Terror is a Man

To augment the reviews of films based on H.G.Wells’ “Island of Dr. Moreau” we must digress back to 1958 for Terror Is A Man (TiaM). The screenplay was written by Paul Harber, with no acknowledgement to Wells, but Harber’s story is clearly derived from Wells’ Moreau. This sci-fi / horror hybrid has undertones of Frankenstein as well. Where the 1932 adaptation had inserted a "panther woman", this version features a "panther man." Richard Derr stars in the role of shipwrecked sailor who stumbles on the doctor’s island. Greta Thyseen plays the curvaceous and lonely wife of the doctor. It was filmed in the Philippines. This film was re-released in 1964 with the title Blood Creature, perhaps to appeal to the drive-in horror market. It was given the odd marketing gimmick of a ringing bell (more like an old phone ring) to alert viewers when something shocking was about to come, so viewers could close their eyes.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Shipwrecked William Fitzgerald washes up on a remote island. He is nursed back to health by a Dr. Girard. A strange creature kills a couple of island natives, so the rest of the village flee in their canoes. Girard and his assistant, Walter, capture the beast, which is Girard’s project-in-progress. The doctor’s wife, Frances (Thyssen) is afraid of her husband’s work, and lonely. William takes a shine to her and offers to help her get off the island. Girard does not hide his work, but puts in some long exposition, telling William the back story of the making of CatMan from a panther via surgery. Using glandular hormones, Girard says he can grow Catman’s brain to be human. Why? Girard does not think humankind can evolve to betterment, being held back by ‘complexes’ etc. So, he wants to start afresh with his new man — the start of a new perfect race. William agrees to help the doctor with his work. Unseen by others, Walter beats the gurney-bound Catman with a board. Later, when everyone is down in the lab, Walter comes in and the Catman goes into a rage, breaking free. Girard tries to talk soothing. Walter gets a torch and lights Catman’s bandages on fire. Catman passes out and is sedated again. Walter, William and Frances talk of escaping the island, but Walter wants to kill the creature first. When he comes down to the lab with a gun, Catman breaks free and kills Walter. Thus escaped, Catman kills the servant girl, Selena and runs out into the jungle. Girard and William go looking for him, but he has doubled back to the house. He corners Frances and she swoons. Catman carries her away. Girard and William follow. Catman carries Frances up to the sea cliffs. Girard convinces Catman to put Frances down, but he then claws the doctor’s face, then throws him over the cliff. William shoots Catman in the stomach, causing him to fumble down the cliff to the beach. There, Catman encounters the servant boy, who gives him the small boat in which to escape. Frances muses that she thought the Catman only wanted to help her. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The paraphrase of Wells’ Moreau story gives the script some interest. The production is spartan, which gives the story a more intimate feel. Thyssen is marvelously out of place (statuesque platinum blonde in tight skirts and pumps — on a rustic jungle island).

Cultural Connection
Evolution into the Master Race — During Dr. Girard’s long exposition about his work, he posits that organisms evolve into better and better species. Girard felt that present mankind was too flawed to ever evolve into the superior beings he envisioned, so he undertook to shortcut the process. His goal was rather Nazi, to create a superior race of super men.

Notes
Based on the Book — Even though Wells is not credited as the source material, it is clearly drawn from his “Island of Dr. Moreau.” Paul Harber, who wrote the script, was more experienced as a third-tier actor than a writer. Reworking Wells was easier than creating a whole new story. Of course, the addition of a Marilyn Monroe clone was pure Hollywood and not Wellsian. To his credit, Harber kept vivisection as the doctor’s method, not the tepid “genetics” used by later retellings.

Hint of Frankenstein — Mixed in amid the strong Wellsian story are elements of the classic Frankenstein story. Instead of a whole village of beast-folk, Girard has only one — his “monster”. It has stitched up scars too, per the classic monster. Walter beats Catman, much like Dr. Frankenstein’s assistant tormented the monster.

Misplaced Babe — The Frances character, played by former Miss Denmark 1951, Greta Thyssen, is almost surreally out of place. Where almost everything on the set and costumes is dark, she is always dressed in whites to go with her platinum blonde hair. She is always clean, tidy and wearing the classic pointy-peaks undergarments of the 50s idiom of beauty. She does some sultry glamor posing on the beach — for no good reason. Amid all the ‘horror’ and drama, her part was to look unapproachably glamorous.

Radio Pheromones — Apparently the lonely and lovely doctor’s wife was giving off “help me” pheromones. Total stranger William falls in love with her very quickly and promises to help her get off the island. Fat, sweaty Walter picks up her pheromone transmission, but thinks to finagle a bit of booty as part of helping her. Even the beast, Catman, is implied to have picked up Frances’s pheromones and carried her off as his version of “help me.” She believed, in the end, that Catman was just trying to help her.

Intelligent Design — Harber’s exposition tosses around the usual old presumptions about Evolution. Changes happen slowly and incrementally over a long time. William points out that what Girard is doing is not sped up evolution, but intelligent design. A deliberate intelligence was manipulating things to make the new creature. It was not random mutations over eons.

Sequel Hint? — Viewers will note that the “monster”, Catman, does not die at the end. Instead, he escapes in a boat. The writer and/or producers were leaving room for Catman to return, rather like the Creature from the Black Lagoon did, or like Frankenstein’s monster did. Unfortunately, Catman did not return. Subsequent “Blood Island” films followed all new and unrelated story arcs.

Bottom line? TiaM is not a great old sci-fi, but it’s not too bad for nostalgic entertainment. The paraphrase of Wells is interesting. The heavy-handed dubbed audio gets a bit annoying at times. Those who like old black and white horror/sci-fi hybrid B films, will find TiaM to be a sturdy example.

Curse of the Faceless Man

For a bit of digression, we return to 1958 and a film more on the horror / occult side of the sci-fi / horror hybrid genre. Curse of the Faceless Man (CFM) is something of a rehash of the 1932 classic, The Mummy, but with just a dash of science mumbo-jumbo qualify as a fringe sci-fi. CFM was “Thriller No. 2” to It! Terror From Beyond Space, itself also a production of Robert E. Kent Productions. Richard Anderson stars as Dr. Mallan, the handsome hero scientist, skeptical of mystical things. Elaine Edwards, in the Marilyn Monroe style, co-stars as the woman of interest.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Morris Ankrum narrates a bit of the backstory of Mount Vesuvius and the burying of Pompeii. Flash forward to a worker excavating the ashy ruins, who finds a chest of gold and treasures, and a white stone man. While driving the stone man to the Museo Di Pompeii, the stone man stirs and kills the truck driver. The police are baffled. The museum curator calls upon Dr. Paul Mallan to help research the stone man. A bronze medallion in the treasure chest has inscriptions in ancient Etruscan, telling of a curse on anyone who tries to get between Quintinus (the stone man) and his love. Paul’s fiancé, Tina had been having odd dreams, so she painted what she saw — a faceless slave in bonds. She wants to sketch the stone man, to help finish her painting. Quintillus come to life, kills a guard and sends Tina into shock. Quintillus pins a brooch on unconscious Tina. This, we later find out, is how Etruscan men marked the women they loved. A Dr. Emmanuel provides more backstory via hypnosis of Tina. She gives regressed memories of being Lucila Helena, a Roman aristocrat in Pompeii, who was loved by a slave gladiator named Quintillus. Tina must somehow be Lucila, reincarnated and Quintillus is still trying to rescue his beloved from the volcano. Paul and the curator do a bit of lab work, then figure out that Quintillus must have been in the temple of Isis when the volcano blew up. He was apparently trying to steal the betrothal brooch for Lucila at the time. The high priest of Isis must have kept big vats of embalming fluid in the temple, which splashed over Quintillus  The high heat of the volcano then ‘cooked’ the fluids in such a way that Quintillus's body was preserved in some state of life, inside the stoney shell. Radiation must be the energy that sustained the cells. The museum’s x-ray machine must have given the body new life. Tina, in a reincarnation trance, cuts free the straps restraining Quintillus  He kills a guard, then carries off the swooned Tina. Everyone eventually pursues Quintillus to the sea where he is trying to carry his love to safety from the volcano. However, when he wades into the sea, his stoney crush dissolves into powder. Tina is dropped in the surf, but Paul rushes in to carry her out. Morris narrates about the eternity of love. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
CFM offers simple B-movie entertainment. There are a few well done creepy scenes, but otherwise progresses predictably. Somehow, that predictability has a nostalgic comfort. No deep thinking. No moralizing messages, or pessimism (as in many 70s sci-fi). There is enough blue-sky science blather to amuse veteran sci-fi fans.

Cultural Connection
Targeted B Films — The movie distribution market was such that producers received a better fee for “A” feature films and a lesser amount for “B” films. Producers who marketed just one film would, (or at least strongly suspect) that theater owners were saying their lone film ran as a B feature, and so paid less — whether or not it ran as the A film. Some producers would create an intentional B film to accompany the other film. This sacrificial B film would ensure that their A film collected revenue of an A film. Given this sacrificial intent, such deliberate B films were produced as cheaply as possible. CFM as the sacrificial B film for It! Terror From Beyond Space.

Notes
Retread Mummy — Part of saving money was to reuse an existing story, rather than pay for new material. The story in CFM amounts to a retread of The Mummy, Universal’s 1932 classic, starring Boris Karloff as the mummy. Instead of bandages, the ancient one is encased in stone. Instead of being Egyptian, he’s Etruscan, but the writers were careful to include many Egyptian references. (Temple of Isis, embalming, the “egyptian quarter” of Pompeii, etc.) Clearly, the writers were banking on riding the coat tails of The Mummy.

Pseudo-Italy — Filmed in California, the “Museo Di Pompeii” is actually the Griffith Observatory, relabeled. This location shows up in other sci-fi films, such as The Amazing Colossal Man. To make things look more european, the director made use of several small european cars. Most of them, however, were English — Ford Anglia, Ford Squire, Ford Zephyr, Ford Zodiac, etc. There was one VW Type 2 pickup, and a few (French) Renault Dauphines. But curiously, no italian cars.

Good Ol’ Radiation — Like many a film in the 50s, the writers of CFM turn to that handy workhorse of a Dies ex Machina — Radiation. What somehow kept Quintilus’s “cells” alive for 2000 years, was radiation coming up from the ground. Modern radiation then, somehow, continued to ‘feed’ him. While it seems absurdly thin to modern audiences, in the late 50s, “radiation” had a magical aura to it. It could grow a man into a giant (Amazing Colossal Man, or Godzilla), it could shrink a man, (The Incredible Shrinking Man, or The Puppet People). It could turn a man into liquid (The H-Man) or shift him in time (The 4-D Man). Radiation could create monsters, and kill monsters. It could do just about anything. So, why not keep a roman slave’s body alive for 2000 years?

Bottom line? CFM is pretty thin in the science part of a sci-fi/horror hybrid. It’s essentially a low-budget remake of the The Mummy. There is a bit of amusing science blather tossed in to “explain” this monster. Viewers looking for more science, or aliens, etc. will probably be disappointed in the traditional horror nature of CFM. Fans of the old horror genre will not be impressed with CFM, but may find it a mild homage to greater films.

Revenge of Frankenstein

Hammer Films quickly followed up the success of their 1957 hit Curse of Frankenstein the next year with a sequel: The Revenge of Frankenstein (RoF). Again, Peter Cushing stars as Dr. Victor Frankenstein. RoF is a direct sequel, picking up the story line exactly where the first film stopped. It is one of the better sequels, in that it was, in many ways, as good as the first film.
Despite the posters, the new monster is not green. Nor is it nearly as sensational as the poster suggests.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Victor is led to the guillotine by the priest. The executioner and hunchback Karl exchange a glance. The blade falls. Later, two grave robbers dig up Frankenstein's grave. Inside, is the headless body of a priest. (Flash forward) In the city of Carlsbrück, a mysterious Dr. Stein has set up practice. The local physicians complain that Stein refuses to join their guild, AND has also taken half of their rich patients. He also does charity work in the poor hospital. (this where he gets his body parts, btw) A delegation of doctors come to investigate, but are rebuffed. A young doctor lingers. Hans recognized Victor from the funeral (first movie). Hans wants Victor to take him on as a pupil. He agrees. Victor has already assembled a new body. Karl, the crippled hunchback, volunteered to be the brain donor to get a perfect body. After the operation Victor and Hans taken New Karl to an attic at the poor hospital, so they can tend him regularly. Hans tells New Karl that he'll be famous and studied by thousands. New Karl is aghast at the bar-less prison of fame. Later, a pretty volunteer at the charity hospital learns of the special patient in the attic, so goes up to bring him cheer too. New Karl convinces her to loosen his straps. She leaves her address to help him find a job when he's better. Later, Karl has freed himself, dressed and escapes out a window. He goes to Victor's lab to dispose of his old body. A janitor catches him. The cruel janitor beats up Karl, which damages his brain. Karl becomes savage and kills the janitor. Meanwhile, Victor and Hans go looking for Karl. He's nowhere to be found. Later, at dinner party at the Countess's estate, Savage Karl busts through a window. His arm is paralyzed, his leg is gimpy again. His hunch is back. He implores, "Frankenstein, help me…" but dies. Now everyone knows Victor's true identity. All his rich patients are gone. His poor patients turn on him, mercilessly beating him. Hans rescues him, but the injuries are too great. "You know what to do," whispers battered Victor. After putting Karl's brain in his new body, Victor made another body with a face that looked like himself. Hans transplants Victor's brain into the new body. The police arrive to arrest Victor for murder. Hans shows them his dead, battered body. (flash forward) London, and the office of Dr. Frank. Hans, and Dr. Frank (Peter Chushing with a mustache and monocle) go out to greet a rich patient. The End.

Sci-fi Connection
There is more of the medical/surgical element in BoF than there was in CoF. Brains were a popular topic in 50s sci-fi. Check out some of the other Brain-themed titles here: Brain Films. Check out some of the story lines. You'll see that brains were big. That popularity shows in RoF. We get a couple good views of brains floating in jars of water. The sparky, buzzing equipment from CoF returns to Victor's new lab. As a horror film, BoF is rather mild. It's almost more of a steampunk sci-fi film.

Saga Connection
RoF picks up exactly where CoF left off. The two films are really Part 1 and Part 2 of a single thread. Karl, the hunchback and the priest replace the two guards walking Victor to the guillotine. Christopher Lee is no longer the monster, of course (acid bath).

Notes
Where's the Revenge? -- Even though Victor says, at one point, that he'll have his revenge, RoF is noticeably light on the usual revenge. None of the people who either sentenced him to die are "venged" upon. None of the doctors who persecuted him are venged either. Even his supposed proof-of-genius project (Karl) goes wrong, so there's no professional vindication either. Perhaps the "revenge" is more along the lines of outsmarting his enemies. This comes in the form of his identical "new" body, thereby cheating his enemies of true victory.

Dr. Not-So-Bad -- Victor in CoF was cold-hearted, obsessed and self-absorbed. In RoF, he's not quite so evil. He seeks to help poor Karl, rather like how Dr. Niemann promised to put hunchback Daniel's brain into a good body in House of…. But without the duplicity of Niemann. Dr. Stein among his genteel clients seems affable and charming. Even though he was stealing body parts, Dr. Stein was managing to help the poor too, even if just as a byproduct. In his monologues, Victor reclaims some of the misguided altruist flavor of Universal's Henry and even Mary Shelley's Victor.

Blood Sisters -- Hammer shot RoF at the same time it was shooting it's Dracula remake, starring Christopher Lee as the Count. A sharp-eyed viewer will note re-use of several interior sets. The spiral columns of Dracula's castle the easiest to spot. Dracula's crypt (same barred door) becomes Victor's lab, etc. There are many other smaller recycling too, between these two sister films.

Bottom line? RoF is a watchable enough movie in its own right. It is a fine followup to the first film. Even though famous as one of Hammer's Horror Collection, there is little of the gratuitous blood and gore that would mark the genre later. It is more of a gothic horror tale in the old school. Sci-fi fans can enjoy some of the moral/ethical puzzles common to some sci-fi movies.

Rocket Attack U.S.A.

It would be easy to dismiss Rocket Attack U.S.A. (RA) as one of those worst-movie-ever films, but that would be too hasty. RA is part of the same Doom genre as Dr. Strangelove and Fail Safe, and a product of its time. It was produced, directed and probably written by Barry Mahon. One-man-show productions usually suffer for lack of review, and RA is no exception. Mahon may have aspired to be a Roger Corman, an Ed Wood Jr. or perhaps a Larry Buchanan. He wasn't up to even that level, but it wasn't for lack of trying. With RA, he was certainly topical, and actually beat the more famous members to the screen.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A narrator tells how Sputnik changed modern warfare with musing over what valuable data it was collecting for the Russians. The head of American spy operations in West Berlin assigns John Marston, his "best man" to find out if the Russians are gathering data from Sputnik. He will meet a girl in Moscow who will help. John is flown across the boarder in a small plane, then makes his way to Moscow on foot. There, he meets up with Tannah (Tanya?) in the night club she works in. Later, he comes to her apartment. She explains that as mistress to the Minister of Defense. "When the pig is drunk, he talks." She knows the Russians already have all the data they need and are completing their missile. John persuades her to let him stay in her apartment. In the Kremlin, generals and leaders debate whether to attack soon or not. Back in the Pentagon, general Watkins hears that American missile plans are lagging. The rocket scientist bemoans lack of funding. Back in Moscow, Tannah tells John that Joseph (the pig) is taking her to the missile base. While she's away, a British agent named Morris Steel comes by to give John explosives to blow up the Russian missile. In the Kremlin, the hawks prevail and the launch is set for tonight. At the missile base, John meets up with Tannah. Guards arrest Morris. Another guard follows John and Tannah's footprints. He shoots Tannah, but she pulls out a pistol and shoots him too. John sneaks inside the fence and places the bomb. He sneaks out, but is shot by yet other guards. Soldiers take his bomb off the missile. Meanwhile, in New York, people go about their routine lives. A radio announcer pooh-pooh's his wife's worries and goes to work. A brooklyn warehouse worker tells his wife he'll wear a tie on the next date. A financier lands by small seaplane to manage his wealth. Bill Deale, the announcer, tells how America has launched some satellites too and how there is an important meeting at the Kremlin. Meanwhile, back at the Russian missile base, the order to fire comes through. With much beeping, the missile is finally launched. General Watkins laments that America has no anti-missile defenses. Sirens blare, but drill-weary New Yorkers aren't taking it serious. Cue Bikini Atoll test blast footage. Shots of burning rubble represent New York. A burning necktie hangs from T-shirt man's battered truck door. The narrator talks of how selfish interests lead to all this. Text on screen says: "We cannot let this be -- The End." (but it is).

Armageddon Arrives
As in the more famous films, like Fail Safe, RA plays out the Cold War nightmare of a nuclear attack on America. We get to see the first missile fall on New York, with the same sort of literary device of showing us some "average" lives both rich and poor, before they're snuffed out. The story thread of wife Pat reluctantly sending husband Bill to work in NYC (from Hazlet, NJ) is reminiscent of the 1954 television drama, Atomic Attack. The stock footage of B-52s taking off in response to the incoming missile lets the viewer know that Russia was about to feel a similar fate. Burning rubble (of NYC) is then the fate of millions.

Cold War Spotlight
Unlike the others in the Atomic Doom genre, this nuclear attack was not the result of a mechanical glitch (Fail Safe, The Last War) or a single deranged mind (Dr. Strangelove), although in the latter, the "safeguards" which would have prevented a single man from starting the war were a procedural glitch. In RA, it is plain and simple aggression. The Russians want to attack America quickly any first before America catches up in the "missile gap." This was the nightmare lurking beneath most issues of the day. Will X or Y put us at a disadvantage?

Notes
Lobby By Fiction -- Some reviewers of RA chafe at its blatant socio-political agenda, as if such a thing were rare and out-of-bounds. Lobbying via fiction goes way back. In 1871, a Captain Chesney in the British Army was concerned about British military unpreparedness (compared to the Prussian army which just defeated France). So, to make his case for more military spending -- via fiction -- he wrote his famous novella, "The Battle of Dorking." This kicked off a whole genre of invasion fiction, which would be one of the roots of Golden Era sci-fi. Later, Erskine Childers would write his famous "Riddle in the Sands" (1903) as a wake-up call to British naval unpreparedness. There were many others, some with less subtle delivery of their lobbying payload. "If only Britain had not divided her fleet," or "If only Britain had voted for more warships…" It wasn't only rightist military agendas that got fiction-lobbying. Even modern environmentalism gets it's lobbying films in which the lead character laments aloud, "if only we hadn't cut down all the trees…" or "If only we had been more careful with the environment…" (as in the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still.) Same method, different agenda. RA is hardly unique in lobbying. It was just a bit too obvious for some people.

Slow Project -- Barry Mahon produced several low-budget films in the late 50s, very early 60s, before taking the easy route and producing soft porn titles like Bunny Yeager's Nude Camera, and The Adventures of Busty Brown. Before that slide, Mahon was on a more topical and Corman-esque trajectory. Rocket Attack used actors John MacKay (John) and Monica Davis (Tanya) which Mahon would also use in his Rebel Cuban Girls ('59) and The Dead One ('60). Judging from the cars, such as Pat Deale's gorgeous black 1956 Buick Special Estate Wagon, Mahon may have been shooting shortly after Sputnik set off the whole space scare in October 1957. The newest car seen, is a glimpse of a '58 Chevy Biscayne. In some ways, it seems like Mahon started out with one story about an attack on New York, then later inserted the spies in Russia segments. The isolated character groups (who don't interact) suggest Mahon shot this project over an extended period (not Corman's 10 days). Imdb lists the release date as 1961. Perhaps it took Mahon awhile to get RA marketed.

Missing Matte -- One spot in the film which suggests a certain low-budget air comes when the soviet officers go out to admire their missile. There's nothing there -- not even a shadow. He already had the aft-section mockup (what John puts the bomb on). Mahon may have intended to insert a shot of a more complete model or some matte art via post-production for the missile they're supposed to be admiring, but he didn't get to it. Perhaps he thought the scene was good enough as it was, so why waste the money. Indeed, in several shots, the actors somewhat stumble over their words, or have pauses while they recall their next line. For Mahon, pretty-good was good enough -- and more economical!

MST3K -- Mystery Science Theater 3000 lampooned RA in the fifth episode of their second season. It may be the only way for average folk to view RA. It is passable, but Joel and the bots do too much bantering and riffing to hear some of the softer lines. While not one of their best episodes, it is amusing at times. RA is a pretty low-quality film, so ripe for riffing.

Plane Crazy -- A bit of a stock footage treat are shots of the Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star, a forerunner of the more famous Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS of the later Cold War. Also note the Piper Tri-Pacer, three-wheeled variant on Piper's Pacer model -- which was a big brother to Piper's famous Cub model -- as the little plane that smuggled John into Russia.

Bottom line? RA is a good compare-and-contrast film for great productions like Fail Safe. Watch the two as a New York Gets Nuked double feature. They're like siblings. One struck it rich while the other picked cabbages. If you cannot abide poorly made films, avoid RA. It's only a couple pegs above amateur. If you're looking for more insight into the Cold War mood, RA as a lobbying tool, is a perfect (if very cheap) example.

1958

This was a high water year for sci-fi movies, and for the decade. 1958 produced more movies than the big year of 1957. Among them were the last two big classics of the decade, The Fly and The Blob. One reason for the increase in the number of films was the rise in sci-fi / horror hybrids. Several 1958 films listed below were a low-budget B films that were thin on the "sci" that catered to the growing popularity of the mosnter/horror genre.

Terror From the Year 5000 -- A misguided scientist with a time-travel machine allows a radioactive mutant woman from the future into 1957.

She Demons -- Shipwreck survivors land on an island on which a Nazi doctor is draining the youth/beauty from a bevy of young beauties in an effort to restore his disfigured wife.

Giant From the Unknown -- A very large and psychopathic Conquistador from the 1500s is awakened and goes on a killing spree.

Attack of the Puppet People -- A lonely toy maker cum inventor creates a shrink ray. With it, he miniaturizes some people to doll size so he'll never be lonely.

The Flame Barrier -- A space probe returns to earth in the jungles of Central America, but has brought a blob-like life form with it. It is killing the natives and expanding.

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman -- An unhappy heiress is touched by a giant alien. She grows to 50' tall, then goes after her philandering husband.

The Astounding She-Monster -- A sliky alien lands in backwoods California to deliver a message. Trouble is, she's met a gang of two-bit criminals and her touch is fatal.

War of the Satellites -- Aliens are preventing Earth's space program from succeeding. Some bold and defiant scientists defy the aliens and overcome alien sabotage to enter outer space.

War of the Colossal Beast -- Sequel to Amazing Colossal Man. Giant Glen Manning is discovered in Mexico and brought to LA. He rampages anew.

Colossus of New York -- A neurosurgeon places the brain of his recently killed scientist son into a 9' tall robot. It is not a happy mix and trouble ensues.

The Space Children -- An alien brain lands near a missile research base. It controls (or enlists) the children to sabotage the project.

The Fly -- Classic starring Vincent Price. Scientist son invents matter transporter but becomes fused with a fly which entered the chamber.

Space Master X-7 -- A satellite returns to earth with strange spoors which grow into a flesh-eating blob, "the blood rust". Scientist's wife travels country, unaware that she's a carrier.

Escapement -- An unscrupulous scientist is brainwashing wealthy patients via a mind-control dream machine. With it, he hopes to control their fortunes.

It: Terror From Beyond Space -- A returning rocket from a Mars mission harbors a monstrous stowaway which is killing off the crew, one by one.

Night of the Blood Beast -- An astronaut returns dead, supposedly, but revives. Inside him are larvae of an alien race. A caretaker alien kills people, but pleads that he's on a peaceful mission.

The Queen of Outer Space -- Earthmen land on Venus to find a civilization of beautiful women. They are ruled by queen. Zsa Zsa Gabor stars as the rebel leader who enlists the men's help.

Earth vs. the Spider -- A giant spider is discovered living in a cave. It is captured, but rampages through town before returning to its cave.

The Brain Eaters -- A mysterious metal cone appears outside town. Citizens begin acting mysteriously, as the cone "creatures" take over their minds.

The Blob -- Classic starring Steve McQueen. Meteorite lands, releasing a blob creature which grows as it consumes flesh. Soon, it's larger than a house.

I Married a Monster From Outer Space -- A young groom is replaced by an alien look-alike the night before his wedding. Others are taken over too as a prelude to an invasion.

The Lost Missile -- A mysterious alien missile comes into low earth orbit. It burns a miles-wide swath of the earth on each orbit. Can it be stopped before all of Earth is incinerated?

Cosmic Monsters -- A greedy scientist inadvertently warps Earth's protective radiation belts allowing harmful rays to mutate insects into deadly giants.

The Trollenberg Terror -- aka "The Crawling Eye." Upon a cloudy Swiss mountain, huge cycloptic aliens take over the minds of the locals to cover up their planned invasion.

Monster From Green Hell -- A rocket with wasps aboard spends too long in space. It lands in central Africa. The wasps have mutated into deadly giants, terrorizing the natives.

Fiend Without A Face -- Mysterious deaths around a special atomic-powered radar base turn out to be caused by invisible brain creatures, spawned by radiation and the mind of man.

From the Earth to the Moon -- Jules Verne's story of a trip to the moon is given a steampunk, but Cold War twist.

Missile to the Moon -- Remake of Catwomen of the Moon ('53), but with more beautiful moon babes and some menacing rock creatures.

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Terror Is A Man -- Low-budget paraphrase of H.G.Wells' Island of Dr. Moreau with a hint of Frankenstein.

Giant From The Unknown

Here's another bit of digression for a movie which I'd skipped at the beginning of touring 1958, on the grounds that it wasn't sci-fi. After watching it, it had to be admitted that it did have a weak claim for inclusion.

Screencraft Enterprises produced only two movies, this one, and She Demons. Both were in the far outer orbit of the sci-fi solar system. Giant stuffs in just a touch of "science" in its script to explain why a 500 year old conquistador is alive and rampaging in a California hill country. At it's heart, Giant is a monster movie. The 6' 6" giant, like any decent monster, is almost unkillable. This beast happens to be rather blandly human looking (more of a menacing homeless guy), but the monster format is the same. Still, Screencraft gets a few points for a touch of originality in their choice of monsters. Director Richard Cunha does a fair job keeping the story moving and the visuals interesting. Giant also benefits from having two B sci-fi troopers in the cast. Morris Ankrum plays the venerable archeologist. Sally Fraser plays his ravishing daughter.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Mysterious deaths of local livestock, and finally a brutal murder have the citizens of remote Devil's Crag up in arms. The sheriff and townsfolk dislike an outsider Wayne Brooks, a handsome young geologist who has been roving the hills. Suspicion is also cast upon Indian Joe. Professor Cleveland and his daughter Janet come to Devil's Crag to search for traces of Vargas, leader of a spanish expedition that predates all others into California. They meet up with Wayne. He shows them his extinct, living lizard which had been kept in stasis inside a rock. Amid ongoing friction with the sheriff and townsfolk, they search for Vargas. The search seems fruitless, but they finally find an area with spanish armor and some bones, and a huge set of armor, but no giant among them. A lightning storm awakens Vargas from the soil. He finds his armor, suits up and starts his rampage by killing a young woman. Wayne is arrested for it, but the Professor frees him. Vargas has abducted Janet. The sheriff and town mob join the hunt. Vargas drops Janet and retreats to the rocky hill. The men trap him and shoot him many times. Thinking they have him, they stop for the night. Vargas escapes. The others pursue him to a picturesque old mill. Wayne fights with Vargas. The giant eventually falls into the out-wash of the mill dam. Since the out-wash is into a "bottomless" volcanic crater lake, the body will never be found. The world will never know, but all is well as Wayne and Janet smooch in full embrace. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
Enjoy Giant as a not-very-deep monster movie with an off beat monster. Morris Ankrum, veteran of many a sci-fi B movie, is always fun to watch. The earnest zeal of Sally Fraser (who played the "other" wife (Joan) in It Conquered the World ('56) and would go on to star in (War of the Colossal Beast ('58) ) is always fun too. For more points of interest, see Notes below

Cold War Angle
As a simple monster movie, there are no Cold War analogies in place.

Notes
Scrap of Science -- The script of Giant has three small stabs at "science" to support its monster. 1. is the "extinct" lizard supposedly kept alive within solid rock by "suspended animation." 2. is some blather about the tannin in the local soil (due to oak leaves) which act as a preservative for Vargas's body which was only in a coma (not dead). 3. is the old trope of electricity animating a dormant life form. Lighting strikes near the semi-buried Vargas and he awakens. Sure, they're all a bit thin, but this is the script's claim to being "science" fiction.

Pre-Giant Killer? -- One of the interesting plot holes in Giant is all the stage setting of a mysterious killer on the loose at the very start of the movie. Cattle and other animals mutilated, a man similarly brutally murdered. False accusations fly, but who did it? Vargas himself does some killing (Ann, Indian Joe) but he wasn't awakened by the lightning bolt until half way through the movie. Who killed Howard and the cattle earlier? That guy was still on the loose, but no one cares.

Good vs. Evil -- Where Screencraft's other film, She Demons, had a somewhat gritty undertone about humanity (psychopathic Nazi doctor turning pretty girls into ugly beasts), Giant sticks to the simple hero and monster format. All tension between the protagonists is a simple misunderstanding among otherwise noble gentlemen. Vargas, the giant, is pure beastly (he never speaks, not even some old Spanish) and does nothing except kill, oh, and steal a pretty woman. Good triumphs over evil, just the way 50s audiences liked it.

They're After Our Women -- The poster (as usual) promises that the monster is after our scantily clad young women. A minor surprise in Giant comes when Vargas does abduct the female lead. He does not murder the foolish and helpless Janet. She faints when the jeep won't start and Vargas oh-so-slowly approaches. Instead of simply killing her, as he has everyone else he caught, he tosses her over his shoulder and carts her off. Maybe it's because she was a blonde, whereas the equally pretty Ann had black hair. Come to think of it, Vargas killed Indian Joe too, and HE had black hair. Nonetheless, Giant resurrects more than an old conquistador. It keeps alive the old trope of the monster (or aliens) wanting to abduct our desirable women. For that, he must die.

Bottom line? Watch Giant with some snacks and not too critical of a mind. As a monster movie, it's fair. Revived dinosaurs or giant bugs were becoming commonplace. Big mean conquistadors, however, just didn't show up much. Giant is "lite" on science, but a fun bit of fiction.

She Demons

Here is yet another example from the gray area between horror films and sci-fi. As a low-B picture, it's not an especially strong example of either. It double billed with Giant From The Unknown, the only other film produced by Screencraft Productions. It's claim to membership in the sci-fi sphere is thin. Dr. Osler is conducting some vague medical processes and does spew some techno-blather about hormones. He also rambles about extracting electrical energy from the lava beneath the island. That, however, is about as far as the "science" of the fiction goes. True, She Demons has many of the shortcomings which befall most low budget B productions. It is clearly aimed at the young male audience. It stars Irish McCalla (famed for her "Barbie" physique) and the poster's promise of many more babes in short skirts. Yet, She Demons' quirky mixture of tropes and themes has a charm to it. This may explain why it has developed a cult following as one of those "so bad they're good" movies.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A hurricane shipwrecks a spoiled heiress and three men who work for her father. Their uncharted island is used for US Navy bombing exercises, but turns out to be inhabited. One of the men is killed by spears. The others find the island inhabited by both deformed-faced women, and a group of beautiful scantily clad 20-somethings who like to preform interpretive dance. These are all rounded up by some Nazi soldiers and returned to their bamboo cages. Dr. Osler is extracting the beauty from the young women, to try to restore his wife Mona's badly burned face. The process makes the young woman have a 'demon' face for a few days. Fred, Sammy and Jerrie sneak into the lab later, but are caught by Osler's sergeant. Fred and Igor fight, with Igor eventually getting locked into the cage full of she-demons who kill him. The three escape, but are captured by more SS soldiers. In custody, Olser tells all the back story of concentration camp days, Mona and his experiments, etc. Fred and Sammy are locked up. Osler puts the moves on Jerrie as a replacement for poor Mona. Jerrie whacks Olser with a champaign bottle and escapes with the help of Mona. Eventually, all three are recaptured by Osler. Since Jerrie continues to spurn Osler, he has her on the transfer table. Just then, Mona objects and the Navy starts bombing. The explosions free Fred and Sammy. Cracks in the walls cause "lava" to engulf Osler. Mona opts to stay and die with her husband. SS soldiers chase the fleeing three, but they escape. The soldiers do not. At the beach, Jerrie and Fred proclaim their long suppressed love for each other. Confident that the Navy will come to examine the island for all the new lava flows, they row out into the sea for safety. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Some have moaned about how 'bad' this movie is, but it is chock full of classic trope remakes. More on those below. She Demons is pure B movie, and can be enjoyed as such.

Cold War Angle
This movie is much more of the "mad scientist" genre than anything related to the Cold War.

Notes
Remade Moreau -- There is a strong homage to the 1932 film, Island of Lost Souls. The protagonist(s) arrive on an uncharted island via shipwreck. On the island is a mad doctor and a population of people suffering disfigurement from his experiments. Where Charles Laughton's Dr. Moreau was somewhat ingratiating and smarmy, Rudolph Anders' Moreau-like Dr. Osler pushed ingratiation to extremes. We also get a recast of the '32 manimals mobbing Moreau scene, with the she-demons mobbing cruel sergeant Igor.

From Villain to Henchman -- A small side note is the actor Gene Roth who plays Dr. Osler's chief thug, an SS Oberscharführer (sergeant). In the early 50s, Roth was the chief interplanetary villain -- Vultura -- in the Video Ranger serials. Despite his added age, and fall in rank, Roth manages to still give a suitably villainous performance.

Farming Babes -- Another bit of trope recycling is Osler using the young women to make his wife beautiful again. He's farming the young ladies, as it were, to harvest their beauty. This was the trope within The Corpse Vanishes (1942) in which Bela Lugosi is using extracts from dead brides to keep his old wife looking young. The notion of the young being sacrificed to maintain the old, has deep roots.

Lost Women -- She Demons has several of the distinguishing characteristics of the "Lost Women" sub-genre. There have been several of these already in this tour of '50s sci-fi. Catwomen of the Moon ('53), Fire Maidens from Outer Space ('56) and Queen of Outer Space ('58), to name but a few. There were many others outside the sci-fi genre too. Prehistoric Women ('50), Bowanga Bowanga ('51) and Wild Women of Wongo ('58) as just a few of them. They share in common, an isolated or 'lost' group of beautiful 20-somethings who are discovered/found by some outsiders. The lost ladies have a penchant for group dance and are usually endangered by something. She Demons is clearly a member of the Lost Women sub-genre.

Logical Leap? -- To the inattentive, it may seem like a huge hole in the logic of the film (not that B films were famous for tight plot logic), that Fred, Sammy and Jerrie first see the pretty prisoner women doing their sensual group dance before getting rounded up by the SS troops. If the girls escaped their cages, why on earth were they just cavorting around a fire to drums? What kind of escape is that? Later in the film, Dr. Osler explains to Jerrie that the the "character X" transfer removes all memory from the victim. Even though their beauty returns in a few days, their memory never does. As such, all these escaped young beauties have nothing in their heads but the wild sensual inner woman. As Don Henley's song said it, "all she wants to do is dance, dance, dance." Surely, this is a young male fantasy. A bevy of perfect beauties with no past -- no fathers, no boyfriends, no plans. Only their nubile libido remains.

Liberated Über-Nazis -- One of the intriguing bits of She Demons is seeing Nazis liberated from the confines of WWII history and used as generic villains. Nazis had much screen time as villains in tons of war films. They also feature as shadowy villains in many non-war films too, but the stories were almost always set sometime between 1933-1945 (e.g. Casablanca ('42), Sound of Music ("1938"), The Hindenberg ('1937"), Raiders of the Lost Ark ("1936"), etc. etc. In She Demons we get to see generic (almost exaggeratedly stereotypic) Nazis who have broken free from the orbit of the war period -- free to ply their mythic menace anywhere, anytime. They wear pristine SS uniforms (despite being isolated on the island for over 12 years), and spout the usual generic movie-nazi lines like "Raus", "Schnell", "Schweinhund," and "Dumkopf" while doing only evil deeds (such as whipping a pretty young blonde) This freedom from history, by itself, is an intriguing feature.

Bottom line? She Demons will never impress anyone with its acting, sets or for having any deep social meaning. Horror fans and sci-fi fans will need to scale back their expectations, as it's tamely marginal in both genres. It is, however, a fun bit of entertainment if you let it be what it is, a B-movie.

Missile to the Moon

This little B-movie is obviously a remake of Catwomen of the Moon. One wonders why the producers thought this was a good idea. Perhaps their marketing folks said there was some quick/easy money to be made with a film that features a bunch of beauty pageant winners in dance leotards, high heels and tall hair. In that case, the Catwomen script provided a means. The script of Missile to the Moon (MTTM) follows the story of Catwomen pretty closely, but with just enough differences to provide a little interest to B-film fans.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dirk Green has privately built a rocket for traveling to the moon. The government plans to commandeer the project, because only governments can do space travel. Dirk blasts off that night. Inside the rocket are two escaped convicts, whom Dirk hijacks into being his crew. Dirk's assistant Steve and his fiance June happen to get aboard too. During a meteor storm, a big battery falls on Dirk. Mortally injured, he gives Steve a medallion then dies. When they get to the moon, the four find rock monsters. They escape into a cave only to become prisoners of and the all-female remnant of a civilization living underground in ever-shrinking air pockets. They mistake Steve for Dirk because of the medallion. Dirk came from the moon. The queen plans to take her subjects to earth. Alpha, the second-ranking moon woman rebels and kills the queen. She plans to kill the other earthlings, marry Steve (even though he isn't Dirk) and take her moon girls to a different planet. Moon-babe Lambda falls for the convict named Gary. He's only interested in the cave full of diamonds. Lambda is killed by the cave-dwelling spider monster. Zema, falls in love with the other convict, Lon. During the belly-dancing wedding ceremony, Lon and Gary save June from execution by the spider monster. Alpha, angry at their escape, orders Zema to flood the caves with poison gas. Zema instead tosses a grenade which breaks up their last pocket of air. The moon women dramatically expire. On the surface, Gary is laden down with bags of diamonds. The rock creatures force him into the deadly full sun. He burns up. June, Lon and Steve get to the ship. June asks Steve if she's prettier than Alpha. Only good ol' mother earth is prettier. Har har. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
MTTM is a remake of Catwomen of the Moon, but cranked up a notch or two. It's fun to see how much MTTM matches Catwomen and where it deviates.

Cold War Angle
There aren't really any Cold War metaphors or references in MTTM.

Notes
Catwomen Redux -- Yes, MTTM is a recasting of the story Catwomen of the Moon. Check that link for a recap. In some ways, MTTM is a cheaper copy (most notably in the props). In other ways, MTTM goes further than Catwomen did. MTTM has two loving traitors. Lambda falls for Gary and dies. Zema falls for Lon and dies. A twist in the Zema duplicate is that she causes the end of the moon women. MTTM has a repeat of the greedy-man (Walt with gold, Gary with diamonds). MTTM has the same spider puppet as Catwomen but made more menacing with big toothy mandibles. MTTM adds the laughably slow, but intriguing rock creatures. Like Catwomen, there is a very odd preoccupation with romantic pairings and whether someone loves them or not (or is pretty enough). An alien civilization and bizarre creatures are not important enough. Boy-girl attractions. Now that's important.

Telltale Budget -- MTTM is a typical low-budget production, so it's fun to spot the usual shortcuts. You'll see some V2 footage used many times, and an astoundingly cheap flat prop "rocket" for the on-the-moon shots. The rock creatures are actually kind of fun. A toddler could out run them, yet the actors respond as if they were tigers.

Rare Air -- The moon women supposedly have the last pocket of air, but it's interesting to see that only Air Force jumpsuits, pilot's helmets and oxygen masks are needed on the moon's surface. And, when Gary strays into the sun, he bursts into flames. The lit torch in the cave was 'proof' that there was oxygen earlier in the story.

Green Cheesecake -- One could imagine Producer Marc Frederic starting with the idea of a quick-buck movie whose "hook" was a cast of a dozen beauty pageant winners.
But what to have them do?. The plot of Catwomen provided a venue, so remake it was. Instead of the catwomen's artsy full black leotards, MTTM has the pageant winners in high heels, dance leotards and bangeled up like budget Las Vegas showgirls. Such an obvious pandering to teen male audience tastes is amusing. Watch how all the pageant babes are always striking glamor poses.

Bottom line? MTTM is more fun if you've seen Catwomen already. Compare and contrast, as the professors say. Beyond that, look past the extreme cheapness of the production and take in another (somewhat wacky) installment in the "lost women" sub-genre.

From Earth to the Moon

Later in the 50s, the major studios had shied away from producing big budget sci-fi movies. Movies of classics were safer. Warner Brothers distributed From Earth to the Moon (FEtoM), based on Jules Verne's novel, is one of these. Usually, being shot in color was the hallmark of an A movie. B movies were typically black and white. FEtoM resists this handy formula. It's shot in Technicolor, but shares more in common with the B family. It has spotty acting, weak special effects, stock footage and gaping plot holes. FEtoM also carries a strong Cold War theme, another trait 50s sci-fi B movies are famous for. Director Bryon Haskins (of War of the Worlds and Conquest of Space) did a nice enough job, but could not make a silk purse of it. As one of the last gasps from the nearly defunct RKO studios, there wasn't the budget for greatness.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Victor Barbicane, a wealthy arms maker, addresses a group of other arms industrialists. They grew rich during the Civil War, but the peace is rough on them. Victor proposes a new scheme to restore their wealth. He has a new explosive he calls "Power X," that can propel an artillery shell thousands of miles. Every nation will have to have it just to keep up. To test such a massively destructive force, and to demonstrate it to the world, Victor proposes a giant cannon and an exploding shot on the moon. All the industrialists are in. A southern rival, Mr. Nicholl challenges Victor to a contest. Victor's Power X explosive versus Nicholl's special armor plate. Power X wins. Everyone is sold on Power X and construction begins. President Grant secretly tells Victor that existence of Power X threatens world peace. For his country, Victor must cancel the project. He does, to much ridicule. He decides to do his moon shot anyhow, as a manned mission by Victor, NIcholl and Ben. Nicholl's daughter Virginia stows away. En route to the moon, it is discovered that Nicholl sabotaged the rockets as a final revenge. With much work, the three men jerry-rig some repairs. The aft section lands Victor and Nicholl on the moon. The forward section contains Ben and Virginia. It is implied that no one returns. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
FEtoM is one of the early examples of "steampunk". Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ('54) was an earlier (and better) example, but FEtoM has some steampunk charm too. Morris Ankrum as President Grant is a fun nugget.

Cold War Angle
Verne's story was seriously rewritten to add "Power X" -- a blatant stand-in for nuclear power. Grant says, "You look upon it as a new source of energy. Others look upon it as a new source of destruction." An arms race and dangerous cold war will result. Much of the story is a recast of the nuclear dilemma in Victorian times.

Notes
Based (loosely) On The Book -- Verne's novel endured some pretty major changes for the screenplay. The inevitable Hollywood romance thread was worked in. Nicholl is given a beautiful 20-something daughter. Victor Barbicane is given a hunky young assistant. A huge difference from the novel is that Barbicane's moon ship returns safely. FEtoM borrows Rocketship X-M's dour ending, more in step with atomic age angst.

Bad FX -- Perhaps too much of FEtoM's budget went to the TechniColor processing. The special effects suffered. Note particularly, the model shots of the capsule "in flight." Positioned upright, the flames from the aft curl and smoke upward, killing any suggestion of a projectile in motion. Watch for the angled shot of the model. The power and gas supply boom supporting the model is blatantly visible.

Columbiad -- Virginia christens the moon capsule "Columbiad". By the 1950s, audiences were accustomed to space ships having names. But, the shell has no name in the book. Actually, in the book, Verne refers to the giant gun itself as a columbiad. This is a type of cannon used from the early 1800s to the late 1800s. In the mid 1800s, it was the state-of-the-art weapon -- the ultimate in muzzle loading, smooth bore artillery. Yet, like most technologies, it had its heyday but became obsolete.

Bottom line? FEtoM is a Hollywoodized remix of one of Verne's lesser sci-fi novels. It aspired to be an A movie, but amounts to a Technicolor B. Fans of steampunk can enjoy the sets and gizmos. Fans of saucers and aliens will probably find FEtoM slow and somewhat underwhelming. The actual moon trip comes too near the end to satisfy the average rocket fan.

Fiend Without A Face

In December 1958 Eros Films, Ltd. had another British B sci-fi movie touring American. Fiend Without A Face (FwoF) ran as the B feature to "Haunted Strangler." Both were British productions being marketed in America by MGM. This is another example of the blurry line between sci-fi and horror. FwoF itself exists in that blurry zone. Mysterious, invisible "mental vampires" killing their victims takes up the bulk of the film. The final showdown with the creatures is classic monster movie. Yet, the tie-in to the customary misguided scientist and atomic energy keep FwoF in the sci-fi orbit.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A Canadian farmer is killed just outside of an American Air Force base in remote Canada. The villagers were already up in arms over the mere presence of the base (jets frightened their cows) so are convinced there is a mad GI on the loose. Major Jeff Cummings befriends the slain farmer's sister, Barbara. The base tests their super radar system again, but like before, it falters just as it seems to be succeeding. Something is draining off the atomic energy. More murders stir up the towns folk to revolt. Jeff is certain that a reclusive genius, Professor Walgate, is the key. Yet more murders occur, each preceded by a rhythmic thumping and squishing sound. Eventually, Walgate confesses that he was working on Thought Materialization -- telekinesis. He needed more power, so fabricated an energy hijacking device to siphon off the air base's transmitted power. (that's why the tests always failed) The extra power worked, but created separate beings rather than intensifying Walgate's own thoughts. The invisible beings escaped his lab and began to 'feed' on townsfolk by sucking out their brains. They need the reactor's power to exist. Jeff rushes to blow up the control room. The reactor is going into overload, so the beings become visible. Dozens of the brain and spinal cord things surround the house. They break in, kill a few people, but can also be killed. Many are. Just as one of the beings has got Barbara, the reactor is shut down. It falls limp. The brain things dissolve into foam. Jeff kisses Barbara. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The monster murder mystery element is fairly well played so it keeps interest up. Once visible, the brain-things have some interest too. As a monster movie, it has some merit. Killer brain-creatures are quirky enough to stay interesting.

Cold War Angle
The Cold War provides a backdrop, but isn't the focus. The Air Force base's mission is early radar detection of Soviet aircraft coming over the pole. One could see the brain-things as manifestations of deadly atomic energy. (the invisible killer)They seem to fit better the usual science-gone-wrong theme.

Notes
Bad Doctor -- Dr. Walgate fills the archetypal role of the naive scientist. He meant well with all his research and work. But, like many naive scientists who had gone before him, his assumptions prove wrong. His work gets away from him and becomes a force of destruction, not one of good for mankind. It has been fairly customary for the naive scientist to die at the hands (or whatever) of his creation. Walgate makes the noble sacrifice at the end, letting the creatures attack him while Jeff gets away.

Bad Thoughts -- The brain-creatures are akin to the "Id Monster" in Forbidden Planet. Man's most basic thoughts, if given independence, prove primal and ruthless. As a nuclear cautionary tale, the brain-creatures, man's primal thoughts, prove deadly if given atomic power. The stop-motion animation of the brain-creatures is not too bad. It's not Harryhausen, but it works.

You Are What You Eat -- We're told that the brain-creatures suck out the brains and spinal cord of their human victims. So, it interesting that the brain-creatures are depicted as brain shaped. They have a segmented spinal column which they use inch-worm-style for locomotion. They ARE what they eat.

Nuclear Naivety -- The brain-creatures break the atomic reactor's control rods so people can't shut it down (the creatures need the radiation to exist). It is curious that screenwriters solve the problem with good old dynamite. Jeff blows up the control room to shut down the reactor. ?? The reactor core was already out of control. Why would less control help?

Bottom line? Most of FwoF is a fair horror flick with "mental vampires" and agonizing victims. Things get more interesting when the brain-creatures surround the house. Sure, the movie has its flaws, but is an entertaining 50s sci-fi.

Monster From Green Hell

This movie is a hybrid of two B-film sub-genre. It's 80% jungle safari movie and 20% giant bug film. It covers no new ground in either. Them ('54) opened the big bug sub-genre. Judging from the poster art, the producers tried to position the movie as another big-bug tale. On the other hand, the jungle safari sub-genre (more prevalent in the 40s) must have still had some audience appeal. Since Monster from Green Hell (MFGH) is only partially a big-bug movie, it's place in the sci-fi genre is a bit tenuous. Still, it deserves at least some mention as part of the 50s sci-fi family. One of its writers, Louis Vittes, wrote the screenplay for I Married a Monster from Outer Space ('58), which was better than its title suggests. Producer Al Zimbalist gave us Catwomen of the Moon ('53). Near the end, MFGH shares the location shooting of Bronson Canyon with Robot Monster ('53). That's enough peripheral connections to merit at least one viewing.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Quent Brady and Dan Morgan are sending V2 rockets up into space with various animals aboard, to test their reaction to "cosmic radiation." These are our old friends, the checker-painted V2s, by the way. One rocket had too much thrust. Instead of exposing its animals to 40 seconds of radiation before coming back down, it stayed up for 40 hours. This rocket happened to have aboard it, some wasps, including a queen. This rocket then came down on the African coast, near the Congo. There, in an area around an active volcano the natives call "Green Hell", all animals are fleeing and natives are being killed. A local missionary, Dr. Lorrentz treks into the jungle to solve the mystery, but is himself killed by "monsters". Brady and Morgan arrive to check out the reports. They suspect the radiated wasps are the cause. After a great deal of trudging through jungle, they come upon the volcano and the nest. Sure enough, giant irradiated wasps. The explosives they brought with them do not kill the monster-wasps. The safari escape to a cave but are trapped in there for awhile. The volcano erupts. Lava pours down its sides. The lava kills the giant wasps. The safari folk are saved. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
Even though the "monsters" don't get much on-camera time (as is typical), they're actually pretty well done (for B monsters). There is a combination of large, articulated models and small-scale stop animation model work. By modern standards, quite cheesy, but in 1958, still above average. They came off better than the superimposed real bug type of films.

Cold War Angle
There isn't much of the Cold War angst here. Instead, we have a tepid example of the radiation cautionary tale. Radiation turns nature into monsters. Beware.

Notes
Radiation Angst -- MFGH caters to 50s audiences' built in anxiety about the effects of radiation. It was often the catalyst of choice in the 50s for introducing dangerous change. Surgery, chemistry and electricity each had their vogue periods. For the 50s, it was radiation. The only twist here, is that it's "natural" cosmic radiation from space, not man-made atomic radiation. Space was still a scary place in the late 50s. Many a film hinged on exposure to "space" causing bad things to happen. Riders to the Stars ('54) tried to make a serious plot of this. The Quatermass Experiment ('55) played up this angst. Later movies would too. People worried about radiation then.

Stereotyped Africa -- An amusing sidelight to MFGH is seeing the mishmash of african footage glommed together. Even in the later 50s, Africa was still stereotyped as wild place, with every corner filled with natural dangers. Elephants, pythons, lions and lava all existed side-by-side with fierce tribes of generic war-like natives. This generic vision was typical enough in the 30s and 40s, but apparently hadn't improved by the late 50s. Anything african was imagined to exist everywhere in Africa. Each sector contained both tropical jungle, arid savannah, swamp, desert canyon AND active volcanos. The only thing missing was the dinosaurs of Lost World.

For Love of Trudging -- A trait of many a jungle B-movie, is the obligatory marching through the jungle scene. MFGH had far too many of them. Dr. Lorrentz (an Albert Schweitzer copy) has his safari trudge through to get at the cause of the native chief's death. Much trudging. Brady's safari from Libreville to Dr. Lorrenz's camp went through yet many more minutes of trudging. Then they have to mount yet another safari to find the monsters that killed Dr. Lorrentz. The movie could have been perhaps 20 minutes shorter if all that trekking had been edited out. The fact that it wasn't suggests that the producers (who had made prior jungle films) must have expected their audiences still liked the vision of white men leading black porters through the jungle. It should be noted that the typical porters-deserting-white-leaders scene happened twice.

Stock Footage Fare --For fans of stock footage, there are numerous examples to spot. The V2 footage had become almost one of the four food groups by this point in the decade. Stock natives, stock wildlife clips and recycled footage from Stanley and Livingstone ('39) This helps explain why Dr. Brady gets decked out in the classic 19th century British pith helmet, khakis and tall boots. It helped him blend in with the '39 footage better.

Weak Ending -- Where most cautionary tales end with a moralizing moment, MFGH did not. For a brief moment, Dr. Lorrentz's daughter, Lorna, blamed science for the trouble, but Brady quickly corrects her that science is wonderful. Still, there were monsters out there. In the end, they're stopped, but unlike in other tales, man did not get wiser and stop the danger. Good did not triumph over evil. Instead, the wasps are killed by the lava. Since they were said to "not like fire," it's a bit incongruous that they made their nest on the side of a volcano. In the end, nature kills the monsters. As the Morgan character says at the end, "Nature has a way of correcting its own mistakes." Yes, nature killed the monsters, but its a bit odd that they gave nature the "credit" for making the monsters. Who shot the wasps into space? This may be a vestige of an old fear-of-nature theme.

Bottom line? At the end, MFGH may be a movie that only 50s sci-fi collectors will tolerate, or perhaps fans of jungle movies. Big bug movie fans will enjoy the big bugs, though they get only a little screen-time near the end.

The Trollenberg Terror

This UK sci-fi movie ran as the second feature to Cosmic Monsters. For American promotion, it marketed as "The Crawling Eye" even though the credits retained the original title. The movie was itself an adaptation of a six-part serial aired on British TV in 1956. The original was entitled "The Trollenberg Terror." For a B production, Trollenberg manages to be a reasonable horror/mystery story set in the Alps. Only towards the end the actual aliens appear on camera. For many viewers, this is the movie's downfall. In truth, the crawling eye aliens are not all that bad (compared to say the space bird in The Giant Claw ('57). The quality of the first three-quarters of the movie has raised expectations, such that merely B monsters tend to disappoint. That aside, Trollenberg is actually a fair bit of British sci-fi from the 50s.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Three young men are climbing Mt. Trollenberg, one above them, off camera. He talks of fog and seeing something, then screams and falls. He comrades are horrified to see that he has no head. A young woman on a train gets a vision of the three climbers, then passes out in the lap of Alan Brook, special investigator for the UN. Alan, Ann and her sister Sarah all get off at Trollenberg. Alan visit Professor Crevett at the high mountain observatory. He's tracking a mysterious radioactive cloud on the mountain. The villagers talk of mysterious deaths of climbers and curses. Two other men buck the warnings and climb. That night, Brett leaves the hut. Something returns to to get Dewhurst. Ann sees this too, as a vision. A rescue party finds Dewhurst decapitated. Brett shows up in the village acting odd. He tries to kill Ann, but is stopped. The cloud is coming down the mountain towards the village. It covers the only road out, so everyone must evacuate to the observatory. Hans, now an alien-animated zombie arrives and makes another attempt to kill Ann. The aliens are moving up, surrounding the bunker-like observatory. They start to break in. Alan gets the idea that heat or fire will stop them. They make some molotovs, but they're not enough. Alan calls in a bomber with fire bombs. After a few passes, the fire does stop and burn the aliens. The people emerge safe. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
As a horror murder mystery tale, Trollenberg moves along fairly well. Qhentin Lawrence keeps the mood spooky and the pace reasonable. Though much maligned, the eye monsters are not all that bad, for a 50s B movie. They're actually rather similar to how H.G.Wells describes his martians in his novel "War of the Worlds". Janet Munro is also a pleasure to watch.

Cold War Angle
There is a touch of the venerable "invasion" trope as a tie to the Cold War. This, however, is far overshadowed by the larger (and simpler) horror and mystery story.

Notes
Quatermass Formula -- The structure of Kneale's Quatermass stories was popular with British audiences. A mysterious and bizarre creature is terrorizing the countryside. Only our lone take-charge expert seems to know what's going on. Hammer's X-The Unknown ('57) used it, but with a Dr. Royston in the Quatermass role. In Trollenberg, the Quatermass role is performed by Alan Brooks (Forrest Tucker), special investigator for the UN.

Monster Motivation -- Not much screen time is spent on the aliens as anything other than murderous monsters. There is, one brief scene, however, in which Professor Crevett theorizes about them. He thought that maybe they came from a dying world, in search of a new home. They pick mountain peaks because they're accustomed to lower pressures and cooler temperatures. The clouds, he mused, could be them making their own atmosphere. They appear to multiply by division, as the cloud splits and re-splits. Since they use mental suggestion to murder, they would appear to be a hostile invasion.

Zombie Tools -- The aliens animate and control the bodies of dead people to do their manual labor. Brett dies up on the mountain, but returns to kill (and decapitate) Dewhurst. He then appears in town on a mission to kill Ann. Hans rashly tries to drive out of the village, but is apparently killed by the aliens. His zombie appears at the observatory, again with the mission to kill Ann. Interestingly, in both cases, our heros are able to kill the already dead men.

Geo-Trivia -- There IS a quaint little village named Trollenberg, but it's not in the Alps. It's due north of Zurich, in the German state of Baden Württemberg. It is in the Black Forest, but there are no alpine mountains nearby.

Bottom line? Don't let the MST3K spoof throw you off. View the original and cut the producers some slack on the monsters. It's a B movie. Get over it. Trollenberg is actually a pretty good B movie.

Cosmic Monsters

Originally, this movie was titled "The Strange World" or "The Strange World of Planet X" when it was released in the UK in 1957. When it was released in America in late 1958, it was marketed with the title "Cosmic Monsters" (CM). Since the British film industry did not use promotional posters as actively as the American film industry did, it's the American poster shown at left. By whichever title, the film itself is a nice example of British B sci-fi. CM is yet another recasting of the Klaatu trope, but with a British entry into the big bug sub-genre. In some areas, (England, perhaps?) The Strange World of Planet X double billed with another British sci-fi starring Forrest Tucker, The Trollenberg Terror.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The opening narrator sets the tone of the cautionary tale. Man has advanced in many areas, but there is so much that remains unknown. At a country laboratory, men fire up a room-sized machine. It overloads, sparks, and injures one of them. The overload blows out TVs in the area and stops clocks. Wilson, a government man, sends a Cartwright to check on Dr. Laird's work because it has national defense implications. Wilson gives the Cartwright two bars of metal for Laird to experiment upon. Gil and Cartwright privately discuss the potential of a projected beam weapon. Laird is prickly about doing only 'pure research' in high-energy magnetic fields. The injured worker is replaced with a pretty French woman scientist. They fire up the machine again, with one of Cartwright's bars in the 'oven'. At full power, Cartwright's briefcase flies across the room. Gil shuts down the machine to save Michele. The metal bar now crumbles. The machine's overload also caused lightning storms and caused a 'meteor' to fall. A tramp in the woods sits up with a burned face. Turns out that Laird's magnetic field machine warped the earth's magnetic field, allowing deadly cosmic rays to get through. The tramp becomes a deranged killer. Local insects have mutated into giants. A mysterious stranger eventually explains that he came to warn us not to continue the experiments. The giant bugs eventually attack, killing some individuals. Soldiers arrive and attack the bugs. Gil and the stranger rescue Michele from a giant spider's web. Laird is about to fire up his machine again. With the earthmen's permission, the stranger summons a flying saucer which blows up the lab. The earth is saved. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The blend of a typically British Klaatu-like alien, and the big-bug sub-genre, can't help but be fun. The pacing is good. The big bug shots are not Bert I. Gordon's work, but interesting in their own right.

Cold War Angle
The Cold War is a background element, in that the British government wants Dr. Laird's research to become a projected beam weapon for neutralizing hostile aircraft. Late 50s audiences knew who that was. The bulk of the movie, however, is more the typical cautionary tale about the dangers of science.

Notes
Klaatu Returns -- The trope of the benevolent messenger had "legs", as they say. It is best remembered in Klaatu of The Day The Earth Stood Still, but reappeared many times. We saw it reworked in an earlier British B film, Stranger From Venus ('54), and will see it again in early 1959 in Cosmic Man. Mr. Smith in CM is much like the man from Venus in '54 and Rennie's Klaatu in being the model of benign civility.

Mad Scientist Redux -- Another trope within CM, almost a parallel plot line, is the selfish obsession of Dr. Laird to continue his work, even to the point of killing Wilson for trying to stop him. In this, there is a typically British understated message about the dangers of hubris in science.

Snow On Their Boots -- There is a great cultural "tip of the iceberg" line in CM. It may have been totally lost on American audiences. Early in the movie, Murray, the security man, is talking with Wilson, the government man, about all the hoopla (flying saucer stories) in the press about Laird's work. Wilson says, "You may have to find some chaps with snow on their boots, if you know what I mean." Do you? It would be easy to blow by that line, but it's actually full of meaning.
In the early days of World War One, British public opinion rankled at the lack of any British attack on Germany. Rumors arose about Russian soldiers traveling in closed trains from sea ports in Scotland to the channel coast. "Eyewitnesses" said they figured they were Russian soldiers because they saw snow on their boots. The implication was that Britain was actually "doing something" to stop Germany by transporting Russians (who were allies) to the front lines. The rumors were false, of course. It was suspected that the government and press cooked up the stories (or fed them) to deflect criticism over government inaction. Hence, the notion that Murray might need to use the flying saucer stories to cover up the real defense project truth. How many Americans would have gotten that?

Bottom line? CM is breaks no new ground in sci-fi, but is a very watchable remake of the TDESS plot, with some interesting variations. It is also a rare British example of the big-bug sub-genre. For fans of 50s sci-fi, it is well worth the time.

The Lost Missile

In some ways, The Lost Missile (LM) is a stereotypic Cold War sci-fi B-movie. It is stuffed to the gills with Department of Defense stock footage. Jets taking off, radar operators, control rooms, etc. all consume many long minutes of LM's run time. Much of the movie comes across as reassurance propaganda to a nuke-wary populace. There are many similarities between LM and The Giant Claw ('57), in that some outside danger menaces the United States. America's full defense capabilities are showcased dealing with that threat. American technical superiority manages to save the world. Written, produced and directed by the same man, William Berke, LM actually fares better than most one-man-show movies do.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A mysterious missile approaches the earth from outside the solar system. As it nears, Soviet defense officers order their anti-missile missiles fired at it. They explode near it. This fails to stop the mysterious missile, but does settle it into a low earth orbit of only 5 miles up. The lost missile radiates a million degrees of heat, therefore leaving a five-mile wide swath of burned out destruction behind it as it orbits the earth. It starts its scorched trail in northern Canada Jets are scrambled, but cannot stop it. Any munition explodes from the heat before getting close enough. New York City will be destroyed in a little over an hour. A few human interest threads are woven into the tale. David, the chief scientist on a new super-nuke missile named Job (The biblical name, not an occupation). He was planning to marry his assistant Joan the day the missile arrived. David's associate Joe's wife was due to deliver their first baby, etc. etc. The children of NYC are being evacuated, but everyone else huddles in shelters. David convinces the commanding General to fire Job at the lost missile. It, alone, has the speed to pierce the heat barrier and detonate on target. Meanwhile, Ottawa is incinerated. While driving the warhead's nuclear material to the launch site, hoodlums hijack David's jeep. They die of radiation when they open the box. David catches up to the jeep. In closing the box, he's exposed to a lethal dose of radiation. In his last minutes, he drives the box to the base and loads it into the warhead. He expires. Job is launched. The warhead penetrates the heat and explodes. The lost missile is destroyed. People emerge from their shelters. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Fans of stock Defense Department footage will love this film. The acting is varied (some almost over the top), so fascinating to watch. LM is such a pure example of Cold War sci-fi, that it's like finding a four-leafed clover.

Cold War Angle
The opening credit thanks the Department of Defense for its cooperation. The whole movie is like a dress rehearsal for what everyone thought a nuclear attack would be like. The lost missile is a surrogate for the expected communist attack. This role is underscored by how the origin of the missile (while clearly extraterrestrial) is never addressed. The lost missile is treated as purely an Earth problem. LM is a blatantly Cold War angst 50s sci-fi movie.

Notes
DoD Saviors -- Much about LM paints the Department of Defense as America's saviors. Of the brave men of an arctic radar station named Keyhole Advanced, who heroically stay at their posts, announcing the deadly missile's approach, a general says, "Thank God there was a Keyhole Advanced." Audiences were expected to share this reverence. Most of the stock footage is from the D.o.D.: radar stations, control centers, intelligence offices, jets, jets and still more jets. Clearly, even though nothing could stop the lost missile, it had to have left a pretty big impression on the viewing public to see all the weaponry in place to defend them. What chance would a mere Russian bomber have?

Civil Defense Heros -- Near the denouement, we get several views of Civil Defense in action. Average citizens and workers drop everything and don their white helmets and take charge. The narrator says, "They are soldiers and officers of Civil Defense. Theirs is the most important job of any right now." Radio announcers repeatedly tell people to obey their civil defense officers. The average citizen is also praised for having practiced what to do in the event of an attack, "The people of the city know what to do." Where the Civil Defense system is mocked in The Blob as the ineffectual haunt of old men, in LM, it is held up as the noble grassroots protection organization. There is even some clips of the old "duck and cover" footage.

Claw 2 -- Much about LM matches the story structure of The Giant Claw ('57), but without the bizarre bird as the menacing power. Both films boil down to promotional pieces for how wonderful America's defense systems are. Both movies tout the virtues of the early radar warning systems. Both films showcase the awesome military might America could bring to bear on any invader. Both also conclude by American technical genius supplying the special weapon that can stop the unstoppable. LM manages to do all this without the burden of the ludicrous bird puppet, so it is actually much more effective.

Plane Crazy -- For fans of Air Force stock footage and the old planes they preserve, LM is a treasure trove. There are too many to list here, but range from the usual P-80s and F-86s, including many types of fighters and bombers, up to the B-52 and the strange-looking B-36. Of special interest is the footage of the F-89 Scorpions with missile pods on the wing tips. There is some great footage (some in slow motion) of the folding-fin missiles being fired from the tip pods. Each pod carried 52 of the unguided "Mighty Mouse" missiles. A marvelous bit of rare D.o.D. footage.

Bottom line? LM has a passable, if not original, plot. It has some eclectic acting but minimal special effects. It relies on copious amounts of Defense Department stock footage, but some of it actually interesting from an historical perspective. Watch LM to see what The Giant Claw could have been.

I Married a Monster From Outer Space

Perhaps one of the more unfortunate titles for a 50s sci-fi movie, I Married A Monster From Outer Space (IMMOS) is actually a much better film than its title suggests. Produced by Paramount's B division, IMMOS ran as the second feature to the much more memorable The Blob. Being upstaged by that A-feature film, and perhaps its own silly title, may be why IMMOS is little known beyond the ranks of 50s sci-fi fans. This obscurity is undeserved, however. IMMOS is rather well done for a low budget film. It fits squarely in the alien takeover sub-genre. The first human to be taken over is a young man about to be married the next day -- hence the title. He is but the first of a wave of invaders seeking to make Earth their new home.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A group of young men are holding a bachelor party Bill at Max's bar. Amid the usual faux laments about marriage is much drinking. When Bill is driving home, he stops, thinking he sees a man lying in the road. An alien confronts him. A mysterious cloud engulfs him. Bill is almost late, but the wedding goes as planned. Only a short while later, however, Marge can tell Bill is not the man she fell in love with. He acts odd and clueless. Dogs snarl at him now. She tries to tell people, but they don't take her seriously. Others in town are being taken over too: a couple of policemen, the police chief, and Bill drinking buddy Sam. Marge follows Bill one night, to the woods. There, she sees the alien leave Bill's shell and enter the ship. Eventually, Dr. Wayne believes her. He has a plan. Marge has gone home, where Bill is waiting. She's at his mercy, but Bill has softened. He tells her the truth. The sun was dying back in the Andromeda constellation. They had to build ships and leave. Before they could evacuate, all of their females had died. Since then, they've roamed space looking for habitable planets. They planned to breed with earth women to save their species. Meanwhile, the doctor has rounded up unassimilated young men from the maternity ward. With his virile posse, they attack the ship. Bullet holes in the aliens heal instantly. An attack dog, however, rips one of their "veins", killing the alien. Another dies the same way. The men go inside the ship to find the human bodies of the abductees hanging from wires, hooked up to transmitters. The possessed men try a counter attack on the ship, but when the wires are pulled from the transmitters, they double over and die -- turning into gelatinous suds. The possessed police chief radios the fleet that Earth is no good. They're onto them. He turns into suds. Marge confronts possessed Bill in the woods. He says he's sorry, that he was starting to learn love. His wire is pulled. He dies and turns into suds. All the "real" men emerge from the ship just before it explodes. Everyone is restored. The fleet departs. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
IMMOS is a nice twist on the alien-abuction trope. There is a bit of the tension of Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('56). The story is told from Marge's point of view. The interplay between Marge (the vulnerable) and possessed-Bill is interesting, and rather well done. The special effects, while spare, are adequate to the task.

Cold War Angle
The corruption of local authority figures was a common anxiety in the Cold War climate. What if the police and town leaders became commies? Who would protect the vulnerable citizen then? This was the private angst of the period.

Notes
More Abduction -- IMMOS continues the theme of aliens taking over the bodies of humans. They weren't outright replacements as in Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('56) They were copies, as in It Came From Outer Space ('53. The aliens create duplicates with the real humans hidden away. As in several alien take-over stories, the aliens take over key authority figures in town.

Real Men -- The alien-men do not prove to be "potent." They marry earth women, but sire no children as they planned. Dr. Walsh uses this as the litmus test for whether a man is human or alien. He recruits his posse from the maternity ward. By their fruit ye shall know them. Real men become fathers.

They're After Our Women -- The oft implied theme of many B sci-fi movies (especially their posters) turns out to really be the case in IMMOS. The aliens from Andromeda have no females. They planned to take on humanoid bodies of men in hopes that they could produce offspring, which they assumed would be Andromedans. Why this would be so, with a human mother and simulated human father, is not covered. In a twist of poetic justice, the alien-men turn out to be impotent.

The Power of Love -- All the other alien-men follow the customary stoic pattern. The Andromedans did not feel love. Alien-Bill, however, feels the stirrings of emotion for nice young Marge. He's conflicted over the whole invasion idea. Love had begun to conquer the aliens. As with many other alien-abduction stories, it is love, or emotion, which is the essence of humanity.

Bottom line? Don't let the silly title throw you. IMMOS is worth watching as an above average B sci-fi movie.