Star Trek: 60s Benchmark

It is worth noting that during late 1964 and 1965, Gene Roddenbury produced two pilots for a TV series he was trying to sell to NBC. Neither of these movies were theatrical releases, nor even ran as made-for-TV movies. As such, they're technically outside of the scope of this study. Yet, as a benchmark in where sci-fi was going, they deserve mention.

Roddenbury envisioned his TV series as a sort of Wagon Train in space. There would be a regular set of characters, meeting different adventures each week. A traveling space ship (The Enterprise) would replace the convoy of wagons as a sort of binder for the characters. Each stop along the "trail" would provide opportunities to explore social issues, such as racism, Cold War tensions, self-esteem, etc., have some fist fights, a bit of romance, then back to traveling. His formula had long legs, but a rough birth.

His first pilot, "The Cage", starred Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike. NBC officials thought it was too cerebral for mid-60s audiences, but they saw merit. They funded a second pilot. (less expensive, since it could re-use sets, props, costumes, etc.) This time, starring young William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk. The second pilot had more adventure and a bare-knuckles fist fight (like westerns have), so NBC liked it. NBC wanted some changes made for the series, which did not sit well with Roddenbury. He stepped back from active participation.

While the two pilots did not air as movies, their footage was incorporated into first season which aired in 1966. Episode 3 "Where No Man Has Gone Before", used the second pilot's footage. Episodes 11 and 12, "The Menagerie" used the first pilot's footage, told as flashback with new Kirk/Spock footage as binder.

As influential as the original series of Star Trek was, it had a short life. NBC lost interest in it, and tried to kill it, twice. Fans objected and saved it (temporarily). Star Trek only ran three seasons. In syndication, however, its reruns reached a huge audience and thereby a disproportionately large influence. It became a benchmark of what sci-fi space operas could be.

Battle of the Worlds

We continue Digression Week with an oversight from 1963. Shortly after making his first sci-fi film, Assignment Outer Space ('60), director Antonio Marhariti put out a much more ambitious sci-fi tale: Il Pianeta Degli Uomini Spenti (Planet of the spent (dead) beings). Dubbed into english and retitled Battle of the Worlds (BotW), it was released in America in 1963. The extremely low budget takes its usual toll, prompting casual viewers to disparage the film. Actually, the story is much more ambitious -- perhaps too ambitious. In some ways, BotW is a bridge between Margheriti's very 50s-minded Assignment Outer Space ('60) and his very-60s "Gamma One" quadrilogy of the mid-60s.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A rogue planet is discovered entering the solar system. The news is no surprise to a crotchety old mathematician named Professor Benson, part of an astrophysics team. He had predicted it days early, calls it The Outsider. A base on Mars studies the Outsider. Two rockets narrowly avoid destruction from its gravity. The planet appears to be on a collision course with earth. Panic ensues. Benson says it will pass 90,000 kilometers away. It goes into orbit around the earth. Benson did not think it would. He is humbled, thinking he made a math error. The authorities send a rocket and crew to explore The Outsider. Benson realizes he made no error, but that the Outsider had to have been steered into orbit. Too late, he calls for the rocket to return. When they approach, a dozen or so flying saucers come out of The Outsider and laser-blast the rocket. Benson then tells the authorities that The Outsider's orbit is gradually decreasing. In 840 hours, it will hit the earth. Before that, environmental disasters will wreck civilization. Space Command sends some rockets to destroy the planet. The saucers defend again, destroying some rockets. Fred (on one of the rockets) figures out that they home on radio signals, so his captain turns all off and flies manually. They destabilize a saucer which crashes to earth. Benson's team study the glowing glass tube from it. Music, sonics. That's the secret controlling the saucers. Another squadron of rockets is dispatched. This time, they use sonic controls to confuse and finally destroy the saucers. Benson argues to be allowed to explore The Outsider. He is sure it's hollow and piloted. Reluctantly, the authorities agree, but with a time limit. After that, they launch nukes and blast it. The Benson expedition land on The Outsider. Benson follows signals and opens a secret door with his sonic controller box. Inside, things are totally tubular. The team find a control room with many dead beings. They left their dying world in hopes that their "Noah's Ark" would find them a new world. They died before it did. But, their planet-ship continued on autopilot. (Self-defense mode too). Time is up. They're ordered to leave, but Benson refuses. He wants the secret of the Outsider. The others flee amid cave-ins, but get to the rocket just in time. Benson finds the data core and is elated. The nukes are launched anyhow. The team's rocket blasts off safely. Benson is euphoric at his discovery. The missiles blow up The Outsider, and Benson. The rocket pilot gives a disparaging eulogy. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Italian sci-fi movies (as in spaghetti westerns) are prone occasional irrational bursts of emotion, and BotW has plenty of those. Claude Rains gives a flamboyant portrayal of the eccentric Professor Benson. Yet, behind the hammy outbursts lurk some intriguing understated themes. (See Notes section)

Cold War Angle
There is an analogy in the threat of global destruction posed by The Outsider, which is emitting dangerous levels of radiation. In more of a bravado mindset than a gloom-and-doom mindset, the answer to the threat is massive nuclear missile strikes.

Notes
Shadowy Government -- A subtle plot feature is the somewhat sinister world government which is running things. They seem more of a military-industrial hybrid than civilian. Note that it was the not-very-remorseful General who decides to launch the nukes, even though the expedition team was pleading for just a few more minutes. Note, too, the rather 1984-like quality of the "council" which Benson communicates with. They're all cold, aloof, authoritarian talking heads. Magheriti was painting a rather dystopic picture of future government. This dark government idea would continue in his Gamma One quadrilogy.

Hidden Love -- Another of the subtleties in BotW is the relationship between young Eve and old Professor Benson. Nothing is stated overtly, but there is something there. Perhaps they've developed a father-daughter sort of attachment to each other. She rushes to him to share good news. He calls out for her to assist him. She frets over how he fared during liftoff, etc. Yet, it seems like something more. Magheriti gave us a long look at the opening of the film, of running her down the cliff stairs to her fiance, Fred. Later, after she's decided she cannot abandon Benson, Magheriti repeats the move, having another long scene of her running down stairs to Benson. Fred calls to Eve, but she doesn't respond. Mrs. Collins (the "black widow") tells Fred "You don't even exist to her." Perhaps Magheriti just liked how actress Maya Brent looked when she rushed down stairs. Or, perhaps he was drawing a symbolic parallel for his audience. She rushes to Benson the same way she rushed to Fred. He often directed them to walk arm in arm.

Ark of Death -- An intriguing plot element in BotW, is notion of a failed "ark." Other sci-fi movies have featured "arks". Sometimes, they're carrying earthlings (When Worlds Collide, or Space Probe Taurus (and more recently 2012). Typically, space arks carry aliens to earth, fleeing their dying world. The earthlings usually defeat them. In BotW, however, the ark arrives on autopilot. The beings it was to deliver to a new world had all died in transit. This rather poignant facet is easily overlooked.

Delightful Dis -- Cantankerous Professor Benson was quick with barbs and put-downs to his colleagues. He was usually unapologetically curt with Dr. Cornfield (the erstwhile head of their unit). But one of Benson' digs seemed amusingly subtle. They are all in their lab's communications room, watching TV reports of the rocket taking off to go explore The Outsider. Dr. Cornfield says, "The crew is made up of the very best scientific minds." Benson says, over his shoulder, and with apparent sincerity, "I don't understand why they didn't invite YOU, Cornfield."

Canards in Space -- BotW uses rocket models with a 50s style. They sport big wings near the stern and little canard wings on their noses. Such were the notions of 50s dreamers such as Bonestell. The reality of takeoff and re-entry into earth's atmosphere was proving such wings were impractical. Also still evident was the equally impractical notion of backing-down style landings. More fuel is burned than the ship could carry. Yet, this was how the moon rocket in Destination Moon ('50) landed. The pattern had been repeated ad infinitum. Watch for these canard rockets, still back-down landing, in Magheriti's Gamma One movies.

Bottom line? BotW is often branded a "cheesy" spaghetti sci-fi, but it has more to it than that. Look beyond the capricious acting styles and low-budget effects. Look beyond the (likely) poor quality of the public domain print. There are nuggets for the patient viewer.

The Land Unknown

To start off this Digression Week, we return to 1957. Universal's B-wing produced a rather major effort (for a B movie), with The Land Unknown (LU). It was yet another iteration of the "lost world" sub-genre. While not the best of the lot, it was not the worst either. As with the others, some undiscovered spot on the earth contains a sampler of primeval earth, into which a small band of 20th century must survive. More on that in the Notes section. Second-teir actors, stock footage and less-expensive effects mark LU as a B movie. Yet, more elaborate sets, models, props and matte art, give LU a larger-budget "A" feel.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Some navy brass in Washington brief men who will embark on a survey mission to Antarctica. A pretty lady reporter will accompany them. They are told of, and show films of the 1946-47 Admiral Byrd expedition, whose work they will expand upon. The goal is to find more natural resources. Coal. Minerals. Uranium. After stock footage of steaming ships, Commander Roberts, the pretty reporter, Maggie, pilot Jack and mechanic Steve, take off in a helicopter for a first photo survey. A storm brews up. Jack's only option is to fly through it. Amid the foggy clouds, something swoops at them, hitting and damaging the chopper. They descend and keep descending, finally landing 3000' below sea level. Outside, it is warm, humid and tropical. They rest for the night. Next morning, the air is clear and they see the primeval tropical landscape. They see "dinosaurs" too, a couple of death-roll fighting monitor lizards, the dead pteranodon that hit their chopper. They find a cute little tarsier and Alan blathers evolution talk about it becoming a Mozart in 50 million years. A carnivorous plant eats the tarsier. A T-rex chases them back into the chopper, whose whirling blades save them. They find their camp ransacked. A "caveman" abducts Maggie. The boys give chase. Cavey says Maggie is his. The boys interrupt him in mid-maul. Foiled (at gunpoint) he says he is Dr. Carl Hunter, sole survivor of a crash 10 years ago. Carl says his old wreck has a part they can fix the chopper with, but will only trade it for Maggie. No, say the boys, and all leave. Later, Maggie gets separated from Alan, and the carnivorous plant almost gets her. Carl saves her. She faints. He disappears. The boys look in vain for Carl's wreck. Maggie decides to give herself to Carl to save the others. En route, a plesiosaur almost gets her, but Carl saves the day with fire. He carries the (again) fainted Maggie up to his cave. Steve fights Carl without much success until Alan and Jack arrive. Carl falls and hits his head on a stone table. He surrenders and gives them a map to his wreck. Maggie dabs Carl's wound. The boys get the chopper fixed. The plesiosaur, angry about Carl's fire in its mouth, scares Maggie into a faint again. Carl puts her in his canoe to take her to Alan. The chopper takes off just as Rex shows up again. They see the canoe and hoist Maggie up. The vengeful plesiosaur attacks Carl and knocks him out, then goes for the chopper. Steve fires a flare into its mouth. They hoist up limp Carl and fly away. Back at the convoy, they run out of gas and have to ditch near the ship. All aboard safely, Maggie and Alan exchange oblique talk of marriage. Kiss. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
As lost-world dinosaur movies go, LU is pretty well paced. The sets are impressive, as is the matte art. The interweaving of actual history makes the script somewhat clever. The stock footage actually has some interesting moments, like DC-3s taking off from a carrier with rocket assist! A rare stock footage treat!

Cold War Angle
There's not much mention of Cold War themes, beyond the hint that if Antarctica had uranium deposits, it was important for America to get there first.

Notes
B, for Lack of Harryhausen -- The "dinosaurs" are all that keep LU from being an A-grade movie. They used a couple of monitor lizards, fighting amid miniature landscape, but this effect was old-stuff in the 1940s. There is an almost-embarrassing T-Rex, which is clearly a man inside a poorly formed rubber-suit. The head is okay, but from the neck down, he looks like a geriatric Rex hobbling down a nursing home hallway. The plesiosaur is better, but so clearly a large mechanical prop that there's no magic. The badly done dinos let much of the wind out of LU's sails.

Lost Plane -- A clever bit of history weaving was to have Carl say he was the survivor of a plane lost in the Antarctic 10 years earlier. The other three were dead. There was a plane lost in the Byrd expedition in 1946. The PBM went down in a snow storm. 3 men died. One wonders if audiences in 1957 would have had just enough of a vague memory of a lone lost antarctic plane in '47 to have connected those dots. In the real history, six other men survived and were rescued 13 days later.

The Castaways -- Jock Mahoney stars as Commander Harold Roberts, (Although, Maggie calls him "Alan" on numerous occasions). He is a fairly 2-dimensional heroic leader character. Shirley Patterson plays the lady reporter Maggie. Aside from being the usual eye candy / damsel-in-distress. Her character is the 2-dimensional female match for Alan. She gets rescued a lot, faints a lot, and men fight over the rights to possess her. Pilot Jack and mechanic Steve are a bit less flat. The Dr. Hunter character is more interesting. As the 20th century civilized man of science -- turned into a brutish (and lusty) savage, he actually serves as an interesting antidote to all of Alan's pollyanna science blather about evolution producing Mozarts and Shakespears.

Star Chopper -- The sixth castaway is the helicopter itself. The horsey-looking Sikorsky S-51 (or H-5, if your prefer) was the first real US military chopper. The Byrd Expedition had two S-51s. The producers used one in LU, (even though they were obsolete by the mid 50s), to take advantage of stock footage. The writers even had the castaway's chopper run out of fuel at the last minute and have to ditch. This was pointless for the plot, but let them include footage of the ditching of one of Byrd's S-51s. Actually, the real S-51 crashed on take-off, not landing. The pilot veered off the deck before gaining enough height. Without the cushion effect of the deck, he just dropped into the sea off the port side. Rare footage.

Nazis and Saucers and Secrets, Oh My! -- An intriguing bit of back story to the original Byrd Expedition, provides a very sci-fi connection. Why, conspiracy theorists asked, was such a huge military 'scientific' expedition so hastily mounted just a year after the war ended? The conspiracy theory runs like this: Before the war, the Nazis explored part of the antarctic coast, naming it New Swabia. There, they constructed some underground bases. Nazi scientists were working on a flying saucer, based on a crashed UFO found in Bavaria in 1938. As the war was going badly, U-boats ferried Nazi scientists and big-wigs to the hidden bases in New Swabia to continue work on the über-weapon saucers. Admiral Byrd was sent to find those saucers, root out those Nazis. Supposedly, Byrd himself met with some aliens (who looked perfectly human, not Roswell "grays") during a "missing" three hours of a flight. Shortly afterward, the Byrd Expedition was called off early, without much explanation. Now, there is a prime sci-fi movie story line in need of a producer.

Bottom line? LU is a worthy member of the "lost world" sub-genre. It is visually well done, except for the dinosaurs, and well paced. Knowing some of the history of the Byrd Expedition enhances the story.

Village of the Giants

Bert I. Gordon, during the 50s, brought us giant grasshoppers, cycloptic giant men, and shrunken "puppet people" was still at it. Gordon loosely adapted H.G. Wells' Food of the Gods to make the screenplay for Village of the Giants (VG). Where Wells was serious, Gordon was not. VG is a little bit sci-fi (as were most of Gordon's "giant stuff" films), but mostly his film is a comic farce, pandering to sex-obsessed teen audiences. VG stars Beau Bridges as the bad teens' leader. Ron Howard stars as the Opie-like boy genius and Joy Harmon's chest co-stars. The movie has a LOT of dancing, lots of light-rock music, and teens-rule themes.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A group of partying teens have crashed their T-bird on the washed out road to Hainesville. Their leader, Fred, liked a local girl there, so they walk to town, intent on causing some trouble. In Hainesville, Nancy's little brother "Genius" accidently creates some orange foam which causes their pets (who eat some) to grow very large. The two large ducks show up at a go-go club where the Beau Brummels are playing. Everyone accepts the giant ducks dancing. Comic moments aplenty. Fred (Beau Bridges) figures the giantism is a ticket to quick fortune. Eventually, his gang steal the remaining hunk of goo, eat it and all become 30' giants. Dressed in theater curtains as makeshift togas and bandeau bikinis, the gang assert their control over Hainesville. They boast of their power and dance a lot, mostly for the heck of it. To ensure cooperation of the townsfolk, they've kidnapped the Sheriff's whiny 8 year old daughter, and Nancy. They keep them in a closed theater. The townsfolk have to fetch fried chicken and Coke for the giants. Fred delivers a treatise on adult oppression of teens. Mike has Genius brew up a batch of ether. Mike taunts the giants away from the theater with a David and Goliath reenactment. Thus lured away, Mike's friends sneak into the theater and apply the ether to giant Merrie. Everyone escapes. Meanwhile, the giants have Mike trapped on the steps of City Hall. To save the day, Genius rides up on his bicycle. A canister on the back spews orange smoke. In an attempt to make more giant-making goo, Genius accidently created an antidote. The orange smoke causes the giants to shrink back to normal size. Thus embarrassed at their lack of power, and clothing, the bad teens run away. Out at the edge of town, a group of midgets ask them if Hainesville was the town with the giant goo. ha ha yes. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
As a time-capsule of mid-60s culture, VG has many nuggets of interest. The decorum of the 50s was wearing thin. The wilder hedonism of the later 60s was dawning. Early Beatles-style rock and early 60s crooning was still in vogue, but note the dancing. The fairly sedate "Twist" was replaced by much more vigorous total-body thrashing.

Cold War Angle
There are no Cold War metaphors. VG attempts to focus on teen obsessions.

Notes
B.I.G. Product -- Gordon had a niche for himself with the small-things-made-big gimmick or its reverse, big-things-made-small. For a change, VG was a comedy, but used the same special effects techniques -- there is even a giant spider scene, perhaps a nod to the 50s.

Beau Brummels -- They are the band playing in the Go Go club. 1965 was the big year for the rock band, "The Beau Brummels." They never rose above second-teir status, with only a few songs in the top 40. Their best was No. 8. They got the name from an 19th century englishman, famed as a fashion plate. Brummel may be credited with getting men's fashion out of knickers and tights and wigs, and into trousers, suits and ties. Viewers will note that the band members are dressed in old fashioned suit coats and Col. Sanders-style ribbon ties. Old fashioned attire was their stage gimmick. The band did not last long. A couple members were drafted into the military, and one was too sick to perform.

Treasure Chest -- Gordon makes the most of actress Joy Harmon's 41" assets. Much footage is invested in watching her upstairs while she dances. Joy's other memorable movie moment was in Cool Hand Luke ('67) as Lucille, the girl who does the lathery car wash scene. Gordon had a giant model of her chest made up for the scenes in which Horsey is "riding" on her bandeau top while she dances. Perhaps this was figured to be a teen boy fantasy -- riding bucking-bronco style, on a rack the size of a sofa. That moment was chosen for the poster. Gordon was not shy about sexual innuendos in his script. For example, in the rescue scene, Mike's friend Horsey looks down from the catwalk to Joy's ample bosom. "This is gonna take two hands." -- meaning that he couldn't hold onto the ether-cotton AND climb down the rope. Riiigght.

Pandering to Rebels -- Most likely reflecting Gordon's stereotyped notion of what disaffected teens think, he has Fred deliver the rebel-teen's manifesto while talking to captive Nancy. "In this town, for the first time in my life, I'm a big man, not the adults. It's like 'don't' is the only word they know. Don't drink, don't smoke, don't drive too fast. Well, in this town, nobody is going to say 'don't' to ME." Yet, he and the other giant delinquents have no other agenda beyond eating a lot and dancing with abandon. Stereotyped as it was, Gordon's disaffected teens (most of them actually in their 20s) have an 'edge' to them which the later-60s youth (hippies, anti-war protesters, druggies, etc.) would have.

Pre-Woodstock -- Gordon must be credited with capturing a pop moment before it happened. At the opening of the film the gang of delinquent (but otherwise well dressed) "teens" get out of the stuck T-bird. They were drinking beers and listening to rock music, so continue to do so outside, in the rain. They gyrate with eros-laden abandon, finally wallowing together in the thick mud, their hair hanging in wet ropy strings, the music blaring. It's hard not to see a foretaste of Woodstock in that scene.

Bottom line? VG is a shallow and predictable comedy, the humor of which is fairly juvenile and "lite" sexual. Some of Gordon's visual effects work well (like the dancing ducks), while others are not his best work. For fans of the "giant" sub-genre, VG can be amusing. Anyone looking for the serious themes of Wells' novel, will be disappointed. VG is a benign comic farce.

Crack in the World

Paramount distributed this big-budget production by Security Pictures in the spring of 1965. Crack in the World (CW) was partially a sci-fi movie and partially a disaster movie. Like many of the disaster-genre that would follow, the destructive power of nature itself -- rather than a giant reptile -- is the monster. Solid actors, a decent budget and ample action make CW one of the mid-60s' big A-level sci-fi movies.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Project Inner Earth, headed by Dr. Steven Sorensen, plans to tap into the molten core of the earth to supply unlimited power for mankind. Their problem is that they've encountered an extremely tough shell around the core which no drill can penetrate. Sorensen wants to use a nuclear missile to punch through that shell. Dr. Ted Rampion is worried that the earth's crust is too fragile, due to all the previous nuclear weapons tests. Some complex back story about Steve's wife Maggie (a much younger woman) being Ted's former girlfriend clouds the issue. Steve finding out that he has a terminal illness clouds his judgement too. Steve convinces his bosses to let him fire the nuke and does so. All seems to have gone as planned. The magma wells up and everyone is pleased. That is, until massive earthquakes start wiping out towns and a giant rip in the earth's crust appears. To make matters worse, the rip lengthens steadily. If it goes all the way around the earth, it could break in half and disintegrate. Ted and his team plant another nuclear bomb in a pacific island volcano to stop the rip. This seems to succeed, but the rip turns back towards its origin. More earthquakes and destruction. Steve is a jerk to Maggie. Ted is heroic. Steve is almost too ill to continue. The project base is wracked with tremors. Ted and Maggie escape, but Steve remains behind to record events. The crack meets its origin point. A glowing ball of magma rises into the fiery night sky. Earth now has two moons. A squirrel comes out of hiding in a hole. Ted and Maggie hug for joy. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
CW is an action-packed disaster flick. Lava, landslides, train wrecks and lots and lots of explosions. Any 12-year-old boy cannot help but love this film.

Cold War Angle
CW is a strong example of the Nuclear Caution branch of Cold War morals. Man, recklessly misusing nukes, sets off a chain reaction (much like modern wars have been) which threaten to destroy the world as we know it. A "counter strike" of another nuke (in the volcano) averts total annihilation, but leaves millions dead and the earth scarred forever. All this makes for quite a blatant nuclear cautionary tale.

Notes
Cracked Science -- Sci-fi, as a genre, is hardly famous for strict scientific accuracy. Aliens who look perfectly human and speak English? Big monsters who can eat whole cities, yet never have to poop? But never mind. CW's flawed scientific premise is that the earth's crust is an integral shell. The integrity of this shell is what keeps the earth from flying apart due to centrifugal force. Of course, if that were true, us unattached humans ought to be flying off into space. But never mind. Knowledge of Plate Techtonics was not new in 1965, but it had not filtered down to the popular level yet. Modern viewers will scoff at CW. The earth has always had cracks in it, and works rather well that way. But, to non-scientists in the mid 60s, with a hard-shell view of the earth, the premise was more credible and pretty frightening.

More Mad Scientist -- Dr. Steve Sorensen fills the customary role of misguided (mad) scientist in several ways. He wants to do some beneficial deed for mankind, but miscalculates and causes destruction. In this case, it is nature (the earth) who becomes the monster. Per the customary role, poetic justice prevails. The monster kills the offending scientist for his haste or hubris. Once he's dead, and his sin atoned for, the rightful order is restored (lovers kiss and small furry animals emerge from their burrows)

Tedious Triangle -- Many a sci-fi movie has been hobbled with tangled drama. CW is no different. In the midst of the impending destruction of the earth, Steve can still be a petty jerk to his young wife. Maggie can still be conflicted over her less-cerebral lust for Ted. Ted can still show off his big biceps, etc. This seems quite reminiscent of Catwomen of the Moon, where upon meeting another race of beings who are openly hostile, the main characters obsess over who loves whom. Perhaps astute movie producers knew that their young audiences were likely still mired in that high-school drama mindset, in which who liked whom and who was being a jerk to whom, etc. was more important than anything -- even the destruction of the earth.

Going Together -- Movie goers of the early 60s would probably have "felt" that Ted and Maggie really belonged together anyhow. Kieron Moore and Janette Scott had starred together before CW, as lighthouse-bound husband and wife biologists in Day of the Triffids ('62): another Security Pictures film. They would team up again in Security Pictures' Bikini Paradise ('67) -- a comedy outside of this study's scope.

Bottom line? CW is a well done disaster flick with ample entertainment value. There is plenty of action and the special effects respectable enough. After a steady diet of ultra-low budget movies, CW plays like an epic blockbuster.

War Gods of the Deep

American Pictures International had been very successful with their "Corman-Poe Cycle" of films in first half of the 60s. After 8 hits, however, the Poe well was running dry. War Gods of the Deep (WGD) was based on a Poe poem, though a shorter, lesser-known one. Veteran director Jaques Tourneur replaced Roger Corman, but WGD still starred Vincent Price, featured a Poe story, and was full of the usual gothic/horror trappings. WGD is one of those films which was thin on the usual science stuff of sci-fi, but still gets categorized as sci-fi.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Vincent Price opens the film, reciting the first several lines of Poe's poem, "City in the Sea." A Mr. Penrose is found dead on the Cornwall beach. Ben Fuller, an American mine engineer, volunteers to go inform the people where he lived. At the boarding house, where pretty young Jill lives, Ben encounters a strange beast in Penrose's darkened room. That night, the beast abducts Jill. Dan, the comic-relief artist Harold and his pet chicken, go after them. The path leads down through subterranean passages to a whirlpool Dan and Harold fall in. They awaken in an underwater city. They are captives of a band of sailors, lead by The Captain (Price) who is the defacto king of the city beneath the sea. He tells the back story of the advanced civilization that built the city long long ago. When the city sank into the sea, its people adapted and survived. They used the heat of a semi-dormant undersea volcano to run their pumps and provide power. Long ago, the city people died out. The aquatic "gill men" are the "evolved" remnant of the city dwellers. The sailors fell down the whirlpool back in 1803, a smuggler crew escaping from the authroties. Once in the city, they found that they did not age. The Captain says they cannot return to the surface. UV light would make them age rapidly and die. Tremors rock the city, as the volcano grows more active. Ben, Harold and Jill manage to escape with the help of an old vicar. The don Nemo-esque diving suits and flee. The Captain and his crew don suits too and pursue. The gill men interfere with the crew, so Ben, Jill and Harold escape back to the upper world. The volcano spews lava. The city is wracked. Only The Captain escapes, but when he reaches daylight, he collapses dead, aging to a gray husk in seconds. The volcano erupts red smoke above the sea's surface. Ben, Jill and Harold watch. Price recites the last few lines of the poem. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Vincent Price is a pleasure to watch, as usual. There is a bit of Nemo and Atlantis mixed in, which has some nostalgia appeal.

Cold War Angle
This is a bit of a stretch, but imagine the volcano as a metaphor for nuclear power. Harnessed to power a civilization, grows unstable and becomes the agent of that city's destruction.

Notes
Poe -- The work which formed the inspiration for Charles Bennett and Louis Heyward's screenplay, was Poe's 1931 poem "City in the Sea." It's one of Poe's shorter works. (read it here) Where the poem is more of a requiem for the dead, the screenplay turns it into a mix of Nemo and vague Atlantis myths, though does not do too much with them.

Gothic Rut -- The popularity of the previous eight films in AIP's Corman/Poe cycle carried a certain momentum. Even though the story in WGD is a variation on the Atlantis tropes, AIP used many of its traditional gothic-horror elements: dark and stormy night, elaborate old house, candles for light, subterranean passageways, etc. etc.

"Lite" Formula -- A.I.P's Samuel Z. Arkoff had his "formula" for movie success with the youthful drive-in demographic. Have action, a novel theme, a bit of death, some speech-ifying, a little shared fantasy, and some sex appeal. WGD has all of those elements, but in reduced dosages. There are a few action scenes, but some really slow-paced ones too. The notion of eternal life, but captive to it, is novel, but doesn't get much development. There is a bit of death and speechifying. The sex appeal is minimal, resting solely in Suan Hart, her deep-cut dress and ample cleavage. WGD had all of Arkoff's ingredients, just in reduced quantities.

Prop Watch -- Quick-eyed viewers will recognize the city's generators as those of the undersea Mu Empire in Toho's Atragon ('65, USA). Appropriate enough. A.I.P. bought the rights to distribute Atragon, which apparently included re-use of footage in other projects. The gill men costume got re-used in A.I.P.'s ultra-cheap movie Space Probe Taurus ('65), again playing the part of hostile aqua-creature.

Bottom line? WGD has little "science" for the usual sci-fi fan. It is much more in keeping with AIP's Poe/horror genre. The story itself raises several interesting notions, but does little with them. Still, WGD is good for Vincent Price fans.

Space Probe Taurus

American International Pictures was cranking low budget movies, aimed at the television market. Space Probe Taurus (SPT) is one of them. It may have had a brief theatrical release as well, given that there are posters. SPT, shot in black and white, is an anachronistic offering. It looks and plays like an early 50s space drama more than a mid-60s sci-fi. It is a testimony to the slim pay-back of the television market. SPT is, by necessity, a bit slow and talky, prone to drama in lieu of action.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The fatally injured captain of the Faith One rocket asks Earth Control to push the destruct button. The planet they landed on is fatally toxic. They do. Space exploration is fraught with risk. The next mission, Hope One, takes off with the same mission: to seek an earth-like planet. The crew of four include, Hank as captain, John as co-pilot, Paul as old science guy and Lisa as beautiful lady scientist. Hank resents Lisa's presence because he's a chauvinist. Lisa bristles about equality. Hope One encounters an alien craft. Hank and John investigate. It appeared deserted, but a lone big-brain alien appears and attacks Hank. John shoots it dead. The crafts starts getting radio-active, so Hank plants a bomb on it. Blamo. Back en route to Taurus, Hope One encounters the obligatory meteor shower. A shock to the ship makes the computers push full throttle. By the time the crew regain control, they've flown "millions of miles" off course. They find an earth-like planet to land on for repairs, but wind up landing in the ocean. While down there, Hank and Lisa decide each other aren't so bad. Kiss. Hank and John, however, dislike each other. Giant crabs mill around. John dons scuba gear to gather surface samples. On his way back, a reptile man attacks and wounds John. He gets back to Hope One, but dies. His samples prove that man could live on this planet. With the computer repaired, and reactor back online, they can return to earth. After, that is, the giant crabs are shocked into letting go of the ship. Hank calls Earth to report their success. He names the new planet, Andros One, in honor of John. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
SPT could be mistaken for a product of the mid 50s, so it has some nostalgia value. Many of the old tropes are on parade. One can almost admire how much movie was made with so little budget.

Cold War Angle
There is a subtle dark undercurrent in SPT. The space agency is a military affair (commanded by Generals). There is an unexplained, but evidently urgent need to find other planets that people can live on. John delivers a Cold-War-weary isolationist rationalization for having shot the first alien they encounter:."Figures a new race would just bring more opportunities for friction and conflict. After all, one of us is going to be a minority. We've got enough troubles now, without someone else trying to bring us theirs."

Notes
Cliches In Space -- Writer/Dirctor Leonard Katzman recycled previous props and costumes to save money (see Alien Redux below), but also recycled old sci-fi tropes for his script. The mission to find a new earth. The lone pretty woman scientist aboard and inevitable romance angle. The hostile aliens. The obligatory meteorite menace. The engines out of control. The bad landing. The noble sacrifice. Even the Divine Hand (see below), and much more. Such leftover medleys are faster to write. In some ways, SPT is like a Chex Party Mix made of 50s B sci-fi.

Identity Crisis -- Symptomatic of being a medley of previous tropes, SPT suffers a sort of identity crisis. This is reflected, too, in its many alternate titles. The First Woman in Space, Space Probe Taurus and Space Monster. Is the movie about equality of the sexes? Finding new worlds? Battling monsters? The story isn't really about Dr. Lisa Wayne's success as an astronaut. The story isn't really about monsters in space. The aliens get only a few minutes of screen time. In fact, they never make it to Taurus.

Alien Redux -- To save money, Katzman reused props from prior films. One such recycling was the big-brained martian head used in The Wizard of Mars earlier that year. One rumor is that the mask's creator kept it lack of a final payment from WoM's producers. Use in SPT offered a minor recoup. A second recycling was the aquatic reptile man costume. It came from A.I.P's own closet, being used in their earlier 1965 film War Gods of the Deep. One of the posters suggests that there might have been a third monster (a rock-reptile thing?) but these scenes did not survive editing, apparently.

Sexism In Space -- An amusing bit of contradictory messaging centers around women. On one level, SPT is the usual liberationist story of an equally capable professional woman clashing with an old-world chauvinist man-in-charge. Yet, the men privately smirk about how well she fills out a apace suit and how pretty she is. At one point, it is Lisa who hands out the food pills. (Women's role is still to cook for the men). Hank softens his chauvinism, and as a reward, Lisa becomes the traditional love interest. Message? Women can be professional, but they should be pretty, shapely and ready to kiss back.

Divine Hand -- An interesting little nugget for fans of 50s sci-fi, is a repeat from Rocketship X-M ('50). In RXM, Dr. Eckstrom muses that there must have been some divine hand guiding them to Mars when their engines ran wild after a meteor hit, instead of hurtling off into the empty void. This way, they were able to see the warning of nuclear war. In SPT, Dr. Martin muses: "Surely some hand must have guided us here too. It must be more than an accident that in all the lifeless galaxies, that we have to land on this planet. We were meant to find this place and return to earth."

Bottom line? People who liked rudimentary 50s films like Rocketship X-M, Rocky Jones, Project Moon Base, etc., will find a familiar look and feel in SPT. People annoyed with cheap sets, talky scripts and minimal effects, will probably want to steer clear.

The Wizard of Mars

Easily overlooked in the increasing numbers of sci-fi films released in the mid 60s, The Wizard of Mars (WoM) as a very-low budget indie film that was 20 years behind its time. Some businessmen (vending machine operators, according to Wikipedia) wanted to make films. David L. Hewitt (writer in The Time Travelers agreed to help, acting as producer, writer and director. To his credit, Hewitt was able to get John Carradine, for marquee power. The film itself, however, suffered both from a tiny budget, one-film actors and the usual pitfalls a one-man-show piece is heir to. When released for television, the movie was retitled "Horrors of the Red Planet."

Quick Plot Synopsis
Four astronauts, Captain Steve, Charlie, Doc and Dorothy, are on the first manned orbital mission to Mars. Their task was to orbit and map only. A "freak" storm in space knocks out their control systems. They jettison the "main stage" prevent plummeting to the surface. With only nominal control, they are able to crash land on Mars. Once down, they have only enough battery to radio for help OR open the hatch. Doc persuades them to go out. They do, just before the ship catches fire. They have only enough oxygen for four days. They inflate two rafts and float south down the water-filled canal from the ice cap, following signals they're sure are their main stage. (which contains more O2 and supplies). They encounter some flaccid canal worms, and thick fog. The canal becomes a cave. Now on foot, the four wander through the cave, finding lava pits. They discover a hole back to the surface. There, they wander through a sandy desert, almost out of oxygen. The signals turn out to be a derelict NASA probe. Residual O2 in the probe gives them a couple more days. A sand storm blows through. The storm uncovered golden pavers. A golden road, says Dorothy. They follow it to an ancient and abandoned city on a mesa. Inside, the corridors are all lined with columns. These turn out to be tubes containing the hibernating bodies of the über-brainy martians. Through a sort of mind-meld, the martians tell Steve to go into another room. There, John Carradine's head floats, superimposed over various star field photos. He (the "wizard" of the title) is the manifestation of all the martian minds. He talks for a long time, about how his people were the masters of the universe, with a vast empire of a thousand worlds, etc. etc. They even conquered time, managing to pull themselves (in the city) out of time. The eons gave them time to realize that immortality was wrong. Life needs death. Trouble was, they could no longer affect the physical world. The wizard tells Steve what to do to put the city back into regular time. They place a small sphere (containing a model of the city) into the hub of a big pendulum/clcok works. it starts swinging. As time catches up with the city, it begins to crumble. The four astronauts run through the falling debris, finally getting out just before the city disappears. The all fall onto the sand, exhausted. The next moment, they're waking up on board their ship. They're dirty and the men have scruffy beard growth. Mission control calls. They're two minutes overdue for a check in. Two minutes? says Steve. Carradine delivers a few final lines about life and death. Fade to black. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
There is something very nostalgic about the style. If you look beyond the lame production techniques, there are a few nuggets of thought to muse over.

Cold War Angle
The story is more philosophical about life and mortality than anxiety over commies.

Notes
Old School -- The bulk of WoM is reminiscent of travel adventure B films from the 30s and early 40s. Back then, movies were still novel enough that images of different landscapes, caves, deserts, etc. (or exotic animals, for jungle flicks), was enough to keep audiences interested. Some 50s B films, such as Unknown World ('51) used this format, but this was no longer enough. By the mid-60s, it was really not enough.

Talk To Me -- Notable in WoM is Hewitt's screenplay is a heavy reliance on words, and near-total absence of action. Action shots and effects are expensive. Hewitt had some lofty intentions in his story, telling of a highly advanced race who could freeze time for themselves, but came to regard their immortality as a mistake. This part of the story is all delivered mostly in the Wizard's monologuing. The other characters were fairly shallow foils for dialogue. Steve: the brave leader. Doc, the obligatory scientist type. Charlie, the comic relief and Dorothy, the token helpless female. Hewitt's skills as a director and writer would improve, but they're pretty rudimentary in WoM.

Hype For Dollars -- The theatrical poster promised some pretty high-energy stuff. "We Triple Dare You to retain control of your mind as screeching creatures attack your brain!" and much more. Audiences in the mid 60s had seen some pretty impressive sci-fi effects. WoM was probably a major disappointment for them. WoP was a cheap mass-market product designed to make a little money for its investors, then disappear. The investors weren't making art, just a few bucks. That said, it does seem that Hewitt was trying to convey a deeper literary meaning via his story.

A Bit of Baum -- Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz formed only a scant framework for Hewitt to hang a story on. We do have four travelers, one a woman named Dorothy. The do find a yellow (or golden) road and follow it to an unusual city. Inside, they do talk with a projected floating head, and tell it that they just want to go home. As in Oz, it wraps up by being all a dream -- or almost. Sci-fi liked the trope of a time warp to put things back the way they were, in lieu of an actual dream. Hewitt wasn't out to recast the whole Oz story on Mars, however, so trying to parse out which astronaut was the scarecrow, etc. is probably a waste.

Easy Dubs It -- A familiar budget-saving trick in film making was to add the sound track in the studio, post production. One handy thing about having the characters wear their Mercury Program astronaut suits most of the time, is that you could hardly ever see their lips moving within those helmets. Easy dubbing. There are many long shots, or shots with the actors looking away where the dubbing was easy to.

Bottom line? For people who expect high-quality productions in their movies, WoM will be a mind-numbing bore. For people with a more sympathetic view towards the old 30s travel-adventure genre, or a taste for philosophical musing, WoM has a few nuggets.