Giant Gila Monster

Co-billed with sister production, The Killer Shrews, this independent B-movie was pretty clearly crafted for the drive-in double feature market. Where some B grade sci-fi were obtuse but somewhat artistic, Giant Gila Monster (Gila) is a market product following established formulae. Several "sci-fi" movies of the late 50s were light on the science. Gila is one of them. Almost pure monster movie, Gila nonetheless gets placed on lists of sci-fi movies. Gila "suffers" from the usual B movie hallmarks -- amateurish acting and cheap special effects -- what it doesn't lack is sincerity. This may be why it has retained a cult following, even in this era of lavish productions and million-dollar special effects.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The impenetrable wilds around a remote southwest town give rise to a giant, but otherwise normal, gila monster. The movie opens with the beast smashing the car of a couple of lovers parked on a remote road. They are implied to have been eaten. Their disappearance starts an uneasy search. Foul play, or did they elope? A stolen car is found wrecked, but no thieves. A hitchhiker's suitcase is found. A local oil truck is wrecked but the driver missing. A sincere sheriff teams up with an erstwhile, but misunderstood, hot rodder to get to the bottom of things. Viewers know it is the gila monster, but the townsfolk remain oblivious. When the beast damages a small railroad bridge, a passenger train is wrecked. The gila monster is implied to have eaten several wreck victims. This is too large an event to escape the attention of state police. Meanwhile, the teens of the town hold their scheduled sock hop in a barn. The gila monster breaks through a wall of the barn. Much screaming and running ensues. Shots are fired. The gila runs back into the wilds. Chase Winstead, the hot rodder, has an idea to stop the beast. He takes some nitroglycerine (intended for oil company blasting) which foreshadowing had placed in a nearby shed. He searches for his little sister. He finds her, but the gila monster finds them too. With no hope of escape, he drives his hot rod directly towards the beast. He bails out at the last moment. The hot rod with four canisters of nitro on the seat, explodes beneath the giant lizard. It is engulfed in flames. The town is safe and some personal tensions resolved. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Fault-finders have their usual bones to pick with Gila, but its sincerity make it hard not to like. The classic 50s monster movie formula is familiar and entertaining. The hot rods get enough screen time to supply flavor. Gila is a classic of the teens & monster movie of the drive-in era.

Cold War Angle
As a classic monster movie, there is no Cold War present. Indeed, even the seconary moral of atomic cautionary tale is skipped. It would be a stretch to cast the gila monster as atomic analogy, as Godzilla was. He's simply a big natural monster.

Notes
Natural Monster -- Unlike most 50s sci-fi monsters, the giant gila monster was not caused by atomic radiation or cosmic rays. Instead, it is accepted as a product of nature -- albeit a rare freak of one. The few lines of dialog that attempt a scientific explanation, suggest that its pituitary gland (which regulates growth) was thrown off by some disturbance in its diet. As corroboration, the characters cite giant bones found in Tanganyika and a 112 lb baby in Russia. This monster is all natural. Actually, an ordinary gila monster was prodded to walk across several model landscapes and some little model cars. That footage was spliced in the live action shots (done at McLendon's 500 acre Cielo Ranch north of Dallas).

Christian Propaganda? -- Some reviewers contend that Gordon McLendon set out to produce a "Christian" sci-fi with Gila. This is probably an overreaction to the twice-played ditty with lyrics that say "And the Lord said, laugh children laugh..." and perhaps that the opening narration does mention God. However, the way drunkenness is accepted (Old Man Harris and Smith's entry) argues against an ulterior Christian propaganda agenda.

Good Clean Fun -- McLendon and Ray Kellogg (writer and director) seem to have tried to create a targeted product for the teen drive-in market. That said, they rather obviously steered clear of the pandering to the seamy side of human nature. Instead, the teens are cast as good kids who just like to have fun driving fast in their hot rods and dancing to rock and roll. Wheeler represents the fuddy-duddy adult stereotype. Viewers will also note a total lack of gore. It is implied that the monster has eaten many people, but this is never shown. Instead, Gila follows familiar plot formulae for some good clean fun. (aside from the fact that many people got eaten, that is)

Promo Piece -- One could see Gila as a promotional tool (by McLendon) to launch the singing career of Don Sullivan (the star). Sullivan has some talent, but gets an almost intrusive amount of screen time for his singing. The movie poster makes sure viewers will know there are three songs in the movie. McLendon, as radio mogul, would naturally stand to gain if Sullivan did catch on as another Elvis. Apparently, Gila was not enough.

Moon Babe to Starlet -- Lisa Simone, who plays Chase Winstead's French girlfriend, was Miss France 1957. Her role is a small one, but at least she got some lines for her french accent. Simone was also one of the moon women in Missile to the Moon, which employed many pageant winners. There, however, she was a non-speaking moon babe. Gila was Simone's second and last movie.

Poor Monster -- Unlike many 50s monsters, the giant gila monster really has no malice. He's just a big guy, and big guys have to eat too. The problem is that he has figured out that automobiles contain snacks. Ambushing cars may be less work than chasing cattle (the Sheriff tells of missing livestock earlier). So, he is big and lazy. He damages the railroad bridge by accident (he's too girthsome to fit under it). He goes for the train wreck victims more as serendipity than sinister scheme. So, he is big, lazy, clumsy and an opportunist. All this makes the gila more of a deadly nuisance than an evil menace. This makes his fiery finale more of just an ending than a triumph.

Wheels For Fun -- Car fans will enjoy that the 50s hot rods get a fair amount of screen time. Also of interest, for car buffs, is the sheriff's '58 Ford Fairlane with the uncommon curved swoosh trim normally found on the two-tone custom body, but his car is just white with black hood and trunk. The stolen car is a '57 Pontiac, the lesser sister to the very famous '57 Chevy. Steamroller Smith's big black '58 Cadillac was quite the ride. At the end, Wheeler drives up in his big '59 Cadillac -- the pinnacle of tail fins!

Bottom line? Gila is not a deep or artistic low-budget B movie. It is simply good clean drive in fun. Keep in mind its low-budget independent nature and cut it some slack. Enjoy the hot rods, stereotypic 50s "teens" and a giant lizard. Life doesn't have to be complicated.

Teenagers From Outer Space

Undeservedly assailed as a 'worst movie ever,' Teenagers From Outer Space (TFOS) has its points of interest. Criticism for amateurish acting and cheap special effects are misplaced. Almost all the actors were amateurs. The production was done on a tiny budget. Despite these hurdles, TFOS does rather well. More impressive, however, is that TFOS overcomes the almost-always crippling hurdle of being produced, directed, edited and acted in by the same man. Given that, TFOS is surprisingly straightforward. The title may suggest a silly or spoof-style movie, but half a dozen people are killed, so it's no comedy. TFOS is an earnest tale of compassion rebelling against heartless despotism, innocent fondness and noble self-sacrifice. TFOS ran as the B feature to another of Warner Brothers' cheapies, the english dubbed version of Gigantis, the Fire Monster (Japan 1955). Classic drive-in fare.

Quick Plot Synopsis
An alien ship lands on earth. The aliens are looking for a planet on which to raise Gargon, an animal they use for food. One of the young crewmen, Derek, discovers that the planet (Earth) is home to some intelligent life, so objects. He is overruled. He rebels, is arrested, but escapes. The captain sends another young crewman, Thor, to recapture him. Derek finds his way to town and is taken in by a grandpa and his granddaughter, Betty. Derek is taken with earth life and the winsome Betty. He becomes aware of Thor's murderous pursuit of him, so the idyl is short-lived. Thor is hit during a shootout at City Hall. He eludes the police, captures Derek and Betty and demands medical attention. While Thor is woozy from the extractions, Derek and Betty escape. Thor, revived, pursues them to the cave where the test Gargon was kept. It, however, has attained monster size and escaped. The city is saved from the giant lobster by Derek, using Thor's ray gun hooked up to power lines. The alien fleet with more Gargons approaches. Thor crashed his car and is placed in police custody. Derek frees Thor from jail. They both go to the landing site. When the scout ship lands, Derek professes to have become loyal again. He asks to guide in the fleet. He locks himself in the saucer and instructs the fleet such that they crash instead on his ship. All the aliens and Gargon are destroyed. Derek kept his promise to never leave Earth. Betty and Grandpa walk off.  Love is lost, but Earth is saved. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
For a cast of amateurs, and a neophyte director with little budget, they did pretty well. The story keeps moving. While it's not highly original, it is at least uncluttered.

Cold War Angle
This is subtle, but it's there. Note that the nasty alien culture, which wishes to take over "our" home for their purposes, is an oppressive dictatorship. The alien culture has no room for love and "family". All is subsumed by the state. This is how 50s America viewed the communist state -- the antithesis of all that is good and wholesome.

Notes
One Man Band -- Tom Graeff was another of the peripheral small-time Hollywood movie makers. He wrote the screenplay for TFOS, produced it, directed it, edited it (usually where one-man-shows fail) and even acted in it. He play the role of Joe, the reporter. As a one-man-band, Graeff did reasonably well. He managed to avoid cryptic (or artistic?) tangents and kept the pace moving. Even though shot in and around LA, Graeff managed to frame his shots to maintain a fairly generic 'anytown' look.

Son of Klaatu -- The "good" alien, Derek, is pulled from the Klaatu mold. He wants to help Earth. He takes a room among earthlings, wears earthling clothes and gets friendly with an earth woman. There is even the hunted-down trope. In a similarly Christ-like self sacrificing spin, Derek purposely forfeits his own life to save mankind. The closing scene of Derek's face among the clouds even fits with the Biblical account of the resurrected Christ rising into the clouds.

Insidious Book -- Early in the film, Derek's insubordination is blamed on a banned book. Many 20th century revolts had "a book" in their foundations, but Derek's book seems more introspective than insurrectional. He seems more focused on family bonds, love and doing what's ethically right. Since the alien dictatorship is cast as a parallel to communism, perhaps the parallel is that Derek's book is a Bible. Somewhat salient for today, the Bible is often banned as part of statism.

Failed Exploitation -- The posters pander to the adult angst over teenage rebellion (and teen desire to rebel). "Teenage hoodlums...rampage!" or "Thrill-crazed...kids..." Obviously aimed at the teenage drive-in demographic, the marketing seemed to be trying to appeal to vicarious rebels. The movie fails to deliver. In a classic dualist mood, Derek is the "good" alien. Thor is the thoroughly "bad" opposite. The teen on a "horrendous ray-gun rampage" is actually the conformist to his despotic culture. The rebel is the kind-hearted hero. This isn't the adult stereotype, but is how many "misunderstood" teens like to see themselves.

Lobster Solves World Hunger -- It is too bad that Derek had to kill the Gargon so soon. Imagine how a controlled herd of fast-growing Gargons could take care of world hunger on Earth. Growing that fast, one Gargon could feed a hundred people. Graeff deserves a nod for having his aliens not want to rule earth, or take our women, as aliens usually do. Instead, they rather callously just wanted our planet as a ranch to raise their food. In this, there is an unexplored analogy to colonizing nations moving into third world lands to grow plantation crops, quite without regard to what impact this had on the local population (human and animal).

Favorite Cave -- Some viewers may recognize the cave the aliens stash their Gargon in. It is that favorite B-movie cave in Bronson Canyon -- home base for Ro-Man in Robot Monster ('53) and others.

Bottom line? TFOS was under-appreciated when released, but has developed a cult following as late night TV fodder. As a public domain movie, it shouldn't cost much to acquire and does offer some entertainment value. Rather than gripe about the amateurish acting and cheap special effects, admire how much Graeff did with next to nothing. It is very 50s.

Destination Space

Essentially a pilot for what CBS envisioned as a TV series, Destination Space (DS) is a B grade mash-up of new material and footage from Paramount's Conquest of Space (1955). As a stand-alone movie, DS lacks meat on its bones. Of course, it's job as a pilot to a series was to set the stage and develop some characters. This, it does, at the expense of action and plot. Nonetheless, the integration of the older Conquest footage is fairly well done. There was enough other Conquest footage of rockets and the big wheel space station that did not get used, so the mash-up might have worked over a season's episodes. However, CBS opted not to produce the series, so only this pilot remains.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Men aboard an orbiting wheel space station count down to the launch of a rocket whose crew are to orbit the moon. Before the launch can occur, a rogue meteor zooms in and damages the space station. Amid smoke, sparks and being tossed about in the unstable and wobbly space station, the crew manage to regain control. The damage, however, is severe enough to delay the moon mission. The commander, Jim Benedict, is called down to Washington DC to face a senate hearing on the expenses and delays. He also socializes with his girlfriend and other friends and colleagues. A demagogue senator Royce tries to make a big case out of the delays but Jim gives a rousing speech about naysayers being the biggest roadblock to exploring strange new worlds. Royce insists that a Dr. Easton be among the crew to report on progress. All agree. After a month's repairs, the rocket is again in countdown mode. This time, however, a stuck servo causes the nuclear reactor to begin going critical. With time running out, astronaut Dave manages to loosen the frozen servo. The reactor cools and all are save. The trouble will cause another month's delay, but Dr. Easton promises to report on the issue honestly. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
There are several familiar faces among the cast. John Agar plays Colonel Mathews. Several others cast members were regular TV stars in the 60s. It is also fun to see how the director and editors integrated the original Conquest of Space footage.

Cold War Angle
This is subtle as part of the space race. At one point, however, Mathews makes it blatant. In griping about Senator Royce, he says, "He and people like him couldn't help the enemy more if they were paid agents." The Enemy. It was simply understood as part of the fabric of Cold War life.

Notes
Serious Sci-fi -- The decade opened with a big-budget example of "real" science fiction: Destination Moon. The story was not about aliens, monsters or saucers. It was what real men would or could do with credibly fictional technology. This sub-genre had its fans, but wasn't as popular as more fantastic sci-fi (aliens, monsters, etc.) Conquest of Space was another big-budget example from mid-decade and a source for most of the "space" footage in this movie. By late in the 50s, real space programs were gearing up. Non-fantistic sci-fi had less draw. This may be part of why CBS opted not to produce the TV series.

Pre-JFK -- An element of realism in DS is that it wasn't malicious aliens or a lack of technology which kept man from the moon. It was bureaucratic meddling. The immediate villain of the tale is Senator Royce who lobbies to cut the program's funding. To combat this political foe, Jim Benedict gives a rousing speech about the need for decisiveness. "Let us make up our minds if we want a space program or not....Let us go forward in the American way....to a new frontier..." President Kennedy would give a similarly rousing speech before congress in 1961 to kick off America's race to the moon.

Dead-End Triangle -- Much of DS's run time was devoted to character development for the series' episodes. One such bit of development which came to nothing in the pilot, was the ever-popular love triangle. Jim, the leader, and Dave the pilot are friends. Dave's wife Kim has a no-longer-secret crush on Jim. Jim, however, is engaged (or almost) to June. Nothing is made of this in the pilot. It was fodder for first season tensions -- which never came.

Bottom line? DS is obscure and not easy to find. Unless you're devoted to watching all 50s sci-fi movies, or a big fan of Conquest of Space (or perhaps a John Agar fan), there may not be enough reason to get this movie. If you can find it free, or running on late night TV, it might be interesting to see what how far TV sci-fi had progressed since the days of Video Ranger and Rocky Jones.

Plan 9 From Outer Space

The dubious honor of "Worst Film Ever Made" for Plan 9 From Outer Space (Plan 9) originated with the Medved's "Golden Turkey Awards." This distinction doesn't quite fit anymore, however, as so many people have become fans of the film. In the context of its day (the 50s) Plan 9 was an obscure failure of a film when released in 1959. 1960s and 70s television rescued it. Countless late night runnings in local TV "Creature Feature" productions brought Plan 9's fascinating cheapness to new audiences. With such a wide cult following, much has been written about Plan 9, bringing attention to its quirky writer, producer, director, Ed Wood Jr. Plan 9 has a subtle earnestness to it, which the bad acting, cheap sets, and bad special effects cannot squelch. While it would be easy to see Plan 9 as a totally camp parody of 50s sci-fi, Ed was serious.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The show opens with Criswell making a menacing introduction. The movie itself opens with an old man among mourners at his wife's grave. He later dies too and is buried. Flying saucers arrive, seen by an airline pilot, Jeff. The dead wife (Vampira) rises and kills some grave diggers. The police investigate, but zombie wife and zombie old man kill the girthsome detective (Tor Johnson). Tor is buried, and also rises as a huge bald zombie. The Pentagon sends a Colonel to investigate it all. Aboard the saucers' mother ship, the lead saucer commander tells the alien Ruler how Earth's authorities refuse to listen to their warning about weapons proliferation. The alien "Eros" plans to use Plan 9 to get the earthlings' attention. He plans to raise the earth's recently deceased to cause chaos. Then the earthlings can no longer deny the existence of the aliens. Eros tries his plan for awhile, but three zombies don't cause that much chaos. Due to lack of results, the Ruler takes away 2 of Eros' three saucers. The Ruler's plan is to send the old man zombie (Bela)among people, then use the decomposition ray on the body. That should impress the humans into listening. Eros goes down to earth to follow orders. The old man zombie performs as planned, but it only causes the people to go into the cemetery to investigate. They find the ship. Eros lets them in so he can talk smug and monologue about how earth must be destroyed because earth scientists could (pretty soon now) discover Solarbanite which explodes light particles. This would destroy the whole universe, since light is everywhere. A fight breaks out aboard the saucer between Jeff and Eros. This sparks a fire. The Colonel, the Inspector and Jeff all get out just before Tanna makes the saucer take off. The three men watch the burning saucer fly over Hollywood, then explode. Criswell comes back on with an equally menacing epilogue. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
For fans of 50s B movies, especially sci-fi, there is so much to love. Aside from reveling in the really poor quality of almost everything, there is the mystery of just what Ed thought he was doing. Plan 9 is a "perfect storm" of cheapness that attains a sort to pathos all its own.

Cold War Angle
Plan 9 re-uses the familiar plot of advanced aliens warning (and/or threatening) earthlings for their recently developed destructive power. Eros says that earth scientists are on the verge of discovering "Solarbanite." This is a thinly veiled analogy for nuclear weapons. Jeff says,"So what if we develop this Solarbanite bomb, then we'd be an even stronger nation." To this, the alien Eros exasperatedly responds, "...stupid stupid stupid." Thus, Ed Wood delivers his commentary about Cold War logic.

Notes
Bela Beyond The Grave -- Ed Wood Jr. befriended the aging star Bela Lugosi -- famous for his Dracula roles in the 1930s. Over 70 years old, and frail as he was, Bela still had some drawing power on the marquee. Wood gave Bela the starring role as his mad scientist in Bride of the Monster ('55) -- Bela's last speaking role. In 1956, Woods shot a few minutes of Bela in his classic vampire tux. These weren't scripted scene segments, just some impromptu clips. Woods had a vague movie idea for a western-vampire hybrid, "The Ghoul Goes West." But, Bela died in August 1956 before any real work had been done. Wood later worked his Bela clips into his script for Plan 9. Thus, Plan 9 was Bela's last movie, released three years after he died.

Secret Martians -- The aliens in Plan 9 never really say where they're from. The script and early production work, however, referred to them as martians. Mars was the popularly presumed home of flying saucers. The only trace of this remaining in the script, comes when Eros refers to the possibility of earthlings blowing up the sun, which he calls "our sun." We must be neighbors then.

Interplanetary Faith -- Adding to the eclectic mix in Plan 9, Woods added a dash of God. In the saucer, Eros chides earthlings for "not using the minds that God gave you". Jeff questions this. "What do you know of God?" Eros adds this to his list of things to deride earthlings for. "You think you are the only ones to think about God?" Given their behavior, especially Eros's, the martians weren't any better at following God than 20th century earthlings had been.

Soap Boxing -- Ed, as writer, seemed to have several things he wanted to say about life or society. Without much delicacy, his characters occasionally launch into little monologues of Woodian messages. Women are headstrong, but weak. The military brass are hypocrites and liars. Flying Saucers and aliens do exist. Nuclear weapons are a bad thing. Policemen are incompetent boobs, etc. None of these messages have much to do with each other. They're just some things Ed wanted to say. Plan 9 was his soap box.

Lost Halo Luster -- In most 50s B movies, the US military is portrayed as the heroic guardian of the land. Recall Them! and Deadly Mantis to name but two. Notice how Wood was counter-culture. In Plan 9, the military weapons are ineffectual. The top brass are liars -- they know UFOs and aliens were real, but maintain a fiction. Even Wood's "benign" aliens are decidedly not Christ-like Klaatus. In some ways they were as dysfunctional as we earthlings. Eros backhands Tanna for being too outspoken, then goes on to chastise the earth men for being belligerent. No Klaatu here.

Constellation of Lesser Stars -- In addition to Wood's fallen star, Bela, Wood had his other regular character actor, Tor Johnson. Tor is once again cast as the big bald brute. Instead of reprising "Lobo" from the prior two movies, he is the zombie of Inspector Clay. Vampira, (Maila Nurmi), played the zombie of the "old man's" wife. Vampira was a local Los Angeles TV celebrity in the mid 50s. Criswell, who provided a lurid intro and epilogue to the movie, was also Los Angeles phenomenon. Minor note: In Criswell's intro, he uses the movie's original title "Grave Robbers from Outer Space." The rest of the cast were almost-nobody actors or just plain folks, like Wood's landlord, his chiropractor, one of the actor's houseguest, etc.

Bottom line? So much has already been written about Plan 9, but it really has to be seen. It is a classic "acme" of low-budget 50s sci-fi movies. It's almost too easy to watch Plan 9 with the condescending ridicule of MST3K. But, one can enjoy the cheapness without arrogance. Instead, watch it with the context of 50s B sci-fi in mind. Ed Wood wasn't making a parody. He was serious. Everyone in it was serious. They were in Hollywood and making a movie!

The Womaneater

This is an obscure British sci-fi/horror film that is thin on "science" but also light on the horror too. What it does have is an eclectic blend of Frankenstein and Faust and Jack the Ripper. Womaneater is still a low budget B-film, but does rather well within those confines. There is a little bit of stock footage, but not much. The sets are simple, but sufficient. There is a strong sense of film-noir throughout, as almost none of the characters seem noble or heroic. It ran as the "other" feature to The H-Man.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A London doctor travels to the upper Amazon because he had heard of a tribe of natives who have a "juju" which can restore the dead to life. He's suffering from "jungle fever" and his cohort is killed by a spear as they come across a native ceremony sacrificing a young woman to an odd "tree" with little wiggling arms.
Five years later, Dr. Moran has the tree (or one like it) in the basement of his manor house back in England. He also has one of the tribesmen, who is repeating the drum ceremony. They sacrifice a young red-head to the tree. Later, Moran extracts an inky serum from the tree and injects it into a heart in big beaker. The heart beats awhile, then stops. The police are trying to solve the disappearance of the red-head. Meanwhile, at a local traveling carnival, a young mechanic takes a fancy to a blonde "attraction" at a hawker's stand. He objects to how her boss talks to her. He punches out the boss. The blonde gets fired. The next day she walks to the mechanic's garage. He suggests Moran's house as a possible housekeeper job. She gets a job there, over the objections of the middle-aged housekeeper, Margaret. Moran stalks the streets of London looking for another victim for the tree. He follows and picks up Judy. He takes Judy to his manor. He and Tanga sacrifice her to the tree. Margaret threatens to leave. She and Moran argue. She tries to stab him with decorative dagger. He chokes her and kills her. Sally tries to leave, but Moran (who's fallen in "love" with her) tricks her and locks her in. He takes her his lab to see his triumph. More serum drained from the tree and injected into a body under a sheet. The heart beats, the lungs breath. The body sits up. It's Margaret. She's an unresponsive zombie, not really alive. Moran furious with Tanga (and his people) for cheating him by sharing only half of the secret. Zombie Margaret drops to the floor before getting to Sally. The police and the mechanic arrive in time to rescue Sally. Moran throws flammables on the tree. Tanga throws a dagger into Moran's back, then kneels before the burning tree. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The pacing is pretty good for a low budget movie, with several interwoven threads. George Coulouris plays Dr. Moran rather well, keeping the character teetering on the edge of rationality. Joyce Gregg does a good job with the tormented housekeeper. Vera Day, who did Quatermass II the year before, plays the carnival exotic dancer, but does about the worst hula seen on film. The shot over her shoulder, between her pointy bra peaks, of Jack trying to concentrate on the car's wiring, is hilarious. It probably wasn't supposed to be, but it's so completely unsubtle that you can't help but laugh.

Cold War Angle
There's nothing of commies or nukes in Womaneater, whether actual or analogous. This is much more of a faustian tale of science being misused by an arrogant scientist.

Notes
Generic Brownies -- A peek at 50s race-insensitive thinking can be seen in "the natives." They're supposed to be descended from the Aztecs, even though the Aztecs were in Mexico, not the Amazon basin. The natives are of various shades, and include Africans. The feathered garb of the medicine man is aztecish but the ritual chants sound decidedly African. There's no one that looks credibly like an Amazonian native. Instead, they're a mishmash of native peoples. This is pretty typical for 40s and 50s jungle films. All them brownies look alike anyhow, ya know. Who'll notice? In the 50s, they didn't.

Bad Girls -- A surprise, is how misogynist Womeneater is. There are no good women in this story. The beautiful victims are rendered mindless by the hypnotizing drums. Even when the effect wears off just prior to being fed to the tree, they can only scream in fear. They are powerless victims. Margaret is the abused former flame who hangs around, taking the abuse on the presumption that she could have no life apart from Moran. Judy, the bar tramp, is a cheap floosie easily picked up by Moran. As he feeds Judy to the tree he says, "What's a few worthless lives compared to what I'm giving the world. It's turning death into life." Women are cheap tree food. Even the "good" girl, Sally is abused. She's helping Jack work on a car. Just after Jack asks her to marry him, he begins to berate her for not holding the light right and other little blunders (she's no mechanic). Okay, so Jack is a jerk. That's not so odd. The odd part is that Sally accepts all this bad manners between them as representing a normal married life. The subtle message in Womaneater is that all women are low-value creatures who foster dysfunctional relationships.

Faust -- Unlike the archetypal naive scientist who unwittingly creates a monster, Dr. Moran fits the mad scientist mold. He's bent on controlling the amazonian's "juju" which can bring the dead back to life. He's doing it more for his own glory than any sort of altruism. In fact, he's quite willing to sacrifice young women's lives for the "gift" he's planning to give mankind. Not much of a gift at that price. There's nothing redeeming about Moran.

What's in it for Tanga? -- An obscure question is why the native, Tanga, agreed to come to England with the woman-eating tree when he knew all along that his people only shared half the secret of restoring life. He knew Moran's experiments would come to nothing, but played along like a good minion. His angle? He apparently just wanted the tree to be fed young women. This was his religion. The more sacrifices he tree-god received, the better.

Echo of Prohibition -- There's a curious little exchange between Moran and the bartender when Moran is stalking Judy. Moran asks for a whiskey. The bartender asks if he's a member. Moran scoffs and puts some money on the bar. The bartender smiles and pours his whiskey. What was that all about? It's a hint of earlier British culture. In the early 1900s, when the Prohibition movement was sweeping the USA, similar sentiments were astir in England. The British could not come right out and ban alcohol, as the Americans tried. Instead, they banned pubs serving drinks to just anyone. Private clubs, however, could serve drinks, but only to members. London gentlemen did like their clubs. By the 50s, the official private-club laws were a faint formality, largely ignored by both bars and patrons. The little exchange between Moran and the bartender captures that. This is a trivial little nugget as far as the movie goes, but it's a fun little snip of history.

Bottom line? Woman Eater is an oddly noir sort of film. It's a little thin on the "science" for a sci-fi, but no less than other sci-fi/horror hybrids in circulation in the late 50s. It ran as the B film to the American release of The H-Man -- making for a people-eater double feature. Woman Eater isn't a top priority film to see, but has some entertainment value.

The H-Man

There was more to Toho Studios than Kaiju (rubber-suit monsters stomping model cities). The H-Man was the American title for Columbia Pictures' english-dubbed version. The 1958 original title translates to "Beauty and the Liquid Human". H-Man is an interesting blend of japanese film-noir and horror, with just a dash of "science" (there is a lab scene). The result is so much not Godzilla that it is intriguing. There are similarities to The Blob which American audiences could not help but have noticed. The H-Man isn't a japanese Blob copy, though. They were in production at the same time. There must have been some fascination with blob beings in 1958. Also, despite the American title, there isn't just one blob man. There are many "liquid humans."

Quick Plot Synopsis
Open with stock footage of a Nevada nuclear test. Cut to a rainy Tokyo street. A drug money drop goes bad when one of the criminals is attacked and melted by something, leaving only his clothes behind. The police investigate Misaki's disappearance as if it were conventional. They hound Misaki's girlfriend, Chikako (a nightclub singer) suspecting she aided his disappearance. The hoodlum gang also stalk Chikako. They assume Misaki has run off with the missing drugs. A scientist gets embroiled in the crime drama. He has the police listen to a hospitalized fisherman's story. They found a derelict ship with no one on board. Some blob-slime stuff began melting members of the search party. Two survivors fled. Masada suggests the blob-things melted Misaki. The police scoff at the theory. Meanwhile, more people are getting melted. Professor Maki demonstrates how intense radiation liquifies living tissue (a frog). The liquid frog can liquify another. The police finally have to take the theory seriously. They figure the multiple liquid-men are all within a several-block area. Professor Maki they can only be "killed" by fire. Citizens are evacuated and fire crews positioned. A hoodlum kidnapped Chikako and took her into the storm sewers in the cordoned area. He wants her to be "his" and is picking up the drugs still hidden down there. A liquid man gets the hoodlum. Masada and a rescue crew find Chikako just as the flames approach. Things end on a conference warning mankind not to mess with nuclear testing. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
As a variation on the "blob" theme, H-Man adds some nice depth. Toho's blobs are more sentient and deliberate. They ooze and creep like The Blob, but since they "hide" in rainy streets, puddles and sewers, they seem all the more insidious. The whole ghost-ship segment is well done

Cold War Angle
Like previous Toho/Honda productions, H-Man is blatantly spun (at the end) as an anti-nuclear cautionary tale. Viewers might well have inferred as much from the story, but Honda makes sure no one misses the moral of the story with a little speech at the end.

Notes
Lingering Fallout -- The movie Gojira was an immediate reaction to the Lucky Dragon incident. When that fishing boat had strayed too near a nuclear test at Bikini Atoll, crewmen were sickened by the fallout. This event apparently left a deep impression in Japanese culture. H-Man stages a sort of worst-case recreation of the event. Nuclear test fallout, "The Ash of Death" doesn't merely sicken the crewmen of the doomed boat, it liquifies them and transforms them into some bizarre new form of life.

Nippon-Noir -- The backdrop for all the liquid man action is the seamier side of Tokyo. Ruthless criminals, hard nosed police, and the dark side of society -- all good elements of film-noir. The wide screen and color of TohoScope tend to make things seem cheerier and warmer than film-noir usually does, so the dystopic noir mood never quite gets there.

Mindful of Beauty -- The Japanese title, "Beauty and the Liquid Humans," points to a central feature that did not get many lines in the script. Chikako, the beautiful night club singer is the innocent central character that links the multiple plot threads. At one point, the scientists theorize that the liquid humans still retain their previous "psyche". Hence the ghost ship's crew's hitching a ride back to Tokyo "to get home." What isn't really explained, is why the liquid humans go about liquifying other humans. Perhaps it's for companionship? For whatever reason, Misaki is liquified in the opening of the film. As a liquid human, he appears to be both carrying out revenge on gang members who crossed him and trying to protect his girlfriend Chikako. This deliberate action makes for intriguing speculation.

Sung in English -- A curious little feature is that when Chikako sings her two songs in the night club, she sings in English. Even in the Japanese version, she's dubbed by a real singer, but even then, it's sung in English. Perhaps jazz was still too new for Japan to have developed any native language nightclub ballads and the whole nightclub experience was so identified as American that english-lyrics songs just had to be there.

Bottom line? H-Man is quality 50s Japanese sci-fi. It's thoughtful and deep. The many many cheap Kaiju films that littered the 1960s would give Japanese movies a bad reputation, but H-Man was done before that decay had begun. It is well worth the effort to find and watch, perhaps as a blob double feature with the 1958 classic The Blob.