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Michael Rennie (1909-1971)
Michael Rennie was born in Bradford, UK, in 1909. After having not sold a single car in the whole year he worked as a car salesman, he turned factory manager in his uncle's ropery. Having served as a fighter pilot in the RAF during the Second World War, he starred in "I'll Be Your Sweetheart", one of the most successful British musicals of its day. He went on to Hollywood, but could secure only one lead role: 'Klaatu' in 'The Day the Earth Stood still'. After returning to England he played 'Harry Limes' in the TV series 'The Third Man', which I've never seen. I forgot to mention his heavy smoking habit, so we'll have to leave him to die of pneumonia at this point, and just keep this quote near to our hearts: "Some people making pictures in Hollywood are not outstanding for brains. How their minds work, I can't understand."
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The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
directed by Robert Wise
All humans secretly share this nagging feeling that we are not obedient enough, so here an Alien named Klaatu, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Michael Rennie, visits earth as harbinger of our unconscious guilt. He leaves his robot, a cross between a 50ies Ironman and the X-men's Cyclops, guarding his ship and sets out to find the greatest thinker on earth. As far as assistance and company on his quest are concerned, he first tries out a dog and a little kid, before finally settling on the blonde with the tig ol' bitties, which would have been a human male's first choice. In the end he has to suffer the usual death and resurrection shtick before delivering his messianic message, in his case: "Earthilings be peaceful and nice to each other, or Earthilings be turned to cinder by Robot Gort." Commendable pacifist attitude, but lamentable stone- agey / fascist methods, if you ask me. Cool movie, in any case, atmospheric and entertaining, now chant: "Gort, Klaatu barada nikto." (The meaning of this alien language phrase is unclear, most reviewer interpret it as "Gort, Klaatu would suggest not killing EVERY human being." Intergalatic etymologists, however, maintain it means "Smoking is dangerous for your health".)
The material has been recently restored, DVDs can be had here.
For an enlightening review, go here.
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Flash Gordon (1936 - 1940)
This is the mother, father, uncle and auntie of all later science fiction films and serials. Based on Alex Raymond's successful sunday comic strip of the same name, this serial shows its meagre budget at any (cut) corner, movie buffs will spot their favourite props from all of Universal's blockbusters somewhere. And yet 'Flash Gordon' had had the largest budget of any serial up to that date- imagine the rest! Buster Crabbe shows off his amazingly log-like acting in the lead, complaining behind the scenes that his blonde dye- job made male crewmembers give him catcalls. Jean Rogers plays the blonde, later brunette, Dale- msell in distress, Irishman Mark Shannon impersonates brilliant German savant Dr. Hans Zarkov, who later turns in to brilliant Russian savant Dr. Alexej Zarkov due to foreign policy considerations. Richard Alexander not only co-starred as Prince Barin, but also did design most of the costumes (that weren't leftovers, anyway), so he obviously LIKED running around in a silver diaper. Between all castmembers, there's only one really outstanding acting performance, and that is wealthy socialite/ amateur actor Charles Middelton’s ‘Ming, the merciless’ as oriental criminal/ maniacal scientist/ fascist tyrant combo. One for the villain pantheon.
Altogether it’s a grand medieval fairytale transponded into the fictional future, with technology substituting for magic. OTHER loans to Star Wars include: famous title crawl, city in the clouds, Rebels vs. the Empire, ‘soft wipes’ between scenes and ‘take out the power station, and all will collapse’.
All three serials have been edited into one boxed set here .
The original comic can be found here.
A cool ‘Flash’-site.
On a side note, Universal has handed the ‘Flash’- franchise over to veteran movie butcher Stephen Sommers for slaughtering and burial, who has cast Ashton Kutcher as Flash Gordon. No comment.
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Claude Rains (1889-1967)
"Often we'd secretly like to do the very things we discipline ourselves against. Isn't that true? Well, here in the movies I can be as mean, as wicked as I want to - and all without hurting anybody. Look at that lovely girl I've just shot!" Claude Rains grew up in abject poverty in London, and had to laborously overcome a speech impediment in order to start his acting career. Partly as a result of this strenuous vocal training, he became one of his generation’s premier voice actors, often being cast as male lead on the basis of his distinctive voice alone, and in spite of his rather short stature. In 1914 he moved to the States, were he mostly worked the theater stage before being cast as lead in "The Invisible Man”. After that, he regularly played distinguished character roles in movies, including Capt. Renault in "Casablanca”, Prince John in "Robin Hood”, the Phantom in "Phantom of the Opera”, Prof. Challenger in "Lost World” and, one of my favourites, British diplomate Dryden in "Lawrence of Arabia”. Considered one of the best supporting actors of all time, he was nominated for the respective Academy Award four times, but never got to take it home. He never quite convinced Hollywood of his leading man qualities, either, but he never gave up on that ambition. As late as 1943 he requested that his character in "Phantom of the Opera” should only be mildly scarred (in comparison to Lon Chaney’s horrible disfigurement), because he feared for his lead appeal.
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The Invisible Man (1933),
directed by James Whale
This is another true classic of the horror genre, based on a H.G. Wells’ novel, and launching Claude Rains movie career. The lead role involves being covered in bandages or being invisible (surprise?) most of the time, so Rains was cast mostly for his great voice acting. (Boris Karloff was scheduled for the role, but walked out on Universal on money issues just prior to shooting.) This movie was a blockbuster, not least thanks to it’s special effects (triple exposure!), which were spectacular back then, and still hold water today. Actually, not even a ‘true’ B-Movie.
The plot: A brilliant scientist develops a serum to turn himself invisible to impress his girlfriend. Unfortunately, he doesn’t read the package insert on one of the ingredients and also turns into a megalomaniac, trying to subdue the world single-handedly by going on an invisible/nekkid crime spree. Other side effects seem to include protection against pneunomia when running through snow naked (and leaving shoe-prints with bare feet), but -sadly- no protection against bullets. Universal turned this into a franchise, as well, later casting Vincent Price as invisible man, and, inevitably, adding Abbot and Costello to the formula. Latest (not)sighting: "The Hollow Man" (2000)
Universal sells it as part of its Monster Legacy Collection as well as in its own Legacy bundle with ‘Invisible Woman’ and ‘Invisible Agent’.
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Fay Wray (1907-2004)
When canadian-born actress Fay Wray played opposite that stunningly tall, dark-haired lead primate with the sonorous voice (and the slurred pronounciation) in ‘King Kong’, a new category of actress war born: the Scream Queen. For Paramount, where she played female lead in "The Wedding March”, she never produced a blockbuster, but she helped saving RKO from bancruptcy (for a time) with appearances in "Doctor X”, "The Vampire Bat” and, yes, "King Kong". Although she sporadically continued to appear in movies into the (and her) nineties, her role in "King Kong” remained the defining work of her life, even if audiences did not get to see the famous undressing scene in all its uncensored glory until 60 years later. Upon her death, all lights in the Empire State Building were dimmed for fifteen minutes in her memory. Least they could do, if you ask me.
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King Kong (1933)
directed by Merian C. Cooper
This movie is the masterwork at the root of the phenomenom ‘Monster Movies’. The stop-motion effects show some patina in this age of raytracing, but they had been defining state-of-the-art for decades and enthralled audiences all over the world.
‘King Kong’ was considered so dangerously exciting back then, that the German distributor felt he had to expand the title to mean something like:
"The FAIRYTALE of King Kong. An American TRICK- and sensationmovie."
Actually, the producers originally only wanted to continue their string of successful nature/drama movies, and, having already filmed practically all kinds of dangerous animals in their native habitats, decided to take a captive gorilla to the south sea to stage a fight with a komodo-dragon. Then someone approached them and claimed he could create an even bigger thrill through SFX: a GIANT gorilla fighting a DINOSAUR. The rest is movie history...
This movie belongs to the Top Five most influential movies ever, I’ll bet you my cherished copy of it on that. And I cherish that copy so much, because there’s really no edition on the market at the moment that I could recommend. I’m sure this will change, however, as soon as the hype on Peter Jackson’s upcoming remake hits high gear. Until that happy day, you’ll only have the remake’s trailer to watch.
Or this in-depth review to read.
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It came from Outer Space (1953)
It might have come from Outer Space, but nobody told the SFX- guy ‘It’ was supposed to come out of its cave into the broad daylight. He could have done something to cover up the wheels, if he had just known. Apart from this little failure to communicate, this movie is the archetypical fifties' SF/horror movie with cold war overtones. Clichés are abundant, budget was not, and the merciless camera denies the SFX any chance to shamefully hide unseen in the corner. Still, overall enjoyably to watch, with above- par acting and a rather intelligent plot by Ray Bradbury. Of the fifties’ flock of 3D-shockers, this was one of the most successful.
This DVD-version is well worth its money, since it contains a special feature called "The Universe according to Universal".
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: If you spot "It came from Outer Space" on the TV schedule make sure it’s the original before breaking out the chips and beer. The 1996 version is...uhm, rather, uhm. NOT good.
Thanks, In-Sect for saving my evening.
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Doctor X (1932)
If you thought that Capt. Picard was the first Dr. Xavier on the silver screen, this 1932 Warner offering will prove you wrong. They shortened him to 'Dr. X' in the title, however, because it sounds more mysterious that way. Said Dr. Xavier is running some kind of research institute in this movie, which employs a couple of scientists each of which happens to be a freak with a history of cannibalism. When the trail of an enigmatic killer leads to the institution, Dr. X begins to tortu..uhm, examine his employees with his neuroelectrical inventions to rat out the culprit. However, unlike suggested in the lyrics, he doesn't exactly build a creature, but I won't spoil this one for you. Based on a stageplay, it does lack a little on the big screen, its saving graces are the first ever overindulgence in hollow techno-babble and Fay Wray in full Scream Queen mode, bursting into screams at mere shadows. It is an enjoyable watch, altogether, even if Warner failed to make much of a dent into Universal's slew of great horror classics of those days. The DVD is currently out of print, but it's just a matter of time before this semi-classic reappears. |
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Anne Francis (born 1930)
Anne Francis was born in Ossining in 1930, and started acting in 1936, which might have been a bit premature. All through her professional life, she was confined to playing supporting blondes, acting opposite dignitaries the likes of Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Leslie Nielsen, Jerry Lewis (O.K., that one ain’t really dignified), Glenn Ford and Barbra Streisand, but never was given leeway to emphasize her acting over her looks. In the sixties, she slipped away into television, appearing in ‘Columbo’, ‘Last Survivors’, ‘Dallas’ and ‘Jake and the Fatman’. She is still active, as is her website.
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Forbidden Planet (1956)
directed by Fred. M. Wilcox
William Shakespeare’s "The Tempest" reinterpreted as American science fiction movie, considered one of the best SF- movies of the fifties by many movie buffs. On the ‘Plus’- side we have:
• Anne Frances as female lead ‘Altaira’
• Leslie Nielsen as male lead/hunk (This isn’t the Leslie Nielsen of Naked Gun fame - and yet, strangely, he is.)
• an oversized kitchen appliance (blender?) as Robby, Artoo-Detoo’s grandfather.
• space flight and Alien music
• rather more optimistical bent than the average cold war era SF- movie crawling with evil aliens and monsters.
On the ‘positivically challenged’ (i.e. minus) side we have:
• acting- bad, BAD acting
• planet detonating without any motivation (spatial bodies don’t just collapse out of bad mood, dudes!)
• buried Alien civilization
• the ravages of time
Put it all together, and you get a movie I really loved as a kid (ROBBY!), and a must-see for every SF- fan, still entertaining despite being undeniably dated. It’s available as DVD here: this includes both widescreen and fullscreen version, which is pretty cool.
My favourite quote: "My evil self is at the door, and I have no power to stop it." I hear you brother Prospero, I hear you...
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Tarantula (1955)
directed by Jack Arnold
This is from the subgenre "Giant Monster’s day off", and might even have introduced this genre, at a time when Matthew Broderick wasn’t even born yet. (Or was he? Where’s the IMDB when you need it?)
Archetypically, scientists bent on increasing crop size increase creature size instead. No law of square and cube to be seen anywhere, though, and so everyone ends up with a giant arachnid and a really bad day. When our eight-legged friend starts to snack on their home town, the heroes save the city - with napalm. Explain that to your insurance!
I know this movie is considered a classic, and I’m not arachnophobic, but I still never really liked this one. Apart from the bad acting and enervating music, my main problem seems to rest with the fact that arachnophobia actually should not keep you away from this movie - as long as you are not also phobic to plastic balls on a stick with eight more sticks stuck into it. (A rare phobia, which probably has a really looong latin name.)
If you want to spend money on this entry, I recommend passing by the VHS version and purchasing this Tarantula-puppet instead.
You could then just remake the movie with your cameraphone.
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Janette Scott, (born 1938)
Born in Morecambe, UK, Janette Scott had a dozen movie credits to her name before she turned ten, and had ‘written’ an autobiography by age 14. (Which was considered a wee bit early back then, today, many have written a revised second edition at that age.) Of her early works, only "No Highway in the Sky” (1951, with James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich) is well remembered. In 1956 she was cast as Kassandra in "Helen of Troy” (Brigitte Bardot playing Helen). "Day of the Triffids” was originally shot without her, but the producers were so unhappy with that first version that they had ‘Karen Goodwin’ added to the script and the respective scenes (including the famous lighthouse scene) shot with Janette Scott and edited in. In fact, Janette never met her ‘co-star’ Howark Keele in all her life.
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The Day of the Triffids (1962)
directed by Steve Sekely
This is a mediocre movie based on an excellent book, cutting many plot twists too short and substituting a cheap happy end. The book is about social pressure, morality and democracy against feudalism in desperate situations, the movie is about alien monsters.
What a waste of a brilliantly bizarre idea: Imagine waking up and finding 99,9 % of humanity blinded, helpless before a violent invasion of giant, sentinent, PLANTS. In the book, the triffids are giant walking tripods, in the movie, some potted plants get tugged around on dollies. Book: The plants are nigh invincible - Movie: The plants are night invincible, but shrivel up and die when coming into contact with saltwater.
As final proof, here’s an excerpt from the book:
Chapter One: "The End begins"
"When a day, that you happen to know is Wednesday, starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere..."
The jury has reached its verdict: don’t watch the movie, read the book
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Dana Andrews (1909-1992)
Born in Covington in the United States, Dana Andrews originally had studied business administration, but since there wasn’t that much business to administrate during the depression, he worked as chartered accountant instead. Later he hitchhiked to California to break into the movies, where early career lowlights included working as a busdriver, orange picker and stock boy, before finally achieving entry into the exalted ranks of gas station attendants. It might have ended there, but with a bit of financial help from his boss, Dana managed to land a lead role at the Pasadena Community Playhouse, where he was discovered and contracted by Samuel Goldwyn in 1940. He finally hit the top in 1946, starring in "The Best Years of Our Lives”, a spectacular blockbuster that earned nearly every cast - or crewmember an academy award nomination. Save Dana. The rest of his career was a steady decline, and by 1963 he was president of the Screen Actors’ Guild. At least he had the decency to end it there, other in his situation lowered themselves further to Governor and then President of the United States.
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The Curse of the Demon
Night of the Demon (1957)
directed by Jaques Tourneur
A masterpiece in atmospherical directing/editing, this movie can still frighten a modern day audience to the core. The fear is not created by the monster (which was written into the script on producer Hal Chester’s demand, against Jaques Tourneur’s and Dana Andrew’s resistance), nor by special effects nor by exceptional acting. The fear is created solely through play with shadows, sounds, and expressionistic camera angles.
Dana Andrews plays a psychiatrist who travels to London to prove a certain Dr. Karswell’s cult is based on fraud. When he receives a piece of paper with a curse on it, he has to deliver it back to Karswell or die, slowly coming to let go his scientific stubborness.
You can discover a shard from this movie in Kate Bush’s "Hounds of Love": "It’s in the trees, it’s coming..."
I recommend this movie, but the DVD is rather uninspired. Luckily, you can make up the lack of background information with this great book.
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When Worlds collide (1951)
directed by Rudolph Maté
"And God looked upon the Earth, and behold, it was corrupt." The first movie in the song sports a SF-moshiach, the last one has the SF-Noah.
Dr. Henderson neè Noah detects two small planets, one passing by earth close enough to cause floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flu, - you get the drift. The other planet goes straight for the bullseye, however, and after having overcome the usual initial disbelief, Dr. Henderson gets to build the starship of his dreams and save a nucleus of humanity. This nucleus contains some rather eclectic picks, like Dr. Henderson’s daughter, her boyfriend, some kid rescued from a rooftop and a stray dog.
Often remodeled and remade, later sightings of this source material include: Asteroid, Meteor, Deep Impact, Armageddon, Day after Tomorrow (NY flooded!) and many more.
George Pal won an academy award for special effects for this one, but did neither direct nor produce it, and, contrary to the song, definitely has no bride in here.
All in all, a must-see. The DVD has fullscreen and Dolby sound, but nothing else to offer, and can be had here.
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George Pal, (1908-1980)
Born Marincsák Gyórgy in Cégled, Austro- Hungary, George Pal studied in Budapest and became head of the UFA cartoon department in Berlin. After the Nazi takeover, he fled to the United States and continued to develop his trademark mixture of puppets and cartoons (aptly named puppetoons), which was also the basis for his work as special effects supervisor for live-action pictures. He served in this capacity on classics like "Destination Moon”, "When Worlds Collide”, "War of the Worlds” and "The Time Machine”. One of his ideas that was too far ahead of his time was suggesting sequels to nearly any of his movies that earned as much as a buck. 40 years later, projects like "After Worlds Collide”, "Doc Savage II”, "The Time Machine II” and "The Wizard of Oz II” would certainly have found the capital to become reality. His pioneering special effects work earned him a grand total of six academy awards. If you watch any movie where he did special effects, watch out for his hallmark: he always tried to sneak a picture of Woddy Woodpecker in.
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