1957

In many ways, the year 1957 was building towards the high-water mark for the decade. It was the year that saw man's first successful spacecraft: Sputnik. On earth, it was the beginning of Detroit's big tail fin craze.

Space Race and Big Fins

In theaters, there were no big sci-fi hits or classics as the years before had produced, but there were more sci-fi films released in '57 than any of the previous years. 50s sci-fi was building to a crescendo. Below are the many sci-fi films of 1957, in roughly chronological order:

Not Of This Earth -- An obscure Roger Corman film, but an interesting tale of alien infiltration, a prelude to conquest. Double-billed with Crab Monsters.

Attack of the Crab Monsters -- Roger Corman monster flick about radiation-mutated giant crabs who absorb the intellects of those they devour.

Kronos, Destroyer of the Universe -- A giant robot comes to earth to earth's steal energy for energy-starved aliens.

The Incredible Shrinking Man -- One of THE top 50s sci-fi classics. Radiation causes a man to shrink ever smaller. The normal world becomes a nightmare landscape.

The Deadly Mantis -- Earthquakes free a giant prehistoric mantis from arctic ice. It moves south, attacking and eating along the way.

X, The Unknown -- A British movie about a blob-like monster from the earth's core which rises to consume energy, killing all in its path.

20 Million MIles From Earth -- A Ray Harryhausen gem about a lizard-man creature brought from Venus, which grows to monster size.

Invasion of the Saucer Men -- A camp-classic in which big-headed alien midgets invade, but plucky teens find their weakness.

The Beginning of the End -- Radiated food experiments mistakenly create a swarm of giant grasshoppers who converge on Chicago.

The Unearthly -- A 'mad' doctor experiments on patients at his remote sanitarium, trying to find anti-aging formula.

The Monster That Challenged the World -- Radiation causes lake mollusks to grow into carnivorous caterpiler-like beasts. They threaten to break out into the open ocean and beyond.

The Giant Claw -- A giant ugly bird with an anti-matter shield comes from space comes to earth to lay its egg. Sam Katzman's worst movie for special effects.

The Night the World Exploded -- Minerals from deep in the earth rise up. When they contact water, they expand and explode. Earthquakes and volcanos abound.

The 27th Day -- Aliens who want the earth cleared out, give five people capsules that can kill billions of people. They're given 27 days to use them or not.

The Cyclops -- Precursor to B. I. Gordon's Amazing Colossal Man. Radiation makes a lost pilot grow into a 30' tall one-eyed giant.

The Unknown Terror -- A 'mad' doctor in a remote Mexican jungle experiments with rapid-growing fungus and local villagers.

The Brain From Planet Arous -- A criminal brain being possesses a rocket scientist in order to make earthlings create a fleet of revenge ships. A 'good' brain being comes to stop him.

The Invisible Boy -- A precocious boy gets a brain boost from a sinister supercomputer which is trying to rule the world. The boy's father and Robby the Robot, intervene.

The Black Scorpion -- Giant prehistoric scorpions are released by a Mexican volcano. The largest, a black one, attacks Mexico City.

The Amazing Colossal Man -- Exposure to a nuclear test makes Colonel Manning grow uncontrollably. As his mind goes, he becomes a rampaging monster in Las Vegas.

Monolith Monsters -- Strange meteor fragments grow to enormous size when wet. Towers of rock fall destructively, their fragments growing into new towers. Nothing stops them.

The Astounding She-Monster -- A dark blend of Day the Earth Stood Still premise seen through a Film Noir lens. An alien messenger comes, but touch kills instantly.

Monolith Monsters

Universal International had been producing some quality B sci-fi in the 50s. They gave us The Creature From The Black Lagoon trilogy, This Island Earth and The Incredible Shrinking Man. Their 1957 venture, Monolith Monsters (MM) is similar in production value, though far less known than their classics. The movie's almost-unique distinguishing characteristic is casting a mineral as the "monster." The movie is reasonably well done, considering an inanimate mineral is the villain.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A meteor crashes in the California desert. A state geologist brings one of the strange shiny black rocks to his office. They are made up an odd mix of silicates. A mishap spills water on the rock, which begins to grow. The next day, his fellow geologist, Dave, finds the office in shambles, black rocks everywhere, and Ben turned to stone. A little girl, Jenny, brings home one of the black rocks from a school field trip. Her farm house is destroyed, her parents turned to stone. Jenny's arm is turning to stone because she touched the growing rocks. She's rushed to the big city for intensive care. Rain comes to the desert and the rocks grow into 100' monoliths which fall and break. The fragments grow and fall too, beginning a destructive march down the valley. Nothing stops them. The doctor figures out that Jenny is lacking silicone. He fashions a cure. Dave and his college professor try the cure on the black rocks. They stumble upon saline as the key. Salt water halts the growth cycle. The monoliths will break out of the valley if they're not stopped. Destruction will be widespread. Dave thinks the only solution is to blow up a local irrigation dam in order to flood a salt flats and lay a moat of saline in front of the monoliths. They blow the dam. Water floods through the salt works and in front of the monoliths. It works. The town, and the world, is saved. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The production values and effects are good enough to not hinder the story. Director Sherman does a good job pacing the story. After a steady diet of aliens, creatures and mutants, it's fun to see lifeless black rocks as the monsters.

Cold War Angle
One could see in the monoliths, a metaphor for something which dehumanizes and destroys civilization. This could apply to materialism or modernism almost better than communism.

Notes
Rock On! -- Most movie monsters are humanoid or at least animal-like in some sense. They're usually presumed to have some intelligence, even if only enough to have malice. Rocks, however, have no feelings, no malice. They simply exist. MM is one of only three movies (thus far) in which an inanimate mineral is the "monster" of the story. The first was Magnetic Monster ('53), in which a freak isotope was doubling in size every 11 hours, threatening to unbalance planet earth. The second was Night The World Exploded, ('57), in which a rare mineral from deep in the earth was reacting with ground water to generate great heat, swell up, and explode, thereby causing massive earthquakes. In MM, the mineral also reacts with water, but destroys simply by growing so large that it crushes whatever is nearby.

Double Trouble -- The silicon-leeching quality of the monoliths is a second level of menace. This is a second story-within-a-story which keeps the movie moving. Like a stony Midas curse, whoever touches the growing monoliths eventually turns to stone. It becomes a race against time to halt the petrification of poor Jenny before it kills her (and several other hapless towns folk). The cure for Jenny becomes the key to stopping the monoliths themselves.

Double-Duty -- The dam model used in MM is the same one used in Night The World Exploded. The town was on Universal Studios' back lot. It was also featured in It Came From Outer Space ('53) and Tarantula ('55). A quick-eyed viewer might also spot that the meteor falling to earth was a repeat of the fireball-like "ship" landing scene from Universal's It Came From Outer Space. A quick-ear will hear the Creature's three note theme from Creature From The Black Lagoon as the meteor falls.

Star Watch -- Geologist Dave is Grant Williams who was the Incredible Shrinking Man. Les Tremayne who plays the old newspaperman, was General Mann in War of the Worlds. --- Paul Frees narrates the opening. William Schallert is uncredited as the double-talking meteorologist.

Hot Wheels -- Dave's car is actually a bit of a rare 50s "star", so worth noting. It's a 1956 De Soto Fireflite convertible. Only a hundred or so were made. One was used as the Indy Pace Car that year. It was a pretty hot full sized car. The '56 Fireflite line was very popular. In fact, it marked the pinnacle of the DeSoto company. The '57 model had an all-new body with bold styling, but production quality in the new line was poor. DeSoto never shook off the bad reputation it developed from the '57 models. The recession of '58 hastened the slide. Chrysler dropped the brand in 1960. Dave's hot convertible in MM captures the moment when DeSoto was at its zenith.

Bottom line? MM is a good 50s sci-fi movie worth watching for its rare "monsters". It's unthinking, unfeeling antagonist has left it poorly remembered and under appreciated. MM is a well paced and fairly well acted drama with two races against time to keep the hero hopping.

The Amazing Colossal Man

Bert I. Gordon produced (wrote and directed) quite a few "big" monster movies in the 50s, but The Amazing Colossal Man (ACM) is probably his most famous. To make the central character into a giant, Gordon re-uses many of the low-budget techniques from his earlier giant-thing films. By mid-50s standards, his effects were mediocre. The story does not hinge on the effects, fortunately. Gordon's ACM is, in many ways, the story of The Incredible Shrinking Man in reverse. Like the shrinking man, the colossal man manages to evoke sympathy rather than horror. Gordon first toyed with a giant man story in The Cyclops earlier in 1957. This second giant-man story has much more depth. The third giant-man film, War of the Colossal Beast is supposedly a sequel. It will be reviewed later.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Troops are in trenches near a Nevada test site for the first test of a new plutonium bomb. The bomb fails to explode as expected. A small airplane with engine trouble crash lands in the area. Colonel Glenn Manning rushes out to try to save any survivors before the bomb does go off, but it detonates as he runs to the plane. He survives, but is burned over 95% of his body. Doctors don't expect him to live. Miraculously, the next day his skin is 100% healed. His body is also growing. Despite a veil of army and bureaucratic secrecy, Manning's fiance, finds him, as an 18' giant. Manning is tormented in his dreams and cannot accept his bizarre fate. They keep Carol on hand as a calming influence. While he grows 10 feet taller each day, doctors are at a loss for how to help. Manning's heart is not growing as quickly, so soon his mind will suffer. A few days later and he'll die. Doctors think they have a cure, but Manning runs away into the desert. They find him near Las Vegas. He's not lucid, but a lumbering simpleton. The police fire at him. He tears up some casino landmarks. The army doctor gives him the injection via a 6 foot long hypodermic. In anger, Manning kills the doctor, grabs up Carol and plods onto Boulder Dam. When he puts Carol down, the army blasts him. He falls into the frothy outwash below. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
It is interesting to see the story of The Incredible Shrinking Man told in reverse. There are a few thoughtful moments which try to pull this low-budget B movie into a more meaningful plane.

Cold War Angle
The dangers of nuclear bombs and nuclear testing were intertwined with war angst. Like the giant ants in Them! and Godzilla, Manning becomes a sort of poster child for things in this new atomic age going horribly wrong.

Notes
Asking the BIG Question -- Like many people throughout time, Manning asks "What sin can a man commit, in a single lifetime, to bring this upon himself?" As the engaged, heroic young man, Manning typifies what the world would call a "good" man. Yet, he suffers a terrible fate. The movie does not attempt to answer his question.

Bald Kong -- Once he's a giant, Manning recreates scenes made famous in King Kong. He peeks through a window at a woman. He smashes some local landmarks. He ventures atop a famous landmark clutching the blonde beauty. He puts her down and is shot by the military. He falls to his death (or so we assume). Also like Kong, the viewer feels some sympathy for him -- a misunderstood giant, torn from his originally happy life, stranded among small-minded people, smitten with blondes.

Radiation Supreme -- In the 50s, popular imagination had not settled on just what radiation might do. It was still too much of an unknown. Radiation might mutate someone into shrinking. On the other hand, it might mutate someone into growing! Radiation might cause immortality, or premature aging. It might yield super strength or invisibility. No one knew. It is this anxious wonder that runs through many 50s sci-fi films.

Fun With Needles -- Once the doctors have what they think is a cure for the giantism Manning suffers, they had to create a giant hypodermic needle to deliver it. Notice that the prop department simply enlarged a regular hypo. It has huge finger loops and is marked with huge numbers. Like the normal-sized doctors needed those things? Once they inject Manning, he pulls out the painful needle, throws it like a dart, and impales Major Coulter. Not your typical movie moment.

Viva Las Vegas -- Looking rather like blatant product-placement, the giant tours and interacts with several famous Las Vegas casinos. He ponders the big plastic sultan of The Dunes' sign -- a giant like him. He peeks at a bathing woman at the Riviera. He puzzles over and plays with the giant crown atop the Royal Nevada. He smashes the sign of The Sands. He plucks off the big shoe from the Silver Slipper. He stands eye to eye with the famous big cowboy of the Pioneer Club. When a policeman fires at him, Manning smashes the cowboy and throws parts at the policeman. Manning walks out of town, past the conspicuous sign for the Riviera. Did some casino owners help Gordon with funding?

Bottom line? ACM was not the first 'giant' movie, or the best, nor would it be the last. It is the most remembered. What it lacked in budget, it made up in earnestness. It's one of the 50s sci-fi "B" classics.

The Black Scorpion

Warner Brothers was an A-level studio, but could also produce very B-grade films too. The Black Scorpion (TBS) would be just another in big-bug sub-genre. The acting varies between vapid and passible. The plot follows a well trodden path with adventurer scientists, a pretty love interest, a monster menacing a town and a showdown between monster and military. What sets TBS apart, however is the evident animation skills of Willis O'Brien (launched into fame by King Kong in 1933, and mentor to the brilliant Ray Harryhausen). This animation skill allows the story to feature more monster scenes which actually carry the movie.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Two scientists, one American (Richard Denning) and one Mexican (Carlos Rivas) come to explore a newly erupted volcano in Mexico. Even as they arrive, there are mysterious disappearances of people and peculiar damage to houses, which the volcano did not cause. Villagers talk of a demon. Hank and Artur meet a pretty rancher named Teresa (Mara Corday), and the usual love interest develops. Soon, a giant scorpion emerges from near the volcano and attacks some telephone linemen. It later attacks Teresa's ranch too. The army and scientists search the area and find a large deep hole. Scorpion sounds verify that it's the source. Hank and Artur descend via a crane, in gas suits and with poison gas. At the bottom of the shaft is a large cavern. Many large scorpions, a couple of giant armed inchworms and a woodtick-like spider thing live down there. A black scorpion, larger than the rest, battles the others over an inchworm carcass. This allows our heros to escape. The army blows up the hillside, burying the shaft in tons of rocks. All is assumed well, but an official in Mexico City worries that some of the scorpions might have escaped into the labyrinth of caves and might re-emerge. They do just that. A passenger train is derailed by a scorpion. Others begin a feeding frenzy on the wreck victims. The black scorpion arrives and kills all the others to claim the train for itself. After this, the black scorpion heads to Mexico City. Panic in the streets. They lure the scorpion into a soccer stadium. There, it battles tanks and helicopters. It is ultimately done in by a harpoon shot into its throat, hooked to high voltage wires. It's dead. Cue happy romantic ending for Hank and Teresa. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
After a slowish start, the action picks up and stays pretty brisk up to the climactic battle. The stop-motion animation is quite good and makes it easier to gloss over the poor acting moments. Seeing Willis O'Brien's "lost" creatures is worth it alone.

Cold War Angle
There is little of the Cold War in TBS. Even the creatures themselves have no link to radiation. Nor do they stand in (well) as personifications of nuclear danger. They're simply huge natural monsters.

Notes
Skilled Hand -- Willis O'Brien was a very talented stop-motion animator, but had a spotty career. In TBS, his title is "Supervisor of special effects." Peter Peterson may have done the bulk of the physical work under O'Brien's direction. The animation moves show O'Brien's attention to detail. He may have gotten the superior title as compensation for bringing along two models he created for King Kong. The inchworm beasts and the wood-tick-spider were shot for Kong, but their footage deleted and eventually lost altogether. These creatures and the skilled animation of the scorpions make TBS worth watching. TBS was one of O'Brien's last films.

Another Big Bug -- TBS joined the ranks of the big-bug sub-genre begin by the giant ants in Them! ('54). Up to this point, we've had ants, a tarantula, grasshoppers and a mantis. We could include the "mollusk" things in The Monster That Challenged The World ('57) and the crabs in Attack of the Crab Monsters ('57). TBS is a worthy member of the sub-genre. Viewers will note that giant creatures have been more successful when they are insect-like. Fur and feathers have been much less successful (as witness, The Giant Claw ('57))

Budget Strain -- Many features of TBS bespeak of budget pressures. One, is the setting: Mexico. Much is done in the western-mode, outdoors. Many mexican actors (of varying skill) no doubt helped trim the payroll. Near the end of the movie, you can see where even O'Brien's animations give way to simple (and poorly done) matte shots. There are also repeated bits of footage to save on shooting fresh, but similar, material.

Star Watch -- Richard Denning was a regular in 50s B-sci-fi. He was Rick in Day the World Ended ('55) and Frank in Target Earth ('54), as well as Mark in Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54). Mara Corday was the love interest Stephanie in Tarantula ('55), and Sally in The Giant Claw ('57).

Ad Hype -- The posters for TBS tried to tantalize without revealing any details. "Note: The management reserves the right to put up the lights any time the audience becomes too emotionally disturbed!" and "We urge you not to panic or bolt from your seats!" Since big-bug movies had been around for three years, there was little TBS could add to live up to such hype. But, in B-movie tradition, it really did not have to deliver. The posters only had to get some tickets sold.

Bottom line? TBS is worth watching for O'Brien's animation skills and especially for his bizarre cave creatures "lost" from King Kong. Fans of big-bug movies will find the usual. All in all, it's not really very "sci-fi", but parts of it have appeal.

The Invisible Boy

MGM released this curious film in late 1957. It was actually a low-budget "A" film. It ran as the top bill in a double feature. Another MGM (UK) drama Decision Against Time ran in the "B" slot . The Invisible Boy (IB) links itself to the popular Forbidden Planet, yet, the story line in IB is unrelated. On the surface, IB is simply a encore film for Robby the Robot -- the surprise "star" of Forbidden Planet. Beneath the kids' movie surface, IB is more complex and actually contributes to the sci-fi narrative. There is the juvenile theme of a precocious boy and his faithful robot, al a Tobor ('54). There is flavor of a child's dream view, al a Invaders From Mars ('53). Also from Invaders is the trope of the 'enemy' controlling people via brain implants. IB is noteworthy for adding to the technophobia sub-genre, especially the evil computer kind. We saw this in Gog ('54) and will see it again in the late 60s with Kubrick's Hal in 2001 and in 1970 in Colossus, the Forbin Project.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr.Tom Merrinoe has a son, Timmie who is a typical 10 year old, but not too good at math. Tom bends the rules to use a supercomputer to hypnotize and teach Timmie how to play chess. Timmie not only beats his dad in six moves, he now has other mental gifts. He knows about and assembles a robot, left in pieces by an eccentric scientist who claimed to get it from the future. The robot, Robby, is reprogrammed by the supercomputer. Timmie gets in trouble with his mom. Robby suggests making Timmie invisible to avoid being caught having fun. Several invisibility gags follow. Timmie wants to run away. Robby suggests the moon, via the rocket. Meanwhile, the supercomputer informs Tom that he has Timmie as a hostage. The ransom is the access code that would free the computer. Tom is given a deadline to comply. Tom studies past program cards and discovers that the computer has snuck in seven alterations to itself over the 29 years, finally resulting in cognition. While the others try to circumvent the computer, Robby abducts key people and implants a remote control capsule at the base of their brains. The controlled people try to force Tom to comply. Tom calls the President to expose the plot, but is stopped. Robby has traveled to the rocket launch base. Troops try to stop him, but to no avail. He blasts off in the rocket, with Timmie, as unwitting hostage. Tom still refuses to comply, so the computer orders Robby to torture Timmie. Robby's old directive is still in place, so he cannot. Power is shut off to the computer because the President suspected something amiss with the odd phone call. Timmie and Robby return to earth via "the glider". Tom tries to smash the supercomputer, but it hypnotizes him. Robby enters and does the smashing. All is well again. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Beneath the almost saccharine kids' movie is darker super-computer-phobia movie which has much greater depth. Seeing Robby in his second starring role is fun too.

Cold War Angle
While not the dominant theme, the Cold War runs through the plot. The General worries a few times about "our friends across the pole." They ask the computer about the likelihood of war if "they" find out about the rocket program too soon. Ironically, the computer planed to dominate the world with nuclear bombs from space as its threat.

Notes
Sequel or Not? -- IB is sometimes called a sequel to Forbidden Planet (FP), but is it? The two stories are almost completely unrelated. Their only common element is Robby. An unseen scientist is said to have created a time machine by which he brought Robby back from the year 2309. Timmie refers to the saucer shape in the photo as a "star cruiser" -- the same terminology as in FP. There is a story thread parallel between the IB supercomputer and FP's Krell mega-computer both managing to find the "dark" side of intellect.

Boy Dream? -- Some viewers chafe at IB's shallow characterizations, plot inconsistencies and absurd moments. The writers gave us Forbidden Planet, so they weren't low-B hacks. One theory about the plot, is that it's a dream. From the time Timmie falls asleep in the chair in the computer room, the rest of the movie is his dream. The dream theory helps explain many absurd scenes, such as when Timmie is invisible at the supper table, Tom says,"Just ignore him Mary, he's only doing this for the attention." Another impossible scene comes when the army is blasting Robby with bazookas and flame throwers. Robby simply vanishes and reappears at the rocket. While totally incongruent, it fits how a boyish dream-view would resolve the impossible trap. Also, consider that the film IB double-billed with, was a drama that would have been of zero interest to children. MGM seemed to have had a more mature audience in mind. Working against the all-a-dream theory is the lack of the usual waking-up scene at the end.

Spank 'Em -- One feature of IB that is a bit odd to 21st century eyes, is the multiple spankings. The first paddling came from his mom when he comes down from flying on the kite. The second comes from his dad when invisible Timmie is caught spying on his parents in their bedroom. Dad threatens him with a spanking if he returns to earth in the glider, but s. The 50s was clearly a different cultural era.

Infernal Machines -- IB joins a nascent thread of suspicion about computers. This cultural mistrust will grow over the decades. One of the first "bad computer" movies was Gog ('54). NOVAC begins murdering scientists because it was being controlled by some foreign power. The supercomputer in IB may be the first to portrayed as having sentience and plan to rule the earth. IB becomes, then, a precursor to Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970).

Another Abduction -- IB uses a familiar trope in sci-fi, that of the evil power "taking over" people in authority. This is done by Robby injecting a radio control capsule into the victims, at the base of their brains. Through the capsules, the supercomputer manipulates the thoughts and actions of it's new zombies. This closely mimics the tactic of the martian in Invaders From Mars ('53). People in authority becoming "compromised" and acting as puppets for a malevolent power was a frightening thought in the Cold War communist-paranoia era.

Bottom line? IB is definitely worth watching. Yes, it has a children's movie flavor, but look through that. See the absurdities as a 10-year-old's view of the world. Catch the threads of the darker story beneath the sappy boy-and-his-robot veneer. The careful viewer will be rewarded.

The Brain from Planet Arous

In many ways, this movie typifies the stereotype of 50s B-scifi. It uses ample stock footage. (in this case, nuclear tests). It uses models suspended by wires. (the two airplanes) And, it has a monster (or alien) which isn't particularly scary looking. The cast has B-movie stalwarts, such as John Agar, Joyce Meadows and Thomas Browne Henry. The premise is stereotypic too. A malicious "advanced" alien wants to take over the earth. The resolution is not as typical. A friendly alien provides the key that saves earth. This, instead of the usual where earth scientists electrocute the monster.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A little bright light settles onto a rocky desert mountain, followed by an explosion. Steve and Dan (nuclear scientists working in a remote desert cabin (?), pick up intermittent radiation bursts. The go out to Mystery Mountain to investigate. In a newly cut cave, they are confronted by an ethereal floating brain with glowing eyes. Steve fires his pistol at it, but it comes on. Steve collapses, as does Dan. The brain settles into Steve's body. Back at the house, Steve's fiancee notices that Steve has changed. He's brash and lecherous. He says Dan ran off to Las Vegas. When alone, the brain creature, named Gor, floats out of Steve. It explains that he plans to rule the earth, choosing Steve as his host body because of his security access. Gor also likes Sally in an unhealthy way. Feeling there must be an explanation for Steve's new odd behavior, Sally and her father drive out to Mystery Mountain. There they find Dan's body, burned by radiation. They also see a floating brain, this one named Vol. Vol explains that he's here to recapture Gor, and escaped criminal from planet Arous. Vol can recapture Gor only when he's outside of Steve, While inside, Steve (and Gor) are invulnerable. Vol opts to inhabit the family dog, George, as a way to often be near Steve/Gor without arousing suspicion. Gor-Steve attends a nuclear bomb test, but usurps the test to demonstrate his mighty power. He makes a blast like an H-bomb. A General tries to shoot Gor-Steve, but is struck dead. Gor-Steve demands that the leaders of the major nations meet him in 10 hours. At that meeting, Gor-Steve explains that all nations will use their industrial resources to build a fleet of ships so he can conquer Arous. Earth would be a vassal planet. Vol, unable to catch Gor exposed, tells Sally about Arous-brain weakness. A fold called the Fissure of Rolando. A blow there would kill Gor. Sally writes a note to this effect, on a page torn from an encyclopedia about brains. Gor comes out of Steve to boast of his plans. Sally, hiding in the next room, screams. This distracts Gor. Steve, in his right mind, reads the note and picks up a handy axe. He chops away at Gor. The brain is dead. Cue badly written "funny" ending. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
It's easy for a modern viewer to see BFPA as pure camp, almost self-parody, but they were serious. There is still something intriguing about an all-brain creature (with glowing eyes) which balances himself on a boneless spinal column. Not your typical nemesis.

Cold War Angle
While less coherent, several Cold War themes weave in and out of BFPA. Gor represents the side of nuclear weapon power that everyone feared. Innocent people (such as on the two planes) killed without warning. Gor's demonstration at the test facility made it inescapable that his power is just like our nukes. Another Cold War anxiety is that an insider could get "turned" by the enemy. Yet another theme is the evil despot who wants to rule the world with an iron fist.

Notes
Got No Body -- The brain creatures on Arous had "evolved" beyond bodies. The could project power, but all we see them capable of is destruction. Gor needed earthlings for their creative abilities. We could build ships. Apparently Gor could not, on his own. This suggests that Gor was too weak on Arous to dominate without our hands. This is similar to the aliens in It Came From Outer Space ('53) who needed earth bodies and tools to fix their ship.

They ARE After Our Women -- As a pure intellect who had risen above such savage feelings, Gor was not prepared for power of lust. Once he got to see how desirable a pretty woman is, however, he quickly became obsessed with "experiencing" physical pleasures. Gor, despite his advanced intellect, couldn't manage his libido. This movie clearly presses the audience's "save our women" button.

Good Ol' Fashioned Date Rape -- Gor-Steve tries several times to take the Steve & Sally relationship far beyond proper bounds. Sally is, at first, a little amused at Gor-Steve's suddenly more amorous behavior. When He presses further, however, we can see that there is an understood line of acceptable behaviors and Steve was clearly over it. Note that even in the 50s, when it was supposed to be a man's world, and women submissive, a man did not have a right to do as he pleased, even with someone committed to him.

Smirk Works -- John Agar, as an actor, never quite seemed to be able to take his roles seriously. Typically, he had a silly smile on his face as if he could never get over the fact that he was acting in a movie. In BFPA, however, the smirk works. Since he was supposed to be possessed by the evil brain-thing, Gor, Agar's usual smirk at least has a reason to be there.

Problems at Home -- Typically, aliens have been homogeneous -- all good or all bad. Sometimes there have been occasional lone good "aliens" among the generally bad ones, such as Lambda among the Catwomen of the Moon ('53) or Exeter from This Island Earth ('55). Arous is not so simple. It has criminals and apparently some problems with security. Vol, in the role of kindly protector alien comes to apprehend the evil brain.

Bottom line? BFPA is not high art, nor does it aspire to deeper meanings. It is, however, formulaic B-grade sci-fi. As such, it is a good example as a stereotype. A fan of the genre can enjoy it as such. Someone seeking though-provoking drama will come away dissatisfied.

Quatermass 2: Enemy From Space

Hammer Films recognized a successful product in the Quatermass stories. They first produced The Quatermass Xperiment in 1955, adapted from Nigel Kneale's BBC TV series which ran in 1953. Hammer wanted to produce a sequel, but could not get permission to use the Quatermass name. They produced X The Unknown earlier in 1957, which was a Quatermass-style story but without the Quatermass character. In 1955, Kneale's Quatermass 2 TV series ran -- perhaps the first sequel to actually use a number. Hammer bought the movie rights to it. They condensed down the 3 hours (6 half-hour episodes) into an hour and a half feature film. In it's American release, it was retitled "Enemy From Space." Quatermass 2 (Q2) is a rather good B sci-fi movie, combining the alien-takeover theme with the mass invasion theme reminiscent of War of the Worlds.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Mysterious objects are falling over eastern England. Professor Quatermass, whose rocket and moon base program have been scraped by the government, is in a foul mood. Curious, he and his assistant, Marsh, travel to small village of Winnerden Flats to investigate. They find only ruins and a huge processing plant that is supposedly producing synthetic food. The plant that looks suspiciously similar to Quatermass's own proposed moon base. Marsh finds one of the objects. It bursts and he is taken ill. Storm troopers arrive and carry away Marsh. Quatermass (Q, for short) drives to a nearby working class town for help, but they're all construction workers at the plant and refuse. Q asks Inspector Lomax for help. He puts Q in touch with an MP named Broadhead who arranges for a tour of the plant. Q escapes the trap and finds Broadhead covered in black acidic goo. He dies. Q escapes and tells Lomax. They return to the worker's village to learn more. Just before being nearly ejected by angry workers, a capsule falls into the pub, infecting the local beauty. Troopers arrive, shoot a reporter trying to call in the story, and take Sheila away. The enraged workers decide to storm the plant. Meanwhile, Q has infiltrated the plant wearing a dead soldier's uniform. Inside, he sees that the domes contain writhing gooey aliens. The soldiers are about to get him when the workers storm the gate, calling away all hands. The workers succeed and take one of the pressure control rooms. Q has them switch the gasses from ammonia to oxygen -- toxic to the creatures. After a tense siege, the workers fire an anti-tank weapon at the dome. It blows up, releasing several huge gooey blob creatures. These set about stomping the plant. Q's rocket finally hits the aliens' orbiting mother ship. The creatures fall over dead and burst into flames. The world is safe...for now... The End.

Why is this movie fun?
British sci-fi has a refreshingly non-Hollywood air about it. Kneale's story has a tense paranoia to it, similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers yet with more malice. The pacing is quick and the story has many layers to it.

Cold War Angle
There is an aspect of the aliens-taking-over-the-government which fits the Cold War mood. As well, the notion of regular men turned into "zombies" by infection from "them". There is yet a second layer (see Notes section) that is still Cold War, but more introspective.

Notes
Like On TV... -- Q2 was adapted from a six part TV series run by the BBC in 1955. Hammer Films condensed Nigel Kneale's screenplay reasonably well, keeping the story almost unchanged. A notable change was near the end. The BBC version had no monsters emerge from the domes. They simply died in there. The BBC version had Q fly in his rocket to the asteroid. There, he left his nuclear motor behind as a bomb, then returned. In the film, the rocket is sent as a pilotless drone to do the same thing. Beyond this, the two stories are very much alike.

First To Phobia? -- Hammer's Q2 was released in 1957, after Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but it was not a copy or spin-off. The TV series was written in '55, before the '56 film. Of course, Jack Finney's novel "The Body Snatchers" was serialized in '54, but alien take-overs had been in the movies prior to both. The Man From Planet X ('51) featured villagers taken over by the alien to do his manual labor. Invaders From Mars ('53) featured people taken over via alien implants to do the martian's bidding. Q2, however, is a powerful example of this sub-genre.

Goverphobia -- Where Finney's Invasion of the Body Snatchers was a less specific tale of paranoia about friends who "change," Q2 is more specific. It's more about fear of one's own government being compromised by the aliens. This could be communism, of course, but there is a double edge to that sword. The government secrecy and storm troopers with obvious nazi overtones look back at a Cold War spooked government which feels justified in any action (regardless of civil rights). This had a Cold War application, but still finds resonance in our post-9/11 terrorist-phobic world.

Cold Blooded Killers -- For a refreshing change, the aliens come from a very alien place -- one of the cold outer planets, perhaps a moon of Saturn. Also refreshing, they are not humanoid and do not speak English. In fact, they make no effort to communicate with earth's current inhabitants. They simply use them. With no particular explanation, they come to invade and colonize the earth. As advanced as they're supposed to be, they need humans to create a suitable ammonia-based environment for them first. The final blob things are definitely not humanoid.

Bottom line? Q2 is well worth watching for fans of 50s sci-fi. It combines some potent themes -- alien take-overs and global invasion -- quite successfully.

The Unknown Terror

It's questionable that this movie qualifies as sci-fi, though it does get listed as one. It fits the horror genre better. The title and poster suggest something sensational, but the situation and plot are fairly formulaic B-movie material. A mad scientist is doing horrible experiments on innocent villagers in a remote and exotic location. There is actually very little "science" offered beyond a bit of exposition from the antagonist about the amazing fungus he's discovered in the jungle. The characters are fairly stock as well. There's a rich American explorer, his beautiful wife, a former flame fellow explorer (just for the love triangle flavor), a mad doctor and trusty stoic natives. They all come together because the rich explorer is looking for his wife's brother who disappeared looking for the "Cave of Death."

Quick Plot Synopsis
An explorer is lost in a Central American cave. He looks terrified before the fade-to-black. 6 months later, a wealthy explorer (Dan) says he has a new clue to his brother-in-law's disappearance. It's a song that came from a particular village. A (real) calypso performer sings a downbeat ballad of "beneath the grave" and "must suffer to be born again." Dan flew in a villager to interpret the song, but Raoul clams up. Undaunted, Dan, his wife Gina and a friend with a bad leg, set off on the expedition anyway. Once in the village, Raoul mysteriously disappears. They are directed to an American doctor living at the edge of the village. Dr. Ramsey denies the existence of any "cave of death". He tells of his work with jungle bacteria and fungii as research for antibiotics. He also tells how the villagers periodically sacrifice one of their own to the god of death, but he (as god of life) claims them and takes them to a "safe place". Ramsey's native helper, Lino, takes Dan and Pete to the cave. Inside, they find skeletons and Raoul's body. Going further, they find missing-Jim's shovel. Dan enters a small passage and screams. Some mutant thing clubs him. The cavern is quickly flooding, so Pete has to flee. He returns with Gina, Lino and some gear. When Pete and Gina enter the small passage, Lino blows it up with dynamite (killing himself too). Pete and Gina find Dan with a broken back. Oozing "fungus" comes down the walls. Pete seeks an alternate exit and finds a door to Ramsey's house. The fungus cannot be stopped, so Pete orders the cave blown up and sealed in. Dan has since died, so Pete and Gina don scuba gear and swim out through a cave pool. They walk arm in arm out of a sea cave. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
In a sort of foretaste of The Blob, the "monster" here amounts to streaming masses of soap suds. The actors react as if the suds were toxic. This is unusual enough to be interesting.

Cold War Angle
As a typical monster movie, there are no Cold War metaphors discernible.

Notes
Typical Mad Scientist -- Dr. Ramsey is the stereotypic mad scientist. He has an overactive ego ("I am the god of life to these people") and likes to play God with his experiments on his super fungus. Unlike most movie mad scientists, Ramsey never explains why he subjects the villagers to the fungus (which clearly mutates them), nor what he expects to do with his super fungus. Ramsey does die, however, like most mad scientists do, amid his creation.

Atypical Hero -- Pete is interesting as the hero for being atypical. He's the usual rugged handsome type, but is given a bum leg. He is similarly given a conflicted personality -- haunted by the past and doubting himself in the present. While all the other characters are two dimensional standardized B-movie types, Pete is interestingly complex.

Woman's Place -- An odd feature to Unknown Terror is how women are portrayed. Gina is the curvaceous glamor wife (even in the jungle, she's in an elaborate formal nightgown.) Ramsey whips his native "wife", Concha, because she dropped one of his fungus-growing jars. The others protest, but she says it's okay, she deserved it. (?) Gina is pretty much useless on the expedition, except as a frail (if desirable) female to be menaced by monsters and rescued by the hero.

Semi-Zombies -- Despite the promise in the movie posters, the infected natives play a fairly small role. From the brief glimpse you get, they appear mutated to some degree. There are several of them in the cave. A few get out to roam the jungle (and peek in Gina's window), but otherwise seem pointless. The fungus suds "eat" them as well as regular humans, so their role is ambiguous. They attack Pete and Gina (and we assume Dan), but for no apparent reason other than that it's just what zombies do.

Muerte II -- This movie is reminiscent of Mesa of Lost Women ('53) in having a mad scientist in a remote (and Mexican) location, preying on frightened local villagers. Ramsey, like Dr. Aranya, mutates the locals. Dr. Aranya's mesa was in the Muerte Desert (Desert of Death). Ramsey's fungus lives in the Cuevo de la Muerte, (Cave of Death). For B-movie writers, the (something)-of-Death was a handy formula for a place name.

Bottom line? As a 50s B-grade horror film, Unknown Terror is average. Sci-fi fans will find no aliens, no saucers, no electronic gizmos, etc., and very little science. Those caveats aside, it is a passable B movie.