science fiction film to be directed by Jack Arnold. (YAY!!!) The first using the southwestern desert as a location"” the Mojave desert to be exact and not the Arizona desert as plotted out in the story"”Donovan's Brain was set there but made little use of the area as a central focal point. The desert already has an eerie, isolated vibe to it"¦

The film stars Richard Carlson as John Putnam and Barbara Rush as Ellen Fields.
Ray Bradbury wrote the original story on which the film is based, He was at the height of his writing with The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, and Fahrenheit 451 which brought his genius to light.

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The story opens as a meteor cuts through the evening sky like a glowing fireball high above the alienating desert landscape. For the locals, this brings about many different reactions, including that of John Putnam, an amateur astronomer who's having dinner with his fiancee Ellen Fields. This gets John so excited that he immediately wants to drive out to the sight to investigate. He and Ellen hop on a helicopter and go and see where the meteor left a large crater.

Meanwhile, from the view of whatever the alien life force is, it moves from the crashed spacecraft, revealing that it wasn't a meteor at all. "”"Bradbury describes quick shots of animals fleeing in fright from the alien visitor. The jackrabbit, for instance. At this point, he does not mention the use of a subjective camera technique, which has so often been commented on in relation to the film." -Bill Warren.

Putnam arrives at the crater and approaches the object that has crash landed in a gaping hole, nearly burned to molten rock. Suddenly a landslide occurs and covers up the opening and the spaceship.

Bill Warren–In a sequence (not in the finished film) almost certainly suffused by Billy Wilders' Ace in the Hole /The Big Carnival 1951, which also took place in the Southwestern desert, earth moving machinery arrives in an effort to uncover the buried pilot. No one believes Putnam's story. Eventually everyone give up and goes home, including Ellen and Putnam. A strange shape crosses the highway in front of them, they stop to look for whatever it was and a Joshua tree in the dark frightens Ellen, but they do not see the strange shape again. The alien, with the first-person camera emphasized (the camera's point of view is the Alien's) watches them leave.

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The next day Putnam is interviewed by hostile reporters. A few days later, the excitement of the meteor has died down. They drive into the desert alone. stopping to look around. "It's alive," says Putnam "It looks so dead out there. And yet, it's all alive and waiting around us and ready to kill you if you go too far from the road. The sun will get you, or the cold at night, or the snakes and the spiders or a sudden rain that floods the washes will get you. Ohm there are a thousand ways you can die in the desert."

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Here's Essex's version of the same scene, which is in the film, "It's Alive." says Putnam. Ellen nodding adds, "And yet it looks so dead out there." Putnam goes on. "But it's all alive and waiting for you"¦ And ready to kill you if you go too far. The sun will get you or the cold at night"¦ a thousand ways the desert can kill." There isn't much difference though some of the dialogue is shared by Ellen which is a nice touch.

Putnam and Ellen drive on and meet the phone linemen. Putnam climbs up the ladder to listen to the strange sounds on the wire that the linemen have been noticing since the crash. The elder lineman says "”

 

–"In all my years nothing like that sound. Like Someone's on the line. Down that way maybe, tapping the wire. Or up the other way, tapping the wire. listening to unlike we're listening to him"¦ After you been working out in this desert for fifteen years like I have you get funny ideas. There's that sun in the sky and the heat, and look at the roads, full of mirages. And the sand out there, full of rivers and lakes that are fifty, a hundred miles away"¦. And sometimes you get to thinking maybe some nights, or some noons like this noon, the sun burns on the wires and gets in the wires and listens and hums and talks like this talk and that's what you hear now. And sometimes you wonder if some of the snakes and the coyotes and the tumbleweeds don't climb the poles at noon, far off where you can't see them, and listen in on us human beings."

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"Once again, Essex condenses and duplicates this speech without understanding the poetic paranoia behind the words. Fortunately, director Jack Arnold and actor Joe Sawyer did, and the scene is one of the most famous and best like in the finished film."-Bill Warren.

Putnam and Ellen decide to help the linemen find out what's happening to the wires and head off in the opposite direction from the one the linemen take. The linemen meet the alien, the scene cuts to Putnam and Ellen. who turn around and go back. They meet the alien masquerading as the younger lineman (Russell Johnson) When he quietly walks up and taps Putnam (Ellen in the film)  on the shoulder, Putnam spots a body behind a mesquite bush, assumes the linemen are dead, and that is what he is talking to isn't human.

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The scene that follows, one of the only two in the film in which Putnam is not the central figure, was added to the screenplay by Essex. In it, the alien George (Russell) tells the real Frank (Sawyer) that they have landed by accident and that they have the power to make themselves look like us.

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Bill Warren passionately tries to defend and clarify this. "I could continue through the entire storyline in this fashion, it would be profitless. Despite all claims by everyone else to the contrary, the story and the best elements of It Came From Outer Space were written by Ray Bradbury, not by Harry Essex. Because of the many influences of this film, Ray Bradbury's therefore far more responsible for the look, the feel, and the approach of 1950s science fiction movies than he has ever been acknowledged or even suspected before."

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In the finished film the aliens apparently literally take on the form of other people, they are actual shape shifters their bodies are malleable enough that they can actually restructure themselves to resemble anyone. In Bradbury's script, the effect is the same but the power seems to come from hypnosis "”the aliens resemble lizards in Bradbury's treatment.

I learned something really interesting from reading Warren’s analysis of the film. I myself have often confused Richard Carlson with Hugh Marlowe at times. Here is partly the answer to that

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"In the draft actually called It Came from Outer Space, almost all of the film that was to be was created by Ray Bradbury. In this draft (begun October 1, 1952) Bradbury emphasized scenic and character descriptions much more strongly than the had in his earlier drafts. probably on studio orders. In so doing he created the standard science fiction her of the 1950. who was to be played by Richard Carlson or the nearest equivalent through most of the rest of the decade. Hugh Marlowe, John Agar, Jeff Morrow, Rex Reason. The characters they played were almost always variations on John Putnam the dedicated slightly strange and earnest young researcher. The actors often physically resembled Carlson."

When it all comes down to it, what Bill Warren is asserting is that he found evidence that Essex’s script was a duplication of Ray Bradbury's treatment, meaning the result –he isn't getting the credit for his contribution and Essex is getting credit for Bradbury's work. And he feels that what Essex did manage to change slightly, didn't work at all, including inventing some of the poorly envisioned scenes.

What does happen by the end of Bradbury's final draft is how his incredibly fluid and convoluted description of these aliens came to life as close to the poetic description Bradbury put forth. The few times the aliens show themselves they are hard to assess, in form, with the emphasis on their milky jelly-like eye in a gigantic impression of a head, surrounded by a foggy mist, with sparkles and glistens like a jello mold "¦ but in the end, the film shows them as close to their poetic description that Bradbury had envisioned. Different than some man in a lizard-type pants monster suit with bug eyes, or layers of monster make-up, the floating amorphous alien really does seem to exist on the extra-terrestrial plane.

"One of his main contributions to It Came from Outer Space seems to have been the shimmering bullseye effect used whenever the camera "˜is' one of the aliens. The subjective camera "playing' the aliens at time is Bradbury's idea. but the refinements seem to have been Jack Arnold's–Bill Warren

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Another aspect of these aliens is that they are not quite hostile, though they are not benign either. it's sort of a unique view of them. They are panicked and desperate to get off the Earth, and get back to their original destination "Our mission was to another world, only an error dragged us to Earth" Some of the aliens, such as the one in the guise of Ellen that tries to kill Putnam, are indeed hostile to people. Others are just nervous, such as the Putnam duplicate. or openly friendly, like the one that copied George the lineman. In short, just like real people, they don't have a common attitude they are not of one mind. They reveal an individual spirit. It's quite a break away from them from other aliens who are a collective group on a mission, unified.

This being director Jack Arnold's first science fiction film leads with a focus on how the alien relates to this world he has invaded. The result is that his films seem less fanciful and more realistic than most others of this period, such as The Incredible Shrinking Man 1957.

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Ellen Fields: If we’ve been seeing things, it’s because we DID see them.

Sheriff Matt Warren: [three-shot, characters gazing toward sky into which meteor-spaceship has rocketed] Well, they’ve gone.

Ellen Fields: For good, John?

John Putnam: No. Just for now. It wasn’t the right time for us to meet. But there’ll be other nights, other stars for us to watch. They’ll be back.

 

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Continue reading “🚀 Keep Watching the Skies! Science Fiction Cinema of the 1950s: The Year is 1953”

🚀 “Keep watching the skies!” Science Fiction cinema of the 1950s- The year is 1951- Part 1

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BENEVOLENT VISITORS FROM SPACE, DREADFUL BEGINNINGS, UNKNOWN WORLDS, FUNNY MEN, LONE SURVIVORS, INVISIBLE BOXERS AND KILLERS GORILLAS.

Two Lost Worlds

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Directed by Norman Dawn the film stars James Arness as Kirk Hamilton, Kasey Rogers as Elaine Jeffries, Bill Kennedy as Martin Shannon, Pierre Watkin as Elaine’s father, Magistrate Jeffries, Gloria Petroff as Janice Jeffries, Tom Hubbard as John Hartley, Jane Harlan as Nancy Holden, Tom Monroe as Captain Tallman, Michael Rye as Captain Hackett, and Fred Kohler Jr.as sailor Nat Mercer.

In 1830, on the American clipper ship named ‘The Queen’ first Mate Kirk Hamilton is assailed by bloody pirates led by Captain Hackett. Kirk is brought ashore to treat his wounds, where he meets Elaine Jeffries and the two fall in love. But Elaine is engaged to rancher Martin Shannon and of course a the male rivalry begins. Once again the ruthless Captain Hackett raids and plunder the colony and kidnap Elaine and her little friend Nancy Holden. Which leads Kirk and Martin Shannon to rescue them from the pirates and various dinosaurs that inhabit the volcanic island!

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Two Lost Worlds Nancy Holden and a dinosaur this aint Alice through the Looking Glass

This ain’t Alice through the looking glass!

Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man

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Directed by Charles Lamont a satirical look at H.G. Wells’ story with our two funny men Bud Abbott and Lou Costello at the center! The film also stars Arthur Franz as boxer Tommy Nelson, Nancy Guild as Helen Gray, Adele Jergens as Boots Marsden, William Frawley as Detective Roberts and Sheldon Leonard as Boots Morgan…

Comedy didn’t escape the horror genre so it certainly didn’t lose time letting Abbott & Costello have a crack at The Invisible Man! By the 1950s they needed gimmicks to seduce their fans into adoring them again. The pair play Bud Alexander and Lou Francis amateur private eyes, hired by boxer Tommy Nelson (Arthur Franz) who’s been accused of killing his manager, to clear his name of the murder. Tommy takes scientist Helen Gray’s serum that produces invisibility. In a hilarious scene Lou poses as a boxer while the invisible Tommy is really doing all the slugging. Of course the duo find the real killer!

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ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN, Bud Abbott, Arthur Franz, Lou Costello, 1951
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Det. Roberts: [Tommy Nelson is gone] How did he get out?

Lou Francis: Installments.

Det. Roberts: Installments?

Lou Francis: Yeah, he did a Gypsy Rose Lee, come here!

[they find Tommy’s clothes lying about]

Lou Francis: That, that’s all that’s left of him.

Det. Roberts: Evidently Nelson changed clothes… what was he wearing when you last saw him?

Lou Francis: Air… nothing but air… and then he asked me how he looked.

Det. Roberts: Wearing air? What are you talking about?

Lou Francis: I went to shake his hand, his hand was gone, I looked up to speak to him, his head was gone. Then he took off his shirt, his body was gone, he took off his pants, his legs were gone! Then he spoke to me, I was gone.

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Bride of the Gorilla

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Director Curt Siodmak, (director The Magnetic Monster 1953 & Curucu The Beast of the Amazon 1956, Black Friday, The Ape and The Invisible Woman 1940-story/screenplay, The Wolf Man 1941-screenplay, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman 1943, Son of Dracula 1943-screenplay, I Walked with a Zombie 1943-screenplay )

Bride of the Gorilla stars the gorgeous Barbara Peyton as Mrs. Dina Van Gelding, Lon Chaney Jr. as Police Commissioner Taro, Raymond Burr plays it cool as Barney Chavez , Tom Conway as Dr. Viet, Paul Cavanagh as Klaas Van Gelder , Giselle Werbisek as Al-Long, Carol Varga as Larina, Woody Strode as Nedo the Policeman. and Steve Calvert as the Gorilla.

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“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked!Klaas Van Gelder

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Raymond Burr plays Barney Chavez who manages a plantation in the jungles of South America. He desires his boss plantation owner Klaas Van Gelder’s wife and in order to get his wife Dina he murders him in cold blood. But he is vexed by the old witch Al-Long who has seen his crime, he believes that he has been cursed to become a nocturnal gorilla run amok

Deep in the South American jungle plantation manager Barney Chavez (Raymond Burr) kills his elderly employer in order to get to his beautiful wife (Barbara Payton). However, an old native witch witnesses the crime and puts a curse on Barney. Does he really transform into a killer ape by night or is the curse just a matter of suggestion, and psychological head games pressing on his guilt. He is driven mad believing that he is the ‘jungle demon-the succarat’.

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Police Commissioner Taro: [narration] This is Jungle – lush, green, alive with incredible growth – as young as day, as old as time. I, Taro, Police Commissioner of Itman County, which borders the Amazonas River, know it as well as any man will ever know it. Isn’t it beautiful? But I have also learned that beauty can be venomous, deadly, something terrifying, something of prehistoric ages when monstrous superstitions ruled the minds of men, something that has haunted the world for millions of years rose out of that verdant labyrinth. Let me tell you how the jungle itself took the law into its own hands. This was Van Gelder Manor, built to stand against the searing sun, built to shelter generations of Van Gelders, it also has become prey to the powers of the jungle, that terrifying strength that arose to punish a man for his crimes.

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The Day the Earth Stood Still

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🚀 KLAATU BARADA NIKTO

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Directed by the master who started out as an editor working with Val Lewton,  Robert Wise, created this iconic film which gave the science fiction genre a level of artistic authenticity. It’s memorable and sensational for so many of us because of  Wises’ directing, Leo Tover’s photography, acting by a stellar cast led by Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal and the art direction, set design and spectacular visual effects.

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Michael Rennie plays Klaatu a visitor from another world, millions of miles away from Earth who brings a very dire yet hopeful message to us earthlings. “We have come to visit you in peace and with goodwill.” Klaatu appears essentially as a heavenly angel on a mission of mercy.

Klaatu has been sent as a representative by an organization of planets who have found a way to curb their tendencies toward war by installing other powerful robots like Gort to police them, “In matters of aggression we have given them absolute power over us!” Well, that’s a very provocative statement to make coming from Hollywood in the midst of The Cold War, but hey it’s one method, albeit a dangerous one, as Klaatu explains that “This power cannot be revoked. At first signs of violence they act automatically  against the aggressor. The penalty for provoking their action is too terrible too risk.” The violation implies that their planet will be destroyed, which is what Klaatu warns the Earth about. Yes, Klaatu you haven’t achieved perfection with this system but you say it works. So does every dictatorship and totalitarian state.

Of course Michael Rennie is also not at all difficult to listen to as he isnt’ a 10 foot one eyed amorphic blob or a grotesque pants monster. Writer/Film historian Bill Warren mentions this inaccuracy in his book and cites Erich von Däniken. He was an ancient alien theorist claimed that if aliens had visited before they could come again. Perhaps they left a few travelers behind who shacked up with earthlings and voilà thousands of years later you have a very sophisticated and silky talking Brit who looks smashing in a custom tailored suit.

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Patricia Neal is beautiful in that retiring style of  hers as widow Helen Benson, Hugh Marlowe plays insurance man Tom Stevens, the wonderfully sage Sam Jaffe plays Professor Jacob Barnhardt, Billy Gray plays Bobbie Benson, Frances Bavier runs the rooming house (another Aunt Bea) as Mrs. Barley, and Lock Martin is lurking inside that great robot silver pants-suit called Gort!

There are tiny bitty part for Stewart Whitman plays a sentry, Olan Soule has a bit part as Mr.Krull, Dorothy Neumann as operator Margaret and Richard Carlson as Thomas Stevens Jr. and few more familiar character actors we all love!

Part of the charm of this film for me on a side note is seeing three of The Andy Griffith Show players like Dorothy Neumann who plays Otis Campbell’s wife, Olan Soule who plays hotel clerk / prissy choir leader Mr. Masters, and of course Francis Bavier the lovable Aunt Bea.

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Dorothy Neumann as Rita Campbell isn’t always just barking at Otis or pouring his hootch down the drain. She’s been a hard working character actress in so many television shows and films you probably love! (The Snake Pit 1948, Sorry, Wrong Number 1948, she was Helen Lawson’s maid in Valley of the Dolls 1967

Leo Tover is at the helm of the camera, and captures the feeling of a world in befuddlement as well as framing many scenes with a noir sensibility as he had shot so skillfully before with The Snake Pit 1948, The Secret of Convict Lake 1951, and A Blueprint for Murder 1953. Art direction by Addison Hehr and Lyle R. Wheeler (Gone with the Wind 1939, Rebecca 1940, All About Eve 1950, Compulsion 1959) The post-modern expressionist Art Deco interior ship design is out of this world by Set direction by Thomas Little (The Grapes of Wrath 1940, All About Eve 1950)

The flying saucer or space-craft which allegedly cost $100,000 was modeled after actual sightings that were very popular and becoming rampant during that time in the 1950s And of course there's always Bernard Herrmann's use of the theremin that just quivers my strings.

Thanks to the direction of Robert Wise (one of my personal favorite directors), The Day the Earth Stood Still is considered one of THE best and most beloved American Science Fiction films of the fifties. One of the interesting themes that runs through the movie is how Christ-like or archetypal Savior figure Michael Rennie's character Klaatu is– as he comes to save the Earth from their violent ways, and from themselves–in the end only to sacrifice his own life for the cause, then to be resurrected –moving on leaving his grave warning in our laps.

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Day the Earth STood Still Lincoln

Day the Earth stood Still at the monument washington SAVIOR IMAGE

Day the Earth Stood Still People Watch as Klaatu approaches crowd

Day the Earth stood STill the army aims

Day the Earth Stood Still 1951 Klaatu is shot by the army

Day the Earth stood still the miliary waits

Day the Earth Stood Still Klaatu is down

Day the Earth stood Still Gort comes out of ship after Klaatu is shot

Gort, the menacing “interstellar policeman” from the science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) was a very tall man in the robot suit, and its smooth design posed several practical problems for shooting. Because it was made of flexible neoprene overall, similar to a skin diver’s wetsuit, the props team had to fabricate two suits that laced up in order to keep the fastenings out of sight while filming Gort moving:

One suit laced up at the back (for frontal shots), and the second, which laced up from the front, was used for the shots in which Gort was seen from behind. The neoprene suit creased at the hips, back knees, and front elbows when the actor inside moved, giving the impression of being made from a flexible alien metal. The filmmakers diminished the effect somewhat by keeping Gort’s movements to a minimum or by only shooting his upper body when he walked. – From Wikipedia

Day the Earth Stood Still Klaatu gets up atfer shot meets the military

The film does work as a allegory during the Cold War era which warns us against our transgressions and wicked tendencies toward violent aggression. Klaatu arrives in his spacecraft with his robot companion a gleaming and imposing silver giant named Gort. Klaatu has been sent by an inter-planetary federation that fears Earth will use the atomic-bomb to destroy the universe in the not too distant future, and warns that if they do not stop their aggressive behavior, they will be blown to bits. Met by the military Klaatu extends an olive branch in the form of a gadget that they interpret as a weapon even though he tells the people of Earth "We have come to visit you in peace and in good will". But they begin firing upon him wounding him and imprisoning him in a hospital where he escapes and assumes the identity of a gentlemanly earthling. Bernard Herrmann’s signature melodic motif of tumult underscores a wonderful scene as authority figures search frantically for Klaaut, and Wise shows the public in various rapt by their radios and television set, reading newspaper headlines about the missing space man!

day-the-earth-stood-still-prisoner at the hospital

Day the Earth Stood Still-lets just say we're neighbors Mr Hardy-it's hard to think of another planet as neighbors

After Mr. Hardy who comes to interview Klaatu asks where he comes from Klaatu tells him that he’s traveled millions of miles to this planet Klaatu –“lets just say we’re neighbors” Mr Hardy-“It’s hard to think of another planet as neighbors.”

day the earth stood still Klaaut is missing from the hospital

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Day the Earth Stood Still the roomers see Mr.Carpenter in the doorway of the rooming house

Day the Earth Stood Still Maj.Carpenter arrives at the rooming house

In the meantime Klaatu takes a small Washington boarding house as a mild mannered Maj. Carpenter where he meets Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) and develops a poignant relationship with she and her son Bobby (Billy Gray). Helen is being wooed by insurance agent Tom (Hugh Marlowe) who turns out to be as aggressive and dangerous as the majority of antagonists in the film.

Taking the name from the tag on a borrowed jacket he’s wearing, Klaatu takes the identity of Major Carpenter. When he arrives at the rooming house everyone is stunned at first, as he stands in the shadows.

Day the Earth Stood Still Maj. Carpenter Arrives

Day the Earth Stood Still rennie neal and marlowe

Day the Earth Stood Still a meal at the rooming house

Mr. Krull “It’s enough to give you the shakes. He’s got that robot standing there, 8 feet tall just waiting to just waiting for orders to destroy us!”

Day the Earth Stood Stil at the dinner table

Helen- “This space man or what ever he is, we automatically assume he’s a menace. Maybe he isn’t at all… {…after all he was shot the minute he landed here } I was just wonder what I would do?” Maj. Carpenter-Well perhaps deciding on a course of action he would want to know more about the people here. To orient yourself in a strange environment.”

Day the earth stood still Mrs Barley -he comes right here from earth

Mrs. Barley-“If you want my opinion he comes from right here on Earth!”

Olan Soule , John Brown as George Barley and Francis Bavier, Patricia Neal and Michael Rennie as Maj. Carpenter are having a meal at the rooming house.

Day the Earth Stood Still Maj Carpenter sits with PAtirica Neal 3

Klaatu wants to walk among the people of earth to try and understand their, "strange, unreasoning attitudes." As Phil Hardy says Robert Wise's film works so well because of his masterful balance of the "˜ominous allegory with the sub-plot of Rennie's attempt to discover what humans are really like.'

Day the Earth stood Still Klaatu in Bobbys room with Patricia

In an amazing scene, where he shows his benevolent nature, Bobby catches his new friend at the blackboard in the Professors lab and solving a complex equation that he had been struggling with, in a few seconds. Bobby asks if the Professor had done it wrong, Klaatu tells him "It just needs a little help."

benevolent Klaatu solves a problem

Klaatu also is befriend by the kindly, wise and brilliant scientist Professor Jacob Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe) who recognizes that Klaatu is not a threat nor a false prophet and reflects the better nature of humankind.

You have faith, Professor Barnhardt?- Klaatu

"Our problems are very complex Klaatu, you mustn't judge too harshly"Professor Barnhardt

"I can judge only by what I see." –Klaatu

" Your impatience is quite understandable' –Professor Barnhardt

"I'm impatient with stupidity" –Klaatu

Day the Earth Stood Still Sam Jaffe at the blackboard

Professor Barnhardt: It isn’t faith that makes good science, Mr. Klaatu, it’s curiosity. Sit down, please. There are several thousand questions I’d like to ask you.

Day the Earth Stood Still Klaatu and Patricia noir frame hiding from the miliary

Robert Wise and cinematographer Leo Tover know how to paint a film noir canvas within the realm of science fiction The Day the Earth Stood Still bares a striking resemblance to many great noir pictures and their familiar tropes… not the least the misunderstood man on the run forced into the shadows, aided by a good women who has faith in him!

Day the Earth Stood Stil Patricia Neal and Michael Rennie

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" Michael Rennie, Hugh Marlowe, & Patricia Neal 1951 20th **I.V.
“The Day the Earth Stood Still”
Michael Rennie, Hugh Marlowe, & Patricia Neal
1951 20th
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Day the Earth STood Still Bobby discovers Klaatus secret

Bobby follows his friend Maj. Carpenter/Klaatu and discovers his secret! In a panic he runs and informs his mother all about it. She tells him he’s been dreaming again, but she also happens to be with Tom (Hugh Marlowe) who is just waiting to get Maj. Carpenter out of the picture and sets the end in motion.

day the earth stood still bobby sees Klaatu with Gort go into his ship

Day the Earth stood still Klaatu goes into ship to stop the earth

Day the Earth Stood Still stunning visual inside ship to stop the earth

The set design and use of lighting lends to the magnificent & moody atmosphere of the film.

Day the Earth Stood Still-Annex - Rennie, Michael

As the title of the film suggests… it's striking when the moment emerges and everything stops, or stands still.

Klaatu sets the wheels in motion to stop the motion all over the earth! And so everything grinds to halt not only all means of transportation in this modern world, trains, ships, automobiles and buses, tools of industry cease like– farming machines that milk the cows, power stations and factories. Even the creature comforts people take for granted, like washing machines which are left with puddles of sopping clothes, milkshakes that don’t get shook and those poor people at the top of the roller coaster at the amusement park … A nation wide man hunt for the space man begins!

Day the Earth stood Still paper Are we long for this world

New York the streets have clammered to a halt

London all has stalled

London piccadilly circus is shut down people in the streets

Russia nothing works the roads filled with cars

Russia the people stand around

traines stop working

cars in the street and buses wont start

washing machines leave soaking messes

stuck on a rollercoaster

stuck on a rollercoaster 2

Day the earth stood still after thing stop people gather by the ship and GORT

Day the Earth STood Still the reporter

Reporter: I suppose you are just as scared as the rest of us.

Klaatu: In a different way, perhaps. I am fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason.

Day the Earth Stood Still the army plans

day-the-earth-stood-still-Patricia Neal and Michael Rennie

He tells Helen "If anything should happen to me, you should go to Gort"¦ You must say these words, Klaatu Barada Nikto. You must remember these words.”

Day the Earth Stood Still GORT blasts two soldiers

day the earth stood still GORT blasts two soldiers decompose into light

day the earth stood still patricia neal encounters GORT

day the earth stood still patricia neal gets frightened of GORTS imposing nature

day the earth stood still GORT stands at the ready lit up

day the earth stood still patricia neal cowers as GORT hovers

day the earth stood still GORT stands before patricia neal viser closed

day the earth stood still patricia neal cowers in corner noir frame fear

Day The Earth Stood Still Gort Carries

day-the-earth-stood-still-GORT on ship with Patricia Neal

Day the Earth STood Still -the resurrection of Klaatu:Christ

Gort resurrects the Christ-like Klaatu

Day the earth stood still GORT close up

In the end, he is gunned down which summons the ire & wrath of Gort who opens up his metallic visor and lets loose a laser beam killing the soldiers. Consistent with the theme of deliverance and resurrection Gort brings Klaatu back to life and ascends like an other-worldly angel from the Earth to return to his delegation leaving behind the message that they either learn to live in peace or be destroyed that we do not have the temperament to be in control of atomic weaponry.

Day the Earth Stood Still Klaatu ship in the park night shot

day-the-earth-stood-still-

Day the Earth STood Still Gort close up

Day the Earth Stood Still-Gort outside the ship

"I will not speak with any one nation or group of nations I don't intend to add my contribution to your childish jealousies and suspicions. "”Klaatu

Day the Earth Stood Still Klaatu and Gort 2

Day the Earth stood Still nations

Day the Earth Stood STill-It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet

"It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet, but if you threaten to extend your violence this earth of yours will be reduced to a burned out cinder"¦ your choice is simple"¦ join us and live in peace or pursue your present course and face obliteration!… We shall be waiting for your answer"¦ the decision rests with you."–Klaatu

Day the Earth Stood STill ship takes off night

Klaatu and Gort take off in the ship, he ascends back into the heavens our future rests with us!

An "˜ominous allegory’a reflection of our fears and mistrust– a message that it’s not too late to be overseen by giant soulless robots that might malfunction and reduce you to a cinder if you have an angry outburst about your $6 coffee tasting like mud!.

Day the Earth Stood Still Gort

Klaatu’s command to —“Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!”

Gort, Patricia Neal and Michael Rennie

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Five

Five_Poster

Directed by Arch Oboler (Strange Holiday 1945 starring Claude Rains, Bewitched 1945 starring Phyllis Thaxter, Bwana Devil 1952 in 3D, The Twonky 1953 and another 3D film The Bubble 1966)

Arch Oboler had been regarded very highly for his work in old time Radio primarily on “Lights Out” another show about fantasy/horror & science fiction themes.

Stars William Phipps, Susan Douglas Rubes, James Anderson, Earl Lee and Charles Lampkin.

This independent film has all the trappings of a low-budget art-house film with science fiction over-tones that’s rather dreary and nihilistic in tone. It’s deals with the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust that wipes out the entire civilization except for five survivors. The story has been dealt with either viewed through a campy lens as with Roger Corman’s amusing vision of radioactive fall-out Day the World Ended (1955) with it’s cast of diverse survivors stuck in a canyon who are at risk of mutations out in the eerie fog, some turning on each other as their limited resources.

As with Corman’s beloved cult foray, Five’s characters are also victims of radioactive dust clouds, that kills off the animal life on the planet and essentially vaporizes people down to their skeletons.

William Phipps (Crossfire 1947, War of the Worlds 1953, The Brothers Rico 1957 & a slew of television appearances) plays Michael, a man who survived the nuclear disaster because he was stuck in an elevator at the top of the Empire State Building high enough to shield him from the atomic clouds (perhaps I should re-think my fear of elevators and my fear of heights -hhm) He encounters the only other survivors up in the mountains, Rosanne (Susan Douglas) who is going to have a baby, another recognizable actor from the 50s is the handsomely intense James Anderson, who plays an aggressive neo-Nazi named Eric, a black doorman named Charles (Charles Lampkin, another familiar face and busy television & film actor) and Mr. Barnstaple (Earl Lee), a bank clerk who is complete denial about what has happened, of course he succumbs to radiation poisoning.

With the mixture of personalities left to band together it isn’t any wonder that tensions build especially because there is only one woman left to go around. Eric cannot help but antagonize Charles and try to make an object out of Rosanne. Roxanne is still waiting for her husband to return, safely to her. The film has a filthy strain of meanness in it, as Oboler wants us to feel the desperation and detestable situation for ourselves. Eric kills Charles and grabs Rosanne with her newborn baby telling her that they are going to search for her missing husband in the city. It’s gruesome and dismal as they stumble upon skeletons in mid pose, in doorways, in their cars trying to escape. When she finds out that husband has perished she wants to go back up to the mountains. The two struggle and Rosanne tears his shirt exposing the fact that Eric has radiation burns all over his chest. In yet another very bleak turn of events, Rosanne’s baby dies while she’s making her way back to the mountains. All that are left now are Michael and the distraught Rosanne to be the archetypal Adam & Eve in a not so paradisiacal Eden drenched in atomic fallout.

The New York Times review said of Oboler’s Five- “Mr. Oboler spends so much time scanning the landscape, the sky, the sea and clouds that he can’t seem to bring himself to tangle with the problems fo his meek and baffled crew. And when he does he contents himself with fashioning a little drama of left-over racial hate in a world virtually empty of people, rather than seek the terror in a human void.”

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STAY TUNED FOR PART II OF KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES -THE YEAR IS 1951

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Film Noir ♥ Transgressions Into the Cultural Cinematic Gutter: From Shadowland to Psychotronic Playground

"Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways."
"• Sigmund Freud

"Ladies and gentlemen- welcome to violence; the word and the act. While violence cloaks itself in a plethora of disguises, its favorite mantle still remains sex." "” Narrator from Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965).

Faster Pussycat
Tura Satana, Haji, and Lori Williams in Russ Meyer’s Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! 1965
Cul-de-Sac
Françoise Dorléac and Donald Pleasence in Roman Polanski’s Cul-de-sac 1966.
the Naked kiss
Constance Towers kicks the crap out of her pimp for shaving off her hair in Sam Fuller’s provocative The Naked Kiss 1964.
Shock Corridor
Peter Breck plays a journalist hungry for a story and gets more than a jolt of reality when he goes undercover in a Mental Institution in Sam Fuller’s Shock Corridor 1963.
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Bobby Darin is a psychotic racist in Hubert Cornfield and Stanley Kramer’s explosive Pressure Point 1962 starring Sidney Poitier and Peter Falk.

THE DARK PAGES NEWSLETTER  a condensed article was featured in The Dark Pages: You can click on the link for all back issues or to sign up for upcoming issues to this wonderful newsletter for all your noir needs!

Constance Towers as Kelly from The Naked Kiss (1964): “I saw a broken down piece of machinery. Nothing but the buck, the bed and the bottle for the rest of my life. That’s what I saw.”

Griff (Anthony Eisley) The Naked Kiss (1964): “Your body is your only passport!”

Catherine Deneuve as Carole Ledoux in Repulsion (1965): “I must get this crack mended.”

Monty Clift Dr. Cukrowicz Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) : “Nature is not made in the image of man’s compassion.”

Patricia Morán as Rita Ugalde: The Exterminating Angel 1962:“I believe the common people, the lower class people, are less sensitive to pain. Haven’t you ever seen a wounded bull? Not a trace of pain.”

Ann Baxter as Teresina Vidaverri Walk on the Wild Side 1962“When People are Kind to each other why do they have to find a dirty word for it.”

The Naked Venus 1959"I repeat she is a gold digger! Europe's full of them, they're tramps"¦ they'll do anything to get a man. They even pose in the NUDE!!!!”

Darren McGavin as Louie–The Man With the Golden Arm (1955): “The monkey is never dead, Dealer. The monkey never dies. When you kick him off, he just hides in a corner, waiting his turn.”

Baby Boy Franky Buono-Blast of Silence (1961) “The targets names is Troiano, you know the type, second string syndicate boss with too much ambition and a mustache to hide the facts he’s got lips like a woman… the kind of face you hate!”

Lorna (1964)- “Thy form is fair to look upon, but thy heart is filled with carcasses and dead man’s bones.”

Peter Fonda as Stephen Evshevsky in Lilith (1964): “How wonderful I feel when I’m happy. Do you think that insanity could be so simple a thing as unhappiness?”

Glen or Glenda (1953)“Give this man satin undies, a dress, a sweater and a skirt, or even a lounging outfit and he’s the happiest individual in the world.”

Glen or Glenda
Ed Wood’s Glen or Glenda 1953

Johnny Cash as Johnny Cabot in Five Minutes to Live (1961):“I like a messy bed.”

Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton) Island of Lost Souls: “Do you know what it means to feel like God?”

The Curious Dr. Humpp (1969): “Sex dominates the world! And now, I dominate sex!”

The Snake Pit (1948): Jacqueline deWit as Celia Sommerville “And we’re so crowded already. I just don’t know where it’s all gonna end!” Olivia de Havilland as Virginia Stuart Cunningham “I’ll tell you where it’s gonna end, Miss Somerville… When there are more sick ones than well ones, the sick ones will lock the well ones up.”

Delphine Seyrig as Countess Bathory in Daughters of Darkness (1971)“Aren’t those crimes horrifying. And yet -so fascinating!”

Julien Gulomar as Bishop Daisy to the Barber (Michel Serrault) King of Hearts (1966)“I was so young. I already knew that to love the world you have to get away from it.”

The Killing of Sister George (1968) -Suzanna York as Alice ‘CHILDIE’: “Not all women are raving bloody lesbians, you know” Beryl Reid as George: “That is a misfortune I am perfectly well aware of!”

The Killing of Sister George
Susannah York (right) with Beryl Reid in The Killing of Sister George Susannah York and Beryl Reid in Robert Aldrich’s The Killing of Sister George 1960.

The Lickerish Quartet (1970)“You can’t get blood out of an illusion.”

THE SWEET SOUND OF DEATH (1965)Dominique-“I’m attracted” Pablo-” To Bullfights?” Dominique-” No, I meant to death. I’ve always thought it… The state of perfection for all men.”

Peter O’Toole as Sir Charles Ferguson Brotherly Love (1970): “Remember the nice things. Reared in exile by a card-cheating, scandal ruined daddy. A mummy who gave us gin for milk. Ours was such a beautifully disgusting childhood.”

Maximillian Schell as Stanislaus Pilgrin in Return From The Ashes 1965: “If there is no God, no devil, no heaven, no hell, and no immortality, then anything is permissible.”

Euripides 425 B.C.“Whom God wishes to destroy… he first makes mad.”

Davis & Crawford What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Bette Davis and Joan Crawford bring to life two of the most outrageously memorable characters in Robert Aldrich’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 1962.

WHAT DOES PSYCHOTRONIC MEAN?

psychotronic |ˌsīkəˈtränik| adjective denoting or relating to a genre of movies, typically with a science fiction, horror, or fantasy theme, that were made on a low budget or poorly received by critics. [the 1980s: coined in this sense by Michael Weldon, who edited a weekly New York guide to the best and worst films on local television.] Source: Wikipedia

In the scope of these transitioning often radical films, where once, men and women aspired for the moon and the stars and the whole ball of wax. in the newer scheme of things they aspired for you know"¦ "kicks" Yes that word comes up in every film from the 50s and 60s"¦ I'd like to have a buck for every time a character opines that collective craving… from juvenile delinquent to smarmy jet setter!

FILM NOIR HAD AN INEVITABLE TRAJECTORY…

THE ECCENTRIC & OFTEN GUTSY STYLE OF FILM NOIR HAD NOWHERE ELSE TO GO… BUT TO REACH FOR EVEN MORE OFF-BEAT, DEVIANT– ENDLESSLY RISKY & TABOO ORIENTED SET OF NARRATIVES FOUND IN THE SUBVERSIVE AND EXPLOITATIVE CULT FILMS OF THE MID TO LATE 50s through the 60s and into the early 70s!

I just got myself this collection of goodies from Something Weird!

weird-noir
There’s even this dvd that points to the connection between the two genres – Here it’s labeled WEIRD. I like transgressive… They all sort of have a whiff of noir.
Grayson Hall Satan in High Heels
Grayson Hall -Satan in High Heels 1962.
mimi3
Gerd Oswald adapts Fredrick Brown’s titillating novel — bringing to the screen the gorgeous Anita Ekberg, Phillip Carey, Gypsy Rose Lee, and Harry Townes in the sensational, obscure, and psycho-sexual thriller Screaming Mimi 1958.
The Strangler 1964 Victor Buono
Victor Buono is a deranged mama’s boy in Burt Topper’s fabulous The Strangler 1964.
Repulsion
Catherine Deneuve is extraordinary as the unhinged nymph in Roman Polanski’s psycho-sexual tale of growing madness in Repulsion 1965.

Just like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, Noir took a journey through an even darker lens"¦ Out of the shadows of 40s Noir cinema, European New Wave, fringe directors, and Hollywood auteurs brought more violent, sexual, transgressive, and socially transformative narratives into the cold light of day with a creeping sense of verité. While Film Noir pushed the boundaries of taboo subject matter and familiar Hollywood archetypes it wasn't until later that we are able to visualize the advancement of transgressive topics.

Continue reading “Film Noir ♥ Transgressions Into the Cultural Cinematic Gutter: From Shadowland to Psychotronic Playground”

A trailer a day keeps the Boogeyman away! Creature With The Atom Brain 1955

Creature With The Atom Brain 1955

An ex-Nazi mad scientist uses radio-controlled atomic-powered zombies in his quest to help an exiled American gangster return to power.

Starring Richard Denning and is Directed by one of my faves Edward L Cahn (It!, The Terror From Outer Space -1958 Invisible Invaders 1959, and The Four Skulls of Jonathon Drake 1959) Story and Screenplay by the great Curt Siodmak (Black Friday 1940, The Wolfman 1941 and I Walk With A Zombie 1943)

SNAP… CRACKLE… POP!!!!!!

“A dead man walks the streets to stalk his prey! So terrifying only screams can describe it!”

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Happy Trailers – MonsterGirl!