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Tuesday, October 30, 2007

1952

Sci-fi movies of 1952: After the busy year of 1951, this year seemed scanty. There were no mega-classics, but several films which cranked up the Cold War angst to "high".

Radar Men from the Moon -- is Republic Studios' second serial featuring the rocketman character. Inspiration for 1991's The Rocketeer.

Red Planet Mars -- an obscure, but very cerebrial story about "first contact" by radio. The world goes into upheaval over the news.

Captive Women -- is one of the first post-apocalyptic movies set generations after civilization is ruined by nuclear war. Mad Max's granddaddy.

Invasion U.S.A. -- follows five NYC bar patrons' stories as the Russians invade America. Cold War anxiety fodder, for sure.

Zombies of the Stratosphere -- is Republic's third set of serial adventures of the flying rocketman. This time, Mars attacks!

1951

Sci-fi movies of 1951: This was a busy year in the sci-fi genre. Three big classics came out: The Thing and The Day the Earth Stood Still and When Worlds Collide. The "B" market was also gearing up, cranking out several low-budget sci-fi flicks. Quick, cheap sci-fi fun was just getting started.

The Thing: From Another World -- is the classic big mean alien flick. Low-budget, but well done.

The Man From Planet X -- is an obscure low-budget alien-landing film, but with a bit more thought-provoking nature.

When Worlds Collide -- is one of the mega-classics of 50s sci-fi. A handful of people must escape earth before a rogue star collides with it.

The Day the Earth Stood Still -- is another mega-classic, a low-budget, but nonetheless influential nuclear-war warning story.

Five -- is a very obscure low-budget post-apocalyptic tale of five nuclear-holocaust survivors.

Unknown World -- is a low-budget adaptation of Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, but with the goal of shelter from nuclear war.

Flight To Mars -- is a rather lavish B-film in which earthlings encounter an "advanced" martian civilization which wants thier rocket so as to invade earth.

The Man in the White Suit -- is a modest sci-fi comedy, where a miracle polymer has everyone out to stop its inventor.

Captain Video -- is a movie serial in which the Video Rangers must stop the evil Vultura from subjegating the Earth. Ultra-low-budget.

1950

Sci-fi movies of 1950: Not too many sci-fi films were released in 1950, but Destination Moon made a big impression, affecting movie makers and movie goers for years afterward.

Destination Moon -- a seriously imagined rocket trip to the moon.

The Flying Saucer -- a low-grade spy story with soviet and American agents seeking a scientist's secret saucer-aircraft.

Rocketship XM -- A moon mission goes awry, landing on Mars, where a prior nuclear holocaust reduced martian civilization to rubble and cave dwellers.

Zombies of the Stratosphere

This is the third iteration of Republic's flying rocket man hero. The first was "Jeff King" in King of the Rocket Men(1949). The second was "Commando Cody" in Radar Men from the Moon (January 1952). The hero in Zombies (ZOTS) was originally supposed to be Commando Cody too, but Republic had begun filming a TV series just before ZOTS was begun: Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe. Perhaps to avoid confusion or conflict, the hero in ZOTS was renamed "Larry Martin". He still zipped around the same rocket man suit, however. (His flying sequences were re-used from King just like Radar Men had done.

Sci-fi was gaining popularity with audiences, especially the comic-book age set. TV programming was in its crude infancy, but several sci-fi adventure shows were on the air, so the market seemed ripe for yet another rocket man adventure serial. ZOTS is a formula serial, following the pattern of serials before it, including the traditional cliffhanger endings.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Mars is a dying world, cooling down because it's too far from the sun. The martians decide to knock Earth out of it's warmer orbit and put Mars there. To accomplish this, the martians set about trying to build an H-bomb on Earth, with the reluctant help of an earth scientist with "unfriendly powers" connections. Like Radar Men the few martians who come to Earth employ various earth thugs to do their bidding. In each episode, the martians' latest plan is foiled. Each episode usually had a chase scene (with or without shootout). The martians eventually succeed in getting the bomb built and armed. They flee in their rocket, but are shot down by Larry in his rocket. After the crash, the last surviving martian, Narab, (played by Leonard Nimoy) tells Larry how to find and disarm the bomb. This he does, and the world is safe...for now.

Why is this movie fun?
ZOTS is like a sequel to Radar Men which had a certain spartan charm. The rockets have a quaint-but-unrealistic 1930s look to them, what with their little zeppelin shape and pointy fins, yet equipped with ordinary office chairs. You have to love movies in which car chases have squealing tires on dirt roads and uranium being transported in plain wooden railroad freight cars. It's also fun to see young Leonard Nimoy is his first sci-fi role -- albeit a very minor one. He had worked in a couple of other minor films in 1951 and 52, but ZOTS was his first sci-fi role. He played Narab, one of two martian henchmen on earth.

Cold War Angle
Actually, the notion of subversive spies trying to build an H-bomb does have a sort of modern theme to it. It fit into the Cold War culture of the 50s, but fits pretty well today too. Just swap out martians for terrorists. Unlike most Cold War Angst films, the threat is too minor to be truly frightening. It's just not a global scale threat. Larry and his half-dozen associates are all it takes to defeat the three bad guys.

Notes: 
Mars Rising -- It is interesting to note that Mars is the nemesis. Earlier movies had aliens come from somewhere...out there, but not usually pegged to Mars. Aelita was the queen of Mars, but her Mars wasn't hostile, per se, just another place where the workers are oppressed by monarchs. However, no threat to earth.

 -- In Rocketship XM Mars is a tragic wasteland, it's civilization ruined by nuclear war, and its people reduced to mutant cave dwellers. No threat to earth, just a tragic example of nukes gone awry.

-- In Flight to Mars the martian leader Ikron did want to make a fleet of ships to invade Earth because Mars was cooling off (dying). But, that seemed more like just Ikron being tyrannical. Most of the martians were good -- some of them downright pretty.

 -- In Red Planet Mars the planet was actually cast as the good-guy. A role the poor planet would not often see.

 -- In Zombies (ZOTS), the martians are definitely malevolent. Again their planet is described as cooling and dying. Their plan is not to invade the earth, but send it spinning off into space so they can move Mars closer to the fire, and be all warm and cozy again. ZOTS has mean martians coming to Earth to cause trouble. This would become a very dominant plot line in 1953.

Bottom line? ZOTS is low-budget popcorn fun, not high art with noble messages about mankind, etc. It is what kids in the early 50s were watching at their matinee Saturdays, so it's a little window into the soul of an elder Baby Boomer. ZOTS is a good anti-venom for CGI special effects too. Rockets with office chairs! Life was simpler then. Enjoy!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Invasion USA

This little B-film shows up on some lists as a sci-fi film, but that designation seems a bit of a stretch. There's no rockets, saucers, aliens or any kind of technology involved. However, since there weren't many sci-fi movies released in '52, so I'll include it. Invasion USA (IUSA) is an apocalyptic vision. What if the Soviets did attack and invade the USA? Americans in 1952 were feeling very vulnerable to communist attacks. Such feelings tend to spawn cautionary tales of woe. Yes, it's a Red Scare movie. It's easy to scoff at in 2007, but in 1952 America was very scared of the Reds. IUSA is actually a good example of a venerable genre: The Cautionary Tale. More on that below in the Notes section.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Six people sit in a New York City bar: A TV reporter, a congressman, an industrialist, a society girl, a rancher and an enigmatic Mr. Ohman. The first five all share their various reasons for not liking the government's intrusions into their lives. Mr. Ohman quietly rebuffs the group for their preference for personal prosperity over national security. He swirls his brandy snifter exaggeratedly. The bar's TV reports news of crisis. Bombers attack the Alaska, then the American northwest. Each of the five then leave the bar and experience the invasion of America in their own personal corner. The conquest is brutal and complete.

The ending is a sort of variation on the old "it was all a dream" plot device. It turns out, that Mr. Ohman had somehow hypnotized the bar patrons with his twirling snifter and gave them each a "vision" of what invasion would be like -- for THEM. They all profess a patriotic change of heart.

Why is this movie fun?
This movie has so very much stock footage in it, that it's kinda fun to try to spot original footage. In the stock footage, you'll note that the equipment is American. B-29 Superfortresses do the bombing of San Francisco. F-80 Shooting Stars are supposed to be Russian jets. C-82 Packets carry the Russian paratroopers. How clever of the Russians to build all that American hardware for their invasion! Try to see if you see any actual Russian equipment. Of course, American military stock footage was a LOT easier to acquire.

If you ever watched the old black and white Superman TV series, both Lois Lanes -- Phyllis Coates and Noel Niell -- got bit parts. Also, knowing the features of The Cautionary Tale, you can spot little message digs that get thrown in.

Cold War Angle
This movie is nothing BUT a Cold War angle. It wallows in the topic without any hint of metaphor or analogy. It's just plain ol' commies attacking America. No imagination required.

Notes
As with most movies that focus on a small group of people, they're usually meant as a cross section of America. Each of the five have their selfish conceit, which is dashed by the invasion. The industrialist refused a government contract to build tanks because it wasn't profitable. His factory is taken over by commies to build tanks for the invaders, etc.

Notes: The Cautionary Tale
IUSA is a fine example of a genre of fiction which has old roots. The Cautionary Tale took it's modern form with a short story in 1871 by Sir George Chesney, The Battle of Dorking. Chesney (a military man) wrote of a fictional Prussian conquest of England, and provided the moral of the tale. It was all the Brits' own fault because they had chosen to focus on business at the expense of military spending. This was a hot political issue in the 1870s. Chesney's story was a tale of "what if..." the proponents of a smaller army get their way in parliament. The Cautionary Tale was so powerful that the technique was copied regularly every since.

The traditional pattern for The Cautionary Tale is to paint a dire picture of woe in the near future, perpetrated by cruel brutes against our good citizens. Then tell the reader that it all happened because the people didn't fund X or Y or Z (fill in the funding issue d'jour). IUSA fits this pattern perfectly. Watch it as a political action commercial. Spot the funding agenda items. In 1952, the Red Scare was at full steam. People really and truly feared the prospect of Russian invasion and/or nukes. The issues were not quaint abstractions to the audiences of 1952.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Captive Women

Originally produced with the title "1000 Years From Now," this film was acquired by Howard Hughes' RKO Studios. Hughes liked his studios' titles to have more grab. So, it was renamed Captive Women (CW). I know, it sounds like a cheap exploitation film or soft porn, but it's actually a moderately serious post-apocalypse tale. It's purporting to be a look at humanity several hundred years after a nuclear holocaust devastates America. This make it the great granddaddy of post-apocalypic movies like the Mad Max trilogy, the Planet of the Apes series, etc.

Quick Plot Synopsis
In the year 3000, hundreds of years after the nuclear war wiped out civilization, mankind living around the ruins of New York City has split into three groups. The Norms are the descendants of the war's survivors who took shelter underground in New York City. They're "normal" (no disfigurement) and maintain a sort of leftover civilization in the tunnels. The Mutates live above ground in the city's ruins but are variously disfigured due to chromosomal damage. The Upriver Men are rustic and ruthless mountain men who live out in the country of upstate New York.

Gordon, chief of the Upriver Men plots to raid the Norms' settlement in order to capture some women. The Norms are betrayed by one of them, who expects Gordon to make him chief. Two Norms, Robert and Bram, escape but are captured by Mutates and brought before their council. They are sentenced to be killed for past Norm atrocities against Mutates. Robert once saved Riddon (Mutate chief) from the Upriver Men, so they're spared. Riddon is betrayed by a rival and is captured by Gordon's men. Robert leads a band of Mutates in a raid against Gordon and his men, who occupy the Norm "village." The raid succeeds. The Mutates booby trap their own tunnel (The Holland Tunnel) which they've used for years to get to Manhattan in order to raid for Norm women. (Everyone wants Norm women, you see.) The booby trap succeeds in caving in the tunnel on Gordon and his men. The Mutates and Norms are saved.

Why is this movie fun?
This may be the first movie to set itself in a distant post-apocalypic future. (if you don't count Things to Come ) The whole premise of nuclear war wiping out civilization as we know it, and mankind having to start civilization over, would become almost cliche by the 1990s, but in 1952, it was unique. Rocketship XM gave us a glimpse of nuclear ruin (and the survivors turned to cavemen) -- but that was the martians' civilization, not ours. CW depicts nuclear ruin on earth.

In many ways, CW is just another tribal, sword-and-sandal film, but there are occasional reminders in the dialogue of the nuclear foundations of the story.

Cold War Angle
The movie starts with an intro about peace-loving people, the United Nations and that the power of the bomb belongs "In the hands of peace-loving people." (i.e. not the communists) We're told that the movie will be an Imaginary look into the year 3000 when lawlessness reigns..."If we permit the enemies of civilization to control the weapons of peace." That was a pretty heavy-handed preamble leaves no doubt that the film is a nuclear warning tale.

Everyone wants to steal our "good" women
This primal theme runs through CW. The brutish Upriver Men raid for Norm women -- who all seem to be twenty-somethings, trim and pretty, dressed in white. The Mutates raid for Norm women because they want to repair their gene pool. Flawed man craves the perfect women. There's a very strong tribal sexuality undercurrent in CW. They Want Our Women, is an oft recurring primal sub-theme in many 50s sci-fi films.

Religious Notes
There is a surprising religious sub-story within CW. This isn't too surprising, given the year (1952) and the heat of McCarthyism in full force. It's the Mutates who have retained a faith in God, calling themselves "The Lord's children." The Norms have taken to worshipping the devil. (Note the bacchanal wedding festivities at the feet of a big idol.)

There is a theological exchange between Mutate Riddon and Norm Robert. Riddon talks about how mankind may have deserved the nuclear devastation.
Riddon: "The Lord is merciful, but even His patience can end...and the punishment be bitter." He alludes to Sodom and Ghomorah as an ancient example of judgement, then as for more recent history... "He visited His wrath upon man in the twentieth century. Perhaps now He has deserted man for good."
Robert: "That is why we worship the devil. His works endure. He has proven himself stronger than God. What of God's handiwork remains?"
Riddon admits that God has not given the Mutates an easy life. "Perhaps we may, as He, be on our own road to Calvary." (i.e. slated to die for mankind's nuclear sins.)

Now, this is a pretty deep theological question for a B sci-fi flick. Does the existence of evil (death, destruction, etc.) prove that Satan is stronger than God? Does one owe allegiance to whomever seems to be on top at the time? The Mutates held onto their belief that God is the stronger, even if they were not blessed with a comfy life.

Despite the bleak forecast for 20th century civilization, there is a note of reconciliation at the end of CW. The Norm woman Ruth begins to love Mutate chief Riddon (whose disfigurement is pretty minor, really). This natural love (not that of a kidnapped "bride") is implied to mean the eventual repair of mankind's gene pool. True love yields hope. This plot element amounts to a subtle recast of the Christian message: The salvation of flawed man (symbolized by the Mutate men) can only occur when the perfect (the Norm women) gives itself voluntarily. Given the overt Christian messages, the existence of this subtle message is hardly farfetched.

The movie ends with slow zoom out -- a wedding ceremony for Riddon and Ruth. The zoom out continues until two thin branches lashed together (as if part of a hut) enter the screen, forming a very obvious Christian cross. There is NO doubt that the producers and director have shown God has having won after all. THAT is pretty strong stuff for a B-movie.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Red Planet Mars

1952 was a pretty thin year for sci-fi films. Red Planet Mars (RPM) is one of the few sci-fi feature films.  RPM, like the 1997 film Contact, focuses on radio messages as our first form of contact. (Rather than invasion) Where the atheist Carl Sagan had Jodie Foster make contact with Carl's "god" -- a benign new-age "consciousness," the writers of RPM imagined contacting Mars and maybe the biblical God. RPM was plainly anti-communist, but at least it was couched in a sci-fi story. Many in the anti-red genre, such as Red Menace ('49), were unadorned dramas about commies trying to subvert America.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Cronyn (played by Peter Graves) is picking up radio signals from Mars. He's using a special "hydrogen valve" radio set based on captured nazi plans. The former Nazi, Franz Calder, who invented the hydrogen valve, is secretly bankrolled by the Soviets. He's set up in the Andes mountains. Messages come in telling of economic marvels -- of martians feeding thousands with a single acre, etc. This causes riot and economic upheaval in western nations. Then messages come through that the martians worship God. This sparks the faithful to overthrow their various communist regimes. Despite the labor trouble, the West enters an era of faith and peace.

An avalanche destroys Calder's lab, but he shows up later at Cronyn's lab claiming to have sent the messages himself, to destroy the West's economy and the Soviets' empire. He then planned to tell all in order to destroy the faith the religious messages spawned. Cronyn and his wife decide that Calder must be stopped. They open the hydrogen valve, willing to die to stop Calder and preserve the new peace. At the last minute, the receiver begins to crackle. A new message comes in from Mars and obviously NOT Calder. Outraged, Calder shoots the CRT, sparking the huge hydrogen-fueled explosion. Faith and peace prevail.

Why is this movie fun
The plot premise is pretty deep for a B-movie. What if we DID receive signals from extraterrestrials, or perhaps God himself, and they affirmed the morality and ethics of the Bible? What would mankind do? There's a discrepancy between Calder's log of fake messages HE sent, and what Cronyn received. Mistranslation? Divine intervention? Was Calder lying about transmitting fake messages and just trying to bluff and take the credit as a last grasp at self-glory? Pretty deep stuff for a B-movie.

The script is well paced, and the plot twists work well. The acting is pretty good too. Peter Graves is young, but does okay. Herbert Berghof does a great job with the shifty/evil Calder. Morris Ankrum is in his usual role as stern authority figure: in this case Secretary of Defense.

Cold War Angle
This is very blatant. The Soviets are the evil, merciless, anti-christian empire. They get overthrown by a popular uprising of the faithful. Early in the movie, Mrs. Cronyn voices the mood of the Cold War citizen. Chris Cronyn asks his wife why she's so fearful about him making radio contact with Mars.
Linda: "The whole world's scared. Every woman in the world. We all live in fear. Fear. It's become our natural state. Fear our sons will have to fight another war. Or fear they'll face worse. We've lived on the edge of a volcano all our lives. One day, it has to boil over."
After Chris tries to comfort her about science offering peaceful answers, she retorts, "Don't you understand? Science has made this volcano we're sitting on." A reference to atomic bombs.

Notes: 
Religious Tone -- Christian elements are woven throughout the movie, just to underscore the point that the Free World has religion while the Commies are "godless". For instance, Calder's secret Andean radio hut is set under a big statue of Jesus. His cryptic clue to his Soviet sponsors was: "To find me, you'll have to find Christ." Quite the taunt to godless communists (who found him anyhow).

There is an interesting little scene near the end, in which Calder scoffs at the Cronyn's faith in God. He quotes Milton. "Better to rule in hell than serve in heaven." Calder doesn't deny God's existence, but says he worships Lucifer. "God may have won that battle (kicking Lucifer out of heaven), but I will win this one..." (A devil-worshipping Nazi is pure archetypal villain -- easy to hate.)

The movie ends with American leaders musing reverently over the last recorded message fragment from Mars (or God himself): "Ye have done well, my good..." The President finishes the message, quoting from Matthew 25:23 as he addresses Congress. "Well done, good and faithful servant...enter thou into the joy of thy lord." This is followed by a montage of congregations singing and praying, culminating with a zoom shot out the oval office window which stops with the window mullions forming a Christian cross on the screen. The words "The Beginning" fade up.

Now, such an ending will probably drive today's atheist into a rage, but the VERY religious tone is historically noteworthy. Where The Day the Earth Stood Still was subtly religious, RPM is blatantly so. No doubt, the national mood surrounding the high-McCarthy-era provides much of the motivation. Since the communists were godless, to proclaim freedom and patriotism, godliness needed to be cranked waaaay up. RPM must be watched with its own cultural context in mind.

Proof Piece -- The House Committee on Un-American Activities had leveled the charge on Hollywood that they were pro-communist and producing films that promoted communism. The dreaded "Black Lists" resulted.  Most of the studios quickly produced a movie or two that were obviously anti-communist, to prove the HUAC charges didn't apply to them.  RPM was United Artists' offering.

You Can't Handle the Proof -- What would the modern world do if SETI (for instance) did get a message affirming what's written in the Bible? Our modern world has gotten so accustomed to belieiving whatever anyone darn well wants to (so long as it's not God), that having anyone settle that debate would be seen as violating someone's civil rights. What would we do with such a message? We'd probably have chaos and riots too.

Bottom line? RPM will disappoint people who require saucers, aliens or laser battles. All the "action" takes place on earth -- most of it is dialogue. We never see any martians, just flickering lines on a CRT as messages are received. RPM is more of a thought-provoking film than an action thriller. There's a timelessness to RPM which most 50s B-movies don't have. It's premise still works.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Radar Men from the Moon

This Republic serial was the second appearance of the flying rocket man character. The first was in 1949, King of the Rocket Men which had a Jeff King as the hero who wore the flying rocket-man suit. Radar Men from the Moon (RMM for short), which starred George Wallace as Commando Cody. However, all of the flying rocket man footage in Radar Men was recycled from King.... These rocket man serials were the inspiration for the 1991 movie The Rocketeer.


Quick Plot Synopsis
In RMM, key defense installations on earth (really just America) are being destroyed and no one can figure out why. Commando Cody's scientist associates figure out that it's an "atomic ray" coming from the moon. The dictator of the moon men, Redik, plans to weaken earth's defenses so he can invade, take over, and make earth home for his moon men. Mostly, he does this by having his moon agent (Krog) hire earth men thugs to do his dirty work. Cody and his crew foil one plot after another of the moon men. Frustrated by the failures, Redik comes to earth himself to take charge of the work, but is similarly thwarted. When he flees in his rocket ship, he is blasted by one of his own ray guns, captured by Cody. A light-hearted ending of the last chapter implies more adventures to come, as Cody is instructed to build a whole fleet of rocket ships.

Why is this movie fun?
If you know it's not a big budget blockbuster, but as low-budget as possible, you can appreciate how the set designers and director tried to suggest the world-of-the-future with whatever they could scrape up in 1952. As such, there's the usual consoles full of knobs, analogue gauges and blinking lights, Art Deco ray guns and psuedo-machines clutter the backgrounds. Oh sure, most of the action (fist fights) is indoors, or chase scenes shot in Red Rock Canyon -- like so many Republic serials were -- but it was enough gee-whiz to keep young audiences coming back each week.

Other fun little bits? In RMM, Clayton Moore (The Lone Ranger) plays Graber, henchman #1 for the moon man Krog. (see trivia notes below)

Cold War Angle
As "lite" entertainment, there isn't much of a Cold War aspect, really.

Notes
Each iteration of these serials and TV series would feature a villain who wanted to conquer the Earth for some reason or other. They tended not to be especially Russian, but harkened to an older strain of cultural mythos: mongols, chinese emperors, mad scientists, etc. But the scale of the villains was small enough (a single dictator with a band of henchmen) that a lone hero with a half-dozen cohorts can defeat them. That's just not a global nuclear scenario.

Also of mild interest is the Moon Men costumes -- full body leotards, complete with tight hood, such that only the face is seen. Removing familiar fashion elements, such as hair style, cut of clothing, etc. was a quick and cheap way to make a not-like-us alien. Sometimes a few silvery elements are added: boots, a vest, a lightening bolt, etc. Watch for this full-leotard costume approach on later 50s B-films. It is interesting, too, that evil rulers seem to need to wear a cape. Perhaps a latent cultural image of royal attire.

Trivia Notes
It's a small world, Hollywood. George Wallace, who played Commando Cody in RMM had tried out, along with many other actors for the role of The Lone Ranger, in 1952. Clayton Moore had played the role for years, but he and the studios were at a financial impass, so the studio was seeking a replacement for Moore. Wallace tried out for the part, but didn't get it. He then tried out for the role of a "tough" in new Republic Serial -- Commando Cody. He didn't get that role, but instead got the lead role of Cody. Ironically, it was Clayton Moore who got the role as "tough #1" in RMM which Wallace was auditioning for. An actor named John Hart was the studio's new Lone Ranger, but the public didn't take to him. By 1954, Moore had his mask back.

Serials & TV: A bit of family history
There was a lot of cross-polination between early television series and movie serials. Columbia had a Captain Video TV series, so created a movie serial of the same name in 1951 (though the two looked completely different). Republic Pictures cobbled together a "feature film" version of it's 1949 movie serial King of the Rocket Men, also released in 1951. This and the Captain Video serial must have been something of a success, as Republic decided to do a sequel, of sorts to King -- Radar Men of the Moon. This, too, must have been something of a success, as Republic then started a bit later in 1952 shooting a TV series of Commando Cody adventures, starring Judd Holdren, the man who played Captain Video.

During the shooting of the Cody TV series, Republic interrupted production to shoot a their rocketman serial -- Zombies of the Stratosphere. In this iteration, the rocket man was also played by Judd Holdren and was planned to be Cody again, but was changed to a civilian named "Larry Martin". Perhaps this was to separate the serial from the TV series. For the TV series, Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe the Cody character gets a space-ranger like outfit, complete with a communicator chest badge which prefigures those used in the Start Trek TV series. It's a pretty small world, these serials.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Captain Video

This wasn't a "feature film", but a serial shown before the feature films. I include it here since it was shown in theaters. Serials had been around almost as long as feature films, even back in the silent movie days. They typically had 12 or more "chapters", each ending with some sort of cliffhanger. In fact, the term "cliffhanger" came from the serials. They would usually end with some sort of suspenseful unresolved ending -- such as the hero dangling over the edge of a cliff -- to encourage audiences to come back to the theater next week to see if (or more likely how) the hero escaped.

Since serials were really a marketing tool to bring in repeat viewers, studios tried to spend as little on them as possible. Western serials were about the cheapest, whereas Flash Gordon was fairly pricey, for a serial but still very low-dollar stuff. For sci-fi serials, such as Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers and others, sparse sets, minimal special effects and basic costumes were the norm. Captain Video was one such ultra low-budget serial. The name and basic premise was based on a live TV series (1949-53), though it bore little outward resemblance beyond the name.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Being a serial, it was a rambling sort of plot. Captain Video is the leader of a cadre of Video Rangers -- a bit like über policemen. The sinister Vultura, dictator on the planet Atoma, has enslaved the inhabitants of planet Theros and has designs on doing the same to Earth. Traitorous Dr. Tobor is helping Vultura in his plans to conquer earth. The Video Rangers battle Vultura's thugs through 12 episodes to thwart his evil schemes.

Why is this movie fun?
Don't expect Star Wars in any capacity. Instead, watch Captain Video as if it were a high-school play. What could you do with some surplus electrical junk, sheet aluminum and some fireworks? Could you have done any better?

Captain Video and his fellow Video Rangers wear fairly simple, shirt, tie and simple service dress uniforms with a few little bits of brass and badges. They wear black football helmets (sans face mask) with goggles (rarely worn), so the rangers resemble motorcycle Maytag repairmen more than futuristic space-travelers. When they DO wear spacesuits, they're recycled from Destination Moon (though they used new "bell jar" helmets).

The pot-bellied Gene Roth dressed in mongol chieftan garb, as Vultura, makes for an amusingly UNimpressive villain.

The recycled props are fun to spot. The villains on the "red" planet Atoma wore leftover mongol costumes -- leather with studs and fur trimmed helmets. The inhabitants of the "green" planet Theros wore leftover arab robes. Gotta appreciate the recycling. I get a special kick out of the robots with their smiling little drawn-on faces, metal "ears" and metal fedora-like hats. They first appeared in Dancing Lady (1933), so were already recycled props when they appeared in Gene Autrey's The Phantom Empire, serial (1936). You'll also notice that the landscape of Earth, Atoma and Theros all look a lot like Bronson Canyon -- also much used in western serials and later serials. If you're quick, you'll spot familiar trees and rocks.

Cold War angle
The enemy planet being named "Atoma" is about as close to a nuclear-angst angle as there is. Not much. Serials were intended as pure (cheap) entertainment, not so much as a vehicle for social commentary.

Notes
There's nothing deep in the Captain Video serials. It's basic good vs. evil stuff. Since the target audience was kids, Captain Video was fairly non-violent. Oh sure, there were fight scenes, but for all the tussling, no one really got hurt. The Video Rangers used non-lethal ray guns which incapacitated people like a tazer.

Fare for younger audiences often have simpler good vs. evil themes and shallowly obvious characterizations. This isn't indoctrination so much as catering. Kids understand good and bad pretty early and like to see good triumph.

The Captain Video serial was shot in black and white, but was colorized via the Cinecolor process to put a red filter over the lens for Atoma shots, and a green filter for Theros shots. The colors helped you know which planet you were on, since it was all the same Bronson Canyon rocks for a backdrop.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Man In The White Suit

As the Monty Python gang used to say, "And now for something completely different." London's Ealing Studios' little B-movie makes a wonderful addition to anyone's sci-fi collection that's getting too gloomy. I mean, you can only take so much end-of-the-world stuff before it starts to bring you down. Even though Man in the White Suit (MIWS) doesn't have saucers or aliens or even atomic bombs, it's still a sci-fi flick. For something completely different, it focuses on chemistry.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Sidney Stratton is a frustrated chemical scientist working in a British textile mill's research lab. When bean counters begin to question some bizarre expenses, AND a tour of executives discover a wacky chem-lab contraption of Sidney's, he's fired. Sidney has had many such downturns, so bounces back. He bamboozles his way back into the lab. Finally, amid some big explosions, he succeeds in inventing a synthetic fabric which won't wear out and never gets dirty. For a brief moment, he's a scientist-savior of the poor -- who will never have to buy clothes again. The moment doesn't last, however. The mill owners realize that such a fabric would put them out of business, so they're out to silence Sidney by buying up (and forgetting) his secret formula. The mill workers are out to get Sidney too, because they would lose their jobs if no one had to buy clothes anymore.

A wild chase ensues. Sidney is finally cornered and the mob descends upon him. He is saved at the last minute when it's discovered that his miracle polymer is unstable. It breaks down after awhile, becoming as fragile as tissue paper. The mill owners are happy. The mill workers are happy. Another failure for Sidney. Yet, as he leaves the mill -- fired yet at again -- he smiles a knowing grin. He thinks he's figured out what went wrong.

Why is this movie fun?
Lots of reasons. For one, it stars Alec Guiness -- who goes on to many big movie roles, including fame as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. He did MIWS back when he was in his mid 30s. The whole script is a hoot with lots of little skits, gags and turned tables. This is one of Ealing Studios' best comedies. AND, how many good sci-fi comedies are there?
The individual skits are fun by themselves, but they're also well connected and paced quickly. I got a good laugh out of the little girl helping Sidney escape from the unionman's basement. The mill owners office fight scene is classic comedy. The climactic chase scene is a riot. It's set up as the usual monster-chase, set in the dark of night. But, instead of the angry mob chasing a dark monster, they're chasing good-guy Sidney in this luminously white suit. Quite the fun swap.

Cold War Angle
There really isn't one. That, in itself, is refreshing.

Notes
Even though MIWS is a comedy, it pokes seriously at capitalism's need for goods to wear out. Factories need goods to fail in order to sell replacement goods. Workers need goods to fail in order to keep their jobs replacing them. Even ancillary folks, like the old washer woman, need good to fail (get dirty) so that she can have a job. Sidney's indestructible, impervious fabric threatens to ruin a whole economic sector -- all by being TOO good. The whole movie's plot, in which the Too Good is suppressed by The Establishment (in this case, both Capital AND Labor), plays out the conspiracy theory which never seems to grow old: Big Business Squashes Wonder Products which would otherwise have been a boon to the common man. Even one of the peripheral mill worker characters refers to such things suppressed wonders as "...that automobile which can run on just water, with a pinch of something or other in the tank..." In MIWS, having Labor be just as up-in-arms as Big Business is a fun (and pointed) twist. The common man might not really benefit as much as he imagines.

The Man in the White Suit is a rather off-the-beaten-path B-movie. It's a very well done B-movie, though. Well worth the effort. Also, listen to the musical score. The Philharmonia Orchestra do a great job throughout the movie.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Flight to Mars

This little movie is actually a gem of a B-movie. Monogram was a B studio, but they put a lot into Flight to Mars (FTM). For one thing, it's in color. They put more than usual into the sets. It's still a B-movie, but it's a B+. The plot is derived from Alexsei Tolstoy's novel Aelita but drew from the book more than from the 1924 movie, which was also (loosely) based on the book. It's more of an adventure than political commentary. Most of the action takes place on Mars. The pacing fairly brisk, for a B movie. Despite using several B-movie cliches, the overall effect works pretty well.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Several scientists (including the requisite one woman) and a reporter take off on an exploratory mission to Mars. The ship is damaged by meteors (which just always seems to happen) such that they have to crash land on Mars. They survive, but the ship is too damaged to return. The crew must go EVA in just flight jackets. They find building structures and encounter the Martians (in space suits) who have cities underground. While industrialized and supposedly technologically advanced, the Martians have never figured out space travel, so aren't much help. Their ruler, Ikron, offers to help the earth men build a new ship based on the design of the one they came in. In reality, he plans to imprison the earthlings and take their rocket when their done. He then plans to copy the earth rocket, creating a fleet, by which he can invade and colonize the earth. "Ours is a dying world" he tells the council. Ikron's plot is discovered as the earthlings are aided by the lovely martian babe: Alita. She helps the crew narrowly escape the guards and commandeer the duplicated ship so they can return to earth. Alita and her father (the "good" councilman) return with the earthlings so that they might get help to overthrow the tyrant Ikron. The End..

Why is this movie fun?
Lots of reasons. First off, this is a fresh sort of space adventure unencumbered with Cold War gloom which was already pervading films. The rocket itself is a cool example of 50s thinking. The smoky flames coming out of the model-on-a-string scenes are pure B-film stuff.

The prevailing notion that alien clothes simply had to have a big lightening bolt icon emblazoned on the chest, is fun to see too. Then there are the huge shoulder pads! Where did that come from? Mars, apparently. It's also kind of amusing that alien workers (especially if employed by the bad guy) tended to wear leather with studs, as if re-used from some sword and sandal flicks. Why are advanced technology workers wearing leather vests with studs? There's some quirky social mythology at work there.

And, speaking of costumes, it's fascinating that 1950s directors (and audiences) were so decided that alien women would be pretty, young, tall, leggy and dressed in micro-skirts and very high heels. Space, it seemed, was imagined to be like Las Vegas.

Another fun thing was that there were no space suits for the earthlings! They just went out in leather bomber jackets, caps and oxygen masks. The martians, however, greet them wearing the michelin-man space suits!! (These were left over from Destination Moon.) THAT is an interesting scene. The earthlings are in caps and leather jackets while the aliens are in space suits...on their own planet!

Cold War Angle
Actually FTM has none of the usual Cold War themes. This is, of course, because it was based on a pre-war book, and a Russian one at that. Still, the writers avoided grafting in any Cold War themes, so FTM comes across as more adventure than moralizing.

Notes
Forerunner -- If you had seen the 1924 film, Aelita: Queen of Mars you would probably not think of FTM as a remake. They seem like very different stories, except for there being earthlings which land on Mars and find martians. The key female martian in FTM is named Alita. That's about your only clue. In FTM, she's a good guy -- dressed in the appropriate white silky short dress, while the other ("bad") woman gets a dark red short dress with spiky shoulder pads. If you saw the 1924 film, Aelita, you'd see a hint at the rebellion subplot repeated. Viewers are told there are those who oppose Ikron and that he'll be overthrown once Alita and a "good" councilman get to earth with our earthling crew.

Color Me Red -- If you watch FTM, notice the colors. It's shot in CineColor. This two-strip process had more a limited color rendering range than Technicolor's three-strip, but was much cheaper. It was something like 20% more expensive than black and white, and required less lighting, so it wasn't out of the realm for a small studio like Monogram. Since CineColor captured colors using a blue and a red filter, it was good at blues, browns, reds, and flesh tones. CineColor didn't do green or yellow very well. As a result, FTM has a decidedly blue-gray and red-brown coloring. The colors seemed very 50s.

Star Gazing -- For actor-watchers, the venerable Morris Ankrum plays the part of sinister martian ruler: Ikron. Ankrum often plays the role of Army General in these B-films, so it's kinda fun to see him out of uniform and in the role of villain. It looked like he had fun doing it.

Bottom line? FTM is a fun B film. For as early as it came in the Golden Decade of sci-fi, it's a fine space adventure.  The sets and costumes are very much a product of the times. FTM is worth the search to find it.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Unknown World

This obscure little B-movie opened the same month as the equally obscure "Five" (October 1951). "Unknown World" is a Cold War era remake of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. By modern reckoning, it's only the submarine-like drilling tractor -- the Cyclotram -- which makes Unknown World a sci-fi film. The bulk of the movie typical adventure/danger movie. As movies go, even B-movies, Unknown World (UW) is a weak effort.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Amid worries that mankind would be wiped out by a nuclear war, a Dr. Morley advocates looking for shelter beneath the earth in giant caves. His plan is scoffed at and fails to find funding, until a rich publisher's son steps up. He'll fund it if he can come along -- for the adventure. The burrowing submarine-like Cyclotram travels hundreds of miles down, mostly through existing tunnels. Between falls and toxic gas, a few crew members die along the way. Eventually, the four survivors find a huge cave with a glowing sky-like ceiling and lake.

At first, they're jubilant that they've found a haven for mankind to survive. The mood turns gloomy when rabbits they've brought along give birth to dead baby bunnies. The cave supposedly causes sterility. The "Promised Land" haven has a doom of its own. Despondent, they mope around in the Cyclotram, but are meanwhile carried to the surface by upwelling water.

Why is this movie fun?
Maybe "fun" isn't quite the word. Interesting, perhaps. The movie's premise assumed that war was immanent, total and unavoidable, such that mankind's only hope was a big enough bunker to save enough of us. This is a similar mindset to premise underlaying When Worlds Collide. In UW, the haven is sought below instead of above. The sense of fear and foreboding, yet grasping for hope helps UW speak for the 50s. That's an interesting mental exercise.
The Cyclotram itself is only moderately interesting, but due to the low budget, got little attention. I thought it was cool that it had tail fins. (!) Later sci-fi movies will get into gizmo-mania and make co-stars of their ships or machines, but in UW, the machine is a supporting actor at best. The interior's sparseness is amusing. The set designers tried for something submarine-like with some gauges, pipes and valves on the walls, but the overall effect is more boiler-room than high-tech machine. "Technology" was simpler back then. It took less "stuff" to look the techy.

Cold War Angle
This movie is the bunker mentality on steroids. UW opens with several minutes of stock footage of nuclear bomb tests and fake newsreel footage of Dr. Morley predicting the end of mankind. Dr. Morley's solution amounts to a giant-sized case of duck and cover. The end, when the dream of a safe bunker is crushed, we're back in the dangerous surface world. Message? It's weakly delivered, but amounts to: We can't hide after all, so we'd better be very careful with nukes.

Notes
Much of UW is shot in Carlsbad Caverns. The unusual landscape of the caves provides some visual interest when things would otherwise get rather dull. For the most part, the "action" is typical of exploring/adventure films.

There's an odd bit near the end. The crew brought down a pregnant rabbit to test any habitable caverns they might find. (What kind of test is that?) When they reach the big glowing-roof cavern, momma rabbit gives birth, but the bunnies are dead. Dr. Joan announces that the cavern makes life sterile (Huh? Ms. Rabbit was already pregnant) -- mankind cannot hide there and really survive. Nevermind that this element is poorly explained or integrated. The dead bunnies are just there to burst the bubble. The point is that man can't hide.

The characters are pretty much the usual stereotypes. Their "growth" is likewise predictable. The smug and worthless rich boy becomes a brave responsible man in the end. The cold-but-beautiful woman scientist is thawed into romance by the reformed playboy, etc. etc. Dr. Morley is the typical visionary scientist type, but his "growth" is somewhat more interesting. Throughout most of the adventure, he is the pillar of strength and optimism. When the bunnies are declared sterile, he loses his will to live. There's no hope for mankind. He had so completely accepted that life on the surface was doomed, that the failure of "the promised land" was loss of the last hope. When a volcano erupts and causes a tsunami, he doesn't get into the Cyclotram to escape it. Instead, he lets the flood take him. His surrender to doom represents the malaise which which circled over the Cold War culture like a vulture.

While much of UW is fairly routine B-film fare, it's a good look at bunker mentality. The 50s had a lot of that sort of thinking.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Five

"Five" is the first film to follow the stories of survivors of a global nuclear holocaust. There was a movie in the mid-30s called "Things to Come" that dealt with a post-global war devistation of civilization, but it wasn't nuclear. There were lots of survivors in Things to Come. I'll review that movie in a bit. "Five" deals with the modern (1951) world immediately after a global nuclear exchange kills off almost everyone on earth. The movie posters seem to be trying to play up the lurid one-woman-four-men angle, but it's not like that.

Quick Plot Summary
Five people survive death by radiation from a global nuclear holocaust. Two in a bank vault, one in an X-ray room of a hospital, one on top of Mt. Everest, and the last one in an elevator. They all converge on a remote California cliff-side house. Four men and a pregnant woman eek out a meager existence. Tensions arise over what to do for future plans. A sort of who-will-get-the-girl rivalry arises between Michael (elevator guy) and Eric (the mountain climber). The old bank clerk dies of lingering radiation sickness. The mountain-climber kills the black guy. The mountain climber eventually develops radiation sickness too. That leaves the last man and last woman to start anew, like Adam and Eve.

Why is this movie fun?
Five is actually a pretty deep movie for one written, produced and directed by the same guy, in this case, Arch Oboler. (compare with The Flying Saucer) That's not usually a formula for success. Five is probably the first of the post-apocalyptic sci-fi sub-genre. With so few characters, they do tend to fit into archetypes, each embodying something about humanity. There's an interesting dynamic played out between them. The scene where Eric and Rosanne visit the city -- skeletons in cars and busses -- while automated sirens continue to wail warnings to a city long since dead, comes across very strongly. Knowing how many other movies will come later that try to pick up the story "the day after," it's fun to see the first one.

Cold War Angle?
Nothing is made of the Russians or the war, other than that it happened. The culture's overpowering fear of nuclear destruction, nonetheless, is the foundation of the movie. Instead of being set in the fearful "before" time, this movie looked at the "after."

Notes
Each of the five characters stand as representatives of some aspect of humanity.
Rosanne embodies Status Quo Hope that things will get back to normal. Always looking back. Michael embodies Pragmatism. He's always focused forward, defiantly refusing to look back. Mr. Barnstaple seems to represent the old ways -- jobs, capital, investments, etc. Charles is hope too, but not about survival of the old world. He's like Michael in focusing on the future. As an oppressed black man in late 40s America, his hope is tinged with freedom from the old world. Eric is the serpent in the garden of Eden. He represents the dark side of humanity. Egotistical, lazy, lustful, greedy and willing to kill.

Rosanne goes to the city with Eric, hoping to find her husband, or at least other survivors. Her hopes are dashed. She finds her husband's skeleton and no one else alive. Eric discovers that he has radiation sickness sores (his doom) and runs away whining in an almost childish response to his mortality. Abandoned by Eric, Rosanne eventually makes her way back to the cliff-top house and Michael. Along the way, her baby dies. This struck me as odd at first, since the baby seemed the usual "new-life" motif. But on second thought, the baby (from her dead husband, Steven) represented the last vestige of the Old World. Once that last scrap of the old was gone, Rosanne was ready to stop looking back at the old, and face the new. The movie ends with her walking up to Michael who is re-tilling the corn field. She carries a shovel too, and says, "I'm ready to help you now." (helicopter lift up and zoom out)

Like many of the post-apocalypse genre, there is a hope of mankind rising phoenix-like from the ashes. Civilization was destroyed, but not man himself. "On the Beach" (1959) was a bold departure from this formula. There, everyone died and stayed dead. In "Five," mankind's pragmatic nature triumphs, but only after letting go of hope for saving the old world, and shedding the sinful old man (as typified by Eric).

Like several other 50s sci-fi films, there is a strong dose of religious point of view. The film opens with nuclear blasts, clouded skies and quote from Psalm 103:16. "The deadly wind passeth over it, And it is gone: And the place thereof Shall know it no more..." (note: the word "deadly" was added for the film. It's not in the Bible). The Charles character quotes a black poet who wrote a paraphrase of the creation account in Genesis. The end of the movie puts up a quote from the Book of Revelation (ch.21) about the coming of the New Heaven and New Earth. Amid all the human struggle in Five was a spiritual undercurrent.

While any mention of God seems to really rankle some sci-fi fans, the Christian cosmology makes an interesting background to the action in "Five." Man's self-destruction isn't seen as a Great Oops, but as expected. The modern world didn't make a wrong turn, so much as it knowingly drove off a cliff. The survival of a remnant is also, then, seen as prophesyed. The remnant of mankind didn't WILL itself to survive, but was ALLOWED to live. The more religiously minded 50s audiences would have gotten this. The more godless minded of today miss it completely.

Five is a pretty obscure little film. It wasn't easy to roust up a copy. But, if you're a fan of the post-apocalypse genre, this is like finding a lost great grandfather's trunk up in the attic.

Monday, October 1, 2007

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The autumn of '51 was a good one for sci-fi fans. Following just a month after the impressive film, When World's Collide, came another movie that would also become a classic. The Day the Earth Stood Still (TDESS for short) was shot in black and white, but was not a cheap affair. TDESS made a big impression on audiences. For years afterward, the key line "Klaatu barada nikto" was part of the American vocabulary. TDESS is one of the must see sci-fi classics.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A flying saucer comes to earth, touching off much anxiety. (recall The Thing just six months earlier). The saucer lands in Washington DC. Troops encircle the ship, weapons drawn. The alien, Klaatu walks out (in full helmet) says he comes in peace. An edgy soldier mistakes a device Klaatu holds as a weapon and opens fire, wounding the him in the shoulder. His big robot, Gort, emerges, sending the crowds running and screaming. Gort zaps some rifles, a tank and a couple artillery pieces before Klaatu stops him. Klaatu is taken to the hospital. He wants to meet with earth leaders but is stymied by red tape and petty politics. He escapes the hospital and, incognito, and takes up a regular human life in a boarding house as Mr. Carpenter. He's still trying to get the earth to listen to his message. If the earth takes its nuclear threat tinto space, the galactic powers would be forced to destroy the earth. Klaatu gets the earth's attention by stopping all electric power for a day. Hence the film's title. He tells Patricia Neal that if anything happens to him, she must say to Gort: "Klaatu barada nikto" or Gort will destroy the earth. The authorities discover Klaatu. A chase ensues. Klaatu is killed. Neal delivers the cryptic message to Gort. Gort brings Klaatu's body to the saucer. There, he resurrects Klaatu. Armed soldiers surround the saucer. Klaatu emerges and sternly repeats his warning to the earth, then leaves. Only behaving responsibly with nuclear power will spare mankind from annihilation.

Why is this movie fun?
TDESS was the first "friendly alien" movie (if we leave the Man from Planet X as undetermined) that stands in stark opposition to the very-hostile alien in The Thing. Michael Rennie is great as Klaatu/Carpenter. You find yourself rooting for the alien instead of the earthly powers. Patricia Neal is great as the sensitive human. Her jealous boyfriend (the venerable Hugh Marlowe) is credible too. The pacing is good, even by modern ADHD standards.

The inside of the Klaatu's ship is pretty cool too. The set designers put a lot of thought and effort into making the interior un-earthly. Lots of metal and acrylic. This might be the first interior set of a flying saucer in movies. TDESS set a high standard for others to meet. Few do.

Cold War Angle
The Soviets aren't mentioned as villains. Instead, there's a tense spy-on-the-loose subpot which depends on Cold War anxiety for its motivation. The robot, Gort, is an embodiment of "the bomb". As Klaatu explains, his people created a bunch of robots like Gort to act as galactic policemen. Perpetrators of violence would be vaporized. Gort-bots keep the galactic peace via the threat of annihilation. (A Carthaginian Peace?) Even though Klaatu's people created the Gort-bots, they live in fear of them. Sounds rather like The Bomb (with legs).

Notes
Biblical Analog -- TDESS interweaves several Biblical themes to tell its basic Cold War pacifist warning message. A stranger comes to earth to deliver his message that mankind can yet be saved from impending judgement. Rather like Christ. Klaatu adopts the name Carpenter -- Jesus' occupation as a young man. He goes about life on earth as "one of us," for awhile. Like Christ, Klaatu dies undeservedly, and is brought back to life. Still the benevolent messenger, he delivers his warning, then rises into the sky (in his saucer). This story line -- a misunderstood benevolent messenger from on high telling mankind of impending judgement -- makes for a strong plot line. No wonder TDESS makes a lot of people's top 10 lists.

They're After Our Women! -- TDESS may be the first sci-fi movie to have one of THE big archetypal sci-fi visual scenes: The Abducted Woman -- the alien/robot carrying off the beautiful earth woman. This visual icon has deep and profound roots in our culture. It deserves an essay of its own, so I won't go into that here. Many movie posters featured The Abducted Woman imagery, even if the scene never took place in the film. TDESS actually has one. In this case, it's benign, but the power of such a visual is huge.

Remake: New Agenda -- The basic story was remade in 2008, by 20th Century Fox. Keanu Reeves stars as Klaatu. He has a giant robot named Gort. Klaatu has come to save the earth, but from there, the two movies diverge. In 1951, mankind's sin was not taking nuclear weapons seriously. In 2008, mankind's sin was not taking the environment seriously. In 1951, Klaatu came to warn mankind to behave and live in peace..or else.  In 2008, Klaatu came to take samples of nature away from us and destroy us for being bad to the environment. In 1951, the message was hope. In 2008, the message was doom.  Quite a few fans of the '51 version dislike the trendy changes.

Bottom line? The original TDESS is a must-see for any classic sci-fi fan. There are just no two ways about it.