Curse of Frankenstein

Universal Pictures decided to get out of the horror/monster business at the end of the 1940s. Hammer Studios took up the mantle and created a Frankenstein saga of their own. Curse of Frankenstein (CoF) was the first of their seven Frankenstein films. It was also the first Frankenstein film shot in color. Peter Cushing stars as the mad scientist, a role that would carry through most of Hammer's saga. Christopher Lee stars as the monster. This pair would be the workhorses of Hammer's Horror dominance.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The movie opens to a jail block. A priest has come to take Victor Frankenstein's confession before he is executed. Victor tells the priest his story. (Begin flashback) Young Victor Frankenstein inherits the family fortune upon the death of his mother. He hires a tutor, Paul Kempke, to teach him science. As the years progress, the two explore the secrets of life and death. As adults, they succeed in resurrecting a dead puppy. Victor plans to build a man, created from dead body parts. Paul only reluctantly agrees to help, but quickly loses his taste for the experiment. He gathers parts, but needs a perfect brian. Victor kills a renowned old scientist, then steals the professor's brain from the crypt. Paul interrupts this. They struggle, during which the brain is damaged. Victor installs it anyhow. Victor's cousin, Elizabeth, comes to stay with him. They are to be married. Paul worries about her safety. Victor can't operate all the lab gizmos alone, but Paul refuses to help. A lightning strike on the castle provides the crucial jolt. The monster lives, but immediately tries to choke Victor. Paul knocks it out. Later, the monster escapes. Loose in the woods, it kills an old blind man and his grandson. Victor and Paul find itt, Paul shoots the monster dead. They bury it. But Victor dug it up and does some brain surgery to fix it. Meanwhile, Justine, the maid, is jealous of Elizabeth. She threatens to tell the authorities unless Victor marries her Lacking proof, Justine sneaks into the lab that night, but goes into the monster's room. Victor locks the door behind her. Scream! Later, after the wedding, Victor takes Paul up to show him his new-and-improved monster. He can not take basic voice commands. Paul is disgusted and storms out. Victor follows. While they argue in the yard, a curious Elizabeth goes up to the lab to see what's so important. The monster had escaped again, this time onto the castle roof. Curious, Elizabeth follows. Victor and Paul see all this and rush back in the house. On the roof, the monster lunges for Elizabeth. Victor shoots but hits Elizabeth in the shoulder. She drops. He throws an oil lamp at the monster, whose clothes catch on fire. He staggers back through a skylight and falls into a vat of acid. He dissolved in a half hour. (End Flashback) The priest doesn't believe Victor's tale. Paul arrives to say goodbye. Victor hopes Paul will corroborate his story, but Paul does not. Victor is led away to the guillotine. The End.

Sci-fi Connection
There is more (though still not much) made of the surgery and medical science. There are also the requisite gizmos in steampunk fashion for electricity -- though clearly not with Universal's budget. The bubbling Vat of Life visual, in which first a dead puppy is revived, then later the monster, is an interesting sci-fi element. Of more significance, is how the plot ramps up the conflict between "science" and humanity. Scientific "advances" bring about death. This is a very sci-fi quality.

Novel Connection
Mary Shelley's novel was public domain, so fair game for a screenplay. Indeed, another screenplay based on her novel was in circulation in the mid-50s, but finding no backers. The plot is said to have been uncomfortably close to Universal's Son of Frankenstein. Jimmy Sangster's re-write cast back more to Mary's novel, but focused more on the obsessed creator than the poor creature.

New Saga
Hammer Studios would go on to produce six sequels to CoF, all but one starring Peter Cushing as the same Dr. Frankenstein. In this, Hammer began a new story line that had no connection to the story Universal created. The next Hammer Frankenstein would pick up the story right where CoF left off.

Notes
New Monster -- Universal still owned the rights to the signature look of Jack Pierce's flat-topped bolt-necked monster. To avoid legal trouble, Hammer's make-up artist, Phil Leaky, went for a more lanky, zombie-like monster. Unlike Universal's monster, which could not die, so lived on in six sequels, Hammer's first monster does die, dissolved in a vat of acid. It is the Baron himself who lives on as the unstoppable monster.

Bad Doctor, Bad -- Hammer's Dr. Frankenstein is more of a monster than his creation. He is more in tune with the diabolical Dr. Pretorius character from Bride of… or Karloff's vengeful Dr. Niemann from House of…. Mary Shelley's doctor was a naive victim of the dangers of "science," the doctor of the atomic age was becoming the embodiment of the evils of science.

Old Monsters Got Legs -- When Universal's executives decided to get out of the monster business at the end of the 1940s, it was apparent that the old monsters (Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, ) still had "legs." Hammer Studios eventually bought the rights from Universal-International to remake all their old monsters. The old were reborn to frighten a whole new generation.

Horror Hybrid -- Hammer Studios bolstered the sometimes-uneasy horror-scifi hybrid. Their earlier sci-fi films included: The Quatermass Xperiment ('55), X-The Unknown ('57) and Quatermass 2 ('58). Viewers will note that each of these involved a degree of "horror". An astronaut is disfigured into a giant blob monster. A radioactive blob (different blob) monster burns and melts people, etc. Hammer's Frankenstein is more horror (colorful gore) than sci-fi, but there is still some science amid the fiction.

Bottom line? CoF has more blood and gore than any previous Frankenstein film, so viewers not fond of spattering red paint movies might opt to steer clear. For FrankenFans, CoF is a fresh restart, a new story line from the same roots, and still loaded with psycho-ethical subtexts to muse on.
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The Land Unknown

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Man Without A Body

To round out this Digression Week, we go to 1957. Originally, this movie was left off the list as being horror and not sci-fi. But, as the tour of 1958 had included several outer-orbit movies, The Man Without A Body (MwoB) had just as strong (or weak) a cases for inclusion. So, here it is.
MwoB is one of those quirky low budget films which easily confounds the average viewer. It mixes some of the Frankenstein theme of medical science gone wrong, with the evils of the business world with a dose of film-noir. Like many film-noir movies, there are almost no heroic or noble characters. Just about everyone is flawed. W. Lee Wilder, who directed Phantom From Space ('53) and Killers From Space ('54) had some skill at directing low budget films, and does a fair job with MwoB.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Wealthy and rude, business tycoon Karl Brussard's medical troubles are due to an inoperable brain tumor. While getting a second option from a Dr. Merritt, Brussard learns of Merritt's experiments in brain transplants. Merritt has a process to revive long-dead tissue. Brussard, while touring Madame Tussaud's wax museum, gets the idea to use Nostradamus's head as the only one worthy of Brussard. He pays some men to steal Nosty's head, then smuggles it into England. Merritt is surprised, but sets about reviving the head with his special process. Meanwhile, Brussard's neglected paramour and Merritt's assistant, Lew, begin a romance. After 23 days, Nosty's head revives. The scientists enjoy a casual chat with Nosty about the wonders of the 20th century. Brussard tries to browbeat Nosty into becoming the new leader of the Brussard empire. Odette wants Lew to sabotage the head transplant so she'll be free from either Brussard (old and new). Nosty has his own scheme. He gives Brussard intentionally bad business advice that totally ruins him. Odette flees with her gift jewelry to Lew's apartment, but Brussard follows. Enraged, he strangles her. When Lew shows up, Brussard chases him, finally shooting him in the neck at Merritt's lab. Brussard also shoots at Nosty's head, damaging one of the hook-up tubes. Merritt, arrives, surveys the damage and decides to put Nosty's head on Lew's brain-dead, but otherwise sound body. The very heavily bandaged Nosty-Lew hybrid awakens as a moaning brute. Nosty-Lew pursues Brussard (and the other way around too) through the dark, wet, back streets of London. They end up at the top of a bell tower staircase. Brussard gets vertigo (the tumor?) and falls to his death. Nosty-Lew rings the bell a couple times, then Lew's body falls. Nosty's head remained tangled in the bell rope. Everyone leaves. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The convoluted plot keeps you guessing. Wilder's direction keeps the pace moving. There is enough of the noir side to keep things from getting shallow or trite.

Cold War Angle
There are no Cold War analogies in MwoB. It's film-noir-ish commentary on science and business and love.

Notes
Men Without Souls -- One of the driving themes in MwoB is the unscrupulous nature of both the business world, and the medical world. Brussard is almost a caricature of the greedy businessman. He ignored relationships, plundered a grave, and murdered. Dr. Merritt represented a passionless medical world. He objected only feebly to the theft of Nosty's head, then just got to work on it. No big deal. Later, he cooly takes Lew's head off his body and grafts on Nosty's. Old Dr. Alexander underscores the lack of medical morals with a matter-of-factness, "Hmm. I'd have done the same thing myself." Life is not something personal. People are just a collection of animated tissue. Mix match, add subtract, something is still alive, so the Hippocratic Oath is technically satisfied. Merritt is even "dead" to pretty Jean's romantic interest in him. Neither the medical men, nor the business men are portrayed as having any emotion or soul.

Paean to Nosty -- Nostradamus is given an almost worshipful treatment in MwoB. Through the main characters, the scriptwriters give him credit for predicting much of the wonders of the mid 20th century. Nostradamus's "Prophecies" enjoyed periodic popularity. Henry C. Roberts' book "The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus," in 1947 sparked a 50s wave of popularity. Nosty would fade again, but become popular again in the early 70s and 80s. Perhaps due to Roberts' english translation, viewers will note that Nosty's head in MowB speaks modern english. Handy for American audiences. Nosty was French. Did he even speak English? It would have been amusing if he spoke in the Tudor english of the 1550s.

Imperial Immortality -- For "Me Generation" viewers, it seems odd that Brussard is so keen to have Nosty's brain placed in his body. Brussard, as a personality, would die with his tumored brain. The writers are capturing part of the soulless man's grappling with mortality. For Brussard, his financial empire was almost synonymous with himself . As his creation, it mattered more that his empire continue and thrive. Monuments were the key to substitutional immortality. Therein is a telling little glimpse into the soulless man. Even his own mortality is taken matter-of-factly (rather like how Brussard scoffs at Odette's empty threat to slash her wrists).

Soulless Sexuality -- A recurring element in MowB is the dark side of sexuality. There is no pure and chaste romance element. Grizzled old Brussard is keeping a young tartish French girl (Odette) as a paramour. She wants Lew to sabotage the experiment so Brussard dies. Clearly no love there. She has been trading sex for jewelry. Odette, for her part, fishes for "love" anywhere -- even coming on to Brussard's chauffeur. Lew, the highly libidinous medical assistant, is all over Odette, even though she is clearly Brussard's "kept" woman. Pretty (and normal) Jane has unrecoited feelings for Dr. Merritt, but he has no feelings for her. Her love is frustrated. The Nosty-Lew hybrid monster even makes a sort of veiled rape attack on Jane. Even Nosty cannot be trusted. He's a beast within. No wholesome romance here.

Bottom line? There's nothing grand about MwoB. It's a B sci-fi / horror / film-noir movie. Yet, as "lite" as it is on the science, the rich it is in complex noir. In this, MwoB is still entertaining and might even spark some conversation.
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Incredible Petrified World

Here is another digression back to 1957. This is another of those minor low-B-movies at that fringe of the sci-fi genre. Incredible Petrified World (IPW) is largely a travel adventure tale. Since IPW has some fanciful premise about an air-breathing terrestrial world underground (and under water), it is more speculative fiction than science fiction. It is often a fuzzy line between the two, so IPW shows up on sci-fi lists. That said, don't expect much science beyond a bit of marine biology blather in the beginning. Instead, IPW is B-writer's reworking of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. It's also partially a castaway movie, but with the "island" being air-filled caverns deep beneath the Caribbean Sea.

Quick Plot Synopsis
After a lengthy movie about the wonders and mysteries of the ocean deep, a few generic men in suits discuss Professor Wyman (John Carradine) and his diving bell expedition. Going down to great depths, they hope to explore those mysteries. Craig (Robert Clarke) is a scientist, as is his love interest Lori. Also along is Paul and a woman reporter named Dale. During their descent, the cables snap and the bell plunges to over 1,700 feet down. Despite the depth, it's fairly light out the window, so Craig and Paul conclude that the pressure must be low too. They don scuba gear and explore. They discover that they've fallen (?) into a cave pool. All four go into the cave, handily illuminated by the phosphor in the rocks. There's no apparent way out, but they find a human skeleton, and then a creepy old man. Meanwhile, Wyman is arranging a rescue mission of sorts with a second diving bell. Back in the deeps, Craig and Paul are swimming for one more trip to the old bell for salvageable supplies. Paul's air runs out, but the 2nd bell is right there, so he's taken inside. After a reviving cup of coffee, he's okay. Back in the cave, the old man is keen on Dale. He suggests they kill the others so they can be alone together. She screams and an earthquake begins. The old man is buried in the rock slide. Dale and Lori get to the pool where Craig is waiting with mini-scuba tanks. All four are now aboard the 2nd bell and rising to the surface. On the boat, there are congratulations all around. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
John Carradine is fun to watch in his own right, even though he plays a somewhat minor role here. Overall, it is a pretty bland recasting of Verne's novel, but somewhat amusing for its low-budget production features. The miracle of coffee (see notes below) is the most memorable feature.

Cold War Angle
As travelogue adventure, there is little tie to Cold War thinking. IPW is a simple castaways-get-rescued story.

Notes
Miracle Coffee -- Watch for the amazing powers of coffee throughout the movie. In the beginning, Lori offers a cup of coffee to the nervous Professor Wyman. "Here, this will help you relax." Fair enough, but coffee has miraculous healing powers. When Craig brings the nearly unconscious Paul into the second diving bell, he tells Jim (the guy in the bell) that Paul is unconscious because his scuba tanks ran out of air. "I've got some coffee!" Paul announces triumphantly. He fetches a half-pint thermos and pours a bit in the plastic lid-cup. Paul sips and in seconds has recovered. That must have been some great coffee. Later, when everyone is in the second bell and rising to the surface, Dale and Lori, who've been cat fighting throughout the whole movie, are sharing a cup from the little thermos. Suddenly, peace and civility breaks out between them. They're best buddies now. Man, that must have been some coffee.

Star Watch -- John Carradine plays Professor Wyman. He's an old hand at B horror and sci-fi movies. He played the evil Dr. Conway in The Unearthly ('57), but one of his more memorable roles was as Moses' brother Aaron in The Ten Commandments ('56). Robert Clarke played Craig in IPW, but played "Robert" (the not-so-mutated) in Captive Women ('52). Phyllis Coates played Dale in IPW, but is much more famous for being Lois Lane in the Superman series.

Broken Poster Promises -- Movie goers had learned not to take movie posters as any sort of promise of what was in the film. As per usual, IPW did not quite deliver. The large image of John Carradine talking into a microphone did happen several times. There was some scuba footage to justify the diver on the poster. However, there was no monster octopus that threatened either of the women. (who also never wore deeply plunging dresses). The only octopus was in the opening minutes, being eaten by a shark in a tank.

Upside Down Volcano? -- In the closing minutes, the cavern's volcano erupts amid earthquake tremors. The lava flow effects all look like special effects footage from other films. Curiously, the erupting volcano is shown upside down, as if it existed on the ceiling of the cave. Yet, it's lava flows up its sides. One wonders why this was done.

Bottom line? If you're looking for action, or a thoughtful plot, IPW will disappoint. If you're looking for science or technology, IPW will disappoint. If you don't expect too much, and simply let IPW be a castaway adventure, it can be entertaining enough. It's not worth ten dollars as a third-party copy, but worth watching online for free.

The Abominable Snowman

Here's another diversion back to 1957. This Hammer Film is yet another example from the thin fringes of "sci-fi." The Abominable Snowman (AS) is almost entirely an adventure drama. It has some mystic overtones and, despite the title, not all that much monster for a monster movie. There is a brief bit of dialogue about the theory of evolution, and the main protagonist is a scientist. The movie also has some sci-fi heritage in that the story was written by Nigel Kneale, who wrote the Quatermass stories. AS is directed by Val Guest, who also directed Quatermass. So, AS's claim to being sci-fi is a bit tangential, but perhaps just enough to be included in this survey.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A British scientist, his wife Helen and cohort, Peter Fox, are up in the Himalayas, at a buddhist monastery. They're on a botanical expedition, though John has ulterior motives. Three other westerners arrive at the monastery, on a different expedition. Tom, the brash American, is out to discover and maybe bring back a Yeti. Ed is his rifle and trap man. Andrew is the camera man. The local Lhama is not keen on this expedition and warns John with a crypic bit of advice about a king losing his realm. The four westerners and a local guide head into the mountains. Eventually, they encounter the mysterious Yeti, mostly as noises in the dark. Ed shoots one. They stash it in a cave, thinking they'll try to capture a live one. Andrew is mesmerized by the howling, walks out of the tent and falls to his death. Tom has Ed set a steel net trap in the cave, using himself as bait. That night, the Yeti, come, but the net doesn't hold them. Tom and John find Ed dead of a heart attack. His rifle never fired, because Tom put in dummy rounds. He wanted the beast alive. Later, both John and Tom hear voices the other can't hear. Tom goes outside, thinking it's Ed calling to him. He fires his pistol a few times as a signal. This triggers an avalanche. Tom is killed. John is confronted by two shadowy Yeti in the cave. He swoons. Meanwhile, Helen had mounted her own expedition to rescue them. She comes across John's almost frozen body. Back in the monastery, John, looking a bit trance-like says they saw nothing. There is no Yeti. The Lhama smiles knowingly. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Forrest Tucker and Peter Cushing are a good on-screen mix. Val Guest does a good job of keeping the story active and moody.

Cold War Angle
This is a semi-mystic monster tale, so there is virtually no Cold War thinking involved.

Notes
Gimme a Hand -- The only "special effect" in AS is the Yeti itself. The very low budget allowed for no impressive full costumes. The closest look you get is the hairy hand (under the tent and behind the rock). You do see a couple of hairy suits strongly back-lit, and a bit of close-up spot work on the upper face -- very much a man with extra hair makeup and a quirky nose. The director and producers managed to create a whole monster movie with very little monster. In this, they were quite successful.

Idealized Other -- The "Noble Savage" character was popular in 18th and 19th century literature. Defoe had his "Friday" to help Robinson Crusoe. Cooper created Chingachgook in the Leatherstocking stories, etc. The noble savage, as an archetype, works its way into history, coloring individuals like Squanto and Pocahontas with a romantic light. By the 20th century, the Noble Savage was unfashionable (thought to be backdoor racism). It is intriguing to see the Yeti in AS cast in very much the classic Noble Savage in the 19th century romanticism mold. We're told they just want to live in peace, would hurt no one, are sensitive and look wise. They were the idealized "other" to (flawed) man -- exemplified by Tom, the hustler.

Wisp of Science -- There is a small scene in which John (a botanist) is theorizing very loosely that there might have originally been three branches to the ape family tree. One branch became the Great Apes, (gorillas, chimps, etc.). The second branch became Man. The theorized third branch was not able to compete head-to-head with the other two branches. To survive, they retreated to harsh lands the other two branches didn't want. Hence, the Abominable Snowmen were really a parallel development -- not ape, and not man.

Mystic Mode -- Part of the Noble Savage mantle (see above) is the Yeti being given a sort of telepathy power or mental control powers over man. True to character, the only use their powers "for good." The buddhist monks protect them to preserve their species -- perhaps for emergence when mankind is ready for passive and wise beings.

Bottom line? Abominable Snowman is another of those 50s films which gets lumped in with science fiction, but has very little sci-fi to it. There are no rockets or aliens or even any electronic gadgets. As a monster movie, it's too mild too. The 'beasts' are benevolent. AS, is, however, an entertaining and fairly well done budget film by Hammer Studios. It's still worth seeking out.

From Hell It Came

This review is a bit out of sequence. I'd skipped this film while doing 1957, as it seemed more horror than scifi. There are several movies produced in the 50s which have a weak claim to being sci-fi. Many of these are better classed as some other genre: horror, mystery, fantasy, etc. From Hell It Came (FHIC) is one of these. For the most part, it is a B-grade monster movie with an old-school supernatural underpinnings. The plot is human drama stuff. The monster tree-thing is presented as a native revenge demon. Yet, there is a bit of the medical strain of science involved. There is also the ubiquitous trope of nuclear radiation which gives FHIC a claim to the sci-fi family.

Quick Plot Synopsis
On a remote Pacific island, a native named Kemo is sentenced to die for bad magic. Actually, the local witch doctor trumped up the charges because Kemo encouraged the villagers to trust the American doctors. Kemo's wife lies to corroborates the charges, assuming she would be chief's new wife when Kemo was dead. Kemo is executed and buried. The Americans, Professor Clark and Dr. Arnold are on the island to study possible effects from radiation fallout from nuclear tests upwind. They are joined by an old flame of Dr. Arnold's, Dr. Terry Mason. She is all professional and has no time for relationships. Out of Kemo's grave grows an odd tree-stump thing with a scowling face shape in its bark. The Americans discover that it has a pulse and is radioactive. The stump grows to be 7' tall. They bring it to the lab for study. Thinking that it's dying, Terry gives it a special formula injection. The next day, the lab is ransacked. The tree monster, "Tabanga" kills Kemo's wife. It then finds the chief alone in the village and kills him too. Tano, the witch doctor knows he's next, so has a trap laid. They catch Tabanga and think they've destroyed him with fire, but he comes out that night. Tabanga kills Tano too. While the Americans are investigating all the commotion, Terry falls behind and is taken by the Tabanga. Just before it throws her in the quicksand, the men arrive and start shooting. Bullets don't harm it, but one shot hits the execution knife, still sticking out of the bark, driving it into the Tabanga's heart. It falls into the quicksand. Terry and Dr. Arnold kiss. The villagers pledge cooperation with the Americans. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The story is hokey enough to be entertaining by itself. Much of the plot is a good snapshot of American (or western) superiority smugness. In a modern culture beset with political correctness for several decades, this cultural imperialism is somewhat fascinating. Also fun is seeing another of Paul Blaisdell's monster costumes.

Cold War Angle
FHIC is much more of a monster movie, drawing more from monster morals than the Cold War. There is, however, the problem of nuclear test fallout, so on a mild level, FHIC has a bit of the atomic cautionary tale to it.

Notes
Blaisdell Beastie -- Paul Blaisdell created many monster suits for the B-level movies of the 50s. Experienced as a sci-fi / fantasy illustrator, he had an eye for monsters. More importantly, he worked very very cheaply making his monster suits out of foam rubber. His career as a monster maker was relatively short, but in addition to Tabanga, he gave us the carrot-monster from It Conquered the World ('56) and mutant Tommy in Day the World Ended.

Iconic Scenes -- Even though Tabanga doesn't want our women, in the usual sense (he wants to kill), there are two of the highly iconic scenes in which the monster is carrying off the woman in his arms. Fans of the icon image in poster art should watch the first instance, when Tabanga is carrying the native woman Cory. Note how the actress works at keeping her toes pointed (while supposedly unconscious). The babe victims in the poster art almost always had stylishly pointed toes.

Work or Romance -- Note sub-theme of women in the work world. Dr. Terry Mason starts out as the confident professional woman. Nothing frightens her and she has no time for silly Bill who wants romance. She's the modern liberated female. Notice how this all changes when she's accosted by the Tabanga. She screams like a girl, she kicks and slaps Tabanga like a girl. When she's finally saved by Bill and his trusty rifle, she melts in his arms for long passionate kisses. Danger softened her cold heart, making her a "proper" woman.

Simple Savages -- Throughout the script runs the old-school stereotype of the simple savage. The literary element of civilized (proper) men vs. the crude savage, is far older than motion pictures, but a frequent part of movies up until the age of political correctness. It was a staple of westerns (the indians being the savages), and jungle movies (with black natives as the savages). The common traits are present in FHIC -- scheming false witch doctor, simple-minded natives, brutal customs, and importantly, the "need" for westernization. In FHIC, all the "bad" natives get their just desserts (death). The rest fawn over the American doctors as new saviors. As odd as this scenario might feel to younger viewers who grew up in a flauntingly pluralistic culture, it is a good snapshot of American self-confidence from that era.

Bottom line? As sci-fi, FHIC is pretty weak, nor does it have a particularly compelling story. It does have a cool monster designed by Paul Blaisdell, however. If you're fond of monster movies or jungle movies, FHIC might find a soft spot for you. If you like your scifi with saucers and aliens, FHIC may not be your cup of tea.

The Astounding She-Monster

Released in late 1957, The Astounding She-Monster (ASM) was the second feature to an already low-budget "feature" film Viking Women and the Sea Serpent for a sort of babes-appeal double feature. ASM is nominally a sci-fi film in as much as it involves an alien coming to earth. The bulk of the movie is more film noir. At its core, ASM in the family of films of messenger-from-space, like the classic The Day The Earth Stood Still (TDESS, '51), but takes the darker tack. What if the messenger appeared to criminals instead of dignitaries? What if the messenger was only seen as a deadly 'monster'? Robert Clarke stars as the hero/geologist.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The narrator tells us about other worlds which faced destructive crises. An object leaves one planet, headed for earth. A meteor lands in the woodsy mountains of southern California. Emerging from the crater is the svelt she-monster. In the city, a band of three low-grade criminal types kidnap Margaret, a young rich woman, expecting a hefty ransom from Daddy. After a flat tire, they end up at the remote cabin of a geologist named Dick. They cannot flee further, so hole up in the cabin for the night. Brad, the thug driver, goes outside to investigate a noise. He encounters the she-monster. He shoots at her to no avail. She touches him. He dies. The she-monster confronts the rest of them outside the cabin, touching Esther. She dies. Nat dodges a lunge by the she-monster, who rolls down a cliff, apparently dead. Nat makes the three of them drive out in a lightless jeep at night. The she-monster revives and stops them. She touches Nat and he dies. Back at the cabin, Dick theorizes that the she-monster has a thin metal protective coating. He mixes up a flask of acid. She-monster jumps in through the window. He tosses the flask and she-monster dies. Only her locket remains. Inside is a message from "The Master of Planets" offering to help Earth out of its current crisis. Will another messenger come with a repeat of the offer, or for revenge? The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The dark reworking of TDESS is interesting in itself. Having the (presumed) "monster" be a curvaceous young woman is rare enough to be interesting. The hybrid of sci-fi and film noir is intriguing as well.

Cold War Angle
Between the narrator's comments and the message from "The Master of Planets" there is the understanding that the people of Earth stand at the brink of nuclear destruction. ASM is another tale of warning.

Notes
TDESS Sibling -- After all the crime and horror drama, at the end, the message is similar. Earth is in trouble and aliens want to help us. Here is the message the she-monster had in her locket: "People of earth, you have been under our surveillance for a number of decades. We now feel your civilization has progressed far enough to make you eligible for membership in the council of planets. This council, for your information, is a universal governing body dedicated to the advancement of planetary progress. It is an agency which Earth seriously needs in this period of crisis and chaos which Earth now finds itself. Many of our member plants have experienced the same disturbing problems which confront earth today. We feel that a meeting with the heads of these planets would definitely benefit Earth in the solution of its own global difficulties. If you would like a meeting, so arranged. Relate your wishes to the bearer of this message and she will return with word of your decision."

Scifi Noir -- Much of ASM is film noir. Crime and criminals dominate. Even the criminals themselves are derelicts. There is a femme fatale in the she-monster. A constant note of hopelessness pervades. Even the erstwhile band of criminals are dysfunctional and inept (symbolic of society itself in noir-view). Like many film noir, life is seen as fairly cheap and society somewhat dystopic. The narrator's tone has a snide edge to it. Margaret (the rich kidnapee) is described as spoiled and shallow. The kidnappers, too, are painted as losers. "You're all being taken on a rendevous with fate," the narrator says with a smug and oily voice. "The best laid plans will go astray, this day..."

Wardrobe Malfunction? -- One of the rumors surrounding ASM is that Shirley Kilpatrick's sparkly full-body leotard was so tight that it split a seam (or bust the zipper) up the back and that budgets didn't permit it to be fixed. Circumstantial evidence cited for this, is that Shirley "always" faces the camera, backing away instead of turning to walk away. There is, however, one brief scene nearer the end, where the she-monster is 'attacking' the group of four outside the cabin, and we do see Shirley from the back. Maybe this scene was shot early, out of sequence, but maybe not. What you do see is that the zipper is fairly wide and inelegant-looking. The notion of a tightly conformal metallic coating didn't square well with a fat zipper. It's just as likely that the director kept Shirley facing the camera to avoid seeing the clunky looking zipper. Besides, Shirley's front was better for viewing anyway.

A Dash of Science -- Besides the presence of an alien (albeit a very human looking one), the claim to "science" fiction comes near the end. Dick, the geologist, deduces that the she-monster has a thin coating of radium and platinum covering her (the radium is why her touch is deadly). Dick has on hand several acids he uses for his geology work. He mixes up a batch designed to dissolve the platinum, thereby breaking the she-monster's shell. It works. He throws the bottle of acids at her. She doubles over and dies (without any visible damage). Chemistry triumphs again!

Bottom line? ASM is a typical low-B movie -- The 'star' is a second-tier actor, the rest third-tier. The sets are minimal and the effects aren't all that special. Despite all this, there is an intriguing tone of dystopia, almost as if the hope of The Day the Earth Stood Still was turned on its head. For sci-fi and film noir fans, this is reason enough to give ASM a watch.

1957

In many ways, the year 1957 was building towards the high-water mark for the decade. It was the year that saw man's first successful spacecraft: Sputnik. On earth, it was the beginning of Detroit's big tail fin craze.

Space Race and Big Fins

In theaters, there were no big sci-fi hits or classics as the years before had produced, but there were more sci-fi films released in '57 than any of the previous years. 50s sci-fi was building to a crescendo. Below are the many sci-fi films of 1957, in roughly chronological order:

Not Of This Earth -- An obscure Roger Corman film, but an interesting tale of alien infiltration, a prelude to conquest. Double-billed with Crab Monsters.

Attack of the Crab Monsters -- Roger Corman monster flick about radiation-mutated giant crabs who absorb the intellects of those they devour.

Kronos, Destroyer of the Universe -- A giant robot comes to earth to earth's steal energy for energy-starved aliens.

The Incredible Shrinking Man -- One of THE top 50s sci-fi classics. Radiation causes a man to shrink ever smaller. The normal world becomes a nightmare landscape.

The Deadly Mantis -- Earthquakes free a giant prehistoric mantis from arctic ice. It moves south, attacking and eating along the way.

X, The Unknown -- A British movie about a blob-like monster from the earth's core which rises to consume energy, killing all in its path.

20 Million MIles From Earth -- A Ray Harryhausen gem about a lizard-man creature brought from Venus, which grows to monster size.

Invasion of the Saucer Men -- A camp-classic in which big-headed alien midgets invade, but plucky teens find their weakness.

The Beginning of the End -- Radiated food experiments mistakenly create a swarm of giant grasshoppers who converge on Chicago.

The Unearthly -- A 'mad' doctor experiments on patients at his remote sanitarium, trying to find anti-aging formula.

The Monster That Challenged the World -- Radiation causes lake mollusks to grow into carnivorous caterpiler-like beasts. They threaten to break out into the open ocean and beyond.

The Giant Claw -- A giant ugly bird with an anti-matter shield comes from space comes to earth to lay its egg. Sam Katzman's worst movie for special effects.

The Night the World Exploded -- Minerals from deep in the earth rise up. When they contact water, they expand and explode. Earthquakes and volcanos abound.

The 27th Day -- Aliens who want the earth cleared out, give five people capsules that can kill billions of people. They're given 27 days to use them or not.

The Cyclops -- Precursor to B. I. Gordon's Amazing Colossal Man. Radiation makes a lost pilot grow into a 30' tall one-eyed giant.

The Unknown Terror -- A 'mad' doctor in a remote Mexican jungle experiments with rapid-growing fungus and local villagers.

The Brain From Planet Arous -- A criminal brain being possesses a rocket scientist in order to make earthlings create a fleet of revenge ships. A 'good' brain being comes to stop him.

The Invisible Boy -- A precocious boy gets a brain boost from a sinister supercomputer which is trying to rule the world. The boy's father and Robby the Robot, intervene.

The Black Scorpion -- Giant prehistoric scorpions are released by a Mexican volcano. The largest, a black one, attacks Mexico City.

The Amazing Colossal Man -- Exposure to a nuclear test makes Colonel Manning grow uncontrollably. As his mind goes, he becomes a rampaging monster in Las Vegas.

Monolith Monsters -- Strange meteor fragments grow to enormous size when wet. Towers of rock fall destructively, their fragments growing into new towers. Nothing stops them.

The Astounding She-Monster -- A dark blend of Day the Earth Stood Still premise seen through a Film Noir lens. An alien messenger comes, but touch kills instantly.

Monolith Monsters

Universal International had been producing some quality B sci-fi in the 50s. They gave us The Creature From The Black Lagoon trilogy, This Island Earth and The Incredible Shrinking Man. Their 1957 venture, Monolith Monsters (MM) is similar in production value, though far less known than their classics. The movie's almost-unique distinguishing characteristic is casting a mineral as the "monster." The movie is reasonably well done, considering an inanimate mineral is the villain.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A meteor crashes in the California desert. A state geologist brings one of the strange shiny black rocks to his office. They are made up an odd mix of silicates. A mishap spills water on the rock, which begins to grow. The next day, his fellow geologist, Dave, finds the office in shambles, black rocks everywhere, and Ben turned to stone. A little girl, Jenny, brings home one of the black rocks from a school field trip. Her farm house is destroyed, her parents turned to stone. Jenny's arm is turning to stone because she touched the growing rocks. She's rushed to the big city for intensive care. Rain comes to the desert and the rocks grow into 100' monoliths which fall and break. The fragments grow and fall too, beginning a destructive march down the valley. Nothing stops them. The doctor figures out that Jenny is lacking silicone. He fashions a cure. Dave and his college professor try the cure on the black rocks. They stumble upon saline as the key. Salt water halts the growth cycle. The monoliths will break out of the valley if they're not stopped. Destruction will be widespread. Dave thinks the only solution is to blow up a local irrigation dam in order to flood a salt flats and lay a moat of saline in front of the monoliths. They blow the dam. Water floods through the salt works and in front of the monoliths. It works. The town, and the world, is saved. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The production values and effects are good enough to not hinder the story. Director Sherman does a good job pacing the story. After a steady diet of aliens, creatures and mutants, it's fun to see lifeless black rocks as the monsters.

Cold War Angle
One could see in the monoliths, a metaphor for something which dehumanizes and destroys civilization. This could apply to materialism or modernism almost better than communism.

Notes
Rock On! -- Most movie monsters are humanoid or at least animal-like in some sense. They're usually presumed to have some intelligence, even if only enough to have malice. Rocks, however, have no feelings, no malice. They simply exist. MM is one of only three movies (thus far) in which an inanimate mineral is the "monster" of the story. The first was Magnetic Monster ('53), in which a freak isotope was doubling in size every 11 hours, threatening to unbalance planet earth. The second was Night The World Exploded, ('57), in which a rare mineral from deep in the earth was reacting with ground water to generate great heat, swell up, and explode, thereby causing massive earthquakes. In MM, the mineral also reacts with water, but destroys simply by growing so large that it crushes whatever is nearby.

Double Trouble -- The silicon-leeching quality of the monoliths is a second level of menace. This is a second story-within-a-story which keeps the movie moving. Like a stony Midas curse, whoever touches the growing monoliths eventually turns to stone. It becomes a race against time to halt the petrification of poor Jenny before it kills her (and several other hapless towns folk). The cure for Jenny becomes the key to stopping the monoliths themselves.

Double-Duty -- The dam model used in MM is the same one used in Night The World Exploded. The town was on Universal Studios' back lot. It was also featured in It Came From Outer Space ('53) and Tarantula ('55). A quick-eyed viewer might also spot that the meteor falling to earth was a repeat of the fireball-like "ship" landing scene from Universal's It Came From Outer Space. A quick-ear will hear the Creature's three note theme from Creature From The Black Lagoon as the meteor falls.

Star Watch -- Geologist Dave is Grant Williams who was the Incredible Shrinking Man. Les Tremayne who plays the old newspaperman, was General Mann in War of the Worlds. --- Paul Frees narrates the opening. William Schallert is uncredited as the double-talking meteorologist.

Hot Wheels -- Dave's car is actually a bit of a rare 50s "star", so worth noting. It's a 1956 De Soto Fireflite convertible. Only a hundred or so were made. One was used as the Indy Pace Car that year. It was a pretty hot full sized car. The '56 Fireflite line was very popular. In fact, it marked the pinnacle of the DeSoto company. The '57 model had an all-new body with bold styling, but production quality in the new line was poor. DeSoto never shook off the bad reputation it developed from the '57 models. The recession of '58 hastened the slide. Chrysler dropped the brand in 1960. Dave's hot convertible in MM captures the moment when DeSoto was at its zenith.

Bottom line? MM is a good 50s sci-fi movie worth watching for its rare "monsters". It's unthinking, unfeeling antagonist has left it poorly remembered and under appreciated. MM is a well paced and fairly well acted drama with two races against time to keep the hero hopping.

The Amazing Colossal Man

Bert I. Gordon produced (wrote and directed) quite a few "big" monster movies in the 50s, but The Amazing Colossal Man (ACM) is probably his most famous. To make the central character into a giant, Gordon re-uses many of the low-budget techniques from his earlier giant-thing films. By mid-50s standards, his effects were mediocre. The story does not hinge on the effects, fortunately. Gordon's ACM is, in many ways, the story of The Incredible Shrinking Man in reverse. Like the shrinking man, the colossal man manages to evoke sympathy rather than horror. Gordon first toyed with a giant man story in The Cyclops earlier in 1957. This second giant-man story has much more depth. The third giant-man film, War of the Colossal Beast is supposedly a sequel. It will be reviewed later.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Troops are in trenches near a Nevada test site for the first test of a new plutonium bomb. The bomb fails to explode as expected. A small airplane with engine trouble crash lands in the area. Colonel Glenn Manning rushes out to try to save any survivors before the bomb does go off, but it detonates as he runs to the plane. He survives, but is burned over 95% of his body. Doctors don't expect him to live. Miraculously, the next day his skin is 100% healed. His body is also growing. Despite a veil of army and bureaucratic secrecy, Manning's fiance, finds him, as an 18' giant. Manning is tormented in his dreams and cannot accept his bizarre fate. They keep Carol on hand as a calming influence. While he grows 10 feet taller each day, doctors are at a loss for how to help. Manning's heart is not growing as quickly, so soon his mind will suffer. A few days later and he'll die. Doctors think they have a cure, but Manning runs away into the desert. They find him near Las Vegas. He's not lucid, but a lumbering simpleton. The police fire at him. He tears up some casino landmarks. The army doctor gives him the injection via a 6 foot long hypodermic. In anger, Manning kills the doctor, grabs up Carol and plods onto Boulder Dam. When he puts Carol down, the army blasts him. He falls into the frothy outwash below. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
It is interesting to see the story of The Incredible Shrinking Man told in reverse. There are a few thoughtful moments which try to pull this low-budget B movie into a more meaningful plane.

Cold War Angle
The dangers of nuclear bombs and nuclear testing were intertwined with war angst. Like the giant ants in Them! and Godzilla, Manning becomes a sort of poster child for things in this new atomic age going horribly wrong.

Notes
Asking the BIG Question -- Like many people throughout time, Manning asks "What sin can a man commit, in a single lifetime, to bring this upon himself?" As the engaged, heroic young man, Manning typifies what the world would call a "good" man. Yet, he suffers a terrible fate. The movie does not attempt to answer his question.

Bald Kong -- Once he's a giant, Manning recreates scenes made famous in King Kong. He peeks through a window at a woman. He smashes some local landmarks. He ventures atop a famous landmark clutching the blonde beauty. He puts her down and is shot by the military. He falls to his death (or so we assume). Also like Kong, the viewer feels some sympathy for him -- a misunderstood giant, torn from his originally happy life, stranded among small-minded people, smitten with blondes.

Radiation Supreme -- In the 50s, popular imagination had not settled on just what radiation might do. It was still too much of an unknown. Radiation might mutate someone into shrinking. On the other hand, it might mutate someone into growing! Radiation might cause immortality, or premature aging. It might yield super strength or invisibility. No one knew. It is this anxious wonder that runs through many 50s sci-fi films.

Fun With Needles -- Once the doctors have what they think is a cure for the giantism Manning suffers, they had to create a giant hypodermic needle to deliver it. Notice that the prop department simply enlarged a regular hypo. It has huge finger loops and is marked with huge numbers. Like the normal-sized doctors needed those things? Once they inject Manning, he pulls out the painful needle, throws it like a dart, and impales Major Coulter. Not your typical movie moment.

Viva Las Vegas -- Looking rather like blatant product-placement, the giant tours and interacts with several famous Las Vegas casinos. He ponders the big plastic sultan of The Dunes' sign -- a giant like him. He peeks at a bathing woman at the Riviera. He puzzles over and plays with the giant crown atop the Royal Nevada. He smashes the sign of The Sands. He plucks off the big shoe from the Silver Slipper. He stands eye to eye with the famous big cowboy of the Pioneer Club. When a policeman fires at him, Manning smashes the cowboy and throws parts at the policeman. Manning walks out of town, past the conspicuous sign for the Riviera. Did some casino owners help Gordon with funding?

Bottom line? ACM was not the first 'giant' movie, or the best, nor would it be the last. It is the most remembered. What it lacked in budget, it made up in earnestness. It's one of the 50s sci-fi "B" classics.

The Black Scorpion

Warner Brothers was an A-level studio, but could also produce very B-grade films too. The Black Scorpion (TBS) would be just another in big-bug sub-genre. The acting varies between vapid and passible. The plot follows a well trodden path with adventurer scientists, a pretty love interest, a monster menacing a town and a showdown between monster and military. What sets TBS apart, however is the evident animation skills of Willis O'Brien (launched into fame by King Kong in 1933, and mentor to the brilliant Ray Harryhausen). This animation skill allows the story to feature more monster scenes which actually carry the movie.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Two scientists, one American (Richard Denning) and one Mexican (Carlos Rivas) come to explore a newly erupted volcano in Mexico. Even as they arrive, there are mysterious disappearances of people and peculiar damage to houses, which the volcano did not cause. Villagers talk of a demon. Hank and Artur meet a pretty rancher named Teresa (Mara Corday), and the usual love interest develops. Soon, a giant scorpion emerges from near the volcano and attacks some telephone linemen. It later attacks Teresa's ranch too. The army and scientists search the area and find a large deep hole. Scorpion sounds verify that it's the source. Hank and Artur descend via a crane, in gas suits and with poison gas. At the bottom of the shaft is a large cavern. Many large scorpions, a couple of giant armed inchworms and a woodtick-like spider thing live down there. A black scorpion, larger than the rest, battles the others over an inchworm carcass. This allows our heros to escape. The army blows up the hillside, burying the shaft in tons of rocks. All is assumed well, but an official in Mexico City worries that some of the scorpions might have escaped into the labyrinth of caves and might re-emerge. They do just that. A passenger train is derailed by a scorpion. Others begin a feeding frenzy on the wreck victims. The black scorpion arrives and kills all the others to claim the train for itself. After this, the black scorpion heads to Mexico City. Panic in the streets. They lure the scorpion into a soccer stadium. There, it battles tanks and helicopters. It is ultimately done in by a harpoon shot into its throat, hooked to high voltage wires. It's dead. Cue happy romantic ending for Hank and Teresa. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
After a slowish start, the action picks up and stays pretty brisk up to the climactic battle. The stop-motion animation is quite good and makes it easier to gloss over the poor acting moments. Seeing Willis O'Brien's "lost" creatures is worth it alone.

Cold War Angle
There is little of the Cold War in TBS. Even the creatures themselves have no link to radiation. Nor do they stand in (well) as personifications of nuclear danger. They're simply huge natural monsters.

Notes
Skilled Hand -- Willis O'Brien was a very talented stop-motion animator, but had a spotty career. In TBS, his title is "Supervisor of special effects." Peter Peterson may have done the bulk of the physical work under O'Brien's direction. The animation moves show O'Brien's attention to detail. He may have gotten the superior title as compensation for bringing along two models he created for King Kong. The inchworm beasts and the wood-tick-spider were shot for Kong, but their footage deleted and eventually lost altogether. These creatures and the skilled animation of the scorpions make TBS worth watching. TBS was one of O'Brien's last films.

Another Big Bug -- TBS joined the ranks of the big-bug sub-genre begin by the giant ants in Them! ('54). Up to this point, we've had ants, a tarantula, grasshoppers and a mantis. We could include the "mollusk" things in The Monster That Challenged The World ('57) and the crabs in Attack of the Crab Monsters ('57). TBS is a worthy member of the sub-genre. Viewers will note that giant creatures have been more successful when they are insect-like. Fur and feathers have been much less successful (as witness, The Giant Claw ('57))

Budget Strain -- Many features of TBS bespeak of budget pressures. One, is the setting: Mexico. Much is done in the western-mode, outdoors. Many mexican actors (of varying skill) no doubt helped trim the payroll. Near the end of the movie, you can see where even O'Brien's animations give way to simple (and poorly done) matte shots. There are also repeated bits of footage to save on shooting fresh, but similar, material.

Star Watch -- Richard Denning was a regular in 50s B-sci-fi. He was Rick in Day the World Ended ('55) and Frank in Target Earth ('54), as well as Mark in Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54). Mara Corday was the love interest Stephanie in Tarantula ('55), and Sally in The Giant Claw ('57).

Ad Hype -- The posters for TBS tried to tantalize without revealing any details. "Note: The management reserves the right to put up the lights any time the audience becomes too emotionally disturbed!" and "We urge you not to panic or bolt from your seats!" Since big-bug movies had been around for three years, there was little TBS could add to live up to such hype. But, in B-movie tradition, it really did not have to deliver. The posters only had to get some tickets sold.

Bottom line? TBS is worth watching for O'Brien's animation skills and especially for his bizarre cave creatures "lost" from King Kong. Fans of big-bug movies will find the usual. All in all, it's not really very "sci-fi", but parts of it have appeal.

The Invisible Boy

MGM released this curious film in late 1957. It was actually a low-budget "A" film. It ran as the top bill in a double feature. Another MGM (UK) drama Decision Against Time ran in the "B" slot . The Invisible Boy (IB) links itself to the popular Forbidden Planet, yet, the story line in IB is unrelated. On the surface, IB is simply a encore film for Robby the Robot -- the surprise "star" of Forbidden Planet. Beneath the kids' movie surface, IB is more complex and actually contributes to the sci-fi narrative. There is the juvenile theme of a precocious boy and his faithful robot, al a Tobor ('54). There is flavor of a child's dream view, al a Invaders From Mars ('53). Also from Invaders is the trope of the 'enemy' controlling people via brain implants. IB is noteworthy for adding to the technophobia sub-genre, especially the evil computer kind. We saw this in Gog ('54) and will see it again in the late 60s with Kubrick's Hal in 2001 and in 1970 in Colossus, the Forbin Project.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr.Tom Merrinoe has a son, Timmie who is a typical 10 year old, but not too good at math. Tom bends the rules to use a supercomputer to hypnotize and teach Timmie how to play chess. Timmie not only beats his dad in six moves, he now has other mental gifts. He knows about and assembles a robot, left in pieces by an eccentric scientist who claimed to get it from the future. The robot, Robby, is reprogrammed by the supercomputer. Timmie gets in trouble with his mom. Robby suggests making Timmie invisible to avoid being caught having fun. Several invisibility gags follow. Timmie wants to run away. Robby suggests the moon, via the rocket. Meanwhile, the supercomputer informs Tom that he has Timmie as a hostage. The ransom is the access code that would free the computer. Tom is given a deadline to comply. Tom studies past program cards and discovers that the computer has snuck in seven alterations to itself over the 29 years, finally resulting in cognition. While the others try to circumvent the computer, Robby abducts key people and implants a remote control capsule at the base of their brains. The controlled people try to force Tom to comply. Tom calls the President to expose the plot, but is stopped. Robby has traveled to the rocket launch base. Troops try to stop him, but to no avail. He blasts off in the rocket, with Timmie, as unwitting hostage. Tom still refuses to comply, so the computer orders Robby to torture Timmie. Robby's old directive is still in place, so he cannot. Power is shut off to the computer because the President suspected something amiss with the odd phone call. Timmie and Robby return to earth via "the glider". Tom tries to smash the supercomputer, but it hypnotizes him. Robby enters and does the smashing. All is well again. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Beneath the almost saccharine kids' movie is darker super-computer-phobia movie which has much greater depth. Seeing Robby in his second starring role is fun too.

Cold War Angle
While not the dominant theme, the Cold War runs through the plot. The General worries a few times about "our friends across the pole." They ask the computer about the likelihood of war if "they" find out about the rocket program too soon. Ironically, the computer planed to dominate the world with nuclear bombs from space as its threat.

Notes
Sequel or Not? -- IB is sometimes called a sequel to Forbidden Planet (FP), but is it? The two stories are almost completely unrelated. Their only common element is Robby. An unseen scientist is said to have created a time machine by which he brought Robby back from the year 2309. Timmie refers to the saucer shape in the photo as a "star cruiser" -- the same terminology as in FP. There is a story thread parallel between the IB supercomputer and FP's Krell mega-computer both managing to find the "dark" side of intellect.

Boy Dream? -- Some viewers chafe at IB's shallow characterizations, plot inconsistencies and absurd moments. The writers gave us Forbidden Planet, so they weren't low-B hacks. One theory about the plot, is that it's a dream. From the time Timmie falls asleep in the chair in the computer room, the rest of the movie is his dream. The dream theory helps explain many absurd scenes, such as when Timmie is invisible at the supper table, Tom says,"Just ignore him Mary, he's only doing this for the attention." Another impossible scene comes when the army is blasting Robby with bazookas and flame throwers. Robby simply vanishes and reappears at the rocket. While totally incongruent, it fits how a boyish dream-view would resolve the impossible trap. Also, consider that the film IB double-billed with, was a drama that would have been of zero interest to children. MGM seemed to have had a more mature audience in mind. Working against the all-a-dream theory is the lack of the usual waking-up scene at the end.

Spank 'Em -- One feature of IB that is a bit odd to 21st century eyes, is the multiple spankings. The first paddling came from his mom when he comes down from flying on the kite. The second comes from his dad when invisible Timmie is caught spying on his parents in their bedroom. Dad threatens him with a spanking if he returns to earth in the glider, but s. The 50s was clearly a different cultural era.

Infernal Machines -- IB joins a nascent thread of suspicion about computers. This cultural mistrust will grow over the decades. One of the first "bad computer" movies was Gog ('54). NOVAC begins murdering scientists because it was being controlled by some foreign power. The supercomputer in IB may be the first to portrayed as having sentience and plan to rule the earth. IB becomes, then, a precursor to Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970).

Another Abduction -- IB uses a familiar trope in sci-fi, that of the evil power "taking over" people in authority. This is done by Robby injecting a radio control capsule into the victims, at the base of their brains. Through the capsules, the supercomputer manipulates the thoughts and actions of it's new zombies. This closely mimics the tactic of the martian in Invaders From Mars ('53). People in authority becoming "compromised" and acting as puppets for a malevolent power was a frightening thought in the Cold War communist-paranoia era.

Bottom line? IB is definitely worth watching. Yes, it has a children's movie flavor, but look through that. See the absurdities as a 10-year-old's view of the world. Catch the threads of the darker story beneath the sappy boy-and-his-robot veneer. The careful viewer will be rewarded.

The Brain from Planet Arous

In many ways, this movie typifies the stereotype of 50s B-scifi. It uses ample stock footage. (in this case, nuclear tests). It uses models suspended by wires. (the two airplanes) And, it has a monster (or alien) which isn't particularly scary looking. The cast has B-movie stalwarts, such as John Agar, Joyce Meadows and Thomas Browne Henry. The premise is stereotypic too. A malicious "advanced" alien wants to take over the earth. The resolution is not as typical. A friendly alien provides the key that saves earth. This, instead of the usual where earth scientists electrocute the monster.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A little bright light settles onto a rocky desert mountain, followed by an explosion. Steve and Dan (nuclear scientists working in a remote desert cabin (?), pick up intermittent radiation bursts. The go out to Mystery Mountain to investigate. In a newly cut cave, they are confronted by an ethereal floating brain with glowing eyes. Steve fires his pistol at it, but it comes on. Steve collapses, as does Dan. The brain settles into Steve's body. Back at the house, Steve's fiancee notices that Steve has changed. He's brash and lecherous. He says Dan ran off to Las Vegas. When alone, the brain creature, named Gor, floats out of Steve. It explains that he plans to rule the earth, choosing Steve as his host body because of his security access. Gor also likes Sally in an unhealthy way. Feeling there must be an explanation for Steve's new odd behavior, Sally and her father drive out to Mystery Mountain. There they find Dan's body, burned by radiation. They also see a floating brain, this one named Vol. Vol explains that he's here to recapture Gor, and escaped criminal from planet Arous. Vol can recapture Gor only when he's outside of Steve, While inside, Steve (and Gor) are invulnerable. Vol opts to inhabit the family dog, George, as a way to often be near Steve/Gor without arousing suspicion. Gor-Steve attends a nuclear bomb test, but usurps the test to demonstrate his mighty power. He makes a blast like an H-bomb. A General tries to shoot Gor-Steve, but is struck dead. Gor-Steve demands that the leaders of the major nations meet him in 10 hours. At that meeting, Gor-Steve explains that all nations will use their industrial resources to build a fleet of ships so he can conquer Arous. Earth would be a vassal planet. Vol, unable to catch Gor exposed, tells Sally about Arous-brain weakness. A fold called the Fissure of Rolando. A blow there would kill Gor. Sally writes a note to this effect, on a page torn from an encyclopedia about brains. Gor comes out of Steve to boast of his plans. Sally, hiding in the next room, screams. This distracts Gor. Steve, in his right mind, reads the note and picks up a handy axe. He chops away at Gor. The brain is dead. Cue badly written "funny" ending. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
It's easy for a modern viewer to see BFPA as pure camp, almost self-parody, but they were serious. There is still something intriguing about an all-brain creature (with glowing eyes) which balances himself on a boneless spinal column. Not your typical nemesis.

Cold War Angle
While less coherent, several Cold War themes weave in and out of BFPA. Gor represents the side of nuclear weapon power that everyone feared. Innocent people (such as on the two planes) killed without warning. Gor's demonstration at the test facility made it inescapable that his power is just like our nukes. Another Cold War anxiety is that an insider could get "turned" by the enemy. Yet another theme is the evil despot who wants to rule the world with an iron fist.

Notes
Got No Body -- The brain creatures on Arous had "evolved" beyond bodies. The could project power, but all we see them capable of is destruction. Gor needed earthlings for their creative abilities. We could build ships. Apparently Gor could not, on his own. This suggests that Gor was too weak on Arous to dominate without our hands. This is similar to the aliens in It Came From Outer Space ('53) who needed earth bodies and tools to fix their ship.

They ARE After Our Women -- As a pure intellect who had risen above such savage feelings, Gor was not prepared for power of lust. Once he got to see how desirable a pretty woman is, however, he quickly became obsessed with "experiencing" physical pleasures. Gor, despite his advanced intellect, couldn't manage his libido. This movie clearly presses the audience's "save our women" button.

Good Ol' Fashioned Date Rape -- Gor-Steve tries several times to take the Steve & Sally relationship far beyond proper bounds. Sally is, at first, a little amused at Gor-Steve's suddenly more amorous behavior. When He presses further, however, we can see that there is an understood line of acceptable behaviors and Steve was clearly over it. Note that even in the 50s, when it was supposed to be a man's world, and women submissive, a man did not have a right to do as he pleased, even with someone committed to him.

Smirk Works -- John Agar, as an actor, never quite seemed to be able to take his roles seriously. Typically, he had a silly smile on his face as if he could never get over the fact that he was acting in a movie. In BFPA, however, the smirk works. Since he was supposed to be possessed by the evil brain-thing, Gor, Agar's usual smirk at least has a reason to be there.

Problems at Home -- Typically, aliens have been homogeneous -- all good or all bad. Sometimes there have been occasional lone good "aliens" among the generally bad ones, such as Lambda among the Catwomen of the Moon ('53) or Exeter from This Island Earth ('55). Arous is not so simple. It has criminals and apparently some problems with security. Vol, in the role of kindly protector alien comes to apprehend the evil brain.

Bottom line? BFPA is not high art, nor does it aspire to deeper meanings. It is, however, formulaic B-grade sci-fi. As such, it is a good example as a stereotype. A fan of the genre can enjoy it as such. Someone seeking though-provoking drama will come away dissatisfied.

The Unknown Terror

It's questionable that this movie qualifies as sci-fi, though it does get listed as one. It fits the horror genre better. The title and poster suggest something sensational, but the situation and plot are fairly formulaic B-movie material. A mad scientist is doing horrible experiments on innocent villagers in a remote and exotic location. There is actually very little "science" offered beyond a bit of exposition from the antagonist about the amazing fungus he's discovered in the jungle. The characters are fairly stock as well. There's a rich American explorer, his beautiful wife, a former flame fellow explorer (just for the love triangle flavor), a mad doctor and trusty stoic natives. They all come together because the rich explorer is looking for his wife's brother who disappeared looking for the "Cave of Death."

Quick Plot Synopsis
An explorer is lost in a Central American cave. He looks terrified before the fade-to-black. 6 months later, a wealthy explorer (Dan) says he has a new clue to his brother-in-law's disappearance. It's a song that came from a particular village. A (real) calypso performer sings a downbeat ballad of "beneath the grave" and "must suffer to be born again." Dan flew in a villager to interpret the song, but Raoul clams up. Undaunted, Dan, his wife Gina and a friend with a bad leg, set off on the expedition anyway. Once in the village, Raoul mysteriously disappears. They are directed to an American doctor living at the edge of the village. Dr. Ramsey denies the existence of any "cave of death". He tells of his work with jungle bacteria and fungii as research for antibiotics. He also tells how the villagers periodically sacrifice one of their own to the god of death, but he (as god of life) claims them and takes them to a "safe place". Ramsey's native helper, Lino, takes Dan and Pete to the cave. Inside, they find skeletons and Raoul's body. Going further, they find missing-Jim's shovel. Dan enters a small passage and screams. Some mutant thing clubs him. The cavern is quickly flooding, so Pete has to flee. He returns with Gina, Lino and some gear. When Pete and Gina enter the small passage, Lino blows it up with dynamite (killing himself too). Pete and Gina find Dan with a broken back. Oozing "fungus" comes down the walls. Pete seeks an alternate exit and finds a door to Ramsey's house. The fungus cannot be stopped, so Pete orders the cave blown up and sealed in. Dan has since died, so Pete and Gina don scuba gear and swim out through a cave pool. They walk arm in arm out of a sea cave. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
In a sort of foretaste of The Blob, the "monster" here amounts to streaming masses of soap suds. The actors react as if the suds were toxic. This is unusual enough to be interesting.

Cold War Angle
As a typical monster movie, there are no Cold War metaphors discernible.

Notes
Typical Mad Scientist -- Dr. Ramsey is the stereotypic mad scientist. He has an overactive ego ("I am the god of life to these people") and likes to play God with his experiments on his super fungus. Unlike most movie mad scientists, Ramsey never explains why he subjects the villagers to the fungus (which clearly mutates them), nor what he expects to do with his super fungus. Ramsey does die, however, like most mad scientists do, amid his creation.

Atypical Hero -- Pete is interesting as the hero for being atypical. He's the usual rugged handsome type, but is given a bum leg. He is similarly given a conflicted personality -- haunted by the past and doubting himself in the present. While all the other characters are two dimensional standardized B-movie types, Pete is interestingly complex.

Woman's Place -- An odd feature to Unknown Terror is how women are portrayed. Gina is the curvaceous glamor wife (even in the jungle, she's in an elaborate formal nightgown.) Ramsey whips his native "wife", Concha, because she dropped one of his fungus-growing jars. The others protest, but she says it's okay, she deserved it. (?) Gina is pretty much useless on the expedition, except as a frail (if desirable) female to be menaced by monsters and rescued by the hero.

Semi-Zombies -- Despite the promise in the movie posters, the infected natives play a fairly small role. From the brief glimpse you get, they appear mutated to some degree. There are several of them in the cave. A few get out to roam the jungle (and peek in Gina's window), but otherwise seem pointless. The fungus suds "eat" them as well as regular humans, so their role is ambiguous. They attack Pete and Gina (and we assume Dan), but for no apparent reason other than that it's just what zombies do.

Muerte II -- This movie is reminiscent of Mesa of Lost Women ('53) in having a mad scientist in a remote (and Mexican) location, preying on frightened local villagers. Ramsey, like Dr. Aranya, mutates the locals. Dr. Aranya's mesa was in the Muerte Desert (Desert of Death). Ramsey's fungus lives in the Cuevo de la Muerte, (Cave of Death). For B-movie writers, the (something)-of-Death was a handy formula for a place name.

Bottom line? As a 50s B-grade horror film, Unknown Terror is average. Sci-fi fans will find no aliens, no saucers, no electronic gizmos, etc., and very little science. Those caveats aside, it is a passable B movie.

The Cyclops

Bert I. Gordon wrote, produced, directed and handled some of the photographic effects in this mutant monster movie. In many ways, Cyclops is just another radiation-spawned monster. Like Lost World or King Dinosaur, people travel to a remote place in search of something, only to discover a valley of giant animals. This B.I.G. production follows the very familiar path and brings nothing new to the genre of photographically-created giants. It is, however, a prototype for his more famous Amazing Colossal Man later in 1957. AND, Cyclops is like a first version of the sequel to Amazing Colossal Man, War of the Colossal Beast in 1958.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Susan has hired three men to help her look for her fiance, lost in some remote Mexican mountains three years prior. Russ, a biologist, Marty, a uranium prospector and Lee, the pilot fly into the restricted mountains. Their small plane is forced down by downdrafts. Marty is happy because his sensor says there is uranium ore all around. While searching the area, Susan and Russ encounter some giant, but otherwise ordinary, animals. There is some friction in the group, but Susan is resolute to search for her lost Bruce. She finds a piece of Bruce's crashed plane, but is abducted by "it." The men search for her, following a trail of crashed plane parts to a cave. Inside the cave are more parts, and Susan acting all hysterical. The 25 foot tall, bald-headed mutant with one eye growls at them at the entrance. They retreat beyond arm's reach. Russ theorizes that the native radiation has allowed animals there to keep growing. Their pituitary glands don't stop them. Later, Susan talks to it, soothing it. Marty angers the giant by taking a shot at it. The giant kills Marty and takes Susan out of the cave. He sets her on a rock. While regarding her, a giant snake attacks. The three take the opportunity to escape. The giant must be radiation-mutated Bruce. They run to the plane. The engine doesn't start, so Russ tries to distract the giant away from the plane. Cornered on a cliff, Russ uses a crude spear to stab the giant in his only eye. They get in the plane and start to take off, but the blind giant stands in their way. They narrowly clear his flailing arms. Susan looks back, in pity. The giant lays down, as if to die. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The usual B.I.G. photo effects, especially of an iguana fighting with a gila monster, are so typical of this sub-genre, that it is amusing to see them yet again. The acting of Gloria Talbott is good. Lon Chaney is actually fairly entertaining in this movie. Paul Frees, famous for his deep narrator voice, provides the giant's grunts and roars. In Cyclops, we get a foretaste of giant men movies yet to come, such as The Amazing Colossal Man and War of the Colossal Beast, both also B.I.G. productions.

Cold War Angle
The only connection to the Cold War is the ubiquitous use of radiation as the Deus ex machina which turns nature into monsters.

Notes
BIG Style -- Bert I. Gordon was famous for his things-shot-big movies. To some, his signature photographic technique typifies low-budget 50s monster sci-fi. Cyclops is a lesser-known example of the sub-genre, but very clearly a member of it. Others in Gordon's things-shot-large franchise include: King Dinosaur ('55) with lizards masquerading as dinosaurs and Beginning of the End ('57) with grasshoppers cast as mutant giants.

Giant Trilogy -- Cyclops could be seen as the first of a trio of Gordon's giant man films. The first story is unrelated to the Col. Manning character of the second and third films: Amazing Colossal Man and War of the Colossal Beast, but the pattern is the same. Dean Parkin plays the bald giant in all three.

Plane Crazy: Aerial Jeep -- The light plane the characters use is the relatively rare Stinsen Voyager. 3000 of them were built during the war as a military light observation and courier plane. Production ended with the war. Many were decommissioned and converted to civilian use -- just as many jeeps were. Since production ended in 1945, the Voyager was quickly eclipsed by new civil aviation designs.

Bottom line? Cyclops is very formulaic and so not particularly entertaining. It has some interest to the 50s sci-fi fan as the prototype of the "Colossal" movies of '57 and '58. The acting of Talbott and Chaney keep the film from sinking to utter schlock.