Project X

Paramount released a nice, if modest, William Castle sci-fi thriller that seems to have gone largely unknown. Project X (PX) might have been better known if it hadn't been release in the spring of 1968, when blockbusters like 2001 (MGM) and Planet of the Apes (Fox) drew all the limelight. Christopher George stars as the square jawed hero. Greta Baldwin plays the later love interest. Henry Jones plays Dr. Crowther. Use of ample stock footage lends the film a 50s flavor, despite the rather 70s-TV sets and directing.

Quick Plot Synopsis
In the year 2118, Hagen Arnold is a dead spy who is kept cryogenically frozen after dying in a plane crash. He was returning from a secret mission inside "Sino-Asia" -- the "other" global super power. His last transmitted message said the West would be destroyed in 14 days. His memory had been wiped clean by a drug spies take in case they're captured. The authorities order him thawed and his mind probed to tease out what his message meant. Dr.Crowther (Henry Jones) leads a team who use "lasers" to read images from his mind. They create a remote farm house in 1968 (handily enough) and a fake identity for Hagen as a bank robber hiding from the police, so he'll stay at the house and get his mind layered when he sleeps. A mysterious other man lurks in the woods. During the mind probes, they learn details of his mission, his meeting George, his partner, and getting captured. The sinister Sen Chu boasts of his super weapon, but reveals no details. George breaks Hagen out of an undersea prison complex. In between laser-readings, Alan is not quite accepting his fake identity. He escapes the farmhouse and meets a pretty woman who knows nothing of 1968. The lurking man is actually George, who frightens her off with a laser blast. Alan returns to the farmhouse, tells of the pretty woman he met. The authorities pick her up for questioning. She knows nothing, but they keep her. George sneaks in to Karen's room and tells her that he's trying to rescue Alan from Dr. Crowther, who is really an agent of Sen Chu. The Colonel orders Crowther to probe more deeply into Alan's mind to learn the secret. The overdose of lasers causes Alan's mind to create an angry-faced red tornado that is his subconscious. Everyone is scared. George sneaks in to Karen to recruit help, but the angry red tornado tortures and kills George. Karen screams a lot. Karen tells the Colonel what George said about Crowther. He is arrested. But wait, what if they use their laser probes on dead George's brain? They do, and read the true story. George was the double agent, not Crowther. He injected Hagen with bacteria from all the world's famous plagues. They have a 14 day incubation period. Hagen was to be the carrier of bio-doom. The 14 days are up, everyone feels gloom and doom, but wait. Hagen was frozen for seven days after he died. They still have seven days left to distribute vaccines and antitoxins. Yay. Crowther fashions yet another new identity for Hagen, as David, a technician type, and husband of Karen. She wants to have children. Kiss, Happy music, Roll credits. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
For the most part, the story keeps moving and shifting. There are ample active sequences, so it's never boring. The plot twists add some cerebral interest. The colorful "mind reading" sequences offer some typical late-60s oversaturated visuals. Greta Baldwin, who plays Karen, is not hard to look at either.

Cold War Angle
The whole East vs. West mindset of the Cold War is projected, pretty much unchanged, 150 years into the future. That shows how permanent people thought the Cold War world was. The two big players still plot to annihilate each other by nasty terrible means.

Notes
Pre-Matrix -- Way before the famous films of that name, were humbler dabbling in the topic. The authorities create a set of fake memories, and fake environment for their subject. Unlike the Matrix movies, the fake world is still physical. Yet, Crowther refers to all this fabricated identity as "a new matrix."

Dark Glimpses -- Sprinkled throughout PX are references to a dark, brave new world, come 2118. Characters boast of how "all sickness" has been cured, yet whatever they did, it really just made them more vulnerable. They boast of how there is no more crime (such that there are no bank robbers), yet their capacity for abusing each other and killing each other seemed unabated. There is talk of overpopulation. Some women are "Steri" and unable to bear children. Yet Karen (the hot young ones) are still fertile. "Ferties"? Darkest, perhaps is that science is able to reprogram people's minds to whatever the authorities like.

Id Beast 2 -- Like the Id monster in Forbidden Planet ('56) the screenplay of PX presumes that the human mind can somehow actually spin off a separate "being" made up of powerful energy. Not much is made of this new energy life form and it's quickly forgotten about. Is it still out there somewhere? Is it still "haunting" Hagen?

Fleeting Beauty -- The female eye candy of the film is Greta Baldwin. This was her only prominent movie role. She did no other movies after this. Looking beautiful and sexy was easy for her. Acting did not seem to come quite as easy.

Traces of Quest -- Hanna-Barbera provided the many animated sequences. Many of them were vague and atmospheric effects for the mind reading. Some of the animated bits looked an awfully lot like clips from Jonny Quest, a TV series that Hanna-Barbera produced in the mid-60s.

Ming Returns -- The sinister Sen Chu looks vaguely like Flash Gordon's old nemesis, Ming the Merciless. Asian stereotypes ran deep.

China Rising -- The Soviet threat seemed to have cooled somewhat in the popular imagination by the mid-60s. China, however, was looming larger. A couple of similar examples include Bamboo Saucer ('68), and Battle Beneath The Earth ('67).

Bottom line? PX has it's somewhat hokey moments, but overall offers some sci-fi value. Cut PX some slack on the special effects because of its limited budget. Instead, let the complex story entertain you. ---

Battle Beneath The Earth

For Digression Week, we go back to 1968 and what might make a good double feature companion to Beneath the Planet of the Apes. MGM's British arm created Cold War potboiler with Marines battling a private Chinese army who tunneled under the Pacific with lasers (!) so they can plant nukes our key defense sites. Battle Beneath The Earth (BBE) was released in the UK in 1967 and in America in 1968. It stars Kerwin Mathews, famous as the swashbuckling Sinbad in Columbia's 7th Voyage of Sinbad ('58).

Quick Plot Synopsis
Arnold is institutionalized because he hears digging underground. His sister seeks the help of Navy Commander Shaw. A string of coincidental cave-ins suggest that Arnold might have been right. With advanced listening devices, and the entire country being quiet for a hour or so, the Navy figure out the network of tunnels. Exploring one of them, off a coal mine, reveals a chamber full of atomic bombs and some chinese workers. Shaw and his men kill all the workers and disarm all but two of the bombs. Rogue Chinese general Lu is displeased that his plan to subdue America has been set back. He orders more bombs. Meanwhile, the Navy have reverse-engineered Lu's laser boring technology. A team, including the shapely Tila Yung as the geologist, descend a Hawaiian volcano shaft to intercept the bomb train. They find the tunnel, but Arnold is ambushed and captured by Lu's men. He is brainwashed into betraying the whole squad into getting captured. Shaw, Tila and others escape. Arnold sacrifices himself to distract the search parties. Shaw, Tila and Sgt. Mulberry ambush the train's guards, steal their uniforms, then hijack the bomb train. Lu and his men give chase, but a few grenades collapse the tunnel behind the train. While Lu's men dig away the debris, Shaw rigs up one of the bombs to blow up in 10 minutes. He, Tila and Mulberry run away. When Lu's men break through, they hear the bomb will explode and run away. Lu, alone, cannot disarm it, so sits down to be blown up. Shaw, Tila and Mulberry make it to the surface in time to watch the Bikini Atoll test explosion. As Shaw puts a tend hand on Tila's shoulder, they watch the mushroom cloud morph into a golden sunset. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
BBE is like a cross between the Batman TV series, a low-budget James Bond, and The Navy vs. the Night Monsters ('66). The premise, the action, the sets, the props -- it's all so comicbook that it can't help but be fun.

Cold War Angle Here, it's not the commies, but an independent General who gets control of nukes. Cold War weapons stockpiles become the tools of a rogue tyrant-wannabe. His master plan was to disable both sides (East and West), then become master of the re-building world.

Notes
Tunnel-phobia -- Writer "L.Z. Hargreaves" (pen name for the producer, Charles F. Vetter) chose a topic familiar to British culture -- fear of invasion by tunnels. The British worried about being invaded by tunnels from France since Napoleon's day. During the British "Invasion Scare" literary period (1870-1918), when the British weren't worrying about ship-borne invaders, they were worrying about them tunneling under the channel. Novels like "England in Danger" and "The Battle for the Channel Tunnel" fed those fears. There's even a story in Adelaide's "The Mail", March 30, 1946, about fears that the Nazis were digging a tunnel into England in 1941. The text describes scientists in old drainage tunnels, listening with headphones for any sound of enemy digging. Just like in BBE!

Evil Underground -- The trope of bad guys underground has its history in sci-fi as well. In Invaders From Mars ('53), the martians dug extensive tunnels and used them to abduct humans. The giant mutant ants in Them! ('54) were fought by the army in tunnels. In '63, The Slime People dug tunnels and invaded.

Crazy Casting -- One of BBE's quirky charms is the weird casting choices. Martin Benson ( a tall square-jawed British actor) plays General Chan Lu. Peter Elliot plays his evil scientist sidekick. Both have their eyes vaguely made up to look oriental. Both talk with a hint of a Charlie Chan accent. Very few actual asians play the chinese. Since the story is supposed to be taking place on America's west coast, the several other British actors speak with thick "American" accents, which they don't always keep. Arnold is the most notable.

Seriously? -- Several little things in BBE can leave the viewer asking the screen, "Seriously?" The squad of regular Marines which Shaw leads, each just happens to know how to disarm a Mark 3 atomic bomb. Wow. They're well trained. Tila, the trained geologist, didn't know that molten rock would burn her up. What? Add to that, that Tila doesn't wear underwear beneath her jumpsuit? Huh? But the poster did promise viewers some deep cleavage. And, the best of all, Shaw, Tila and Mulberry are able to outrun the blast of an atom bomb with just a 10 minute head start. At a good full run, that would put them about two miles away. That sounds safe enough.

Just Plane Crazy -- For fans of Cold War era jets, there is a brief air show fly-over (the usual stock footage effect to suggest military readiness). In the flyover, you'll see in the first row, a B-66 Destroyer, a B-52 Stratofortress and a B-47 Stratojet. They are followed by an F-86 Sabre , a B-57 Canbera, and a F-101 Voodoo. Quite the sampler platter of planes! (If one cares about such things)

Bottom line? BBE is "lite", absurd entertainment, not thoughtful science fiction. Watch it as a movie version of a Batman episode, or a Get Smart episode with no jokes. If you do, it can be fun. BBE is a thoroughly B-grade film, so a fine double feature companion for Beneath the Planet of the Apes ('70). BBE also has a hunky hero, a doe-eyed babe, enemies living in tunnels, and a nuke underground which is blown up in the end.
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1968

This is one of those benchmark years in sci-fi. While not a rigid boundary, 1968 marks a sort of watershed in style. In some ways, it marks the end of the Golden Era of 50s sci-fi. Stanley Kubrik's 2001 would change and influence the nature of sci-fi for nearly a decade, until the next big benchmark: Star Wars. 1968 would also be the beginning of the long-running Planet of the Apes series. But, for all that modern-era spin, there were still plenty of low-budget films carrying the 50s torch. Here are the films in roughly chronologic order.

  Five Million Miles to Earth -- Titled "Quatermass and the Pit" in the UK version in '67. An alien craft is unearthed during construction on a subway, awakening dormant alien consciousness in many people.

  The Countdown -- A NASA mission to the moon is rushed, in order to beat the Russians. It means a one-way rocket, however. Can the Americans be first and survive?

  Planet of the Apes -- First film of many. Starring Charlton Heston, astronaut who lands on a planet ruled by sentient apes. Humans are the mute beasts.

  2001: A Space Odyssey -- Stanley Kubrik's pivotal epic, from the dawn of man, to man's "evolution" to star-child. Features the HAL-9000.

  Astro-Zombies -- A mad doctor uses synthetic body parts and computer programmed brains to create astro-men. The first of an army for conquering the world.

  Wild in the Streets -- A young "bad boy" becomes a rock idol, and translates his popularity into becoming president. Once in power, Congress is fed LSD and anti-Over-30 laws are passed.

  Voyage to the Planet of the Prehistoric Women -- Yet another reworking of footage from the Russian film Planeta Bur. Told as flashback, but focusing on the Venusian babes hinted at in the original.

  The Power -- A group of ESP researchers discover that one of them has amazing mind powers. They are being killed off, one by one, by someone else with that power.

  The Omegans -- A vengeful husband brings his cheating wife and her scheming lover to a remote jungle with a radiated river and glowing nocturnal natives, intending do them in.

  Thunderbird 6 -- Second "Supermarionation" film by Gerry Anderson. A super air-ship is hijacked by evil men. The newest, 6th, Thunderbird machine saves the day.

  Mission Mars -- A NASA mission to Mars follows a failed Russian mission. The Americans land on Mars and find deadly solar powered aliens.

  The Destructors -- A band of international criminals try to steal the special-rubies which power a super laser weapon. Can the good guys stop them and save world peace?

  The Bamboo Saucer -- A real flying saucer is discovered, hidden in a village inside Communist China. US and Soviet teams combine efforts to keep the Red Chinese from finding it.

  Barbarella -- Jane Fonda's leap into sex-kittendom. A bizarre, semi-comedic comic book tale of Barbarella's attempt to stop evil Durand-Durand from taking over the universe.

  Mission Stardust -- Based on Perry Rhodan novels. Men find a disabled alien ship (and a beautiful alien) on the moon. Perry tries to help them repair the ship. Shadowy criminals try to hijack it.

Battle Beneath the Earth -- Scientists discover that a rogue Chinese general is tunneling under the USA, planting A-bombs under major cities.

Project X -- A dead spy is kept alive and revived in hopes of learning the key to a Chinese plot to destroy the West.

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Panic in the City

Producer Harold Goldman started out the mid 60s in sci-fi titles, but shifted into crime dramas. Panic in the City (PIC) is firmly a euro-spy / FBI agent story, but with atomic angst at its core. The title is a bit off, as no one (let alone the city) ever panics. It deals with a secret communist plot to assemble nuclear bombs in major American cities. Howard Duff stars as the federal agent. Nehemiah Pershoff stars as the rogue spy. The production values suggest a TV movie, but the presence of a rare poster suggests PIC had at least a brief theatrical release.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A sick man collapses on a Los Angeles street. Doctors discover that he is highly radioactive. A shadowy man named Dean hires a hit man to kill the sick man. It turns out he was a european atomic scientist. The high dosage of radiation and the murder gets the National Bureau of Investigation involved. Agent Dave Pomeroy is on the case. Dave meets Dr. Paula Stevens and thus begins a thin sub plot of budding romance. Dean recruits another atomic scientist to replace the dead one. The NBI take out Dr. Cerbo's house. One of Cerbo's men is trying to get some parts made at machine shops. The drawings are for an unassuming carburetor, but with some odd extra brackets. Those brackets turn out to be part of a "W" device used in nuclear bombs. Some of Dean's operatives die fleeing the police. Dave figures a zone in which the bomb must be. They start searching house to house, disguised as telephone repairmen. Meanwhile, Dean is berated by his spy boss for exceeding his authority in actually building a bomb instead of just planning and preparing to do so. He is to be sent home for discipline. Dean shoots his boss and goes to his basement bomb works. Cerbo finishes the bomb except for the trigger. Dean shoots Cerbo to get the trigger. Click! But the bomb only smokes. Dave finally gets to the right house. He heard Dean shoot Cerbo. Dave shoots and kills Dean. Cerbo (not quite dead yet) says it happens sometimes. Might take an hour or so, but will go off. Dave calls HQ to have streets blocked off and a helicopter brought in. He muscles the smoldering bomb up the stairs and out to the street. Now Dave is weak from radiation sickness. Dr. Paula says he doesn't have much longer to live. Dave hooks the bomb up to the helicopter and flies far out to sea. He dies at the controls. The bomb goes off. Cue footage of the Baker Event explosion of 1946. Paula weeps, but as she sees the city of LA going on about its business, she is comforted that Dave gave his life to save the city. The End.

Apocalypse Avoided
Even though the bomb does go off, the hero saves the unsuspecting city. The sinister enemy had planned mass destruction, but not by the expected means of missiles and bombers. Instead, it would be an inside job. Only the skill and determination of the heroic "authorities" uncovers the plot in time.

Cold War Spotlight
PIC is the tale of insidious invaders. In this, it shares a mood with many sci-fi movies, such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Instead of allegorical pod people, we have a communist enemy with many operatives living and working among the oblivious citizenry. The intended master plan was apparently only to set up the workings of such a bombs-from-within scheme. It was the over-zealous communist, Dean, who pushed the plan into action in order to destroy communism's enemy.

Notes
Post 9/11 Relevance -- PIC actually plays better post-9/11 than it probably had for decades. As the Cold War was losing its hysterical edge, the premise of communists building weapons of mass destruction within American cities, may have seemed like over-active conspiracy theory glands. But, in post-9/11 America, with terrorist cells proven to be working their subterfuge among civilian life, the scheme seems like far fetched.

Hypocrites for Peace -- Of some interest is the press conference speech delivered by Dr. Cerbo (Oscar Beregi). He denounces weapons-use of nuclear energy and preaches about needs for nations to disarm. Yet, even before this, Cerbo was an underground operative of the communists, and apparently loathed American life. He was quite willing to finish building a nuclear bomb in Dean's basement. Was this hypocritical speech a dig (by the screenwriters) at peaceniks and disarmament advocates? The thought being, only enemies tell you to lay down your weapons?

Star Gazing -- Howard Duff stars as agent Pomeroy. Duff was usually cast in authority roles, seldom in sci-fi films. But in 1953, he played astronaut Mitchell in the british space-drama Spaceways. Nehemiah Persoff, who plays the rogue communist spy, was also a busy TV actor in most of the usual TV genre except science fiction. He did play the ill-fated Dr. Meiniker in 1968's The Power. John Hoyt plays a small role as a Dr. Becker. Hoyt, too, was a busy TV actor, but did play the tragic villain, Mr. Franz, in The Puppet People ('58) and Dr. Varno in The Time Travelers ('64).

Pre-Star Gazing -- Watch for a young Dennis Hopper as "Goff" the hit man. Hopper played many TV roles or bit parts. One for sci-fi fans was his role as Paul, one of the early victims of the blood-drinking alien in Queen of Blood ('66). Look for a young Mike Farrell early in the show, as a minor hospital worker. Farrell would go on to "fame" as B.J. Hunnicut in TV's M.A.S.H. series.

For Car Nuts -- There are many late 60s cars to enjoy amid the many street scenes. Two that get a bit more screen time than others are the little red 1967 Sunbeam convertible and Cerbo's big gray yacht-like '67 Chrysler 300 convertible.

Bottom line? PIC is a workmanlike crime/spy drama with a Cold War spin. It has the middling production values of a late 60s television series. The story plays out a sort of authorities-angst about enemy agents. PIC has some cultural value as an atomic angst view (from the government's point of view) of the danger of communist spies in the nuclear age.

Mission Stardust

This German-Italian co-production was originally released with the title 4...3...2...1...Morte! in Italy and Germany in late '67 . The English-dubbed version played in American as Mission Stardust (MS) in November of '68. Based loosely on the Perry Rhodan stories popular in Europe, MS shares the fate of most books (or TV shows) turned into movies. They're too different for hard-core fans to love, and too unusual for the non-initiate to love. MS did make good drive-in fodder, however. There were enough sexual innuendos and hints of voyeurism to appeal to the teenaged drive-in crowd.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A secretive mission to the moon is planned, to check out some unusual metal readings. Major. Perry Rhodan will command, aided by Capt. Mike Bull, Captain Flipper and Dr. Manoli. When they're about to land on the moon, something goes awry and they land far off course. Communications are jammed, so Perry and Mike explore in the Rover. Eventually, they discover a spherical alien craft. A robot ushers them in. They meet two aliens from the planet Arkon -- an old scientist named Crest and the beautiful platinum blonde, Thora. They were on a mission to find a new, young race to interbreed with when they had mechanical trouble. Perry and Thora exchange insults and boasts over superior and inferior beings. Crest is sick with Leukemia. Perry knows an earth doctor with a cure for it. They travel to earth in a miniature version of the sphere ship. They land in east Africa to find Dr. Haggard, but all this is known to a crime boss named Arkin who is arranging to steal the alien ship. Perry and Mike make their way through shady characters to Dr. Haggard and bring him back to the ship. Perry stays behind to stop Arkin's men, but gets captured. All the while, a bombastic army general is obsessed with arresting the aliens, but is prevented by Thora's force field. It turns out that Captain Flipper is one of Arkin's men, so Arkin knows all. Dr. Haggard and his nurses (blonde and shapely, naturally) turn out to be fakes employed by Arkin too. They try to hijack the ship, but Thora releases her robots who zap all the baddies into oblivion. Flipper escapes with Thora as hostage. She is taken to Larkin's secret island base. He threatens her menacingly. Flipper plays with her gadgets, turning on her locator beacon. Perry, Mike and Crest arrive in the pod ship. Mike and Perry burst into Arkin's lair. They free Thora and the real Dr. Haggard. Arkin escapes. Thora blows up the whole island out of angry spite. Arkin, however, somehow followed them aboard and hold them at gunpoint. Perry and Mike move in slowly on Arkin, saying that he can get them all. Arkin gets cowardly in final moments, then falls out an air lock into the cold void of space. The pod is en route to the moon. Back aboard the mother ship, Crest feels all better since the real Dr. Haggard cured his leukemia. Crest would like a treaty between their races, for interbreeding. Mike is keen on being a stud, but Perry and Thora are already making out heavily in the next room. The 'experiment' has already begun. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Spaghetti sci-fi has an off-beat earnestness that is appealing. The special effects and models are classic B sci-fi of the late 50s and early 60s. The plot and action could easily have fit into a secret-agent film, or a western, so it's simple fun. The alien ship models and sets are amusing too.

Cold War Angle
There is little of the Cold War in MS. The plot amounts to a spy-crime-western set in space, with a couple of human "aliens" in the mix.

Notes
Based on the Books -- Elements of the plot were borrowed from the Perry Rhodan sci-fi series of novellas popular in Europe in the early and mid-60s. The books ran through thousands of installments, so Rhodan fans had an enormous story base they lived in. No single movie could live up to that. As often happens in feature film versions of much longer sagas, much had to be condensed or left out. New material (such as the stereotype villain) are added to spice up the action. (Cerebral musing over dark matter and parallel universes works in books, but dies on the screen)

Tough Babe -- The character of Thora is about the only one with any depth. The rest are predictably two-dimensional. Thora is, on the one hand, the feminist ideal of the tough-talking, independent, modern woman. On the other hand, she is pretty easily subdued by various men, knocked out with one punch, and most importantly, melts into love-butter in the arms of the "primative" earthly hunk hero, Rhodan. These latter traits are decidedly old-school "woman" and tend to override her tough feminist portrayals.

Kirk's Ilk -- Later, more "enlightened" cultures would prefer their fictional leaders to have less libido. Compare Star Trek's stoic Picard to babe-magnet Kirk. Yet, Kirk was a man of his times -- square jawed, tough, ready with his fists and equally ready to smooch up the pretty space princesses. Perry Rhodan is a commander in the same zeitgeist. Though his character in MS was fairly flat, all the hallmarks of the archetype were there.

Babe Watch -- Also apparent, and goes hand in hand with the Hunk Captain character, is the woman-as-sexiness character. Even the tough-babe Thora is a platinum blonde, young and curvaceous. She does a shadow striptease just to reinforce the point. (side note: If the Arkons had advanced beyond primitive physicality, why did she bother to dress behind a screen?) The fake doctor's two assistants were tall, young, very blond and curvaceous. Of course, movie makers knew that young men were the larger market for movie tickets, so a bit of pandering is not surprising.

Bottom line? MS is not a particularly "deep" movie. All of its characters are predictable standards. The models, sets and special effects are adequate, but not impressive. The visual style has an italian flavor, reminiscent of the Gamma One films. Yet, at it's heart, MS is a crime drama. The alpha-villain schemes to steal the MacGuffin. Hunky hero stops him and melts the heart of icy leading lady. Rhodan fans may be turned off by the trite. Fans of B sci-fi may simply entertained.

Barbarella

Dino De Laurentis' adaptation of Jean-Claude Forest's comic book heroine, Barbarella, makes for bizarre and conflicted sci-fi movie. The film is not especially funny for a comedy, and takes itself too seriously as camp or parody. As a sci-fi, yes, there are space ships, a distant planet and some ray guns. But, as in the original graphic novels, they are mere trappings to what is essentially a sex-crazed fantasy. A cluster of script writers adapted Forest's basic story elements (such as they were), into a marginally coherent screenplay. They kept the basic premise of having the main character have sex with one character after another. This campy, surreal quality has made the film a cult favorite for some.

Quick Plot Synopsis
After a pointless striptease under the credits, Barbarella (Jane Fonda) is given an assignment by the President of the Earth. She must find the evil scientist Durand-Durand, who has created a super-weapon and threatens to reintroduce war to the flaccidly love-obsessed universe. A magnetic storm causes Barb to crash on the planet. She is quickly captured by feral children with biting dolls. She is rescued by Mark Hand. He takes her to Professor Ping who can fix her ship, but it will take weeks. Barb's new friend is the "angel" Pygar, who lost his will to fly until he's "enjoyed" Barb. Pygar flies her to the evil city of Sogo, battling leather guards in flying pods. Inside the city of sin, they meet several characters including The Concierge, the Black Queen and Dildano. The city of Sogo derives its power from the blob-like energy being beneath the city: The Mathmos. It feeds on evil, so the citizens commit sins and crimes continually so as to feed The Mathmos, and thereby power their city. Barb loses Pygar. She is captured and sentenced to death by birds. She is rescued by Dildano, a semi-inept revolutionary. He gives her the invisible key to the black queen's dream chamber. Durand-Durand captures Barb. He tries to kill her his extreme pleasure machine with an overdose of orgasm, but she overloads his machine. Plan B, he locks her into the queen's chamber, so he can take over. He is then free to conquer Sogo, and then the universe with his positronic ray. Just as Durand is crowning himself, Dildano and the Labyrinth people stage their attack. To thwart all, the queen releases the Mathmos. The energy blob rises up and destroys the city. The Mathmos can't touch Barb, or Pygar, as they're pure innocence. Pygar flies off carrying Barb and the queen, to find Barb's ship. Roll credits. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Actually, I found the movie annoying in general. Yet, there were a few scenes and tropes which held some deeper thoughtfulness. For example, the people wandering the labyrinth, slowly being absorbed into its walls. But, it's too easy to lose these moments in the juvenile preoccupation with Barbarella in post-orgasm glow. Who cares?

Cold War Angle
This has to be read between the sex-obsessed lines, but we do have an evil power and a doomsday weapon threatening to unleash war upon a peaceful universe. However, no one will think that this metaphor is the prime plot motivator.

Notes
Graphic Beginnings -- Barbarella started out as a French graphic novel (comic book) by Jean-Claude Forest, in the early 60s. She was introduced to American audiences in 1966. Her various scantily-clad adventures managed to somehow always be sex-obsessed. Even as a comic book, they were clearly adult entertainment (not your childhood Superman comics). De Laurentis' film version used some of the comic series characters and situations, but with very little explanation. An example would be Stomoxys and Glossina, the evil twin sisters. They get a few minutes on screen, but only those who know of the comics would know who they were.

Waiting for Bardot -- Forest's original drawings of Barbarella strongly resembled Brigitte Bardot -- Vadim's wife from '52 to '57, and favorite of France. Bardot starred as the sex-kitten in some films written or directed by Vadim while they were married. By the time Barbarella was in the works, Bardot would hardly have taken the role. Vadim's new wife since 1965 was Jane Fonda. Jane was dolled up as a big-hair blonde (ala Bardot) and put into costumes befitting a sex-kitten, though Fonda was less amply endowed than Bardot, or Forest's drawings.

Expensive Hobby -- Where the graphic novels (inexpensive to produce) had some popularity, the movie version was a tough sell. Imdb cites a production cost of 9 million dollars. Shot entirely on sound stages, with vast sets, elaborate props and scads of costumes, this figure seems plausible. Financially, Barbarella was a huge loser. Panned at the box office, and by critics, it had an income of only 6 hundred thousand dollars.

Confilct of Interests The film suddenly created Fonda as a sex-kitten actress. The role and costumes virtually guaranteed that whoever played it would be the new sex-kitten. Fonda played the role well. But she quickly shunned the role in favor of feminism and political activism. She was not yet embroiled in her Hanoi Jane morass. Fonda got fussier about her movie roles and went on to higher dramatic acclaim -- perhaps narrowly avoiding the typecasting that befell other screen sex-kittens.

Bottom line? Barbarella has the vast complexity of a better sci-fi dystopia film, but is constantly deflated by obsession over implied sex scenes and efforts to expose Fonda's breasts. As porn, it fails. As comedy, it fails. As fantasy, it's too confused, or ill-explained. Fans of serious sci-fi can save the annoyance. Fans of Jane's young breasts will probably stay interested. As an example of 60s "Free Love" hippy thinking, it's a massive dose -- shag carpet, lava lamps and all.

The Bamboo Saucer

Classic sci-fi was getting more rare in the late 60s, but it was not dead yet. The Bamboo Saucer (TBS) is solid 50s B sci-fi in many ways. It has a flying saucer, dashing hero, beautiful lady scientist, stock footage of military jets and even a close-call with a meteorite in space. The first half (after the saucer buzzing), amounts to an average spy story with the mysterious saucer as MacGuffin. After that, the sci-fi adventure takes over. The product of various small-time producers, TBS appears aimed at the television market, but apparently had at least a modest theatrical release too. (note the extra-cheap poster) As a minor trivia note, John Ericson stars. He played the fallen hero "Dutch" in another of 1968's indie sci-fi: The Destructors.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Fred Norwood (Ericson) is a crack test pilot, flying the experimental X-109 (actually footage of the F-104 Starfighter). He is buzzed and chased by a glowing blue flying saucer. His radical maneuvering gets him in hot water with his bosses on the ground. No one saw his flying saucer. No radar blip either. He is scrubbed from the X-109 program as unstable. Fred convinces his brother in law to let him use the laser radar gizmo he's been working on to look for blips invisible to regular radar. Eventually, one is found, but Joe goes up to check it out while Fred sleeps. Joe's plane is broken up in the air. Fred tells FAA investigators about his saucer. This gets him an appointment with Hank Peters (Dan Duryea) in Washington. The NIA has a sketch by a chinese peasant of a flying saucer. Fred says it's his! The saucer landed in Communist China, in an abandoned church. The peasants kept it secret because they disliked the Reds. Hank wants Fred to join his recon team, along with Jack the electrician and Dave the metallurgist. They parachute inside China, aided by Sam (a chinese) and other natives. They stumble upon a Russian team on the exact same mission. One of their scientists just happens to be a beautiful blonde: Anna. They all agree to an uneasy alliance to find the saucer, but keep the Chinese Communists from finding it. The two teams do find the saucer inside the church. They explore it and discover some things. The Russians try to steal it for Moscow, but their pilot dies of mismanaged stresses inside. Dubovsky tries to force Fred to be the new pilot. A fight breaks out. Hank and the Americans prevail. Red Chinese patrols are coming. Fred, Anna and Jack try to figure out the controls. Dave, Zagorsky, Dubovsky and Hank hold them off with guns and grenades. Eventually, the Chinese prevail, killing the four in gun battles. Fred and Anna figure out how to take off, and do so, escaping the Chinese. However, the autopilot engages and zips them deep into space. They have a close call with a meteorite and are on a collision course with Saturn. At the last minute, they figure out how to disengage the autopilot. Fred flies the saucer back to earth. He plans to land it in Geneva, Switzerland, so both nations can claim credit. He gives a little speech about world peace. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
For a fan of 50s sci-fi, there is so much to love. An actual alien saucer, international intrigue, fights, a beautiful blonde scientist, etc. The pace is pretty good and the techno-blather is nice and thick.

Cold War Angle
The moral of the story in TBS, is that the Americans and the Soviets should learn to get along -- ending the Cold War. TBS is a blatant appeal to reconciliation, instead of the more customary metaphors for things going wrong.

Notes
UFOs Got Legs -- By the late 60s, the UFO craze (hysteria?) had begun to be absorbed into American culture. Once an object fear and suspicion, the flying saucer had become familiar enough (and banal enough) to made into kids' toys, night lights, table lamps, and used in local marketing gimmicks. But, the venerable flying saucer had not quite gone completely kitsch yet. TBS captured some of the mystique and cache it still had. The preamble to the movie even suggests that it's dedicated to all those misunderstood souls who've seen flying saucers but are not believed. Even this late in the game, UFOs still had "legs."

50s Roots -- Some of the strength TBS's cache may be due to its original story writer, Rip Van Ronkel, who was very much a 50s guy. He wrote for Destination Moon ('50) and the '59 TV series, Destination Space. Ronkel died in 1965, so did not get to see his story become a film in '68.

Mikel Conrad Redux -- The scenario in TBS is curiously close to that in the 1950 film, The Flying Saucer by Mikel Conrad. In TFS, an American intelligence team (Conrad and his "nurse") explore a remote area (Alaska, in this case) looking for a hidden flying saucer which appeared briefly in public earlier. While searching, the American team become aware of a Soviet team also looking for the same saucer. In the end, they find it. Familiar? A notable difference between the two films is that Conrad's saucer was an earth scientist's invention and was destroyed in the end. No one got it. TBS's machine was alien and all of mankind got it.

Pretty Speeches -- Evidently, the impetus for the story, and perhaps its moral too, was that the traditional Cold War way of thinking -- extreme Us vs. Them patriotism -- was wrong. This was clear in an argument between Fred and Hank after the Americans foil Dubovsky's attempt to capture them.
Hank: "... take them prisoners."
Fred: "You're beginning to sound like Dubovsky."
Hank: "You mean because he's loyal to his side, and I'm loyal to my side?"
Fred: "I mean you keep wanting to blow each other up."
Hank: "Whose side are you on?"
Fred: "i'm on the side of survival. Whose to gain if we kill each other?"

Watch The Skies! -- Fred's little epilogue echoes the messages of many sci-fi movies from the 50s. We have to stop our petty squabbling and stand together to face the aliens. As Fred flies the saucer to Geneva, he says: "You know, when the world sees this ship, they'll realize there are other intelligent beings out there in the universe. And that we'll have to meet them one day. All the nations of this earth better be ready to stand together" Amen, says jack.

Bottom line? TBS is actually a pretty entertaining tale, and one solidly in the classic sci-fi orbit. Fans of 50s B movies about flying saucers will feel right at home. The special effects are modest, but adequate. The saucer set was also modest, but workable. At least there wasn't any WWII surplus electronics in there. TBS is a bit obscure, but worth checking out.

The Destructors

Harold Goldman produced a string of low-budget B sci-fi in the mid 60s. The Destructors (TD) has only a very weak connection to sci-fi, in that In essence, TD is spy/crime story with something sci-fi-ish is the MacGuffin. In this case, a super laser which could be "the ultimate weapon." Such a plot structure had been common in B sci-fi for decades. From the two-color posters, it would seem that TD was given a modest theatrical release -- perhaps as drive-in fodder. The television market seems the more likely target.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Three saboteurs cut power to an optical plant, then pose as power company repair men to gain entry. Inside, they steal a tray of special "laser rubies". One of them, Hans, is shot during their escape. The National Intelligence Agency is called in. Looks like a routine crime, but agent Dan Street (Richard Egan) has a hunch it was more. Hans used to work for Electrosphere Ccrp., who happen to be working on a super laser that uses those rubies. The director, Dr. Frazer is full of hubris about how securely his plant is guarded. (Flash to the dark side) Count Romano (Michael Aransa) is the leader of the thieves. He was to sell the rubies to an asian double agent, but ups his price. He has more in mind. Meanwhile, Street finds the wife of dead Hans. Stassa is a go go dancer, but her back story is that she was a child prostitute to feed her dead beat parents, then became the "kept woman" of Hans, and now is the kept woman of Romano. She's on thin ice for having a relationship with Dutch, one of Romano's henchmen. Dutch is a Korean war hero, disgraced by accusations of revealing secrets under torture. Street figures out that they plan to use garbage trucks to get into Electrosphere's plant. Dutch eventually tells Street this after a couple fist fights. Security is tightened, but Romano has a different plan. He and his men scuba dive through a cooling water intake, right into the boiler room. From there, they gas guards, get their keys and enter the laser lab. Once inside, they photograph the laser assembly. Street thinks something is up, so he and agent Wayne swim in too. They intercept the crooks. Gunfire and fist fights erupt. Dutch saves Street from being shot by Romano by taking the bullet. Before he dies, he gasps about not being a traitor. Romano, Stassa and others are rounded up by the police. Street goes home to his ex-wife. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Seeing the essence of James Bond rendered in such a low-budget way, has its amusements. It wasn't supposed to be amusing, but it was.

Cold War Angle
There is a rather direct analogy in the super laser being "the ultimate weapon" -- much as nukes were regarded. And, in the Cold War ethos, the bad guys want to have one too. Spies and intrigue and sabotage for all!

Notes
Sci-fi Family -- The team of Goldman as producer and Arthur C. Pierce, as writer, brought us a string of not-too-bad B sci-fi during mid 60s. The team created: The Human Duplicators ('65), Mutiny in Outer Space ('65), Cyborg 2087 ('66), Dimension 5 ('66) and Women of the Prehistoric Planet ('66). All of the above, with the exception of Dim5, were more typical sci-fi fare. Dim5 was more like TD in being essentially a crime and secret agent story that just happened to have a bit of something usually found in sci-fi movies.

Budget Bond -- The character of Dan Street is written as if he were a suave swinging single like James Bond. He talks of womanizing exploits and all the pretty young secretaries in headquarters greet him eagerly. But, Richard Egan just looks old, tired and dumpy. The Bond formula was popular, but not attempts at it succeeded. There are several similarities between TD and The Ambushers ('67). Pseudo-suave secret agent, semi-wife, vile villain who plots to steal some sci-fi MacGuffin to sell to shadowy buyers, etc. etc. Except that Ambushers knew it was parody.

2D People, Except 1 -- All of the characters in Pierce's script are essentially two-dimensional stereotypes from dozens of similar movies. The "suave" womanizer secret agent. The cruel evil villain. The evil henchmen. The "good" woman representing civilized virtue. The fallen hero who atones for his crime by sacrificing himself in the end, etc. etc. The only character who had any depth was Stassa. She came from a rough and abusive childhood. She survived on her own by working her way up the sugar-daddy ladder until she got to Count Romano. Yet, she wasn't so jaded as to not still desire a real relationship based on love, not money. She saw this in Dutch (the fallen hero). But when it came down to brass tacks, she chose being Romano's babe over Dutch's poor girlfriend. Yet, even in the end (arrested), she lamented her choice.

Bottom line? TD is a low-budget poor paraphrase of the James Bond formula. Other than a super laser (which does nothing beyond vaporize a target truck), there is no sci-fi to the movie. The acting is adequate most of the time. Stiff at others. The story would be the same if the crooks were trying to steal a secret formula or secret code machine. Fans of shallow spy thrillers may find enough to like. Fans of sci-fi, with saucers and aliens, or monsters, will likely by bored or angry.

Mission Mars

A small production company's effort at science fiction, Mission Mars (MM) is an anachronism. It is a late 50s movie in almost every way, yet shot in 1967, released in the summer of '68. If it weren't for being shot in color, and the groovy electronic keyboard score, MM would be totally at home as a B-movie from the late 50s. The existence of posters tell of at least a limited theatrical release, but much about the film suggests that television was it's intended market. Darren McGavin stars. Nick Adams co-stars.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Edith wakes from a bad dream about astronauts lost in space. Her astronaut husband Mike (McGavin) comforts her. He blasts off for Mars in the morning. They go for a romantic frolic on the beach beforehand. She wants to have a baby. Nick, the mission geologist, has a troubled relationship with his wife Alice. He's a pioneer. She wants stability. He promises this will be his last mission (so viewers know he's doomed). Duncan, the navigator, is single, therefore expendable. Eventually, they blast off in a flurry of stock NASA footage. They dock up with their supply ship and head for Mars. The trip is long and dull, so is filled with exposition about Mars factoids. Mike and Duncan eat reconstituted omelets. Nick eats a smuggled pastrami sandwich. They come across the bodies of two lost Russian cosmonauts floating in space. Where is the third? Once finally at the planet, they descend to land, but must eject the supply module prematurely. They don their space suits and go find the errant supply module, leaving a trail of tethered balloons to mark their path back. Nick stumbles upon the body of the third Russian, frozen stiff. Nick takes him back to the ship. Mike and Duncan find the supply module, but it has a hole burned in its side by someone or something. Their trail of marker balloons are gone. As they approach their ship, a strange creature appears. it flashes Duncan and Mike in the eyes. Nick blasts it with his laser rifle. A bunch of the Polarites appear and attack them with more light bursts and heat. The three get into their ship. They can't take off, for some reason. Ground control suggests they get more boosters from the supply pod. Mike and Duncan do this while the sentry Polarite is asleep in a shadow. (they use solar power, you see) A twelve foot diameter sphere appears near the ship. Duncan goes to check it out, but Polarites attack him, burning him to death. The sphere pulls his body inside itself. The sphere speaks to Mike, saying that it wants one of them alive. The Russian thaws out (alive!) and tells them the sphere is solar powered too. They can't wait for the Martian night, so Nick volunteers to out and shoot the center of the sphere. He senses his next great adventure, so opts to go inside instead. The sphere blows up. (?) Mike and the Russian manage to blast off in the ship. En route home, Edith tells Mike he's going to be a father. Smiles and laughter all around. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Released in the same year as Kubrik's techno-masterpiece, 2001, MM is a techno-throwback to the way B movies were made in the 50s. Model landscapes, wet suits as space suits, open motorcycle helmets, model aliens and lots and lots of stock footage. For fans of 50s style, MM isn't cheesy, it's fun!

Cold War Angle
This is only faintly present as back story. The Russians and Americans are 'racing' to be the first on Mars. The Russians lost, but maybe won? The fact that one American and one Russian survive to return is a subtle reconciliation message.

Notes
The Okay Stuff -- Fully half of MM is taken up with the human drama of astronauts and their wives and whether they have the mettle for such boldly going where no man has gone before. This sort of NASA drama was very much in vogue in mid 60s "realistic" space fictions. (Countdown was an example of this in '68 as well). Yet, this part of the movie is its weakest -- establishing that all involved had, if not the Right Stuff, some Okay Stuff.

Red Shirts Alert -- Seasoned movie viewer were handed easy clues early on that the characters of Duncan and Nick were not going to survive. Duncan brags that he's a bachelor, so viewers know he's doomed. He's expendable. He might as well have been wearing a red shirt. Viewers know that Nick is doomed before he starts when he promises Alice that he's coming back and that this will be his last mission. He might as well have put ON a red shirt right then.

NASA Stock -- Much use is made of stock footage from NASA. Several programs' clips are used indiscriminately. Most, but not all, are of various Apollo missions: Gantry shots, launch shots, ground crew shots. A set that gets frequent use, is footage of the AS-203 mission. This was an early Apollo effort, but the rocket (with the big white nose cone), carried no astronauts or even craft. It was a test of the Saturn 1B rocket's ability to cold-start in space.

Multi-Multi-Stage -- Note the heavy use and re-use of the NASA footage of a booster stage being jettisoned. This footage was used for that same step in Mars-1's lift-off, but was used again, run backwards, for the docking of the ship with the supply module. It was run forwards again for the ejection of the supply module. It was then run backwards again as part of the landing-on-Mars sequence. Director Nicholas Webster got his mileage out of that clip.

Breathing Room -- Modern viewers scoff at the unsealed helmets the astronauts wear. These were fairly common in the 50s, before the Mariner 4 probe determined that Mars had too thin of atmosphere for men to breathe, and too little oxygen. According to the director's son, Lance, who acted as a gopher on the set (this from imdb), the original prop helmets were sealed, but not to McGavin's liking. (Being a bit tight for his prominent nose). New (motorcycle) helmets with partial shields were made up. Some text was added to the script suggesting that Mars had marginally breathable air, only needed supplemental oxygen. Viola! Nose, script and props harmonized.

Artsy Effort -- Webster was experienced in television production, but had done only a few movies prior to MM. One of them was the tragically annoying Santa Claus Conquers the Martians ('64) Yet, Webster showed he had an artistic side. Note is use of multiple fast cuts and overlays of sound. He used rapid video montages to help perk up the dogged pace of the script. In this, one can see the seeds of "modern" television of the 80s and 90s before the restless-cam fad took over.

Cross Marketing Music -- Decca Records tried to pump a little music sales by getting the single "No More Tears" by the group, Forum Quorum, grafted in as the title theme. The tune is pure 60s pop rock ballad-style fare, but has nothing to do with the film. The movie did not appear to "rocket" the single up the charts. "No More Tears" failed to make the top 100. Of course, it was up against the likes of The Beatles' "Hey Jude", Simon and Garfunkle's "Mrs. Robinson", and The Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash".

Bottom line? MM is fun stuff for fans of the old low-budget films, such as Angry Red Planet ('60) or Missile to the Moon ('59), etc. If those sorts of films annoy you, or if 60s-style jazzy electric keyboard music annoys you, you should avoid MM. If, however, you enjoyed old films like Catwomen of the Moon ('53) or Fire Maidens from Outer Space ('56), then MM will feel comfortably familiar and even a bit cerebral in comparison.

Thunderbird 6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Omegans

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Countdown

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Power

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Voyage to the Planet of the Prehistoric Women

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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