Universal has released a treasure trove of golden age sci-fi classics in a new boxed set for British fans. UK contributor Mark Mawston delved into the unknown and presents his findings.
Scan the
net and you’ll find hundreds of “Classic
Sci Fi Collections†which are mostly made up from terrible killer B’s and films
that have fallen into public domain. Now however, I’m glad to say, we’ve
finally found some form of intelligence out there with the release of this
wonderful collection of some of the most outstanding sci-fi films of the 50’s.
This set is
essentially the crème de la crème of the studio most associated with fans of
the genre- Universal International. Every single one of the movies included
here deserves the title “classicâ€.
First in
the line up is the last truly great monster in the Universal ranks to match the
classic roster of previous monsters such as Dracula,
Frankenstein, The Mummy and The Wolfman.
Look at any “classic horror†merchandizing and you’ll see The Creature From The Black
Lagoon holding its own in this venerable Batpack of horror stars. The
story goes that the inspiration for this movie came about when producer William
Alland (a friend of Orson Welles and a Mercury player who’d starred as the reporter
in Citizen Kane) discussed the story
he’d been reading regarding a half man half fish creature of Amazonian myth. He
was in good company as the initial design for The Creature, which Welles said
he should make, was based on that of the Oscar! After talented artist Millicent
Patrick became involved, along with veterans Jack Pierce Jack Kevan and Bud
Westmore, the creature transformed from a smooth looking alien figure of Oscar to
the Gill-Man we all know and love today. In the film, a scientific
expedition searching for fossils along the Amazon River
discover a prehistoric Gill-Man in the legendary Black Lagoon. The explorers
capture the mysterious creature, but it breaks free. The Gill-Man returns to
kidnap the lovely Kay, fiancée of one of the expedition, with whom it has
fallen in love.
In essence CFTBL
is a remake of King Kong, but is
still one of the most original of all monster movies. As it was made in the
50’s it can be classed as a sci-fi film, which had, in essence, replaced the
“horror†movie even though this is one of the few monsters that wasn’t woken or
mutated by an atomic explosion of sorts.
The fear of the atomic bomb is highly evident in one of the
most beautiful science fiction films ever made, This Island Earth. Like CFTBL this film made a huge impression
on me as a child. It looked like nothing I’d seen before when I caught it after
school one hot summer day. It’s still unique among the hundreds of sci- fi
films made since. The plot involves a nuclear physicist, Cal Meacham (Rex Reason) who
discovers he is at the centre of some otherworldly phenomena. It begins when
his plane, which is about to crash after a technical fault, is surrounded by a
green glow that guides it safely to the ground. After this strange episode he
receives the parts for an even stranger device called an ‘Interroceter’. After
piecing the complex pieces together, he comes in contact with a large- browed individual
named Exeter
(Jeff Morrow), who invites him to join a group of scientists on a secret
research project.
He then boards a remote controlled plane (this really made
me sit up and take note as a kid) which takes him to a secret location in the
mountains. When he lands he meets old flame, Ruth Adams (Faith Domerque) and
the plot veers toward the even more fantastic as they learn Exeter is an alien who needs their help to
find a new energy source for his doomed planet Metaluna. The scientists
accompany Exeter
to his home planet only to discover that Metaluna’s leader has more malevolent
intentions. In the ensuing breakdown of the planet’s infrastructure
(beautifully realized at the time and on a par with the technical effects of Forbidden Planet) we get to meet one of
the great sci-fi monsters- The Mutant. (Interestingly, this creature was based
on the designs for the monster that actually appears in the next film in the
collection, It Came from Outer Space.)
It Came from Outer Space is my favourite sci-fi movie of all
time for several reasons. It was the first film of that genre that I ever saw
as well as being the first film I had ever seen in 3-D. The experience was
literally an eye-opener. It was also my introduction to benevolent aliens and the
fabulous world of Ray Bradbury (it’s based on his short story The Meteor and contains lines of
dialogue one never ordinarily hears in normally hears in films of this genre).
The still of the miniature Richard Carlson in front of the crashed spaceship was
the first piece of movie memorabilia I ever bought (which Ray Harryhausen
kindly got Ray Bradbury to sign for me a few weeks ago!). The film also made me
very appreciative of the genius of director Jack Arnold, who helmed some of the
best sci- fi films of this era. In this film, Arnold tells the story of how one starry
night John Putnam and girlfriend Ellen watch a great fireball light up the
night sky, crashing into the excelsior mines not far away from his desert top
cabin. One investigation, Putnum sees the “meteor†is infact an alien starship.
In the following days, people around the sleepy town seem to change and it is
then that Putnam finds out that the aliens are using the townsfolk to help them
in their “lost causeâ€. A true artist, Arnold uses the desert location of Joshua
trees and singing telephone wires as character in itself, something which he
did in another of his films included in this package Tarantula.
Although the lesser of the films here (due to their sheer
classic status) Tarantula still
towers, like the Arachnid itself, over all of the other atomic- mutated giant
Big Bug Movies of the 50’s (Them and Beast From 20,000 Fathoms come close). This
is one of the few films of its time that lives up to its exploitive and sensationalist
poster artwork, though if that wasn’t enough, in the fiery climax, the person
that rids the world of this threat is none other than young Clint Eastwood (who also appeared in
Arnold’s Revenge Of The Creature-also
in 3D).
The body of work that Jack Arnold left behind in the 50’s
(he was also the uncredited director of the destruction of Metaluna-the films
best scenes- in This Island Earth) is
now seen as the best by a single director, yet all agree that his greatest
achievement was, literally, a mini masterpiece which transcended the genre. The
Incredible Shrinking Man tells the story of Scott Carey (Grant Williams),
who while sunning himself on a boat, is covered by a strange mist. He thinks
little of it (sorry), however, soon after returning home he is accidentally
sprayed with an insecticide while driving and, in the next few days, he finds
that he has begun to shrink. First just a few inches, so that his clothes no
longer fit, then a little more. Strangely he spots this before his wife (this
is the 50’s after all). Soon he is only three feet tall and has to move into a dolls
house his wife keeps in the living room. Continuing to shrink he finds that his
once lovable cat becomes his mortal foe! Avoiding its talons he falls into the
cellar. Thinking he has been devoured by his own pet, his wife and friends
mourn. However Scott’s battle is only just beginning as he finds his new battle
to survive revolves a fight for a piece of cheese with a giant spider!
Taken from Richard Matheson’s classic novel (Arnold did benefit from great writers) this is not only Arnold’s masterpiece but
also, with the likes of The Day the Earth
Stood Still and Invaders from Mars,
one of the best films of this or any other genre. The sets are amazing and
Grant Williams deserves credit for a towering performance from a man dwarfed by
furniture. The film also possesses one of the most downbeat yet uplifting
endings in the genre, very unusual for the time. However, the following film in
the collection originally had one of the bleakest endings of all time before a
more optimistic ending was tagged on by a stunned studio….
The idea of a small
all American town where it’s citizens suddenly seem to be pale reflections of
their former selves to their loved ones (likely based on loved ones returning
from various conflicts as highlighted in It
Came From Outer Space), reaches its zenith with the original version, directed
by Don Siegel, of Jack Finney’s classic Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. This
is an undisputed classic and although remade sever times (1978’s Donald
Sutherland version also being superb) it is the original that remains the
definitive version.
In this tale of paranoia, Dr Miles Bennel (Kevin McCarthy) finds
that his small town practice is overrun with people saying that family members
seem different, only to reverse this statement after a few days, denying they
ever witnessed such symptoms. Perplexed, he decides to look into the matter
further, with horrific results….
This is seen as the ultimate “Reds Under The Bed†sci-fi
film, reflecting McCarthyism and the paranoia of the time, which is one of the
reasons I find these films so fascinating. I personally think Invaders From Mars is the ultimate propaganda
film (any excuse to show America’s military might through stock footage) which
again features fathers turning on sons as the Red menace (in literal form as
they come from the red planet) destroy all that is sacred to the American way
of life. Perhaps some of the higher members of US government today need to be DNA
tested or checked for marks at the base of the skull as this film highlighted more
than 50 years ago, although that regime merely ended up being a bad dream. Hey,
hang on, a bad dream? Best not go there; that’s another argument for another
day. Lets return to this set and the film which in a way started the whole 50’s
sci-fi boom, Howard Hawks’ classic The Thing from Another World.
With its documentary style, overlapping dialogue and
wonderful direction and performances, this is rightly seen as a landmark film
(and the one John Carpenter decided to show playing on the TV in Halloween, before he attempted his own
remake-which I regard as another classic). In this final entry in the box set, scientists
at an Arctic research station discover a spacecraft buried in the ice. Upon
closer examination, they discover the frozen pilot still inside. They take the
body back to the base for tests but when the creature is accidentally thawed
out, the battle commences!
This superb film, based on John Cambell’s Who Goes There?, set the stage for all
kinds of monsters to follow in its path and attack the Earth via drive-in movie
theatres throughout the 1950s. It’s a fabulous period in American cinema and
although they had many poor relations, these films collected here really are
the high water marks for all those great sci-fi films that followed..
Although I have used the word “classic†a great many times
in this review, there is simply no other way to describe these films. That’s
exactly what they are- especially to fans like me, who see the 1950’s as the
genre’s most prolific decade.
The last line from The Thing From Another World sums it all up; “Keep Watching the Skiesâ€.
We’ve done
so ever since.- Mark Mawston.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER THIS DVD SET DISCOUNTED FROM AMAZON UK