The Last Woman on Earth

The second of Roger Corman's "Puerto Rico Trilogy," Last Woman On Earth (LWOE) turned out to be the most memorable of the three. It is a member of the "last-man" post-apocalypse sub-genre. It followed, hard on the heels of On The Beach ('59) and The World, The Flesh and The Devil ('59). In some ways, LWOE seems like a writer's variation on the latter. LWOE is sometimes classified as sci-fi, but this is thin. Any science blather about the disaster is noticeably missing. The movie Is a stalwart example of atomic angst.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Harold Gern is a real estate tycoon who is regularly operating on the thin edge of legality. He and his new wife Evelyn are vacationing in Puerto Rico as a break from the turmoil. They take in such cultural jewels as a cock fight and casino gambling. Harold's lawyer, Martin, joins them, seeking some additional info and papers from Harold, regarding the charges against him. Ev, is dissatisfied with Harold's idea of fun. Harold decides they'll all go scuba diving as a non-money diversion. They dive and see some predictable undersea wonders. When they surface, however, they quickly find the air unbreathable. Relying on their tanks, they get to the boat. The pilot is dead, clutching his throat. The motor won't start, and matches won't light. No oxygen. They row a boat ashore. Their tanks run out. But now, in the tropical foliage, there is just enough oxygen to sustain them. Plants are replacing the missing oxygen. They travel to town, finding everyone dead. Figuring on a dreadful stench coming soon, Harold suggests a cohort's remote beach house. They load a truck with food and supplies, and take a convertible Ford too. At the beach house, Harold is all about planning for survivalism. Ev is dissatisfied with her lot in marriage. Martin sympathizes, reckoning that the (apparently) world-wide disaster has nullified the old morality of marital exclusivity. Harold picks up on the growing bond between Martin and Ev. They fight. Harold wins and exiles Martin to some other part of the island. Martin coaxes Ev in to going with him. They drive off in the Ford. Harold can't follow in the truck (Martin took the key) until he's hot wired it. Martin's eyesight is fading from a blow to the head Harold gave him in their fight. He crashes the Ford. They take an overland short cut to town, intent to take the yacht Harold had planned on them all taking. Martin leaves Ev to wait by a church while he gets supplies. Harold has caught up with Martin. They fight, then lead a merry chase through San Juan's old forts. They fight some more. Martin gets away and heads back to the church. By this point, his sight is completely gone. Harold arrives. The potential showdown over who will get Ev becomes moot. Martin dies of his head injury. Harold takes Ev by the hand. They walk to the door of the church. The End.

Armageddon Survived
LWOE uses the familiar plot of a scant few survivors of a global apocalypse. As in other, similar movies, there is a mix of survivalism and human drama between the survivors. There are the obligatory scenes of abandoned cars and empty streets. While far from numerous, Corman did at least show a few dead people.

Impact on Sci-fi
The "last man" genre was popular in the Cold War era. The prospect of nuclear war wiping out almost everyone proved to the most popular spin. It was appealing to imagine that, perhaps, YOU might be among the few survivors who would then go on to rebuild humanity. (As opposed to being among those dead in the streets). This trope played out in Five ('51) and the first half of Target Earth ('54) and in Richard Matheson's novel, "I Am Legend" ('54), which would go on to spawn three movie variations. Note the similar ending scenes between LWOE and Last Man on Earth a few years later.

Notes
Purple Cloud 2 --The earlier film about two men and one woman as apocalypse survivors, The World, The Flesh and The Devil ('59). was based on a 1902 novel titled "The Purple Cloud." The '59 film gave the cloud a Cold War spin by making it radioactive. LWOE returned to the novel's non-nuclear roots. People around the world are just suddenly asphyxiated. There is no scientist character to exposit his "theory" about the cause. The three characters just accept it (like they had a choice?) and get on with adapting/surviving. Whatever it was, something suddenly took enough oxygen out of the air that everyone passed out and died where they stood. Plants continued generating oxygen, so in the lush jungle, enough new O2 had been created to sustain Harold, Martin and Evelyn once their scuba tanks ran out.

Morality Play -- Interwoven in the survivor story line is one about morality and social order. Harold was a business man of low scruples and a jerk of a husband. The apocalypse strips away his empire, but he still took Evelyn for granted. Martin's advances towards her enflamed his primal jealousies, but it also exposed his presumption of moral order. Marriage meant something more than just a social contract which depended upon society for its value. The ending of the movie bothers some, but should be seen in light of this moral awakening within Harold. It's no mistake that it all takes place inside a church. Too, is Evelyn's recognition of a change in Harold. He was no longer taking her for granted. The very ending (them walking hand in hand to the back of the church, is evocative of the end of a wedding ceremony.

Post-Apocaclypse Malaise -- Martin gives voice to the sense of pointlessness to life after the disaster. Rather than feeling renewed determination to rebuild (as played out by Harold), Martin is the walking dead. He can see no future, since it is not what he was expecting. Note the scene near the end when Evelyn talks of having babies with him. (She is more like Harold in this respect). Martin scoffs at her notion. His only vision of the future was to indulge in self-cenered hedonism and just wait to die. His growing blindness is an artistic parallel to his fading will to live.

Save the Babes! -- Note how most post-apocalyptic movies feature the "last woman" as young and attractive. Rosanne in Five ('51), Louise in Day the World Ended ('55), etc. Such stories would have awkward complexities if the surviving pair were not Adam-esque and Eve-like. An overweight middle aged woman and a teen boy? A toothless backwoods mama and a sissy city slicker? Just too weird for audiences to digest. Best to stick to the Adam and Eve motif.

Puerto Rico Trilogy -- Due to changes in rules about how actors get paid, Roger Corman planned to shoot a couple movies in Puerto Rico (where the rules did not apply). The primary mission for the trip was a "war film" eventually titled, He ended up producing three films while on the island: Battle for Blood Island, Last Woman on Earth and Creature From the Haunted Sea. While called a "trilogy", the three have nothing whatsoever to do with each other, beyond having been filmed at the same time, and all in Puerto Rico. LWOE has proven, over the years, to have been the more popular film.

Lesser Siblings -- The film that led Corman and crew to Puerto Rico was Battle for Blood Island (BBI). Produced by Corman, but Directed by Joel Rapp, BBI used Puerto Rico's caribbean setting as a stand-in for a tiny Pacific island. BBI had aspirations to being a serious war drama about two soldiers trapped in a cave after a failed attack. It had the usual hobbles of an extremely low budget and the typically deceptive B movie marketing (highly sensational tittle and poster to which the film fails to match). Yet, despite the faults, BBI is at least a serious attempt. The third of the trilogy, Creature From the Haunted Sea was not serious. CFHS was an afterthought. The cast and crew of LWOE agreed to do another film as long as they were all there. Extended field trip. CFHS also had the deceptive marketing, but was at heart, a parody of crime and monster genre films. It was clearly the lesser of the three and more deserving of the obscurity it enjoys today.

Bottom line? LWOE is very low budget and shows it in many ways. Yet, the script has its moments. The drama is at times darker than that played out in The World, The Flesh, and The Devil. At other times, it sounds a similar optimistic note that the root of our civilization would somehow survive both the apocalypse, AND the self-centered chaos everyone expected would follow.

Thunderbird 6

Around the margins of mid-60s sci-fi was the British TV series, Thunderbirds. The series only ran two seasons, but spawned two feature films, both of which eventually played in America in 1968. While the TV series was popular in the UK, the films did not do well in America. The first film, Thunderbirds Are Go (reviewed in brief in the Notes section) played like an hour-long episode seriously padded out to movie length. The second film, Thunderbird 6 (TB6) was a stronger story, though a bit less sci-fi than the first.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The board of directors of New World Aircraft listen to "Mr. X" (Brains) give his proposal for a revolutionary new type of aircraft. He proposes an air ship. The board laugh derisively, but build Sky Ship One anyhow. For SS1's maiden voyage, Alan, Lady Penelope, (and her butler/driver, Parker) and Tin Tin would fly as guests. A band of hijackers kill the captain and crew, taking their places. Lady P arrives in her pink Rolls. Alan and Tin Tin arrive in a vintage Tigermoth biplane. SS1 powers up. A bank of spinning magnet rings produce anti-gravity which provides lift. SS1 flies to several spots around the world featured in various TV episodes. Captain Foster and his hijackers scheme to record Lady P saying strings of particular words. From this, the edited recording, they will radio Jeff Tracy to send Thunderbrid 1 and Thunderbird 2 to a deserted airfield where other hijackers will steal them. Through a series of run-time padding scenes, the hijackers eventually get all the right words recorded. Lady P and Alan are suspicious of Captain Foster, but know their rooms are bugged. Foster send the fake message. TB 1 and 2 are sent, but Lady P warns Jeff just in time. The plot is foiled. A recurring parallel story is that Jeff Tracy wants Brains to design a new rescue craft to become Thunderbird 6. Brains tries several ideas, all of which are rejected by Jeff. Brains is comically frustrated. Meanwhile, aboard SS1, Alan and the others have armed themselves. A shootout ensues between them and the hijackers. A stray bullet takes out the autopilot computer. SS1 is stuck going straight ahead and is losing altitude. (the magnet rings stopped spinning). The air ship gets stuck atop a radio tower. Below the tower is a missile base which begins evacuating. TB 1 and 2 cannot rescue the people on the stranded SS1 because their jet wash tips the air ship dangerously. Jeff sends Brains in the Tigermoth, which eventually lands on SS1. Foster hijacks the Tigermoth, planning to kidnap Lady P. Everyone else jumps aboard, clinging to the wing struts as it takes off. An ongoing shootout in the struts results in all the bad guys shot off and the engine damaged. SS1 (now empty) gets too heavy for the tower to support. It falls onto the missile base causing many fireball explosions. The Tigermoth eventually makes a rough landing in a field. The good guys are all safe. Brains unveils his "proven" design for Thunderbird 6 -- The Tigermoth! The End.

Why is this movie fun?
As the Monty Python crew used to say, "And now for something completely different..." A story told entirely with marionettes and models is just too different NOT to be fun. The model props and sets rival those of Toho Studios' many kaiju films. The young boys like the cool rockets and many grand explosions. The young girls can revel in Lady Penelope's pink bubble-topped Rolls Royce equipped with just about every gizmo a Barbie Bond agent could want: skis, pontoons, jets and a machine gun the that big chrome grill.

Cold War Angle
There is little of the Cold War in TB6. The plot is essentially a hijacking drama. The highly explosive missile base is a visible reminder (even in a kids' movie) that the Cold War was never far away.

Notes
As Seen on TV -- Gerry and Sylvia Anderson created several kids shows for British television whose stars were all marionettes. The sets and props were all models. Earlier shows, such as "Supercar" (1961-62), "Fireball XL5" (62-63) and "Stingray" (64-65) featured gee-whiz vehicles and adventures full of danger and explosions. "Thunderbirds" expanded this pattern to five gee-whiz machines. The series ran two seasons in 1965 and 66. While this run sounds short, given its popularity, it seems like a typical life-span for such a show. Its predecessors all lasted about as long. The shows featured the adventures ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy and his five sons -- each of whom pilot one of the five Thunderbird machines. Each hour-long episode centered around a rescue by Tracy's International Rescue team.

First Movie -- The Thunderbirds' first feature film (also seen in America in 1968) was titled, Thunderbirds Are Go (TAG). It was a weaker story amounting to an episode's worth of material stretched into a film. Much footage is spent on watching the model of the ship Zero-X being assembled, flying, crashing and it's twin going through the same. Eventually, Zero-X gets to Mars and is attacked by fireball-spewing "rock snakes". It returns to earth, suffers a failure during reentry and (like Zero-X 1) crashes in a great fireball. The IR team rescue the astronauts. TAG appealed to TB fans, but there weren't enough of those in America to make it profitable at the box office.

Supermarionation -- The word was coined for Anderson's special hybrid puppets. They had super-thin control wires (often invisible on low-res television screens, but more visible in high-res venues), but they had solenoids in their heads (hence the large bobble-head look) to make their mouths move. Impulses were fed in via the thin control wires, from the audio track of the actors speaking. This made the puppet's lips move in synch. TB6 featured the newer model puppets with the solenoids were moved to the chest cavity. This let them have somewhat smaller heads.

Super Models -- Arguably, the models were as much the stars of the production as the characters. Much footage was spent on watching them take off, fly around, zoom, and land. TB 1 was the swept-wing interceptor. TB 2 was the large-body cargo jet which usually ferried in the other cool rescue vehicles. TB 3 was the red rocket. TB 4 was the yellow submarine vehicle. TB 5 was the orbiting space station. Fans of the TV show were sure to be tantalized at the title "Thunderbird 6". But, note too, the careful attention to detail in all of the set models. Even the towns that get blown up show a fascinating amount of detail.

Toying Around -- Part of the appeal of Thunderbirds was that they were essentially toys having adventures. Episodes amounted to the kinds of things young boys imagined while playing with their toy jets, trucks and rockets. Anderson and the producers capitalized on all this with simultaneous marketing of toys and comic books.

Roots of Wallace & Gromit -- Fans of Nick Parks' Wallace and Gromit shorts will see several familiar scenes. In particular his short named "A Close Shave" recreated visuals Parks probably watched on TV as a boy. A few notable ones include: the complicated system of chutes and trap doors to install the pilots in their machines, the various hidden launch doors (such as under the swimming pool) and the aircraft flying low over model of rural English landscape. It seems Parks was paying a small homage to Anderson's contribution to his childhood.

Bottom line? TB6 is a light-hearted diversion from overly-serious sci-fi. Yet, despite being played out with puppets and models, the plot is not particularly childish. Several characters are shot and killed. Fans of extensive model work will have a lot to like. It's best to watch Thunderbids with your inner child than your inner movie critic.

The World, The Flesh and The Devil

Released the same year (1959) as the grim apocalyptic movie On The Beach, Ranald MacDougall's The World, The Flesh and The Devil (WFD) is also grimly apocalyptic, but not so totally pessimistic. It is also far less remembered. With a cast of just three (Harry Belafonte, Inger Stevens and Mel Ferrer) the story is effectively about loneliness. WFD is sometimes classified as a sci-fi movie. There is no real science in the fiction, beyond references to radiation. Post-apocalyptic movies often were sci-fi, so that may be enough of a connection. WFD is also a social commentary about racism (in both directions).

Quick Plot Synopsis
Ralph Burton, a black coal miner, is checking out an unused tunnel for reports of flooding. He is trapped by a cave in. He can hear rescue crews digging, so he isn't worried even though it has been several days. When the digging stops, he frantically digs himself out. When he reaches the surface, he finds mine complex abandoned. Newspapers in the office tell of an approaching radioactive cloud and mass evacuation, "End of the World." The mining town is empty too. Ralph hot wires a car in showroom and plots his course for New York City. The bridges and tunnels into Manhattan are all clogged with empty cars. On Staten Island, he finds a small motor boat which he uses to cross the river. The city is completely empty. Trash and a few wrecked cars tell of the evacuation panic. Ralph finds a radio station building still running on its generator. He listens to recordings of the end times -- clouds of toxic sodium isotopes and reports of one city after another failing to respond. Ralph decides to make do as best he can. He gathers supplies and a generator to set up a home in an apartment building. He even collects some manikins to provide companionship. Yet, Ralph is not alone. A young woman named Sarah has watched him for weeks, unsure if he was insane or not. When Ralph throws one of his manikins over the balcony, she screams, thinking it was him committing suicide. Now Ralph knows he's not alone. The two begin a guarded friendship as the only two people left alive. Ralph rigs up a generator to Sarah's building (some distance away) Eventually, Sarah develops feelings for Ralph. He, however, remains aloof, unable to reconcile his status as black man in a white man's world, etc. Their uneasy relationship is further disturbed when Ben Thacker pilots his sloop into New York harbor. Ben had been sailing remote seas, so escaped the cloud. But, his deprivation left him very sick. Ralph acts as amateur doctor and nurses Ben back to health. Ralph becomes even more aloof, allowing Ben to woo Sarah. She, however, still has feelings for Ben. Angry at her rebuff, Ben decides the only way to really win over Sarah is to eliminate Ralph. He gets guns and tells Ralph he's going to hunt him down. The two go through an extended man-hunts-man duel in the empty city streets. Ralph sees the "Isaiah Wall" near the UN that quotes the bible verse about beating swords into plowshares. From that, he decides not to fight. Ralph confronts Ben without a gun. Ben cannot kill him, so turns to go. Sarah arrives. She takes Ralph by the hand, then calls to Ben too. The three of the walk, hand in hand, down the empty streets. "The Beginning" zooms in. The End.

Armageddon Survived
The first half of WFD is classic post-apocalypic story telling. The scenes of a huge, once-teeming city totally abandoned, are stark and powerful. Like many other immediately-post-apocalypse stories (e.g. Five (1951), Target Earth ('54), End of the World ('55), etc.) MOST people are wiped out, but a tiny remnant survive to rebuild. Audiences could accept nuclear apocalypses, as long as someone survived. Perhaps everyone imagined that they would be among the survivors. That is what all those bomb shelters promised.

Impact on Sci-fi
Though less well-known, MacDougall's WFD had its artistic influence. Ralph's collecting of manikins for company -- talking to them as companions -- was played up in a more modern "last man" movie: I Am Legend, starring Will Smith. Matheson's novel, "I Am Legend", and its first movie iteration, Last Man on Earth ('64) didn't have this. The second movie iteration of Matheson's novel, Omega Man ('71), echoed the manikin scene just a bit when Heston talks to his bust of Caesar. Owing more to WFD was Heston's powered and fortified home. This looked very similar to Ralph's building -- a lit oasis amid the dark desolation.

Notes
Cold War Message -- Like many atomic angst films of the 50s and early 60s, WFD was a cautionary tale about the devastation lurking just around the corner.

The Title -- The three characters do not somehow fit the three nouns in the title. The title itself was applied to a silent film in 1914 (different story) and to several novels. It comes from the Anglican "Book of Common Prayer." The full quote is: "From all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil, spare us, good Lord." Rather than looking for congruence with the characters, The deceit of The World is that set of standards and biases of the pre-apocalyptic world that all three of them struggle with. The deceit of The Flesh is pretty clearly the carnal desire as typified by Ben's unchivalrous lust for Sarah. The deceit of The Devil is that notion that one should kill to get one's way. Ben succumbs to this. Ralph almost does. Apropos of the title's origins, it was a fairly famous Bible verse from Isaiah 2:4, "...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." which breaks the Devil's spell on Ralph. This verse is carved on a curved wall near the UN building in New York.

Based On The Book -- The modern (nuclear) story by Ferdinand Reyher, was based on a 1901 novel by M. P. Shiel, entitled "The Purple Cloud." Shiel's novel is also a last-man-on-earth story, but the agent that wipes out everyone else is a mysterious purple cloud. Reyher updated that part for the atomic angst age. Shiel also had his main character act a bit daft from his isolation and stumble upon a young woman. Shiel's last-man rejected the last-woman, at first, but eventually they got together. Reyher kept this element too, though via different circumstances.

Racism Both Ways -- Reyher and MacDougall put forth a commentary on black-white racism, which was a pretty hot and sensitive topic in 1959. The Civil Rights Movement was gaining media attention. There were lynchings and killings over black men's impropriety (real or imagined) to white women. With that backdrop, having very-white Stevens expressing love for black Belefonte was pretty radical stuff. The close-up at the end, of her white hand clasping his black hand was the sort of thing that got men killed. Yet, the script cuts both ways. Sarah had her banal racism, as exemplified by her comment that she could live wherever she liked because she was "Free, White and 21." But racism isn't just for white folks. Ralph also holds onto his resentment, even though everyone who ever oppressed him was dead. He also holds onto his presumption that black men should not like white women. Ben isn't so much a racist as a ruthless lusting man. He doesn't want to kill Ralph because he's black, but because Sarah won't let go of her fondness for Ralph as long as he was alive.

Corpse-less Doom? -- Some viewers are disappointed (or miffed) that the streets are not littered with rotting corpses. Part of the reason for this was budget. In large part, however, it is a logical part of the story. Shiel's novel did describe boat loads (literally) of corpses, but his purple cloud was an unheralded killer. There was ample warning in WFD of the radioactive cloud. Newspapers and the radio recordings tell of mass evacuations. The bridges and tunnels were clogged with cars, all abandoned as people fled the cloud on foot. There weren't any bodies visible in the streets because everyone left. There could be a few, of those who stayed, but they could easily be indoors. WFD's empty city is much like the empty city in Target Earth was was evacuated.

Bottom line? WFD is well worth watching for its atomic angst flavor, but also just for the visuals and the drama. It is a well-done film. Some may balk at the tidy hand-in-hand ending, but viewers should just roll with how the movie shifts from simple last-man story to social allegory.

The Omegans

Billy Wilder's less-famous brother W. Lee, brought us some solid B-grade sci-fi in the 50s. The Omegans was his last project. The lack of a theater poster suggests this film was shot for television. Since W. Lee Wilder gave us some memorable sci-fi in the 50s, The Omegans is included in this collection. Additionally, the film shows up on some lists as a sci-fi, but the connection is tenuous. It is more of a drama (melodrama) and horror film. There is some mention of radiation in the river waters, and something one of the scientists calls "Omega Rays," but this is more of a prop to support what is essentially a story about a jilted husband scheming to dispatch his adulterous wife and her lover before they dispatch him.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Chuck, the hunky jungle guide, lets a large poisonous snake out of a cage. It writhes towards Valdemar who is painting a picture. Val wife Linda, modeling, alerts him. He's saved. Close call. Linda and Chuck are trying to kill Val for the insurance money. Linda chickened out, but rationalizes that she wants Val to sell a few more paintings first. Later, Chuck, Linda and Val meet two scientists, Mac and Salani. They want an expedition up to the Black River to check out native legends. Could be valuable minerals. Everyone agrees to a joint trip. Them to sample, Val to paint. (Insert much jungle travel footage.) At the camp, Mac and Salani detect radiation. Take some samples of the water. They also get fleeting glimpses of some albino natives. Chuck and Linda swim in the river. A glowing shape in the water kills the lead porter,Tumba, one night. Everyone goes back to town. The scientists discover that the water makes things glow, and the test mouse becomes increasingly thirsty when it drinks the water. (Insert scenes of adulterous intrigue and jealous husband). The scientists show Val the the mouse eventually died of old age. It glowed, sizzled, smoked and then disappeared. The radioactivity caused it to "self-cremate." Later, Val shakes hands with Chuck and notices a glowing residue. He also notices glowing handprints on Linda's back. Deciding enough is enough, Val follows Linda to Chuck's hotel. He buys a small handgun and lurks in the stairway. Linda and Chuck come out talking of their plan to kill off Val and get the insurance money soon. Remembering the sizzling dead mouse, Val hatches a different plan. He has everyone go back up to Black River so he can paint another painting. They all go. Val has Linda and Chuck swim in the river many times. Val also dumps out the group's water supply so the two of them have to drink river water. They get more and more thirsty. One night, Linda waits for a rendezvous with Chuck, but a glowing albino surprises her. She faints. People eventually find her. One evening, Val and Oki see a glowing shape in the river. Oki shoots it. It bubbles and sizzles, then fades out. Val sends Chuck back to town for supplies. Meanwhile, Val has Linda swim a lot. She gets incrementally more and more "age" makeup. That night, Oki s In town, Chuck notices that he's aging too. He drives back to the camp. At camp, Linda finally sees herself and her age makeup. Chuck arrives with his gun drawn. Oki (the new lead porter) shoots Chuck to stop him. Before he dies, Chuck shoots at Val, but hits Linda. She falls. Both lie on the grass glowing. They sizzle, smoke and phase through double exposures of skeletons. Oki and the porters look on, horrified at the curse. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
There is a nostalgic familiarity in "radiation" playing its 50s role of mysterious boogey man. There is also a strong flavor of 40s jungle movies too.

Cold War Angle
As with many 50s B grade sci-fi, radiation is the vague villain. Radiation kills.

Notes
Late Blooming 50s -- William Lee Wilder produced and directed some of the mid-50s "best" bland B grade sci-fi. He gave us Phantom From Space in '53. He followed that with Killers From Space in 54 -- perhaps his best-known film. He dabbled in Yeti sci-fi with The Snow Creature in 54. He resurrected Nostradamus (or at least his head) in Man Without a Body in '57. Most of his movies play out as crime dramas with not-very-ambitious directing.

Dangling White Thread -- The glowing albino natives (the "Omegans"?) are a poorly interwoven story thread. Other than causing Linda to faint, they had little to do. Her fainting derailed their rendezvous, but many other things could have done that in lieu of a glowing albino. Apparently, the glowing albinos swam underwater. When Oki shot the second glowing shape in the water, it sizzled and smoked -- the mode of death for glowing things in the film. With this connection, the glowing albino probably caused Tumba to drown, but there's no explanation for why the glowing albinos attack people.

Role Reversal -- Others have pointed out the interesting reversal between The Omegans and Hammer's Countess Dracula. In the first film, actress Ingrid Pitt plays a young women bathes and gets more and more age makeup. In the latter film, she plays and old woman who bathes (in the blood of virgins) then gets less and less age makeup.

Colored Noir -- As a crime drama, The Omegans is essentially a film noir story of a wife and her lover planning to bump off hubby for the money. His preemptive revenge could well have been achieved without radiation and mysterious glowing albinos. If the story had been shot in black and white, and some other form of slow death employed, the film would have made a fine film noir movie. However, Waldon Weeland's story included a radioactive river, so the net result is a B-grade sci-fi noir.

Bottom line? The Omegans is only marginally a sci-fi film. The acting is marginal and usually flat. Fans of low quality 50s films will find more of the same to enjoy. Viewers expecting tight drama or action, will probably be bored. Fans of W. Lee Wilder's work will want to catch his last film.

This is Not a Test

Produced just before the Cuban Missile Crisis, This Is Not A Test (TINAT) was spot-on for the angst of its day. It is a mixed bag as a Nuclear Armageddon story. Some genre lists include TINAT as a sci-fi, though there is really no science in the fiction. It does, though, share with many 50s sci-fi, the topic of nuclear disaster. TINAT is an independent film with a strong film noir flavor. It was not the product of any major (or minor) studio, but rather, a personal work of "art" by Fredric Gadette, who was the director, a co-screenwriter and producer. The basic premise of a collection of strangers thrust together by a crisis was not new, but fitting.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Deputy Coulter gets a radio command to set up a road block on a remote desert highway around 4 in the morning. He doesn't know why, but obeys orders. He stops a group of strangers. Old Jake drives up with his granddaughter June (she's maybe 18 or so). Then arrives Cheryl the alcoholic and her boyfriend Joe, the hood. Sam and his wife Karen arrive next. She has a yappy dog named Timmy. Al drives up in his warehouse-supply semi rig. Al has Clint, a creey hitchhiker, with him. Later, young Peter arrives on his scooter. Coulter recognizes Clint as a wanted mad man killer. Clint escapes to the brush. Clint's radio reports that the crisis is an impending air raid attack. Their location is right between "the city", a military command center and a missile fuel refinery, so as remote as they are, their location is a likely "ground zero." Coulter decides that Al's truck will be their best shelter, so orders everyone to empty the trailer on such short notice. They unload, amid various human drama vignettes. Karen responds to Al's flirtations. Her husband, Sam, does little about it. Cheryl drinks too much. Joe talks jazzy jive talk. The truck had boxes of food and beverage. Coulter thinks they'll have to survive in the trailer for two weeks after the blast. He has Al drive to a better spot a quarter mile down the road. Karen rides with Al, not in back with her husband Sam. At the new spot, Coulter has them block the trailer's air vents with mud to keep out the radioactive air. June gets claustrophobic and refuses to get into the trailer. Her grandfather recalls some abandoned mines nearby, so he, June and Pete all run off. The rest get into the trailer. Sam, distraught, kills himself with the shotgun. Everyone else is locked into the trailer. Clint comes out of hiding, but all the car keys are gone. He vents his rage by killing some of Jake's chickens. It's hot and stuffy in the trailer. Cheryl strips off her blouse. Tensions flare. Coulter decides the dog Timmy will use up air, so kills it. Cheryl wigs out and opens the doors. Outside is a group of "looters". Coulter has a gun, but they overpower him, take some food and Karen. They drive off in Coulter's car. Jake tells June and Pete to hide deep in the mine. There's a spring for water inside it, and Pete will get food from a nearby cabin. Jake will just watch the end of the world from a mountain top. Meanwhile, the others have climbed back into the trailer and locked the door (from the inside?). Coulter comes to and pounds on the door to be let in. They refuse. The bright white flash fills the screen. The End.

Armageddon Escaped (and Not)
TINAT offers mostly a tale of futility and doom, but leaves in a sub-thread of hope and survival. The main focus is on the doomed group who stay with the trailer. There, despite Coulter's efforts and their will to survive, they are all wiped out in the blinding flash of the bomb. The understated hint of hope rests in June and Pete, a young Adam and Eve who are hinted at surviving the holocaust.

Cold War Spotlight
The late 50s (post-Sputnik) and early 60s were the most frantic period in Cold War tensions. In the 1960 Presidential campaign, America's "missile gap" was a drum beat loudly. Many Americans believed that the Soviets had huge numbers of long range nuclear missiles. The Cuban Missile Crisis later in '62 would bring this all to a head. The fear, panic and fatalism portrayed in TINAT was a palpable part of American culture in 1962. The threat of a sudden missile attack was never far from peoples' minds.

Notes
Bunkerism -- Airing on September 29, 1961 as a Twilight Zone episode entitled, "The Shelter." It is the fable of the ant and the grasshopper gone noir. In it, a man and his family take refuge in their home's bomb shelter when reports tell of unknown aircraft approaching. The neighbors all want into the shelter too but there isn't the room or the supplies. The neighbors panic and turn savage in an effort to get in. It turns out to be a false alarm. TINAT may have been inspired by this episode, but it may have been in development at about the same time (the cars in TINANT are 1961 vintage or older). They're not the same story, but both deal with how quickly civility breaks down in the face of impending doom.

Ground Zero Redux -- TINAT seems to build upon (but not copy) an earlier film. The movie Split Second ('53) featured a collection of strangers "trapped" at the site of an impending nuclear blast. In SS it was a Nevada test site. In TINAT, it's an actual attack. Both featured a hard-nosed "leader". Both featured faithless wives who end up driving away with criminals. Both had one of the group dying of a gunshot. Both featured three people escaping the group -- an old prospector type, a young woman and a young man -- to a nearby abandoned mine. Both featured the rest of the group dying in the blast.

Ignoble Leaders -- It seems, from watching 50s sci-fi and nuclear dramas, that people half-feared the bombs, but half-feared the collapse of civilization. People easily imagined despotic local leaders abusing their new power. Coulter starts out as the stalwart but out-of-his-league fragment of authority. The people obey him half-heartedly, but they do obey. As time goes on, Coulter gets more gruff and authoritarian. His ruthless killing of the little dog exemplifies the harsh realities of martial law. The others stage an empty coup by locking him out of the trailer.

Bottom line? TINAT is not a great movie, but it is not bad either. It isn't high quality, but it isn't flagrantly cheap either. Filming at night is more costly than day-for-night, for example. Yes, some of the acting is spotty and the writing is occasionally preachy. Yet, overall, the plot movies along. There is a film noir quality to it. It is a good example of the fear lingering in the background of Cold War era folks.

Countdown

There weren't many "Hard" science fiction movies, but the genre was still viable, even in the late 60s with all the real space program action. Countdown was Roger Altman's first feature film as director an starred some A-level actors, such as Robert Duvall and James Caan. Warner Brothers put some A-level effort into Countdown, yet it isn't particularly well known. Told in a semi-drama, semi-documentary style, it is a "Right Stuff" tale of a rushed Plan B moon program. The science-fictional part is not especially strong, given the science-factual state of things in 1968.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Astronauts training in an Apollo simulator have their session ended early. They grumble about it later, but their leader, Chiz (Duvall), knows why. The Pilgrim Program. The Russians will be sending a moon landing mission up in four weeks. The Americans had a secret alternate plan to the Apollo program (Pilgrim) in case this happened. One man would be sent to the moon in a one-way rocket. He would stay on the moon for a few months in a shelter pod launched and landed before him. Later, a manned Apollo mission would come to retrieve him. The equipment is all ready, but the Russians complicated matters by sending up a civilian. Even though Chiz is trained and qualified, he's an Air Force colonel. NASA and the White House insist that an American civilian be their first man. Lee, one of Chiz's crew, is tapped. Chiz is outraged, but agrees to train Lee in the few days they have. Chiz pushes Lee's training hard, half to get him ready, half hoping he'll drop out and Chiz can step in. Lee persists, driven by the same astronaut dream. After a press leak about Pilgrim, the Russians launch a week early. Deflated at not being first, everyone carries on. The shelter pod (a LEM lander) is launched and landed successfully. Lee is launched on schedule. He encounters a power drain malfunction en route which tests his character and hinders radio contact. The Russians have lost contact with their team too. As Lee orbits the moon, he does not see the beacon of the shelter. With only seconds left before he must abort and return to earth he lies about seeing it. Mission control okays his retro burn and he lands. Now all radio contact is lost. Lee gets out of the Gemini lander and walks around. He has just three hours of oxygen in his suit. He finds the crashed Russian lander on its side. The three dead cosmonauts are sprawled around. Everyone on earth is nervously awaiting some news, but get none. Lee takes the Soviet flag from a dead cosmonaut and lays it out on a nearby rock with his own American flag. With little air left and nowhere to go, Lee spins the toy mouse his son gave him. It points stage-right, so he walks that direction. People on earth are losing hope as his time has run out. Lee looks at his watch to see that he has just minutes of air left. A red glow on his arm catches his attention. It is the locator beacon atop the shelter. The happy triumphant music ramps up as Lee walks towards salvation. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The story is a blend of NASA reality (circa the mid 60s) and the Golden Era's imagination of a manned trip to the moon.

Cold War Angle
The Cold War, translated into the Space Race, is very much the driver of the plot. It is the Americans vs. the Russians. An indication of how the Cold War had calmed a bit, post-Cuban-Missiles, was the token of respect shown for the dead cosmonauts. Lee unfurls their soviet flag along with his own American flag.

Notes
New Polish on Old Apple -- There is a nostalgic air to Countdown, despite the "modern" setting and then-current NASA footage. There is a feel of Destination Moon ('50) to it. The Americans send a never-been-tested mission in a semi-desperate effort to get there before the Russians. Troubles are encountered (that's hardly new). A lone American is almost stranded, expected to die on the moon. Ironically, he was not the intended astronaut, but a last-minute draftee. At the last minute, he is saved. The old trope had legs.

Reckless Race -- The background urgency of the Cold War animated the space race. The Americans felt it. The Soviets felt it. In the 1959 soviet sci-fi Nebo Zovyot it was the Americans who recklessly rushed a lander program in order to trump the cooly organized soviets. Countdown has a sort of double twist on the reckless race. The Americans have Apollo, so the Soviets rush a manned program to trump it. The Americans learn of this and implement a rush plan of their own: Pilgrim. When the Soviets learn of Pilgrim they rush their rush plan beyond the safety margin.

Proper Women -- Amid all the personal drama in Countdown, which can approach soap opera levels at times, is the background message of what proper wives of heros should be. This is an interesting exposé on the older social culture -- before "liberation" and the "Me generation" turned life into a selfish free-for-all. The "proper" wife was pretty, trim, polite, and a good mother. Lee's wife, Micky, is the key example. She is all of the above, but when the dangerous truth comes out, she stoically stands by her man.

Alternate Ending? -- An unsubstantiated rumor says that director Robert Altman planned different ending but was overruled by the studio. Altman's later movies, such as M•A•S•H and others, with their grittier, less-happy tones, lend some credence to the rumor. Also supporting the rumor is the vast unlikeliness that Lee would just happen to wander around and stumble upon the shelter lander. Audiences still preferred happy endings. Perhaps it was the studio brass's marketing sense that kicked in. Perhaps it was a sense of national pride kicking in. As America's Apollo program was only a year or so from really landing on the moon, portraying an American go to die on the moon was just too unpatriotic. Whatever the source, the film has its unlikely, but happy ending.

Bottom line? Countdown is weak example of the "Right Stuff" genre. The drama portions play a bit flat and sometimes drag. The old NASA footage (which was cutting edge stuff when the film was released) have some historical interest. From a sci-fi collector's point of view, it is an example of the older style of "hard" science fiction. For non-sci-fi fans, the film isn't riveting, but watchable.