Split Second

Doom by atomic bomb lent itself to genre beyond science fiction. Split Second (SS) is a good example of atomic angst set into film noir. It might not be classic noir, but this is tough to define anyhow. As with much film noir, there is a strong crime theme, humanity in its less-than-noble, and a cheapness to life. Three criminals take some random strangers hostage and hide out in a nuclear test blast zone. Brutality meets brinksmanship.

Quick Plot Synopsis
An atomic blast is set up in the Nevada desert, to be detonated at 6:00 a.m. the next morning. Meanwhile, two inmates have escaped from the Carson City prison. Aided by a third man, they flee in "Dummy's" (he's mute) beat up '41 Ford. Radio reports describe the car, so the leader, Sam plots to get some new wheels and some hostages. He kills a desert gas station attendant, then hijacks the next customer. This happens to be Kay Garven and her romantic friend Arthur. Sam has Kay drive on, but they run out of gas. Larry, a reporter who had been covering the blast test, drives up. He has Dotty with him, a down-on-her-luck night club dancer bound for Reno. All seven pile into Larry's tired '41 Ford Woody. Sam's friend Bart was shot in the side during their escape. Sam calls Kay's husband, Dr. Neal Garven to come and help Bart...or else. Sam drives them to a ghost town named Lost Hope City. Sam knows about the bomb test. He figured it would be the last place the cops would look. His second escape vehicle was to pick them up at 5:30 and get away as all eyes were on the mushroom cloud. While waiting in the abandoned saloon, back stories are filled out. Tensions flare. Arthur lips off too much, so Sam shoots him dead. Kay is divorcing Neal because being a doctor's wife is no fun. Dotty has had a rough past. Sam likes Dotty, but she only plays along a bit. Kay shamelessly sucks up to Sam as escape from death. An old prospector named Asa joins them, occasionally going on and on with old stories. Neal arrives, to Kay's surprise. Neal operates on Bart. Larry gets Asa's hidden gun but is discovered. Sam beats the tar out of Larry until Neal threatens to stop operating on Bart. Tense truce. Operation done and dawn breaks. The Woody's engine is shot, so only Neal's 3-seater is available for escape. The siren sounds the 5 minute warning and hour early. Larry overpowers Dummy. Sam helps Bart out to Neal's car. Shameless Kay gets in to be the third seat. They drive off. Asa tells the rest (Neal, Larry and Dotty) of an abandoned mine on the edge of town. They run for it. Sam drove the wrong way, right towards the bomb tower. He turns around and races back. The flare is shot for the one minute warning. The four run into the classic mine opening. Sam drives back through the ghost town just as the bomb goes off. The town is flattened. The car rolled over and over. The blast causes a land slide over the mine opening. The town is just a pile of burning lumber scraps with a car in it. Larry digs out the rubble. He watches the mushroom cloud rise. it's now safe to come out. The End.

Armageddon Escaped (and Not)
SS gives us both. The four who made it to the mine, survive the massive destruction. The three criminals and faithless Kay all die in the blast. Many sci-fi films will explore the Few Survivors angle. Some will dabble in the Everybody Dies angle. The thread of hope was strong and more popular in plots. But, the prospect of total doom, such as that shown in On The Beach ('59) was the omnipresent elephant in the room.

Cold War Spotlight
On the surface, SS is an apt enough noir tale, but beneath that, it also functions as an allegory about people, power and atomic destruction used as a tool. Sam is the unscrupulous world power, the dark criminal despot who kills without remorse. He uses the bomb as the threat over the others, who stand in for the other nations. While it's not the perfect fit, it does show how the Cold War issues could be played out in different metaphors than giant dinosaurs or radioactive ants.

Notes
It's A Blast -- Early Civil Defense films and literature stressed the blast from an atomic bomb as being the worst part. The whole premise behind Duck and Cover was to survive the initial blast. The radiation threat was downplayed. This was still fairly early in the nuclear fear era. The threat of radiation would grow. Sci-fi films such as Day the World Ended ('55) and many others, would stress longer-term damage from radiation. Yet, when SS was written ('53), it was only the blast that need be feared. This explains why Larry would peek out of the mine, seeing the mushroom cloud ascending, and pronounce that it was safe to go out.

Tear Up the Town -- Of some note, too, is the special effects showing the blast destruction of the town. Some elaborate model work went into the scene.

For Car Nuts -- Kay drives a big black '53 Chrysler Imperial. Those big boats would only get bigger as the decade wore on. There is a brief glimpse of a '52 Nash Ambassador police car. That upside-down bathtub look was unique. Larry's tired old '41 Ford Woody would go on to become the cheap used-car favorite of the surfer set in the late 50s and early 60s. Dr. Neal Garven's car, in which Sam, Bart and Kay try to escape, was of some interest. A 1952 Plymouth Three Passenger Coupe, sometimes dubbed a "Business Coupe" was a fairly rare body type. It was a fairly humble ride, aimed at the utility market of traveling salesmen or others who regularly drove alone. It's an interesting choice for Neal's car, him being the doctor, as opposed to his wife's lavish Imperial.

Bottom line? Split Second is a well done thriller with a good pace, and good character development. From a sci-fi fan's point of view, it is a good example of sci-fi's nuclear themes cast into a dramatic setting. Watch for the abandoned mine as recurring haven.

The Power

Producer George Pal and director Bryon Haskins brought out a different sort of sci-fi story in 1968. The Power strays from traditional concepts of science fiction, venturing more into the paranormal. Yet, it is still listed as a sci-fi. Haskins does tell a complex crime thriller with John Gay's screenplay. The big name cast includes Michael Rennie, George Hamilton, Suzanne Pleshette, Yvonne De Carlo, Arthur O'Connell, etc.. The plot has several twists and turns as members of a scientific committee are being killed off one by one by someone with vast mental powers. Which one of them is it?

Quick Plot Synopsis
Arthur Nordlund (Rennie) is the new federal liaison to a research lab. They're testing human limits to pain and mental stress so they can screen astronauts. The lab's directors are Jim, Norman, Henry, Scotty, Karl and Marge. Henry (Arthur O'Connell) is all agitated and interrupts the committee meeting. An advanced IQ test, taken by committee members as a dry-run, showed that one of them has mental powers "off the charts". After some vague talk of human advancement, Neitsche, and supermen, they do a simple telekinesis test. The piece of paper moves. One of them does have the power. Later that evening, Hallson visits his office but becomes trapped when doors and windows disappear. His wife calls Jim to report him not coming home. Jim and Marge stop smooching to investigate. They find Henry dead in the centrifuge. Jim finds a note in Henry's office with the name Adam Hart scrawled on it. Inspector Corlane confronts Jim, as a suspect. All of his credentials have become fake. Henry's wife doesn't recall phoning. Jim experiences several odd phenomena, like a pedestrian signal saying "Don't Run". Jim decides he must find this Adam Hart, a hometown friend of Henry's. In the small town, Flora at the diner said Adam was blonde and blue-eyed. Henry's father said he had mean black eyes. The gas station attendant says he can take Jim to see Hart, but dumps him out in an Air Force target range. Jim narrowly escapes a missile practice. Jim sneaks back into town to Marge's apartment. There, he is attacked by Karl. Turns out everyone on the committee is convinced that someone is out to kill them. Jim, Marge and Karl agree to hide out somewhere. They seek safety in numbers and mingle in a raucous convention crowd at a hotel. Karl fails to stay awake and dies of a heart attack. Jim and Marge flee. They watch Nordlund's apartment. Nordlund is tossed about by some power and trapped semi-conscious in an elevator. Jim rescues him. Now Jim, Marge and Nordlund wonder who it could be: Norman? Scotty? Jim has Marge stay with Nordlund while he checks out Norman. At Norman's home, his wife says he's not home, but Jim hears that he is. Norman talks with two mysterious other men about vaguely conspiratorial things. While hiding in the bushes, Jim is almost run down twice by Nordlund's big black Chrysler Imperial. Jim gets to his car, though convulsed by some external power. A chase scene ensues. Jim eventually drives off a bridge but escapes his sinking car. Police take him into custody. Inspector Corlane tells him Norman and his wife died in a massive fire that night. He has a note from Scotty, saying Jim should meet him in the lecture hall. Corlane accompanies Jim, but Jim tricks him into a locked storeroom. Jim confronts Scotty on stage. The police enter. Scotty pulls a gun. He points it at Jim for a moment, then, against his will, fires at the cops. They shoot him dead. Jim escapes and goes to the research lab. Marge is there, thinking Jim might come there. Nordlund is there too. It was Jim who moved the paper, who has the power. Nordlund, who also has the power was out to kill him. Nordlund uses his mind powers to torture Jim, but cannot kill him. Jim has stronger powers. He rises up, tosses Nordlund around and induces a heart attack. Jim and Marge emerge into the dawn. Jim wonders if absolute power really does corrupt absolutely. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The pacing is good, with only a few flat spots, keeping you engaged. The 'whodunnit' plot twists keep you guessing.

Cold War Angle
This is thin, but there is trope of an unseen oppressive power killing off potential rivals. Jim alludes to the problem of power corrupting. Nordlund represents the type who will kill anyone who might, possibly, be a rival. This is the classic Western view of communist dictators -- Stalin, et al.

Notes
Mind Games -- Throughout Power, there are visuals suggesting that Nordlund is manipulating objects on a large scale. Actually, what we see could only be tampering with his victim's perception. He may not, for instance, have actually replaced Henry's office door with a wall. He may have just tricked Henry into seeing it that way. Not too much actually happens to physical matter. Consider how Flora saw Adam Hart as blond and blue-eyed, yet Henry's dad saw him as dark skinned with cold black eyes. Nordlund/Hart controlled what they saw more than what he actually looked like.

Centrifugal Death -- NASA's astronaut training centrifuges must have had some frightening quality to them. Henry's death in it was not the first in film. Two expendable crewmen are killed in a centrifuge in Gog ('54). The idea still had legs. The villain would attempt to kill James Bond in one in Moonraker ('79).

Stock Footage Medley -- When Jim is out in the desert target range, a squadron of four F-104 Starfighters (with no wingtip missiles) peel out of echelon formation. An F-100 Supersaber fires a missile. A different F-104 fires a missile. Another F-100 fires more missiles, etc. Mix n' match. Once the pilots see Jim, a pair of yet other F-104s with wingtip missiles fly off. They start with no missiles. Fire a bunch, and go home with more than they started. Save those defense dollars!

For Car Nuts -- Featured as the bad guy car, is a big black 1966 Chrysler Imperial. Featured as the good-guy's car is a pastel yellow 1963 Plymouth Sport Fury. Various other mid 60s cars fill out the street scenes in L.A.

Of Mice and Supermen -- Underlaying the script, though not dwelt upon overtly, is the Nietschian notion of a "super"man. That is, if left to "evolve" for many generations, man would develop psycho-kenetic mind powers. This idea gets explored in several Golden Era sci-fi: Super-human vs. the rest of us. Nietsche's name is brought up a couple times in the script, if you have a quick ear. The subtext of Power is to play out his idea. Nietsche imagined the super men of the future evolving upwards into greater powers AND above the muddled pseudo-Christian middle class ethics of his day. Within that pipe dream, lurked a ruthless quality. Robinson focused on this in his 1956 novel. John Gay kept it in his screenplay. Nordlund, as the über-powerful "new" human, regarded unter-human lives as cheap and expendable, like livestock. All that mattered to Nordland was his own survival. Far from "advanced," his über-ethic turns out to be brutal, low, and primal. All that supposed genetic advancement brought little more than animal instinct with über-sharp teeth. This is progress?

Bottom line? Power is a very watchable film with good thriller pacing. For the most part, Haskins does a good job, except for a couple of weak spots. The acting is pretty good (if at times a bit wooden). The plot keeps you guessing right up to the end. It might not rank as stereotypic sci-fi, but it's a pretty good story, even for viewers who aren't "into" sci-fi.

On The Beach

It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of On The Beach (OTB) as a voice of the Cold War era. Nevill Shute's '57 novel, and Stanley Kramer's '59 film dared to speak the unspeakable lurking in the backs of everyone's minds -- that ever-present gnawing fear that nuclear war could wipe out all of mankind. OTB feature some big name actors: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins. Unlike most Hollywood movies, no one lives happily ever after. No one lives at all. It's oddly salient that this review will be posted on the day that some are convinced the Rapture will come (and the end of the world on Oct 21st).

Quick Plot Synopsis
The crew of the submarine USS Sawfish are the lone surviving Americans following a sudden and massive nuclear war. Fallout has killed all life in the northern hemisphere. Australia is one of the few places that fallout has not yet reached, though it is coming. They dock in Melbourne. Life downunder is trying to carry on as before, despite the impending doom and shortages. Captain Dwight Towers (Peck) becomes enmeshed with the other characters. Peter Holmes (Perkins) is a young Australian naval lieutenant. He and his wife Mary have a baby girl. They set up Towers with Moira Davidson (Gardner) as a date. She's an alcoholic shipwreck of a life. Julian Osborne (Astaire) is a former nuclear scientist assigned to Towers for the recon mission. A professor Jorgenson theorized that rain and snow in the arctic might have abated the radiation, showing that Australia might not be doomed. The Sawfish is ordered to go take readings. There are also strange random morse code signals being transmitted from San Diego. Sawfish will check those out too. Sadly, the atmosphere off Alaska is still just as hot. San Francisco is deserted. A crewman from SF jumps ship, preferring to die at home. In San Diego, the transmissions were caused by a window shade pull-string tugging on the telegraph key. There was no one. Back in Australia, things are getting worse sooner than expected. Julian races a vintage Ferrari to win a grand prix race. Dwight finally admits that he loves Moira. Peter convinces Mary that they need to take the government-issued poison pills. Towers and his crew decide it's better to go home and die, so they depart. Moira watches the Sawfish power out of harbor. The streets are deserted. Only the revival banner remains. "There is still time...brother." The End.

Armageddon
Lurking as a subtext in many Golden Age sci-fi, was the fear that nuclear war would wipe out civilization as we knew it. Most stories spun variations on what came afterward. OTB told the simple, horrible scenario that everyone was aware of, but did not want to face -- there would be no survivors. Shute and Kramer dared to show audiences what was behind the curtain of their fears. Every movie of the Armageddon Avoided or Armageddon Survived sub-genre require Shute's scenario as prerequisite.

Cold War Spotlight
Kramer's film did not rant about commies. Instead, he focused on the powderkeg climate of the Cold War. Julian summed it up, musing about how the war might have started. "The war started when people accepted the idiotic principle that peace could be maintained by arranging to defend themselves with weapons that they couldn't possibly use without committing suicide. Everybody had atomic bombs and counter bombs and counter counter bombs. The devices outgrew us. We couldn't control them.. Some poor soul probably saw a blip he couldn't identify and not willing to hesitate lest his country be lost, pushed the button. Then the world went crazy."

Notes
Based on the Book -- Nevill Shute wrote his novel in the mid 50s, as Cold War fears were looming large. Some people feel Kramer's book follows the novel fairly well. Others argue that it does not. Most of the nay-saying centers around details and not overall story and themes. There has always been something lost when a book becomes a movie. There have always been changes or insertions necessary in film adaptations. Overall, Kramer did the book justice.

Doom With Dignity -- Some are critical of how calmly everyone in the story accepts their doom. Chaos and bedlam seem natural enough. Recall the riot scene in When Worlds Collide ('51) when the crowds rush the space ark in hopes of escaping destruction. Instead, Shute and Kramer present a more subtle, resigned view. People go about their lives as if by clinging to normalcy, they could prolong it. Towers does this by always thinking of his family as still alive. Mary clings to hope until the last. Watch for how each character shifts from their coping mechanism to resignation. Shute imagined mankind going out with dignity. Not with hedonistic abandon (ala Prince partying like it's 1999) or brutal riots.

Poignant Moments -- Kramer does a good job of keeping the story from getting maudlin, but there are still moving moments that stand out.
Towers Turns: When Dwight and Moira are at the vacation hotel. He finally lets go of his family, and accepts that he loves Moira. The moment is captured in how the background music of the drunks signing Waltzing Matilda morphs from rowdy discord to smooth harmony. His world became clear and beautiful.
A Chat With Swain: There is one surreal scene in which Yeoman Swain, who jumped ship in San Francisco is, the next morning, fishing off the back of a boat in the bay. The Sawfish puts up its periscope right next to him. Swain and the captain carry on a casual chat -- man to scope -- as if it were quite normal.
Mary's Change: Mary held onto hope the longest of all of them. Viewers almost root for her denial. Peter finally coaxes her into accepting the need to take the suicide pills he has on the tea platter. "Peter, I think I'll have that cup of tea
Julian's Triumph: Having won is first and only race, Julian opts to die with his beloved Ferrari -- the closest thing he had to a friend. He closes up the garage and revs the engine. The smile of victorious memories fills his face.
May-November: Even though he has no navy left to command, old admiral Bridie is still manning his office. He calls in his weakening secretary, Lt. Hosgood, a plain-pretty young brunette who has stayed with him to the end. "Care to have a glass of sherry with an old man?" "No sir," she says softly. "But I would like very much to have one with you....Sir." She smiles, as if acknowledging that there had always been something more to their relationship than pure professional duty.
Banner Power: Near the end, the Salvation Army holds a rally under a banner which reads, "There Is Still Time...Brother". The preacher preaches of being reconciled to God in these last days, to a large and somber crowd. All the while, the tidy band plays a lively rendition of Onward Christian Soldiers. When we see them again, the band is smaller and less skilled. The crowd is scant and just stand silently, as does the preacher. There's nothing left to say. At the very end, when the streets are abandoned, the camera zooms in on the banner, delivering the movie's moral.

Bottom line? Kramer's OTB is a must-see for anyone who wants to understand the mood and mindset of people living during the Cold War era. It is not a happy tale, but it does give voice to the horror everyone knew was hanging over their heads. If modern viewers come away sad or depressed, they'll have come away with a kernel of what was in the hearts over nearly everyone back then -- every day. Those feelings of doom are why giant radioactive ants or martian saucers were palpably scary. 50s views knew the metaphor and knew the real fear.

Voyage to the Planet of the Prehistoric Women

A curiosity, as a derivative work of prior derivative works, Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (VPPW) is yet another story cobbled out of cuttings from two earlier films, themselves created out of prior Russian films. Details on that in the Notes section. Added to all the recycled footage was new footage of Mamie van Doren and a bevy of young beauties, playing the women of Venus.This expounds on things hinted at in the original. Peter Bogdonovich directed the new footage and provided the voice of "Andre" as narrator. VPPW was likely aimed the small screen only, (hence the DVD cover art in lieu of a proper poster) but is included here because of its theatrical roots.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The main body of the story comes from the english-dubbed version of Planeta Bur: Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet ('65). A synopsis of the original base story can be read here. VPPW is told as a narrated flashback of V2PP by the astronaut Andre. Instead of there being three Venus-bound ships traveling together, they travel one at a time. Cappella is lost to a meteorite. Kern and Sherman (and robot John) follow, but crash-land in the Vega. Lockhart, Hans and Andre are the third rocket as rescue mission. They land and explore, looking for Kern and Sherman. Interspersed with the PB footage is new footage of the venusian women alluded to in the original. Roughly a dozen platinum blondes with seashell bras live the life of harbor seals. They bask on coastal rocks, swim to catch and eat raw fish. Unlike harbor seals, they communicate telepathically, and worship a pterosaur they've named Tera. The astronauts and the babes never really meet, though two babes see the astronauts. Angry that the men killed their pterosaur, the queen blonde (Van Doren) invokes the god of fire mountain to erupt and kill the invaders. This doesn't work. She then invokes the sky god to rain and flood them. This almost works, but the astronauts depart anyhow. This second failure of local gods prompts the ladies to knock down their old pterosaur idol and prop up the lava-scorched hulk of the robot John as their newer "stronger god." Astronaut Andre voiceovers his desire to return and find "her." The End.

Why is this movie fun?
A third appearance of original footage could be as dull as recycled cardboard, but the new footage actually fits. Sure, it's campy and exploitive, but for all that, not so badly done for a B-grade made-for-late-night-TV movie. The additional footage from Nebo Zovyot was fun to see too.

Cold War Angle
There is none. VPPW is mostly an example of the Space Women sub-genre.

Notes
Copy of Copies -- Roger Corman (the uncredited real producer of the work) cobbled together footage from two of his prior adaptations of soviet sci-fi. Corman used footage of the rocket launches, spaceflight and space stations from his Battle Beyond the Sun ('63). BBS was Nebo Zovyot ('59) dubbed into english, telling a roughly similar story but without the soviet gloating over foolish capitalists. He used footage from his Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet ('65) for the astronauts in their rockets and on Venus. VPP was his english dubbed version of Planeta Bur ('62). The premise of VPPW is VPP retold as flashback, but revealing the unseen women.

Space Got Babes -- VPPW keeps alive the old mythos of there being out in space somewhere, a society of pretty young women (with no men). Like several others in the sub-genre, there is no explanation for why there are no men. There just aren't. These particular space babes are all 20-something platinum blondes (except for one redhead), led by Mamie Van Doren (who fit the role of buxom kitten better 10 years earlier). They live the primitive life of harbor seals in a semi-mermaid idiom. Only one of the venusian babes (beside Van Doren) had any acting experience, or did anything afterward.

Telling the Untold Story -- What the original movie (Planeta Bur) left as teasingly unexplored, with the haunting presence of at least one pretty venusian woman with some telepathic powers. She "sings" unseen. She rescues Andre with calls for help. She warns them of danger with her songs. Eventually, Andre finds her likeness carved in ivory. Her reflection is seen in a puddle at the end -- arms raised, beckoning. Writer Henry Ney filled in the untold story. He created a bevy of beauties, not just one. He played up the telepathy part. Ney also had the women be the cause of the two "natural" disasters in the original film -- the volcano erupting and the torrential rains. As campy as it was, Ney managed to fill in the implied story in the original.

Fading Marsha -- An interesting detail to watch for is the fading of Marsha. She goes from a Russian cosmonaut to a fairly useless American astronaut to a mere acronym. In the original film, Masha (no R) was a fellow female cosmonaut (and love interest for Ivan). She stayed in orbit in the Sirius while the three men go down looking for Kern and Ivan. In Corman's 1965 dub, Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, most of the scenes plain looking Masha are replaced with new footage by not-quite-hot-anymore Faith Domergue as Marsha (with the R) but in a less useful role. In VPPW, we're told that "Marsha" is the acronym for earth mission control. That seems thin, but plausible enough, if it weren't for lines like "Marsha says she saw something on radar." Or, when Sherman/Ivan is despairing in the cave and moans about "Marsha, O Marsha." (A bit too attached mission control, are we?)

Fond of Older Women -- Audiences seemed to like prehistoric (or primative) women. VPPW is another member of the primitive women sub-genre. A partial list includes: One Million B.C., ('40), Prehistoric Women ('50), Bowanga Bowanga ('51), Viking Women and the Sea Serpent ('57), Wild Women of Wongo ('58), Women of the Prehistoric Planet ('67), Prehistoric Women ('67) and Rachel Welch in the remake One Million Years B.C. ('66). Perhaps primitive/prehistoric women (all young, pretty, shapely and scantily clad) were appealing on the presumption that civilization hadn't (yet) curbed their wilder "appetites". For whatever reason, the sub-genre proved popular. Corman knew some prehistoric girls could spice up his old soviet sci-fi footage.

Bottom line? VPPW is passably viewable as a B-grade sci-fi on its own. It has some archeological value. A tribe-of-women tale it has some value. For the average viewer, however, VPPW will likely seem too obtuse, or dated. (After all, most of the source footage was from 1959 and '62)

High Treason

Following the success of Seven Days to Noon Roy Boulting wrote and directed a sequel, of sorts. High Treason (HT) is another of London-in-danger. This time it s non-nuclear sabotage from within. Boulting reprised the role of Superintendent Folland (played by Andre Morell) from the first movie, but he was the only returning character. In HT, he plays second fiddle to Commander Brennan (Liam Redmond)

Quick Plot Synopsis
Prim Percy Ward leaves his office at military intelligence. At his apartment, he takes out carbons from secret arms shipment orders. He types out the contents and passes to Jimmy Ellis at a modern music concert. Later, while a ship is being loaded, crates of ammunition explode causing much damage and many deaths. Folland and Brennan are called in to investigate. Fragments of a timer tell them it was sabotage. Attention focuses on a foreman named Williams. He is followed and leads them to Jimmy Ellis, who acts very nervous when questioned. Williams becomes a liability to the shadowy organization. He is killed by a dark man with a vague foreign accent. Williams' landlady identifies the stranger as Michael Stringer, a foreigner deported years ago. Brennan questions Jimmy's brother and mother, ostensibly about the death of Williams. Brennan gets a lead on a modern music society Jimmy belongs to. A detective joins the society. At a recital, he sees Jimmy talking with Percy Ward. He follows Ward later, to find that he works at M1(a). Meanwhile, other detectives scope out Stringer's girlfriend, Anna Braun. They follow her and see her at a cafe with Ward. Braun works at a small private college. Agents posing as telephone repairmen find Stringer at the college. The administrator of the college is seen with an MP named Mansfield. Jimmy wants to lay low. Anna tells him the organization won't like that. Jimmy gets nervous, tells his mom and brother, then goes to seek help from his local politician, Mansfield. Walking home, Jimmy is kidnapped and thrown in a barred room in the college. Mansfield is part of the terrorist cell. He decodes a message. "Plan X23, May 7." The rest of the cell discuss the plan at the college. Blow up power stations in England to cripple ability to respond to events in Europe. Jimmy hears all this through the pipes. Everyone makes bombs, gathers guns, etc. Come the day, the gang ride a freight train to Battersea Power Station. Jimmy overpowers the one man left to guard him. He uses the cell's radio to telegraph a warning of the plan. Eventually alerted, the police and army converge on the power station. The gang had overpowered the few staff and were planting explosives. The police arrive. There is an extended shootout. The baddies are all killed and the bombs disarmed. All the while, Brennan chats up Mansfield, finally accusing him of being the cell leader. Jimmy's mother weeps about why it all had to happen. A radio announcer talks tough about not twisting the tail of the lion. The End.

Insidious Infiltrators
HT is the plain open tale of everyday, average citizens becoming "one of them." Here, THEM is a vague reference to some eastern European power. Science fiction will, quite a few times, take that theme -- becoming one of them -- and ramp it up. Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('56) is the most famous example, but there are many others. They gave voice to the background fear of "our" being lost -- not by an overt conquest, but stolen, one friend at a time.

Cold War Spotlight
Boulting uses several close-ups of newspapers to suggest international trouble brewing in eastern Europe. Instead of things going nuclear, the premise is that communist spies will recruit local citizens to effect their sabotage. HT is a spies-among--us anxiety tale.

Notes
Homegrown Terrorism -- HT is a companion story to Seven Days to Noon. Where 7DN dealt with a rogue loner with a portable nuke, HT raises the specter of dozens of local folk being turned by the Dark Side to do its bidding. In the modern world of Al Queda, et al, the machinations of a terrorist cell is still quite relevant for today's viewing.

Changed Man -- A recurring character type is the traitor-turned-martyr. At the beginning, he causes the trouble. Something changes partway through, and he dies trying to set things right. In HT, this is Jimmy. He joined the traitors gang, making the fuses for the bombs. Remorse over the deaths he caused trumps his shallow ideology. When the gang turn on him, he turns on them, radioing a warning of the plot. For this, he is killed. This traitor-martyr role will get used in sci-fi films, such as It Conquered the World ('56) where Tom arranges for "It" to come to earth, falling for the promise of peace. Tom then sacrifices his life to stop It. Or, Terror From the Year 5000 ('58), in which Victor finances a time travel experiment which brings death from the future. He dies stopping it. Or, The Mysterians ('59), in which Shiraishi naively helps the aliens until it's clear that they're hostile. He then sacrifices himself blowing up their base.

Dang Peaceniks -- A subtle hawkish message is woven through HT. The blue collar workers duped into helping the foreign power, are told pretty lies about a "world without wars" and promises of peace and tranquility. The printer (suspect) is printing peace rally posters. The contradiction that the group kill and destroy in pursuit of peace seems like Boulting's slap at anti-nuclear peace movements of his day.The final reference to the British Lion is his moral to the story. Only by standing strong and fighting, will Britain be kept free. Peaceniks are dupes of enemy powers.

Old Spies -- Anxiety over enemy spies was far from new when the Cold War dawned. WWII saw plenty of Nazi spy scares. In America, Japanese Americans were rounded up to live in camps for fear some of them might become Pod-people of the emperor. In World War One, there was a near hysterical worry over the Kaiser having spies and saboteurs sneaking about. The explosion at the arms depot at Black Tom in New York was immediately branded sabotage. In Britain, there was the curious nocturnal airships scare. (Scareships) Before all that, the British fretted over French spies working on a channel tunnel so the French army could invade, etc. etc. Angst over spies and saboteurs was (is) well ingrained. Sci-fi flims just swapped out the earthly enemy for ones from outer space and made changes of ideology more like zombie-hood. But, it was the same angst.

Bottom line? HT is less famous than its sibling, Seven Days to Noon, but very much a similar Cold War thriller. There is more action and pretty good pacing overall. The setting inside the massive Battersea Power Station is visually interesting too. For fans of sci-fi, it can be fun to see the format played out with earthly foreigners.

Wild in the Streets

American International released this curious social-commentary film in May of 1968. Wild in the Streets (WS) has nothing traditionally sci-fi to it. It is included here, because it shows up on some lists as a sci-fi film. WS is a speculative fiction, and paints a dystopic picture of the future. That may be the connection. Watch for Hal Holbrook as Senator Fergus, Shelley Winters as Max's mom and a very young Richard Pryor as Stanley X.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A quick montage shows young Max Flatlow growing up with a detached father and overbearing mother. Max becomes a "bad" teen, brewing LSD in the basement. He blows up his father's beloved Chrysler and runs away from home. Fast forward a few years, and Max is now Max Frost, wealthy pop rock star. A background factoid is that 52% of America's population are under 25. Max and his band play at a fundraiser for Johnny Fergus (Hal Holbrook), a relative youngster at 35, running for congress. Fergus, via Max, is courting the youth vote. Max takes advantage of the spotlight to call for the voting age to be dropped to 14. This sets of a power play between the old establishment and the masses of demonstrating, sit-in youth. The two sides compromise at 15. Max's mother and father surprise him after a concert. On the way home, Mrs. Flatlow drives badly and kills a young boy. Max orders lawyers to get her off, then put her away. A aged senator from California dies so there must be a special election to replace her. With the lower voting age, Max is able to get his perpetually stoned keyboardist, Sally LeRoy, elected. Max has her propose a constitutional amendment to lower the age restriction for all elected offices to 14, including president. Max's gang dope the water supply with LSD so all of congress show up trippin'. His gang, who drank only bottled water, help the congressmen to approve the amendment. Max runs for president and wins by the largest landslide in history. As president, he orders camps built to house everyone over 30. Everyone in them is to be given LSD "treatments". Young men in black uniforms, carrying guns, round up the over-30s. Busses drop them off at concentration camps. Families hiding in the wilderness (the Fergus family) are captured and interred as well. Johnny can't take it, so hangs himself. Everyone else is happily stoned. Max, heady with his power, stomps on the pet crayfish of some young boys. "What are you gonna do about it? Beat me up?" Max gloats. The boys respond that they'll get rid of everyone over 10. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
WS is not particularly "fun" in the usual B-grade sci-fi ways. As a social commentary on the rebellious youth of the late 60s, it has some interest.

Cold War Angle
None. WS is social commentary.

Notes
Middle-Age Fear -- The portrayal of late 60s youth is far from flattering. Despite this fact, viewers who saw WS as youths report feeling invigorated by the pro-youth message. Perhaps cases of selective seeing. The writer, Robert Thom, was 39. The director, Barry Shear, was in his 40s. They tell their story of the Coup of Youth from a middle-aged point of view. In their portrayal, youth are self-centered, irresponsible, cold-hearted and there are millions of them! This is a nice snapshot of how those over-30 viewed the socially-active, irreverent, angry youth of the late 60s. The notion that a pop star could command all of the nation's youth is a bit far fetched. Could Jim Morrison, Roger McGuinn or Mick Jagger get every kid in America to follow them politically? Probably not. Youth tend to be as internally divided as any other group, but seen as monolithic from those outside -- the over-30s.

Pre-Chappaquiddick -- Just in case viewers did not get the allegory of Max to John F. Kennedy, a radio reporter intones about the Kennedy effect. In the 1960 election, concerns were raised as to whether such a young man as JFK was stable enough to be president. Curiously, WS has a scene which foreshadows the actual event of Chappaquiddick by one year. In the real event, Senator Ted Kennedy drove off the bridge from Chappaquiddick Island, killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne. Despite the media furor, young Kennedy was not prosecuted. In the movie, Max's mom is driving recklessly and rolls his limo on a suburban street. The crash kills a young boy who was playing in his yard. Max demands lawyers to get her off. The parallels, while not perfect, are an interesting preview of the Kennedy clan's troubles to come in July of '69.

Affordable Crash -- In one scene, Max's mother drives irresponsibly and crashes his 1965 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow III (note the quad headlights) It probably cost more than their entire shooting budget. Note the director's use of camera work to create the "crash" without harming the car. One moment we're looking at the passengers through the windshield with spinny-cam creating the roll-over. The next moment, the actors (now all disheveled) are pulling themselves out of a gently tipped over Rolls. Fake smoke wafts from a totally unscathed hood (or bonnet, if you prefer). No actual Rolls-Royces were harmed in the making of this movie.

Next Nazis -- A semi-subtle shift occurs once Max and his youth achieve a tyranny of the majority. They become the new Nazis. The over-30s are the new Jews. The young soldiers dress in what look like casual SS uniforms (black t-shirt, black pants, black soft caps) and tote guns. They forcibly round up citizens, put them on busses and ship them to concentration camps (grim barracks, fences, guard towers). Over-30s hiding in the woods are hunted down. A woman holed up in her house is dragged away while she pleads that she's really 25. Max is advised of young people hiding over-30s in hidden rooms. From the writer and director's point of view, the new boss would be the same as (or worse than) the old boss.

Cycle of Doom -- Thom sets up a parallel between characters, thus predicting the eventual doom of Max's youth revolution. Johnny Fergus is Max's future. Fergus courted the youth vote to get into power. Once the young had power, they turned on Fergus, who eventually hanged himself in one of the concentration camps. Max is swept into power by the youth. What gnawed at Max was 7 year old Mary Fergus' comment that Max was old. He becomes -- like Orwell's pigs in "Animal Farm" -- just as bad as those he railed against. He, too, kills to suit himself. In doing so, he raises the ire of those younger than himself. The implication is that Max will go the way of Fergus as he ages and the angry youth dispatch HIM to a camp.

Bottom line? WS has almost no sci-fi to it at all. It is a grim dystopic tale which could stand alongside other sci-fi dystopias. For a low-budget film, it doesn't come across cheap. The pace is a bit slow in the beginning, but the second half moves right along. Take it with a grain of salt, but it does capture some of the Sturm und Drang of the late 60s.

Atomic Attack

In May of 1954, The Motorola Television Hour presented an episode entitled Atomic Attack (AA) as the last episode of its season. It was a dramatization of a suburban family coping in the aftermath of a nuclear attack on the United States. The teleplay tried to walk a fine line between frightening audiences with the horrors of nuclear war AND reassuring them that they'd be okay if they follow Civil Defense directions. Notes of optimism were Intermixed were hawkish elements too, framed to justify Cold War (mutual destruction) logic. Most of the actors are lesser names in the television realm, except Walter Mathau plays a bit part as Dr. Spinelli.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The Mitchell family are enjoying a cheerful breakfast in their upper middle class Westchester home. Dad takes the girls to school before taking the train into New York City. Mom waves goodbye. While she's doing laundry in the basement, there is a bright flash, then an earth-shaking rumble. Air raid sirens blare. Phone lines are jammed. The radio reports an H-bomb was dropped on New York City. Massive damage and loss of life. Barbara and Ginny, her daughters, come home from school. They're warned to stay indoors, as rain will carry heavy fallout. Ginny's stuffed horse is outside getting rained on. Dr. Lee, Barbara's science teacher comes to see if they made it home okay. Jim the gas station attendant is now the Civil Defense warden for the area. Dr. Spinelli checks out Barbara with a geiger counter. She's okay. Dr. Lee hides in the cellar. The back story is that he used to work in atomic research but quit for pacifist reasons. He now thinks the authorities are after him because of his anti-nuke sentiments. Jim brings some refugees, assigned to board in the Mitchell house. Mr. Flood is upbeat. Mrs. Moore is an alcoholic pessimist. Mrs. Harvey is stunned silent in mourning. Mrs. Mitchell entertains hopes that her husband was not in the city when the bomb fell. Three looters try to get in via the kitchen door. Dr. Lee fires at them with Mr. Mitchell's shotgun. He is aghast at his own behavior. When Jim comes around to check out the gunshot, Barb gives Dr. Lee a fake name to protect him. On the sixth day, the phones are working again. Mrs. Mitchell gets a call. Her husband was in the city when the bomb fell. She is distraught. The radio tells how our planes are devastating the enemy's cities. Ginny not feeling well. Her hair is falling out too. Dr. Spinelli tests her. High doses of radiation, which she got from her irradiated stuffed horse. Dr. Lee is discovered, but it turns out he's wanted for research, not jail. Mrs. Moore goes to the hospital, deciding to face her fate with dignity. Ginny does too. Dr. Spinelli says she'll need a lot of care for a long time, but should recover. They take Ginny home to care for her there. The radio tells of American air superiority over the enemy land. Mom assures Ginny that they're winning. The End.

Armageddon Survived
For all of its doom and gloom about the aftermath of a nuclear strike, AA is essentially an optimistic story. Despite the death and destruction, people would survive. America (as we knew it) would survive -- especially if we obey our Civil Defense authorities.

Impact on Sci-fi
America having to work through a massive atomic attack formed the framework of many sci-fi films. People watching their TVs in May of '54, had seen George Pal's War of the Worlds just six months earlier. America under unstoppable attack. Even the peculiar Robot Monster from earlier in '53, dealt with a family coping in the post armageddon world. Coming up soon would be Them! a month later, with giant radioactive ants as metaphors. Target Earth a few months later, would follow survivors in a city made desolate by alien invader robots. AA was the non-metaphor version of America under attack.

Notes
Based on the Book -- Judith Merrill wrote the novel "Shadow on the Hearth" in 1950. David Davidson adapted it to a teleplay. Merrill's story was essentially the same (attack on NYC, the Mitchell family in the suburbs), but with some notable differences. In her novel, Jim the Civil Defense Warden turns out to be a little creepy (in his interest in the widow Mitchell) and becomes corrupted by his power in the chaotic times. Merrill was a sci-fi writer and co-wrote a novel entitled Outpost Mars, which was itself a tale of a man abusing his power over peaceful folks, but set on Mars.

Pro-Bomb Spin -- Davidson's teleplay glossed over (or ignored) the leftist/pacifist elements in Merrill's story. Instead, he cranked up the establishment talking points that America needed its bombs to protect the nation from the enemy. Even though radiation sickness was acknowledged as bad (and perhaps fatal), it was glossed over as something one recovers from or faces with a stiff upper lip. Ginny, who has radiation in her bones, is said will get better in time as the radiation "burns itself out." In the end, when the radio reports that America is winning, there is a note of vengeful triumph.

Trust Your Authorities -- A not-so-subtle message in AA is that authority would remain. Many Civil Defense films of the early 50s sold the same message, The voices on the radio are calm and trusted. Jim, the local CD Warden is the face of the new authority. In Davidson's teleplay, the clear message is: do as you're told, and you'll be okay. Jim in the teleplay is squeaky clean and trustworthy. The authorities dispense advice, and eventually restore utilities to the suburban island of normalcy: the Mitchell's home.

Peacenik Bashing -- Somewhat ironically, where Merrill's novel had anti-nuclear anti-establishment undertones, Davidson's teleplay of her novel, had anti-peacenik undertones. The plot takes aim at pacifist thinking by making America's A-bombs a practical necessity. Dr. Lee is the symbolic peacnik. He is religious and deplores all killing. Yet, when push comes to shove, he fires a gun at the looters trying to get into the house. "I would have done it. I would have shot to kill..." he reflects. The pragmatic kill-to-protect thinking trumps the "sentimental luxury" of pacifism. America needs its nukes like he needed that shotgun. Take that, you anti-nuke peaceniks!

Bottom line? AA was the mid 50s' scary atomic scenario movie. It was akin to a later generation's version: The Day After (1983). Production quality in AA is scant, as it's a television production. Most action is described rather than shown. But, AA is a good dose of the fear that people in the 50s lived with. They felt that any day could become that shown in AA. Little wonder that sci-fi movies about alien invasions or giant bugs ravaging New York found such resonance in audiences.

The Astro-Zombies

Ted. V. Mikels was a prodigious maker of low-budget films that catered to a lowbrow audience. His Astro Zombies (AZ) is a prime example of that product. It headlined actor Wendell Corey, in what would be his last movie role, and John Caridine. If Kubrik's2001: A Space Odyssey was the high point of 60s sci-fi, AZ is sample of the other end of the curve. The low level camp of 50s and 60s drive-in fodder was not quite ended. Cinematically, AZ suffers in ways typical where the writer, producer and director are all the same person. There are lots of shots that should have been edited out, but the "artist" kept.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The movie opens to a non-sequitor scene somewhat explained later. A buxom redhead drives home into her garage where a man in a skull mask jumps out and kills her. At the scene of a car crash, the driver lies nearly dead. A greasy little man drags his body away. CIA agents investigate the string of murders. They suspect a Dr. DeMarco and his work are behind the murders. On the freeways of LA, a foreign agent rewinds an audio tape. He sells the tape to a buxom foreign agent, Satana. Her minions kill him afterward. Meanwhile, Franchot (the greasy man) brought the dead driver to Dr. DeMarco's lab. They extract his memory into a small circuit board, then freeze the body for later. Back at Dr. Petrovich's lab, everyone goes home but Lynn. When alone, the skull-masked Astro Zombie jumps out and brutally kills her. Meanwhile, at a local nightclub, the two CIA agents, and Janine, take in a bit of avante-garde topless dance. Satana's thugs (Juan and Tyros) drive to evil HQ. They catch two other agents watching the house. One, they kill outright, the other is chased and shot by Satana herself. At CIA HQ, Holman (Corey) laments the lost agents, but they have a lead. The dead tape seller posed as a doctor at a conference which DeMarco spoke at (hence the tapes) before DeMarco was dismissed from the space agency. His idea was to create AstroMen from synthetic organs, and use radio transmissions to upload data into their brains. He got fired for that sort of crazy talk. Enemy agents want his plans so they can create perfect zombie armies. Turns out that DeMarco made his first zombie from a pscyhopath's brain whose last sight was of red-headed Janine. (that's why the first woman was killed. She looked vaguely like Janine, you see?). Lynn was supposed to be Janine too. So, the CIA use Janine as bait to lure the zombie. This fails. But, when Janine goes home, the zombie ambushes her. Eric fights with it, and pulls off its battery pack. Zombie runs away using a flashlight to his forehead to power his solar cells. Satana and her thugs use a radio locator to find Dr. DeMarco's typical basement lair. They burst in demanding the secret, while DeMarco is preparing Zombie 2.0 (made from a "morally pure" man: the dead driver). Zombie 1.0 staggers in needing a recharge. DeMarco hooks him up to the re-energizing unit. Then the CIA burst in and there's gunfire. Zombie 1.0, recharged, goes outside to get Janine and chops some agents while he's en route. Juan stabs Franchot, then runs outside to be shot by CIA agents. DeMarco pulls the power switch to stop Zombie 1.0, but Satana shoots DeMarco. Before he dies, he activates Zombie 2.0, who obeys her order to "kill" by pushing HER into a high voltage box, so that both die. Eric eulogizes by saying, "There's one basic element of life that can't be removed: the emotions." Janine adds, "Thank God for that." The End.

Why is this movie fun?
AZ is so eclectic and campy and just plain "bad" that is can be fascinating. It tries to be exploitive to so many tastes that it's like watching a one-man-band play a dozen instruments simultaneously. There's a mad scientist with his mute Igor sidekick. There are sinister foreign agents -- one of which regularly strikes leggy-cleavagey poses. There are stalwart CIA men who make juvenile innuendos about their dates in a topless bar. (We're talking classy here.) And, solar powered zombies (men in skull masks). AZ is a pu pu platter of stereotyped 2D characters. Things really get moving in the last few minutes when all the baddies manage to kill each other or get killed.

Cold War Angle
This is peripheral, but Satana is vaguely representing a hostile foreign power (China?) which wants the zombie secret in order to create unstoppable invading armies. Amid the various spies and CIA agents is the usual Cold War spy game.

Notes
Frankenstein for the 60s -- As eclectic as the plot of AZ is, it amounts to the classic Frankenstein story (1931 movie version) modernized for the late 60s. You have your mad scientist assembling new bodies from old parts. He's thinks he's doing it to benefit mankind, but his monster is uncontrollable and killing people. This basic story is modernized in that the doctor's work is coveted by sinister foreign agents who want an army of such monsters. They are being chased by CIA men. Dr. DeMarco even has his stereotypic "Igor" character in the mute and leering Franchot -- who steals bodies to give the doctor parts to work with. And, while it is still electricity which animates the monster, in AZ, they're solar cells! Monster science has advanced!

Crank Up the T&A Machine -- Mikels aimed his production at the usual lowest common denominator for an audience. As such, there is plenty of female exposure. Most notable is the topless dancer scene in the night club. She wears only a G-string and groovy swirly body paint. Her modern improv dance goes on for two minutes or more. Close ups of her gyrating butt (just like the many beach movies) and long looks at her colorful chest, leave no doubt about what Mikels figured his audience wanted to dwell upon. After THAT bit of raw cheesecake, Satana's many outfits seem almost tame. All were dresses slit up to the hip (ideal for leggy lounging poses) and deep cut tops which barely contain her amplitude. And then there's the girl in the gold bikini, strapped to a table in DeMarco's lab. Franchot putzes around her, leering at her. She wriggles and whimpers a lot, but she has nothing whatsoever to do with the plot. You could cut all her footage and not change the story a bit. She's just there as added T&A.

Gratuitous Gore -- Movie makers were pushing the envelope of gore and violence. Low-budget film mongers followed in their wake. Mikels starts off with a brutal murder of the buxom redhead. He later inserts a quasi-rape murder scene of Lynn the lab assistant. Gratuitous. Later, the zombie goes for another quasi-rape scene in Janine's bedroom. Near the end, zombie 1.0 finds the "razor sharp machete" on top of the re-energizing unit (and why would a machete be there?), he chops off the head of one CIA agent, so it rolls on the lawn. (this is more amusingly bad than seriously violent.) The zombie then buries the machete into the forehead of another geeky looking agent. Those last two are more campy than disturbing, but Mikels was clearly appealing to the baser elements with AZ.

The Art of Slow -- AZ is more like one man's "work of art," than a studio film. Many shots do nothing to advance the plot, but must have been kept for some "art" reason. Extended dashboard-cam shots. A wheel splashing in a puddle, etc. Then there's the long monster-bait scene. Nothing happens. The night club dance scene is another long stretch for no reason (other than the T&A mentioned above). Then there is the obtuse scene in which DeMarco unscrews several screws in order to pull out a metal drawer, so he can unscrew yet another screw in order to open a hatch and drop in a little circuit board. After he's flipped a few switches and made some lights blink we get to watch him do it all again to get the little circuit board out. Why? It must be art, but it's painfully slow art.

And Yet, There's More -- Something about Mikels' AstroZombies touched a chord in audiences. He returned to the topic to make a sequel (of sorts) in Mark of the AstroZombies in 2002. A third movie was done too. There is a segment of the movie-going market that likes killers in masks.

Bottom line? AZ only barely tries to be a sci-fi flick, while really being a crazed-killer-of-beautiful-women and gore flick. At 91 minutes for a 60 minute story, it can be tediously slow at times. John Caridine does a lot of monologuing science blather to his mute assistant. Tura Satana makes an interesting evil babe. Acting was not the strong suit of any of them besides Caridine. Fans of more serious sci-fi are likely to be annoyed with AZ, for all its alternate lowbrow agenda. It's poles apart from 2001. Fans of trashy slasher movies may enjoy it for its trashiness.