Category: science fiction

The Tacky Magnetism of Paul Blaisdell’s Fantastically Ridiculous Sci-Fi/Horror Puppetry

I want to add this little note to my post. I did happen to find mention of Blaisdell in at least 2 books so far that are part of my library. Since I’ve moved to the coastal city of Bath Maine, my studio and library are in a disarray, so many of my books and things are sort of caught between worlds of stasis and static. Keep Watching the Skies by Bill Warren volume II 1958-1962 does cover Paul Blaisdell a bit as well as D. Earl Worth’s Sleaze Creatures. And now Randy Palmer's book, Paul Blaisdell: Monster Maker This makes me a little less sad! M.G.

Paul Blaisdell was an unsung asset to American International Pictures (A.I.P) and to the truly unprecedented, unintentional pioneer and auteur of cheap, cheesy and campy gems on shoe string budget that somehow have been elevated to icon status because of their enduring charm.

THE GREAT ROGER CORMAN

Thanks to Roger Corman for giving Paul Blaisdell the opportunity to create his omnipresent monster — the busty Beulah the incarnation of an arcane female manifestation from out of the primordial ooze channeled through Marla English during regressive hypnosis, in The She Creature (1956).

THE GREAT PAUL BLAISDELL



Beulah went on to appear albeit altered +crazy wig for Voodoo Woman (1957).

and an oddly incongruous to the plot, a derivation of her had a cameo in The Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow (1959).

Beulah in The Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow is just a little less busty!

The reason Beulah got around was due to the production company having no budget for any special effects so they asked Blaisdell if he would let them use Beulah and he was kind enough to consent allowing them to bring her out for a command performance.

I especially love the adorably nasty little bug-eyed creatures with large heads somewhat like brussel sprouts who loved to get cows drunk, not to mention a young Frank Gorshin in Invasion Of the Saucer Men (1957)

LITTLE CABBAGE HEADED BUG EYED FIENDS!


And we can’t forget his laughable cucumber Mutant in It Conquered the World (1956), and of course the alien cucumber’s little flying minion a crusty umbrella bat thingy that implanted a doodad in your neck so you’d do its bidding.

Of course, there’s the mutant that was supposedly most likely a bear at one time before the fallout’s noxious vapors transformed it into a monstrous 3 eyed horny creature in Day The World Ended(1955)


And one of my personal favorites is the awesome Tabanga tree stump equipped with a beating heart that walked really slow and could hardly move a branchy arm yet inspired great fear amongst the superstitious jungle folk and interloping Western scientists alike.

5 Movie Monsters in Search of an Existential Crisis: AntiFilm School Presents the 3rd Annual Halloween Horror Movie Spooktacular!

Paul Blaisdell was an artist who worked in rubber like Auguste Rodin.


worked in marble, well maybe not, but to those of us who grew up with his cheesy monsters, it was art after all.

At first, Blaisdell was a sketch artist, fine arts painter, and sculptor, being an artist/musician myself I understand how poor one person can be by doing what they love. He never made a lot of money as a monster maker in the height of the fabulous 50s. Also, like me, he drew monsters and did models as a kid.

I used to make all the Aurora Universal monster models. Collected all of Forrest J. Ackerman’s Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazines.

and sketched the creatures from those sacred rags and superheroes from my huge Marvel and D.C. comic book collection. I would be stinkin’ rich if I hadn’t sold each and every one for 10 cents a copy while sitting on the street corner back in the good old days, in the suburbs of Long Island New York.

little monster girl and her pop who didn’t mind her playing with monsters!

Obviously, Blaisdell was really good at what he did, because he wound up making a great and lasting contribution to the monster business and Roger Corman’s campy cult films of the 50s. Me I went on to become a songwriter inspired by these glorious childhood memories, but I am better at playing piano and songwriting than building giant rubber mutants with bulging eyes. Although I did try to build a space station in the basement with parts that I got from our vacuum cleaner, which wasn’t broken at the time… don’t ask.

From that point on, every time the hammer went missing in my house, my father would give me the most piercing looks and start yelling. To his credit, he’s the one who would take me to the local mom-and-pop stationery store to buy or bring me home the latest Famous Monsters Magazine, and never said, “Little girls shouldn’t be interested in monsters”, so he was truly a great guy, even if he did yell about the hammer a lot! So anyway…

Blaisdell submitted his illustrations to pulp sci-fi publications like Spaceways


and Otherworlds. And eventually, he was discovered by magazine publisher Forrest J. Ackerman who was so impressed with Paul’s work that he became his agent.

Because of Ackerman, Blaisdell got his first film job designing the alien creature for The Beast With a Million Eyes (1955). He actually helped the project out because at the point he came on board, there wasn’t any little alien yet in the movie at all, which would have to be problematic!

Paul and Jackie Blaisdell with ‘Little Hercules’ between them.

The beastly slave of the alien is a hand puppet created by the cheesy greatness that was Paul Blaisdell.

Interesting side note: For The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955), Corman needed someone to design the alien who originally was supposed to be an invisible force marauding through the galaxy hitching rides on various life forms and taking over their consciousness, like the mind control of the animals in the film. In Bill Warren’s informative book Keep Watching the Skies, Corman contacted friend collector/historian Forrest Ackerman suggesting stopping animation genius Ray Harryhausen (who obviously was way out of Corman’s league and price range) Warren-“Corman recoiled in economic in shock.” Then Forrest recommended Jacques Fresco a futuristic eco-conscious architect and designer who had created the space station and rockets for Project Moon Base (1953)

But Fresco wanted too much money to do the job, so Ackerman came up with another idea. There was an illustrator who designed cover art and did illustrations for his magazines, named Paul Blaisdell. It wasn’t like Blaisdell had the experience building movie models but the young guy did build model kits (the Aurora kind I used to spend the days gluing and painting) and he also did some sculpting. Blaisdell said he would try it for $200 for the job and another $200 for materials. It was still more than Corman wanted to invest, but it seemed the last resort if he wanted a creature in his film. Corman sent the poster to Blaisdell as a composite and informed him that it didn’t have to do much more than show itself on screen for a few moments, then collapse. Blaisdell could then make it on a small scale, using only the upper torso since the rest would be hidden by the ship’s hatch. And so he made a hand puppet which was a dragon-like creature with wings he molded from clay and placed a simple latex mold over it. Paul’s wife Jackie modeled its hands. The Blaisdell nicknamed him “Little Hercules.”

Blaisdell made him a leather jacket, an eight-starred medallion, and a toy gun and then added manacles and chains to its arms to point out that he was really a slave to the alien intelligence. According to Randy Palmer's book, Paul Blaisdell: Monster Maker he was happy with his work, and so were the crew.

Corman and American Releasing Corp must have been satisfied enough with Blaisdell’s skill and his price as well, as he went on to become the go-to monster-maker for the studio during the 1950s. Including The busty She-Creature (1956), the cucumber alien in It Conquered the World (1956), The fanged umbrella bat in Not of This Earth (1957), The alcoholic Google-eyed brain invaders in Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957), my personal favorite Tobanga the walking tree spirit in From Hell it Came 1957 and the alien stow away in It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958).

He also acted inside the suits he designed, created special effects, and did his own dangerous stunts in Corman's movies. However, the 60s were not kind to Blaisdell and he decided to retire. He did co-publish a monster movie magazine with fellow collector and friend Bob Burns but walked away from the industry entirely. Blaisdell passed away in 1983 suffering from stomach cancer at the age of 55.

Paul went on to design monsters for all the low-budget American International Pictures like the little flying thingy in Not of This Earth (1957). The bug-eyed little green men in Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957) and Earth Vs. the Spider (1958). He was also responsible for an uncredited corpse in The Undead (1957), but I don’t know if that counts as a monster, unless it was a crusty rubber corpse with bulging eyes. Blaisdell also created the imposing alien creature in the tautly paced and fantastic It, The Terror From Beyond Space (1958), which was an inspiration for Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979)

One of my absolute favorites is the Tabanga tree monster in From Hell It Came (1957) as well as the cucumber guy, as they are both hilarious and I simply just adore trees and cucumbers.


In terms of the cucumber mutant, I don’t know if I dreamt this up, pulled it out of my arse, or am just misremembering reading an interview or watching a documentary with Corman saying that Blaisdell’s cucumber creature sat in a shed for years until Paul and Roger got drunk one night and took it out and played with it until the arms fell off. If anyone else recollects hearing or reading this, please drop me a note so that I don’t start doubting myself.

So Blaisdell had a unique vision with the design of his campy mutants and aliens and little flying thingies  He probably will be most remembered for Beulah the grotesque representation of primordial womanhood with the scaly protruding mounds of what were supposed to be her luscious scaly creature boobs? in The She Creature.

Of course, he’ll be fondly thought of for the outrageous cucumber creature in It Conquered the World that terrorized Beverly Garland thanks to husband Lee Van Cleef who invited the damn thing to earth. It’s just sad that he doesn’t get more notoriety for creating some of the most ludicrously delicious and silly monsters of all time.

In addition to designing these creatures, he also often played them as well. Unfortunately, Blaisdell became disillusioned with the film business and just quit making anything more for the movies in the 50s. How many times can Beulah make an entrance right?

I would have thought that Paul designed the giant Crab Monsters for Corman in what else but Attack of the Crab Monsters,(1957) but he was already working on The She Creature and apparently the low budget for the special effects on that film had put Blaisdell off.

In the early 60s, Blaisdell started his own magazine called Fantastic Monsters of the Films but it was a very short-lived endeavor which featured a “how to” section called The Devil’s Workshop

In the early 60s, he did some conceptual artwork on several movies which never made it out of the can. And like a lot of talented people, he wound up living out his life in obscurity. I’ve tried to find his name in several indexes of the film books about the 50s genre that I have here and I can’t find mention of him at all. It made me a little sad.

It would be really interesting to see what kind of monsters he could envision today if he were still with us.

Blaisdell had a knack for working with no budget and yet slapping something together although absurd and silly looking he always came through for AIP and even Bert I Gordon who soon realized that Blaisdell could get things done – and not just make rubber monster suits. Bert I. Gordon hired him to build all the miniature and oversized props needed for his films The Amazing Colossal Man, (19570 Earth vs. the Spider, and Attack of the Puppet People (1958). It was Blasidell who was responsible for the giant hypodermic needle in Colossal Man and for the set of doll-sized items used in Puppet People.

He also worked doing some conceptual sketches for the Milner brothers, designing my favorite Tabanga Tree in From Hell It Came. While the Milners based their menacing tree-stump on his designs, Blaisdell didn’t receive any money, and awful but true he didn’t even get credit for it either, that’s why it’s a lesser known fact that he was responsible for the Tabanga Tree Guy at all.

Sadly, Paul died of stomach cancer at the very young age of 55 on July 10, 1983, in Topanga Canyon, California. But Beulah, the cuke, the flying thingies, Tabanga, all the little bug-eyed guys, and Paul Blaisdell’s devoted fans like me, will always appreciate the giggles and chills he/they evoked when watching his wonderful creations come to life.

Paul Blaisdell’s film contributions:

I found these two links about Paul Blaisdell and thought that both people put a lot of heart and effort into collecting great information about this unsung patron saint of foam rubber and glue.

http://www.badmovieplanet.com/3btheater/tributes/Paul_Blaisdell/paul_blaisdell.html

http://www.bloodsprayer.com/uncategorized/how-to-make-a-monster-paul-blaisdell-remembered/

The Films of Jack Arnold: Visions of Giant bugs, sympathetic monsters and little men danced in his head.

Good Afternoon folks!

Just a little note. It’s Sunday. that always gives me a feeling of nostalgia as does Saturday afternoons. Those were the times when I would sit quietly in front of the television set. All the other kids were outside scrambling around getting sweaty and dirty and doing well, what most kids do be mean to each other. Me, I chose to inhabit the mysterious worlds that Roger Corman, Jack Arnold, William Castle, Universal and RKO pictures had the good sense to give us “outliers” of society. Those of us who Identified with the monster. Thus the nickname Monster Girl. A name the neighborhood kids used to taunt me with, not realizing that eventually I would wear it as a badge of honor.

JACK ARNOLD

I owe much of my creativity as a songwriter and artist, to these films that validated my existence. These monsters were my true friends, because they helped me cope with the awkward phases of childhood when you just don’t fit in, and never will. These films are more than just nostalgic memories for me, they were my epiphany into the real world as an imaginative, compassionate, empathetic and yes a visionary in some ways. With my music and my writing. I plan on doing extensive individual posts about some of these great films.

Like Incredible Shrinking Man. Creature From the Black Lagoon and It Came From Outer Space. It’s Sunday, so I thought I’d share a little tidbit of the old days, when Jack Arnold bestowed upon us Giant Spiders and one little guy who had to fight one off in the basement of his house, a common environment turned sinister and dangerous, where it takes a whole day of strategizing to get a moldy crust of bread the size of a small crouton to us.

During the years of 1950’s horror and sci-fi films made by the great Jack Arnold there was a sympathetic, symbiotic lens that Arnold used towards aliens and “The Other” and the outsider. While working at Universal along side the production of William Alland, he gave us our first venture into the genre offering us benevolent yet mystifying aliens who crash land near a small town, inside a mountain and merely need time to fix the spaceship in order to leave earth.

It Came From Outer Space (1953) based on a story by Ray Bradbury the prolific science fiction writer of that era, as did Richard Matheson who told of bizarre, inscrutable and very advance race of one eyed amorphous creatures who could assume the form of any human in order to facilitate the uninterrupted  repair of their ship. The aliens were not here to seize the planet to enslave earth people, nor destroy earth in order to be the ultimate life form in the universe, threatened by the advancement of our weaponry, fear of the bomb in that age engendered many bomb, cold war scare films.

Like Invaders From Mars (1956) and Don Siegel’s Invasion of The Body Snatchers (1956),fear of Communism and losing our individual identity as well as the patriotism and national prowess. The visionary writers and film makers knew how to frame this message in their flights of fantasy films. The last major film that Arnold did was the sublime and metaphysical masterpiece The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). A film that still inspires chills up the back of my neck when Grant Williams realizes that he isn’t disappearing, merely becoming greater as he is subsumed by the vast universal heart beat of the unknown yet interconnectedness and essence of life force itself.

The Incredible Shrinking Man was based on Matheson’s novel and actually scripted by him as well. Shrinking Man and It Came from Outer Space are still considered two of Arnold’s best work. The film that has really become his most iconic as an enduring classic is Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954)

Creature From The Black Lagoon had no involvement from either writer. In fact, it was because this film was so successful for Universal, that it prompted them to direct their attentions specifically in more productions that involved Sci-Fi and Horror films after 1954 many of which were directed by Jack Arnold.

In a lot of ways, aside from the money that these films made for Universal, it’s really the charm of Arnold’s films that make this specific moment in history for the genres to remain in the hearts of those of us who remember watching them on rainy Saturday afternoons, or like I said the sunny ones when you didn’t fit in with the nasty jerk heads in the neighborhood, so you’d rather hang out with the sort of cute green scaly guy who could stay underwater for days at a time.

David J Skal who’s a hell of a writer, I recommend The Monster Show refers to Creature as the “most vivid formative memories a large segment of American population”

Like The Twilight Zone, Serling’s compact morality plays tied up in fantasy story telling, for a lot of us these offerings became the rituals that were quickly picked up on by the “mass media” The desire for these type of stories became the contemporary trend that inspired great writers and film makers like Stephen King, John Carpenter and even Steven Spielberg.

Much the same way that H.G Wells fantastical tales inspired a hunger for films about science marvels and other worlds.Edgar Wallace, Edgar Allen Poe and HP Lovecraft and Hawthorne inspired the Gothic horror, horror mythos and crime thriller.

Arnold’s films evoke formative memories not only of being frightened by the elements of horror, but it brings you right back to the feeling of being that child again. At least if you’re like me and rail against growing older and losing your imagination. King and Carpenter have spoken about the individual films of Arnold that gave them their first cinematic experience which like for me, changed their lives forever. You could say that Arnold’s films could be used as a benchmark and cultural reference or jumping off place for teenagers to identify with feeling alienated by society. The 50’s were a period where the generation of teenagers were influenced by these types of films. Later on filmmakers would self consciously pay homage to Arnold’s films. And every decade or so, we also see a revived interest in the use of 3D, which make movie going a sort of ritual collective event. The glasses, the group experience.

Anyway, I plan on going in depth about Arnold and several of my most memorable beloved films of his. I just wanted to write a little Sunday hail to the king of giant bugs and little people, (not like the munchkins in The Wizard of Oz) I mean people who were once big enough to drive a car, and can now sleep in a match box for shelter.

Have a great Sunday, I think I’ll watch Tarantula (1955) . I’ve got my hot cocoa and it’s raining outside. The cats are all purring and I think it’s a perfect time to watch a little arachnid suddenly growing as large as a Semi and ambushes a whole town. I’m still kind of traumatized by the woman who’s skirt get’s stuck in the car door!

See ya later! MG

PLEASE DON’T HOLD IT AGAINST THIS CAT! Grant Williams was bite size…….

Contemplating man’s place in the universe. The Transcendent Man

Leo G Carroll’s well intended experiment, produces horrific results of great proportions!




Julie Adams is the object of The Creature’s affections.





MonsterGirl’s Saturday Morning Some Men Doing Science In Their Laboratories!

Saturday mornings are for MEN WHO DO SCIENCE… BEWARE…!!!!!!!

THE 4D MAN

PETER CUSHING- The Curse of Frankenstein 1957

BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE 1958

DR. PHIBES

DR FRANKENSTEIN

ATOM AGE VAMPIRE


Leo G Carroll playing with the forces of nature

TARANTULA

BEN TURPIN

THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS

IT CONQUERED THE WORLD

THE INVISIBLE RAY

THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE

EYES WITHOUT A FACE

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

JOHN CARRADINE

MONSTER ON CAMPUS 1958

ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE 1958

THE DEVIL BAT

THE DEVIL COMMANDS 1941

DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE

DONOVAN’S BRAIN 1953

DR. CYCLOPS 1940

THE FACE OF MARBLE

DR MORBIUS – FORBIDDEN PLANET 1956

CORRIDORS OF BLOOD

HELP ME HELP ME ….THE FLY 1958

METROPOLIS

THE UNEARTHLY

THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN 1956

DR MOREAU THE ISLAND OF LOST SOULS

THE INVISIBLE MAN – CLAUDE RAINS

THE THING -HOWARD HAWKS

THE MAD GHOUL

THE MAD DOCTOR OF MARKET STREET

THE TINGLER

MonsterGirl’s Quote of The Day: Barbarella (1968)

“A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming.” – Jane Fonda as Barbarella

BARBARELLA- DIRECTED BY ROGER VADIM.

It stars Jane Fonda John Phillip Law as the winged angel, Anita Pallenberg, Milo O’Shea, and David Hemmings as Dildano.

MonsterGirl’s: Saturday Morning’s Some Men Who Do Science-posters

It’s Saturday morning so here’s some men who do science posters!

Next Saturday perhaps we’ll see inside their laboratories….!

Monster Girl’s Quote of the Day! The Stepford Wives(1975)

The Stepford Wives (1975) is based on the novel by Ira Levin and the screenplay by William Goldman. Starring Katharine Ross and Paula Prentiss.

“You women are changing the natural order of things. Men looking after children. Women competing for our jobs. Somebody had to do something!”–Arthur Hiller



 

The 4D Man (1959)A man in the fourth dimension is indestructible.

 

4D Man (1959) Directed by Irvin Shortess Yeaworth Jr. and co-produced by Jack H Harris. Screenplay by Cy Chermak. Starring Robert Lansing, Lee Meriwether, James Congdon, Robert Strauss, and a very young Patty Duke. Earlier on Yeaworth and Harris had collaborated on The Blob(1958). The film has elements of the fantastical vivid coloring used in The Blob that gives this film a very comic book tonality. Actually, Jack Harris had promised the lead to Steve McQueen originally, but Harris thought he was such a pain in the ass from his experience with the actor on The Blob, that he didn’t want to work with him again.

Just for the sake of taking me back to Saturday morning schlocktalcular 50s and 60s mad scientist/science gone awry films that entertained me all through those golden afternoons. I offer yet another guilty pleasure film. The 4D Man.

This little multi-dimensional flick also goes by the name Master of Terror and The Evil Force but I’ve always enjoyed it as the 4D guy who can walk through walls and whenever he touches someone, it drains their life force and they age to dust in seconds.

Yeaworth directed this film with a very frenetic energy. It’s actually a very interesting concept if you consider the power to walk through walls could open up oodles of possibilities if used in the right hands of course.

Robert Lansing is scientist Scott Nelson, and his younger brother Tony played by James Congdon, develops a method of penetrating solid matter.

After he blows up the lab where he’s been experimenting with his theories, he goes to big brother for help. Scott helps Tony by procuring an electric motor that activates brain waves causing the forces of mind over matter to truly break through any barrier. Jack Harris‘ production is very slick while Lansing is literally charged with rays from the fourth dimension.

Unfortunately with all stories about the dangers of delving into areas that perhaps shouldn’t be explored hastily, this process winds up using up Scott’s life force and causes him to age rapidly as well as triggers a maniacal strain of homicidal self-preservation, greed all mixed with a little god complex for good measure.

He starts to feed off other people’s life force and ultimately kills them with his touch. Scott is engaged to Lee Meriwether who eventually convinces him to temporarily stop using his power long enough for them to shoot him.

Chic James is the prostitute who withers away as Scott robs her life force.

A similar film of interest is The Projected Man (1966)

Special Note: Jack Harris came up with the idea for a 4D man over lunch while reading a pamphlet on the fourth dimension and the molecular structure of two foreign pieces of matter. The idea is that these molecules could be allowed to interconnect. So if you could put a pencil through a slab of metal,

like in the film, why couldn’t a person walk through a wall? Walking through walls is a novel idea, but he needed to inject the feeling of menace into the plot. That’s when they decided that Lansing’s character would rapidly age and need to regenerate his life force.

MG

The Hideous Sun Demon (1959) Reptilian pants monster by day

Since we’re having a major blizzard here on the eastern seaboard, I thought it appropriate to spread a little sunshine in your day! I’d like to share a film that is a “guilty pleasure” of mine.

I love 1950s sci-fi/ horror. There are some films that share equal parts of the genres. The Hideous Sun Demon is one of those atomic-age scare films.

The Hideous Sun Demon (1959) alternative titles Blood on His Lips, Terror From the Sun(  more fitting for people who look like worn-out saddles from too much sun worshiping and tanning bedtime), and The Sun Demon. Directed and Produced by Robert Clarke and Screenplay by E.S.Seeley Jr.

Stars Robert Clarke, Patricia Manning, Nan Peterson, and Patrick Whyte. In keeping with the theme of shapes shifting and transformation films such as werewolves and large cat people.

This film is about a reptilian conversion whenever Dr Gilbert McKenna played by director Clarke himself is exposed to the light of day, the sun. Normally films that evoke fear are set in shadowing night, with beasties lurking in the darkness. Sun Demon depicts the horror and fears in broad daylight, the theme of the monster transformed by the moonlight is actually now inverted, to become a tale of fearing the bright landscape of the day.

On a much more subtle level or perhaps not so subtle considering it is well known of Dr McKenna’s drinking problem. the film can be taken as a cautionary tale about addiction. Now, Dr. Gilbert McKenna happens to also be an atomic scientist who deals with the dreaded radioactive materials. So combining this highly dangerous practice with a highly self-destructive habit makes for a disastrous result. Dr. McKenna causes an accident in his lab, which sets off a chain reaction of exposure to a strange kind of radiation exposure. He literally becomes allergic to the sunlight and when at the mercy of the big old fireball in the sky, he becomes a scaly monstrosity.

Trying to help Gil out are his associates Ann Russell played by Patricia Manning and Dr. Frederick Buckell(Patrick Whyte). They insist on Gil staying out of the sunlight until they can find a specialist who can treat him for radiation poisoning. Unfortunately, Gil has a very strong will and drive to do things his own way, after all, he is an addict.

He goes out one evening and finds a nightclub singer Trudy Osborne ( Nan Peterson)and they start up a little fling on the beach, which leaves Gil exposed to the sun the next morning.

Ann is in love with Gil, but Gil doesn’t seem to notice at all. Because Gil is oblivious to Ann’s feelings, he sneaks out while she is taking care of him. He goes back to find the sleazy Trudy and yet again he’s caught out in the sunlight. This time, once he’s transformed into the scaly demon he winds up killing a gangster named Georgia who happens to be Trudy’s ex-boyfriend.

Inevitably Gil is chased by the police and falls to his death from a high tower.

The fact that Gil is a willful participant in turning into this demon, suggests that it is the subject of addiction and choice that the film is relating to us. Gil could have remained inside during the day to protect himself and others from what he might become, but his urges created a compulsion that ultimately was his downfall.

I can’t take credit for the use of the phrase Pants Monster. Here is the link to their hilarious site!

http://pantsmonsters.blogspot.com/

 

The Maze (1953) Of Highlands and Amphibians

The Maze (1953)William Cameron Menzies directed and was responsible for the art design of The Maze which had its theatrical release in 3D. You’ll actually live it! the film hails.

William Cameron Menzies is known for his visually oneiric classic sci-fi films with dreamlike landscapes.The fantastical (Invaders From Mars)(1953), Things To Come)and the uncredited  director of Duel In The Sun and The Thief of Bagdad, and the epic Gone With The Wind)


Dan Ullman’s screenplay gives us some atmospheric scenes that are compelling to watch and although at times The Maze seems prosaic and downright laughable, It’s been a guilty pleasure of mine for years and I think it’s a charming little chiller from the ’50s due to its originality and Menze’s art design. Plus I enjoy watching Michael Pate, always looking like his underwear is on too tight for his gingerbread men.

Richard Carlson (It Came From Outer Space, Creature From The Black Lagoon)plays Gerald MacTeam, a Baronet and next in line to reign at Craven Castle after his Uncle Samuel dies. The isolated and dreaded Craven Castle has held a mystique about it for centuries, up there in the highlands of Scotland, where an ancient curse hangs over the MacTeam clan.

Aunt Edith(Katherine Emery) spends some time narrating the tale to us as if telling us a bedtime story or fairytale.

Gerald is engaged to Kitty Murray(Veronica Hurst). At the beginning of The Maze, we find Gerald and Kitty regaling their engagement in Canne, with Kitty’s Aunt Edith, played by Katherine Emery(Isle of The Dead). Suddenly Gerald receives an urgent telegram telling him to come to Craven Castle immediately, although he has just told the women, that he had not been there in years.

Gerald leaves abruptly with the promise that he’ll contact Kitty once he’s settled. But weeks go by with no contact from Gerald. Her telegrams have all been delivered but there is still no answer from her fiance for several weeks.

Aunt Edith guides Kitty that Gerald’s silence is his answer. But Kitty is determined to find out why Gerald hasn’t contacted her. She’s worried that he’s in trouble, reading the announcement in the newspaper that his Uncle Samuel has passed away at age 45, Kitty insists that she and Aunt Edith go to Scotland to help Gerald who must be in terrible shape not to answer her telegrams.

Kitty is relentless and irritating throughout the film. You don’t admire her determination, rather you resent her ignoring Gerald’s wishes, and not respecting his privacy once they arrive. Prying and questioning all the rules of the MacTeam family. Gerald coldly tells her to leave, yet she insinuates herself into the situation, against his wishes. Kitty even has the audacity to invite their friends to the castle without Gerald knowing about it.

The male servants try everything they can at thwarting Kitty’s inquisitiveness. One of the maids has quit, because she wandered into the maze and was horrified. Gerald insists that from now on, William is to hire only male help.

When Kitty and Aunt Edith arrive at Craven Castle cloaked in the foggy Highland mist, they are greeted by the stoic and stern William played by Michael Pate(The Killer is Loose, Curse of the Undead, an interesting vampire western).

When Kitty sees the changes in Gerald, who looks like he’s aged 20 years, with hair turned white on the sides and his face frozen in a stony expression, she’s shocked. Gerald is furious that she’s come to the castle. He had written Edith specifically telling them that he is releasing Kitty from the engagement. That if he were to leave the castle, it would mean certain death. This line of the note is scratched out in pencil, but Kitty erases it and reads what he has written. This only propels Kitty’s prowess to see her fiance even more. Aunt Edith goes along unwillingly yet for moral support.

Gerald insists that they leave in the morning, putting them in adjoining rooms. Aunt Edith had been forewarned about the strange rules of the castle, but Kitty is unnerved when they are locked in at night. She sees a light under the door, and we hear a strange slithering, dragging noise as it passes by her room. This does not discourage her, she finds a secret passageway to a lookout and watches as a light moves along the maze in the dark. She tells Aunt Edith that something is going on and begs Aunt Edith who merely has the sniffles to feign illness so that they can stay a bit longer to investigate.

The curious rules, the rubber matting on the floors, the steps that are more like platforms, the strange sounds, and lights, and the drastic change in Gerald’s demeanor all work on the spirit of Kitty’s curiosity to find out the truth.

Kitty conspires to send a telegram to her friends in London, one a doctor friend Burt Dilling (John Dodsworth), and invites him and Hillary Brooke as Peggy Lord and another couple to come to the castle under the guise of them stopping by while touring the Scottish countryside. All this is a ruse to get Dr. Burt Dilling to check in on his friend Gerald.

William and the other servants are mysterious and steadfast in their protection of the secret of the MacTeam legacy and why Gerald has turned his back on his modern life, and engagement to the beautiful Kitty. Now the secret of Craven Castle and what lurks in The Maze unfolds in vintage 50’s campy style. The Maze is a lot of fun, it rekindles that childhood memory of being shocked at the time, now it’s just wonderful to watch Richard Carlson a great mainstay of the genre play the tormented Gerald who must now take up the mantle of the family legacy.

There is a bit of Lovecraftian theme to The Maze which seldom translates well enough on screen yet does give this film enough of an eerie quality, in retrospect.

And Cryptozoologists will have a ball at the climax of the film. I only wish I could have seen it in its 3 Dimensional glory!