Sleeper

Woody Allen's Sleeper is a sci-fi comedy -- a small sub-genre. This United Artists film was co-written and directed by and stared in by Woody Allen. Normally, this much one-man-show-ness spells doom for a film, but Woody makes it work. His deadpan style of humor and witty one-liners are abundant. Diane Keaton co-stars as the hapless woman of the future and Allen's love intreats. The plot of Allen's story toys with elements of older sci-fi classics. His direction mingles all that with old style comedy from the 1920s (sight gags) and slapstick. Broadly speaking, Sleeper is a blend of 1984 and the Keystone Cops.

Quick Plot Synopsis
In the year 2173, a lost cryogenic capsule is found by some doctors sympathetic to a revolutionary underground. Since the frozen man will have no official ID, he can be used to infiltrate government facilities. The frozen man, however, is MIles Monroe (Allen), a nerdy former owner of a health food store in Greenwich Village. HIs reawakening does not go smoothly, with many comic moments. The doctors take him to a moderne home for reintegration into 22nd century reality. Police raid the home. The doctors tell him to flee west and find out about The Aries Project. He escapes via comic chases, eventually hiding in a van of domestic servant robots. He dresses up as robot from spare parts and gets dropped off at the home of Luna (Keaton). She takes him to the repair shop for a better head. Much hilarity ensues. Miles then kidnaps Luna, trying to enlist her help. She plays along until they get to another house. She calls the police. When they arrive, a chase ensues with Miles in an inflated rubber suit. The police take Luna, to erase her brain for having been in contact with the alien. Miles rescues her via his inflated suit as rubber raft. They get back to the house Miles was first at. The police raid it. Miles hides Luna so she can find the Underground. MIles is captured and taken back for reprogramming. More absurdity follows. (Miles as Miss Montana) Meanwhile, Luna tries to become the forest denizen with comedic results. She is captured by Erdo, leader of the Underground. She becomes a guerilla fighter, eventually recapturing MIles. Luna and Erdo try to break Miles reprogramming via staged Jewish suppers. This leads Miles into acting as Blanche du Bois. Miles wakes up cured. He and Luna then sneak into a government hospital, posing as doctors. They are mistaken for a pair of famous doctors and attend a briefing. The totalitarian Leader actually died 10 months ago from a rebel bomb. All that was saved was his nose. Miles and Luna are expected to clone from the nose, a new Leader. More silliness results. They escape yet again, and discover that they both love each other. Kiss. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
It's a comedy. Allen's one-liners are fun. The slapstick and sight gags are fun too. Also fun for sci-fi fans are the many tie-ins to some classics. More on those below.

Cultural Connection
Period Humor: Many of Woody Allen's zippy one-liners depended on his audience being steeped in early 70s American culture. Those born after that period would likely not find them so funny. For instance: in the "History Lesson" skit, Allen identifies (or misidentifies) several photos of celebrities. Of Charles DeGall he says he was a famous french chef. Of Norman Mailer, he says he donated his ego to science. Of Richard Nixon, he says the secret service had to count the white house silverware. Shown a video clip of a Howard Cosell commentary, Allen says watching it was a state torture for dissidents. Someone who did not know these people (beyond name and face) would not get the jokes. It's hard for humor not to be zeitgeist-centric. Consider the sci-fi comedy Just Imagine ('31) with its references to Henry Ford, Prohibition, etc. There's much humor in the moment, even if the moment is fleeting.

Notes
Sci-fi References -- The overall plot of Sleeper roughly parallels that of H.G.Wells' novel "The Sleeper Awakes," (1897) except that MIles does not wake up rich. At one point, Miles says he feels like Flash Gordon, though his situation is more like that of Buck Rogers -- awakened into a new age with tyrants to fight. The heavy-handed police state and reprogramming of dissidents, there are strong allusions to Orwell's 1984. Allen included a nod to Kubrick's 2001 with the surgical assistant robot. Allen hired the same voice talent (Douglas Rain) who was the voice of HAL. Allen also included close-ups of the robot's green glowing eye. With the nose of the Leader to be cloned to make a new Leader, these is even an homage to such silly films as They Saved Hitler's Brain. All these are touches a sci-fi fan could enjoy.

Selected One-Liners -- Allen is famous for his one-liners. Here are a few.
Rebel Doctor:"If they catch you, they'll simplify your brain!"
Miles: "My brain? That's my second favorite organ."
Rebel Doctor: "Haven't you ever taken a political stand?" 
Miles: "Yes. Once, I refused to eat grapes for 24 hours." 
Luna: "What does it feel like to be dead for over 200 years?"
Miles:"It's like spending the weekend in Beverly Hills."
Luna: "Do you believe in God?" 
Miles: "I believe there is an intelligence in the universe, except for certain parts of New Jersey.
Luna:"I believe there's someone out there who watches over us."
Miles:"There is. Unfortunately, it's the government."
Miles finds Luna completely wrapped in tangled magnetic tape. "For a minute there, I didn't think you knew how to work the machine." 
Luna: "Do you want to perform sex with me?"
Miles: "I don't know if I'm up to performing, but I'll practice with you."
Luna: "What do you believe in? (Not God, science or politics) 
Miles: "Sex and Death. Both come to you once in a lifetime. But after death you're not nauseous."

Sight Gags -- Allen paid great homage to the early comedy films of Charlie Chaplain, The Keystone Cops, Laurel and Hardy, even the Three Stooges. Watch for the giant banana peel that Miles and the guard keep slipping on. Watch for the police bazooka which keeps failing spectacularly. Watch for the silly chase scenes (there are many) The bickering Jewish tailor robots (with large noses) are a treat.

Future Home Of… -- The film was shot in and around Denver. Several local landmarks show up, such as the NOAA Research Center in Boulder (the radar dome) and the Mile High Church of Religious Science's swooping arched entry as a future McDonalds. The "Sculpted House" on Mount Genessee is the place Miles is taken to after he wakes up. This futuristic house was built in 1963, but the designer (Charles Deaton) never got to live in it. Due to financial troubles, the house remained unfinished inside and unoccupied for decades. It is during this period that Allen used it for his movie. In 1991, a buyer bought the house from Deaton, but did nothing with it. In 1999, a new buyer purchased the house and spent millions finishing the interior. In 2006, he sold it. This owner actually lived in the house, but then sold it to a Denver real estate investor for $1.5 million at a foreclosure sale. A futuristic house with a troubled past and bleak future.

Bottom line? Woody Allen's humor isn't for everyone. His period humor will likely elude younger viewers. The slapstick, however, can be enjoyed by kids of all ages. The many allusions to other sci-fi movies are like "easter eggs" for the serious sci-fi fan, but not seeing them does not detract from the film. Sci-fi comedy is rare enough to make Sleeper worth seeking out.

Frozen Alive

This joint British-German production was released in 1964. Frozen Alive (FA) is another iteration of the Frozen trope which reappears periodically. In this case, it is deliberate freezing ("for science!") and not the found-in-ice type. The German release was titled, Der Fall X701 ("Case X701"). Shot in black and white, FA is more of a crime melodrama with some sci-fi used in a secondary role. FA stars Mark Stevens as Dr. Frank Overton, and Marianne Koch as Dr. Helen Wieland. Director Bernard Knowles was more experienced in television work, but did go on to direct Spaceflight IC-1 a year later.

Quick Plot Synopsis
At the Low Temperature Research lab of the World Health Organization, Dr. Helen Weiland is nervous about presenting her work at a symposium. Lab partner, Dr. Frank Overton assures her she'll do fine. At the symposium, they describe their work in cryogenics, freezing chimps and reviving them alive. Suspended animation will be a boon to surgery. Applause. Meanwhile, Frank's wife Joan is dressed to impress and getting drunk. She is jealous. (Frank spends a lot of time at work with pretty young Helen). Joan attends the end of the symposium, but manages to embarrass more than impress. She seeks solace with her pre-marriage flame, Tony, who still wants her. Joan and Tony go to a bar and take in an african band with a fire dancer. She gets drunk. Tony gets a must-do assignment due at dawn. She gets even more drunk at Tony's apartment. While he tries to work on a magazine article, she finds a souvenir pistol of his. She puts it in her purse and staggers off to go frighten Helen. Again, she only manages to embarrass herself and Frank. Frank and Helen win some prestigious award for their work, which has a nice cash prize. Award or not, the director of the lab, Sir Keith, orders the project shifted before it starts any potentially embarrassing human trials (and failures). Frank is to be reassigned to some other project. Helen call Frank to tell him the bad news. While on the phone, she overhears Frank discover that Joan has the gun. (She was ashamed and trying to hide it) All Helen hears is: "Give me the gun." Bam! Scream. Frank comes back to the phone and says it was only a broken lightbulb popping. Actually, the gun just went off as they struggled and shot a pillow. The prize money offers hope of reconciliation for Frank and Joan. They'll get away, but first, Frank wants to help Helen with a human trial before their team is officially dissolved. He goes to the lab and volunteers to be the guinea pig. Meanwhile, Tony comes over to Joan's house wanting his missing gun. Joan is happy at turning over a sober new leaf and her rekindled marriage, but while gesturing with the pistol, shoots herself in the chest. She dies. Tony, scared, takes the gun and wipes down things with his prints on them. Frank is frozen. The maid finds dead Joan. Scream. The police show up at the lab. Frank is suspected of murdering Joan, since there was no gun found. Helen is shocked. While they thaw and revive Frank, Helen conspires to have him die of complications. His EKG goes flat line. Tony gets a conscience and tells the police what happened. Helen overhears the police report that it Joan died of a self-inflicted wound. She quickly saves Frank from his "complications." A year later, Frank and Helen are a happy couple in love. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
There is a nostalgia appeal to FA. It feels as if it could have been a 40s or early 50s film. The actors do a reasonable job with their characters, keeping them from slipping into stereotypes. Although, the Sir Keith character tends to be the customary project director who fears bad publicity so shuts down the promising project.

Cultural Connection
Writers and audiences seemed fascinated with the idea of temporary death. It offers a sort of earthly parallel to resurrection, though less like Christ's and more like Lazarus. Those who get their second life (post-freeze) usually end up dead again anyhow. Cheating death appeals to the mortal imagination.

Notes
Serious Science -- To its credit, FA presents what it has for science fiction in the "hard" sense of credible possibility, not fantasy wonder. The screenplay offers up noticeably less techno-babble than usual to try to sell the notion to the audience. Cryogenics is portrayed almost as matter of fact. It is not crucial to the story, but does provide the pivotal recovery process which gave Helen her option to revive him, or let him die. For the story's sake, it could have been high pressure (as in deep sea diving) or some drug-induced coma, etc. as the "science" that provided the key scene.

Dual Triangles -- The more dominant melodrama involved two love triangles with Frank at the intersection of them. Tony likes Joan who loves Frank, and Helen who secretly likes Frank who is still loyal to Joan. In typical British fashion, the soap opera aspect is not over played. Most of the movie hangs on whether Joan or Frank will stay faithful to each other. Any sci-fi elements are secondary.

Good Girl, Bad Girl -- The character of Joan almost steals the show. The movie could just as appropriately have been titled "Poor Joan." She is actually rather well written and well acted by Delphi Lawrence. At first, she is the two dimensional bad girl: an alcoholic with a bad attitude and perhaps an affair on the side. Further in, she is the faithful wife, but tormented by feelings of inadequacy, yet desperately wanting to be worthy of the man she deeply loves. Hence the drinking. Near the end, when Frank shows his loyalty to her, she resolves to BE worthy, giving up the booze to be the good wife. Her accidental death made her a sort of anti-hero of the story. Her failure opened the door for Helen, (the almost always good girl) who loved Frank from afar, and Frank to have Helen, whom he admired for her mind. (It didn't hurt that she was shapely and cute too).

Did He Actually Do It? -- One might wonder if Frank actually did set things up to allow Joan to shoot herself. She said she wanted to. HE checked the gun's clip and declared the gun empty. If he knew enough to check the clip, he would have known to check the chamber. He didn't. An intentional oversight? Frank did not get to see the new-leaf Joan. What he got was the Joan that was not too keen on living a quiet life in the country as wife and mother. Frank did seem awfully happy to have Helen in the end.

Killing For Science -- At the climax of the movie (as mild as it is), Helen has it in her power to let Frank die at a crucial juncture in the recovery process. She clearly opts to let him die. Was she acting as judge, jury and executioner based on what she heard in the phone call? Was she sparing Frank a nastier death by capital punishment? Or, was she protecting the program from torrid publicity?

Pointless Fire Dance -- Far too much footage is devoted to the fire dancer act in the nightclub Joan and Tony visit. The scene goes well beyond the range of an establishing shot, or a flavor shot. It's almost a demo reel for the act, as if the producer had promised the band that he would put them into one of his movies to give them their big break. They do nothing for the story.

Bottom line? FA is primarily a low B-grade crime drama in a film-noir sort of way.The sci-fi component is minimal. The pace is somewhat slow at times and talky at others. Some consider FA a very dull movie. Viewers hankering for explosions and laser battles will likely be bored to tears. FA is a less sensational member of the Frozen sub-genre, but at least tries to maintain some dignity.

Return of the Ape Man

Before continuing with Columbia's four Karloff movies, this seems like a good time to chase the Frozen Alive trope itself. which seems to have gotten its start in, The Man With Nine Lives ('40). Two Frankenstein movies after that, in 1943 and '44 used the Frozen trope. Return of the Ape Man (RAM) was also released in '44. It is another Frozen movie, but is also intertwined with the Frankenstein series. (more on that below). RAM starred Bela Lugosi as the mad scientist, and John Carridine as his ethical assistant. Lugosi was in the downslope of his career, doing films like RAM for Poverty Row studios like Monogram.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A tramp named Willie the Weasel has been missing for over a month. Professor Dexter (Lugosi) and Professor Gilmore (Carridine) abducted Willie and put him in their deep freeze chamber. They were experimenting with suspended animation for the usual supposed benefits to medical science. They revive Willie after three months, proving their process a success. Dexter, however, wants a bigger test to prove it. He mounts an arctic expedition to find a Neanderthal man frozen for tens of thousands of years. Reviving him would be the ultimate career coup. Handily enough, they find an "Ape Man" frozen in glacial ice. They haul him back to Dexter's basement lab. Once thawed, Dexter administers his drug and electric treatments. The Ape Man awakens, but is violent. Dexter keeps him at bay with an acetylene torch and locks him in a handy jail cell. Dexter wants to give the Ape Man half a brain transplant. A modern half-brain would allow him to speak and understand (obey), while the original half would still contain all his caveman memories. Dexter wants to know what life was like as a caveman. Gilmore objects, as brain transplant equals murder. At a dinner party at the Gilmore home, Dexter lures Gilmore's nephew-in-law, Steven to his lab and drugs him. He would have been the brain donor, had not Gilmore arrived in the nick of time. Gilmore says they're through as a team. Fine. Meanwhile, the Ape Man bends his jail door bars and escapes. He accosts a woman and kills a policeman. Ape Man returns to the lab and is reconvened. Gilmore knows the "monster" is Dexter's Ape Man. Dexter asks Gilmore to come to his lab to "help destroy the monster." Gilmore agrees, but it's a trap. Gilmore becomes the brain donor. Now with half a modern brain, the Ape Man can speak. He says his name is Gilmore. Dexter thinks another operation is needed to access the Ape Man's identity. This news makes Ape Man run away. He runs to the Gilmore home. He climbs the trellis, plays Moonlight Sonata on the piano, then kills Mrs. Gilmore (for no good reason). Steve and Gilmore's niece Ann call the police. While searching Dexter's lab, Ape Man breaks free of the cell (again), mortally injuring Dexter, who says with his last breath that the Ape Man will go to the Gilmore home.. He does, and abducts Ann. With her limp, fainted form draped over his shoulder, he climbs buildings and eludes the police. Eventually, he takes her to Dexter's lab and locks her in the freeze chamber. The sparking wires upset him, which creates more sparks and eventually a fire. Steve and the police arrive. Steve rescues Ann, but the Ape Man dies in the flames. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Mostly, it is Bela Lugosi who gives RAM any appeal. In fact, he is the primary redeeming feature. The film's interconnections to the Frankenstein franchise add interest, for those aware of such details.

Cultural Connection
In the vein of Lost World, RAM continues the notion that things ancient were brutish, destructive and deadly. By extension, is the backhanded conceit that modern man is rational, constructive and kind. The Savage, is an old cultural trope, always looking for a new face by which we may contrast ourselves.

Notes
FrankenThreads -- RAM has several interwoven connections to Universal's Frankenstein movie collection (which was almost done by 1944). Aside from the by-now-familiar mad scientist character, Lugosi played Ygor in Son of Frankenstein ('38) and Ghost of Frankenstein ('42). He played the monster himself in the next film, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman ('43), which also had the Frozen Alive trope. John Carridine also acted in House of Frankenstein done in the same year as RAM, 1944. Carridine would go on to play the mad scientist in the Frankenstein idiom, in later films. Then is the scene when the Ape Man first stirs post-thaw. "It's Alive!" exclaims Dexter.

Ape Threads -- An interesting alternate rabbit trail is Caveman thread. There are many movies in this sub-genre. Some are purely set in cave man times, such as One Million B.C., but most are, like RAM, built around the resulting mayhem when a caveman is put into "modern" society. While in RAM the Frozen and Caveman threads intersect, following the cavemen will be a later project.

Threadbare -- Monogram productions were never slick. The writing was more prone to pulp than poetry. A couple of examples: Tiny Haystack : To test his process Dexter needs a prehistoric man who happened to be frozen alive thousands of years ago. Gilmore calls the search a needle in a haystack, but sure enough, they find one in a few minutes. How handy. The Healing Door: The Ape Man bends the bars of the jail cell door to escape. When Dexter recaptures him, he puts him in the same cell with the bars restored. He must have had a spare jail cell door. Very Handy! Instant Powerless Pad: Dexter reads in his How To electronics book, how to make a paralyzer pad that will immobilize a person. Handy for stopping a brutish Ape Man, AND your victims with little exertion. Cheap Freeze: Dexter's freezer room is a simple booth with some pipes visible through the window. It has one knife-switch and one big dial which goes from 60 to zero in seconds. No time is wasted on freeze effects. Simple Surgery: Dexter performs brain surgery on two men, by himself, in about a minute. No shaved head, no bandages, no big dramatic stitches or franken-scars. Dexter had some serious surgical skills. Very very handy.

Where's Zucco? -- The posters give George Zucco third billing. Even the credits cite Zucco and Frank Moran as playing the Ape Man. What's the deal? Apparently, Zucco was hired as the Ape Man. (He played in several prior cheap horror films, so had some marquee power.) He was was fitted with the Ape Man makeup and costume, posed for some publicity stills and even started some of the shooting. But, he fell ill. Movies like RAM had very tight schedules and were typically shot over just a couple weeks, No time for recoveries. Frank Moran was hired as a replacement. Some fans contend that Zucco does not appear on film at all. Others say that shots of the just-thawed Ape Man are Zucco, but that when he sits up, it's Moran (and thereafter). They call attention to the changes in makeup as their guide.

They're After Our Women! -- In true "Kong" form, the Ape Man performs the required abduction scene. Making this easier, she faints a lot and doesn't fight too hard while being carried over his shoulder. Still, the ancient visceral imagery is there. The Outsider, the Stranger, is out to steal OUR pretty young women -- who are enticingly dressed in clingy fabrics and high heels!

Returns? -- The neanderthal "returns" to life is the rationale, perhaps, but the title seems like a marketing allusion to a prior Monogram film, The Ape Man, 1943, also starring Bela Lugosi. RAM is not a squeal.

Bottom line? RAM is clearly low-B entertainment with low production values. On its own, it has little to recommend it. But Bela Lugosi gives it life. It has some film-historian value, too, as a dot connecting several threads.