1976

Jimmy Carter wins the presidency and discovers that Americans aren’t optimistic anymore. Had Carter watched 70s sci-fi, he would have known. For years, viewers have wallowed in dystopia, post-apocalyptic ruin and environmental doom. Malaise was as chipper as they could muster.

Below is a list of the sci-fi films of 1976, in roughly chronological order.

Doomwatch — Based on a British environmental-angst TV series, a team investigate islanders deformed from a toxic spill.

Track of the Moon Beast — A geologist is struck by a tiny meteorite. He turns into a killer Moon Beast at each full moon. He must be stopped before he kills again AND explodes.

Time Travelers — Yet another version of Irwin Allen’s concept. Doctors must travel back pre-fire Chicago for a plague cure.

Embryo — A Frankenstein variant. Doctor creates a beautiful woman from a fetus, but she must have fetal hormones to stay alive.

Food of the Gods — Bert. I. Gordon’s giant rats besiege people in a mountain cabin. Based on a segment of H.G.Wells’ novel.

Logan’s Run — Future dystopia where anyone over 30 is euthanized. Logan tries to find The Sanctuary outside the city dome.

The Ultimate Warrior — Yul Brynner is a hired mercenary to get a pregnant woman out of a post-apocalyptic city rife with starvation and gang warfare.

The Man Who Fell to Earth — David Bowie stars as semi-helpless alien who came to earth to save his dying race. He is discovered and subjected to medical tests.

At the Earth’s Core — Yet another Verne variant. Two men burrow to earth’s core to find (surprise!) dinosaurs and scantily-clad women.

Furtureworld — Sequel to Westworld. Reporters uncover a plot to replace world leaders with bio-bot doubles.

Futureworld

The sequel to Westworld (’73), Futureworld (FW) tried to be more ambitious in scope. FW is somewhere between a Type 1 and Type 2 Sequel, in that it continues the timeline from the first film, but almost amounts to a remake of the original concept. Almost, but not quite. Michael Crichton, writer of the first film, did not create the screenplay for FW. It was written by Mayo Simon and George Schenck. The only character to continue the story is Yul Brynner’s Gunslinger, but this is only in a dream sequence. In reality, it’s an all-new cast. Peter Fonda stars as Chuck Browning, newspaper reporter. He wasn’t in the first film, but is said to be the reporter that broke the WW story. Blythe Danner co-stars as a television reporter and former fling of Chuck’s. Samuel Z. Arkoff is more known for his low-budget work, but FW is a fairly lavish production for an AIP film.

Quick Movie Synopsis
A man named Ron wins a vacation at Delos on a game show. Newspaper reporter Chuck Browning (Fonda) and television reporter Tracy Ballard (Danner) are invited by Delos management to thoroughly check out Delos to prove that all is well. Chuck, however, gets an anonymous tip that something is wrong. They arrive at Delos, with the insufferable hick, Ron (who is obsessed with having sex with robots). Chuck notices that many of the guests are important people in the world. Chuck, Tracy and the insufferable Ron all go to Futureworld. Through various views, it is hinted that the Delos staff are collecting data on the various notables. Chuck and Tracy sneak out at night to snoop. They inadvertently activate a materializer (?) that creates four samurai. These chase Chuck and Terry, but eventually, all four are “killed”. They find Harry (Stuart Margolin) in the wet basements where robots are not allowed. They ask Harry about Frenchy and the secrets, but Dr. Schneider (head Delos scientist) and a security team interrupt. The next day, Duffy (Arthur Hill) shows Chuck and Terry the Delos mind reader/recorder device. They hook up Tracy. She dreams about the Gunslinger pursuing her, saving her from a sinister surgical crew, then much kissing. Later than night, Chuck and Tracy sneak back to Harry, who offers to take them to a secret lab. In that lab, they see their own clones being uploaded all their mental content. The three agree to flee Delos immediately. Duffy tries to stop Chuck, but Tracy shoots him. Duffy was a robot. Harry is killed by Chuck’s clone. Tracy comes face to face with her own clone. One of them is killed. Chuck is chased by his clone. After a protracted struggle, one of the Chuck’s falls from a high catwalk. The two meet later, embrace and kiss. Crossfade to the departure concourse. Chuck and Tracy are asked by a skeptical Dr. Schneider if they had a good visit. Both talk flatteringly of Delos, so are allowed to leave. Just as they get to the doors, the evil clone Tracy drags her bloody self up to Dr. Schneider. Chuck flips off the doctor and the two get happily aboard their plane to freedom. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The trope of takeovers is a classic in sci-fi, so it is fun to see it in action again. The plot has less fast-action than WW, but it has more subtexts to muse over.

Cultural Connection
70s Angst Soup — The 70s were rife with technophobia. The 70s were also a time of rising distrust in authority. Technophobia is as old as the Luddites, of course, but the rise of massive computers tended to strike the public (generally) and maybe not such a good thing. Kubrick’s Hal 9000 and Forbin’s Colossus are prime examples of worries about too-smart machines taking over (or at least trying to). The public was coming to see their government as perhaps more villain than savior. Films like Andromeda Strain (’71) and Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler (’71) and others, catered to that angst that freedom was illusory, as actual control is by some sinister powerful group (government if you’re on the right, big corporations, if you’re on the left). FW combines these very-70s angsts.

Notes
Technophobia -- FW continued the technophobic theme of the first film, complete with foolishly-trusting public who are too eager to embrace (literally) the technology. There is a social commentary in this. The ignorant public can be too willing to accept a massive technology if it promises them something they want. Nevermind anything noble like food to feed the poor, or robots to take over the menial work. Sex. That's what the public want. With that bait on the hook, the public willingly bite. The robots (in this case, the staff of Delos) go about replacing humans.

Dangers of Cloning -- Where even the advanced model robots, "the 700s" were still electro-mechanical, the real breakthrough was bio-engineering. The duplicates were crafted from biological material, fashioned to look and sound just like their human model. They even got their human model's mind contents uploaded via the brain scanner (dream machine). They are identical, except for the independent free will (to rebel against their master, Dr. Schneider.) This subtext is closely akin to the classic angst in Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('56) -- personable free humans being replaced by look-alike drones.

R.U.R. Revisited -- The biologically manufactured humans is a trope that goes back to 1920. That was when Karel Capek wrote his play: "R.U.R. Rossum's Universal Robots". This, by the way, is where the world got the word "robot." Capek's manufactured worker drones were made of synthetic organic material -- not electro-mechanical men. With the Delos plan to replace humans with the bio-copies, there is even a bit of Capek's story thread -- that humans eventually dwindle away, replaced with the bio-bots.

Pointless Materializing? -- There is an odd plot jump half way through the film. When Chuck and Tracy are snooping around, they manage to turn on a machine which makes four samurai robots (the mechanical kind) materialize inside a chamber. This was all very Star Trek-like, but a strange non sequetur. Everywhere else, the robots are being assembled and/or repaired by hand. Wires, transistors, screws, panels. Why bother, if the robots can just be "beamed" into existence so quickly? Perhaps the instant 3D printing method was still in R&D and did not have the kinks worked out yet. After all, the samurai were mindless killing machines. Not good for the guests.

Love Knows -- As with so many humans-being-replaced movies, it is assumed that only the REAL human can show love. This, the writers and audiences like to think, is the one essence of real humanity that cannot be replicated. Somehow, with their big kiss after disptaching their clones, Chuck and Tracy were able to "feel" whatever spark of love from the other as visceral proof that the other was not their clone.

TechnoLonely -- In the Harry Croft character, there is a glimpse of the future of mankind under the reign of the robots. He is a model of the "last man on earth" trope. The world above belongs to the robots. His only companion is a mute 400 Series robot Harry named Clark, which he only has because he salvaged him from a scrap bin and fixed him up -- most of the way. Harry talks to Clark just like he was a human companion, and even feels sad leaving him -- a bit like Tom Hanks lamenting the loss of Wilson.

Bottom line? FW is an "okay" sequel. It is not as simple and action-based as Crichton's original story. The additional subtexts (while interesting), tend to dilute the experience into more of a muddle. There is also very little tension or surprise (we all know the Delos experience will go bad). Only the twist at the end has some power. Who died, the clones or the humans? FW is a passable enough film on its own. It just had a hard time living up to the first film.

At The Earth's Core

This is the middle of three films produced by Amicus Productions in the mid-70s. All were based on Edgar Rice Burroughs novels, and all three starred Doug McClure. The set are more properly classified as fantasy than sci-fi, but this middle film, At The Earth’s Core (AEC) at least featured a steampunk earth-boring machine called The Iron Mole. This techno-wonder is just a device to deliver two Victorian man into a fanciful world of monsters and pretty “prehistoric” women. Doug McClure (more famous for his role in The Virginian television series) stars with the venerable Peter Cushing. Caroline Munro stars as tribal babe and love interest.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Abner Perry (Cushing) and David Innes (McClure) set off to explore the center of the earth in their giant boring machine, The Iron Mole. Very soon after embarking, however, the Mole proves difficult to steer. They avoid magma, but stumble upon an underground sea and prehistoric land with a giant cave. They are chased by a sort of parrot T-Rex until captured by little pig-men with spears. They are added to the pig-men’s other captives, which includes the beautiful Dia (Caroline Munro). Dia escapes. The rest are taken to the city of the Mahars. These are chunky pterodactyl beings who command their pig-men army via telepathy. Most of the captives become worker slaves. Perry is sent to the library to copy cuneiform clay tablets. Some are set aside to be food for the Mahars. David escapes in a moment of chaos. Once outside, he comes across Ra. They fight, until a tentacled plant has Ra. David saves him and they become best buds. David wants to free the slaves from the Mahars. Ra says they’re too strong. He shows David the feeding ritual wherein the Mahars mesmerize their prey (20-something pretty women with glistening cleavage) so they can swoop down and grab them. The eating is mercifully just assumed. David falls from the hiding spot, but the Mahars are all asleep. He crawls to freedom, but return to help the slaves. They are captured by pig-men and brought to an arena. David has to fight a big lizard thing. He manages to kill it, but as a Mahar swoops in to get David, Ra breaks free and kills the Mahar with his chains. The slaves make a rush for freedom. Most are stopped, but David and Perry are reunited. They remerge to find Dia being menaced by Hooja. All are attacked by a fire-breathing frog-thing. Perry kills it with his newly built bow and arrow. David reconciles with Dia by being assertive. They go back and unify the tribes to mount an attack on the Mahars. Perry teaches them all archery. The attack does not go well at first, as the Mahars direct the pig-men to close the fire curtain gate after David and a few get in. Ra manages to find the control room with the gate lever, but dies opening it. The Mahars swoop in to get David and his few tribesmen. Reinforcements arrive just in time to shoot arrows into the swooping Mahars. The city starts to explode, so everyone rushes back outside. Fast forward. David and Perry, now all cleaned up, prepare to take the Iron Mole back to the surface. David wants Dia to come with him as his wife. She loves him, but cannot leave her people (she’s a princess). Sad David leaves with Perry. The Iron Mole comes up in the White House lawn. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The rubber suit monsters have a nostalgic charm, giving the film a very 50s feel. While the budget cannot live up to the story’s ambitions, the story itself shines through to keep interest up. Of course, the revealingly-clad prehistoric women add visual appeal.

Cultural Connection
Rubber Suit Monsters — The movie Godzilla in 1954, introduced audiences to the man-in-a-rubber-suit monster. At first, it was fairly effective as a technique. Toho Studios would produce many, and have many imitators (often of much lower production values). Toho themselves devalued the technique down to cheesy levels by creating so many rubber suit monsters themselves. Only the very young in a 70s audience would still have the suspension of disbelief to simply accept the monster for what it pretended to be. The advent of the Star Wars era, just a couple months after the last of the three Amicas ERB films hit theaters, spelled doom from the old school approach. People still accepted wacky monsters played by men in rubber suits, but the fashion was for them to be aliens in galaxies far far away.

Notes
Based on the Book — Edgar Rice Burroughs published the story “At the Earth’s Core” in 1914, as a four part serial. It was pretty much a solid ERB tale, with monsters and villains to fight and a beautiful princess to defend and win the heart of. AEC follows the book reasonably closely for the story line. There was no way Amicus Productions limited budget could have done ERB’s fanciful monsters justice, of course. The ending of the film deviates from that of the book. In the novel, Dian did not return with David to the surface because of a trick by Hooja. It was not because she had to stay with her people. The book leaves open the possibility of a sequel when he goes back for her Orpheus in the Underworld-like.

Retro Sandwich — AEC was the second of three films by Amicus, based on ERB’s prehistoric fantasy stories. The first of the trilogy was The Land Time Forgot (’75). Then AEC in ’76. Finally The People That Time Forgot (’77). All three featured Doug McClure.

How To Treat A Woman — An amusing leftover bit of ERB’s man’s man world view, lingers in the story thread of David insulting Dia. When Hooja made rude advances towards Dia, David smacked him down. But, David did NOT then claim Dia as his justly-won property, thereby insulting her and making her unfit to be anyone’s mate — except for Jubal the Ugly One, who did not seem to care. To resolve her feeling insulted, Perry tells David to “be strong and masterful.” So, David spins her around by the shoulder and orders her to sit down and listen to him. Once he had pushed her around, all was well. She was all smiles and eager to rest her head on his semi-bare chest. That’s how ya have to treat wimin. Show ‘em who’s boss. This is a surprising carryover from older days, given it was a mid-70s film.

Bottom line? AEC is marginal as sci-fi. It does have a bit of steampunk with the Iron Mole, but this gets little screen time. The rest is pure fantasy genre. 20 years after Godzilla introduced audiences to the rubber suit monster, the technique was pretty lame. People weaned on CGI in the post-StarWars era may have a hard time looking past such low-rent FX. Fans of the older style of movie story telling may be able to look past all that, and just enjoy a good adventure story. —

The Man Who Fell To Earth

The last sci-fi film to review for the year 1976 was the enigmatic The Man Who Fell To Earth (MWFE). Released in May of 1976, this was the big film role for equally enigmatic signer/song-writer David Bowie. Paul Mayersberg created the screenplay, based on Walter Tevis’ 1963 novel of the same name. “Art” director Nicolas Roeg crafted the visuals. Between Mayersberg and Roeg, the film takes Tevis’ premise and puts a thoroughly 70s spin on it. An alien comes to earth from his dying world, but earth corrupts him.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Note: Roeg uses a rather non-linear style, with many intercuts and overlaps. This is a reassembled synopsis.
After a splash in a mountain lake, a lone man stumbles into a small town. He pawns some gold rings to raise cash. With the cash, he hires a patent attorney, Oliver Farnsworth. The alien, Thomas Jerome Newton (Bowie) has several advanced concepts which Farnsworth patents. The result are many revolutionary consumer products, such as an instant (digital?) camera, and modular music (mp3) player. Newton’s World Enterprises business makes him a multimillionaire. He applies his millions to a space vehicle project, employing Nathan Bryce (Rip Torn) a bored and philandering college professor to be his fuel scientist. The fragmented and suggested backstory is the Newton came from another planet that is suffering from massive drought. His plan is to either take water to his planet, or bring his family (wife and two children) to earth. While in the remote wilds of New Mexico (the rocket base location), he crosses paths with Mary-Lou. She falls in love with him. He (as a married alien) is intrigued with her. They begin a dysfunctional relationship (she drinks too much, he doesn’t care enough). He eventually reveals his true alien-ness to Mary-Lou, who freaks out. She gets over it, though it does not salvage what relationship they had. Shadowy forces (government and/or competitor businesses) bribe Newton’s driver to arrange for Newton’s capture. Doctors perform all sorts of pointless tests and procedures on Newton. Shadowy thugs kill Farnsworth. While in captivity, Newton’s space project falls into disrepute and is scuttled. Many years later, Mary-Lou and Bryce get together. Bryce tracks down the elusive Newton based on clues in a record album Newton recorded. He finds Newton, still rich, but doing nothing beyond drowning his despair. He’s stuck on earth, never getting back. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
MWFE is actually a fairly disturbing film, rather than fun. Yet there are still snippets of interest. The premise can be thought-provoking.

Cultural Connection
Generation X — MWFE captures some of the mood of “Generation X” before concept was in popular circulation. Gen Xers, born between 1964 and 1980 (dates vary depending on authors), were the latchkey kids. They grew up on TV, often because their working parents (Baby Boomers) let their careers come first. Generalized to be loners, skeptical, cynical and prone to despondency (as opposed to hopeful), Gen X kids were more prone to solitary video games than playing outside in the dirt. Disaffected Gen X youth fueled punk rock rebelliousness, but were also prone to become solitary entrepreneurs. They inherited their Baby Boom parents “free” approach to sex, drugs and rock-and-roll, but lacked the easily identified target of rebellion their parents had. MWFE is a Gen X film with Newton as the tragic Gen-X archetype.

Notes
Based on the Book — In 1963, Walter Tevis published a sci-fi novel about an alien who comes to earth, seeking to save his people. The movie follows the book, in some details, and in some general ways, but with some notable modernizations. In the book, Newton’s home world, Anthea, suffered many nuclear wars which produced a planetary drought that has killed off most of the inhabitants. Book Newton wants to build a rocket to bring the remaining Antheans to Earth. In the movie, Newton’s world (never named) is just a desert. No mention made of nuclear wars. Movie Newton’s goal is never made clear. He may be trying to take water to his planet, or ferry his family to earth. The book takes place in Kentucky, with the female lead being Betty-Jo, not Mary-Lou in New Mexico. The undefined shadowy figures of the movie are the CIA and FBI in the book. In the book, Newton tries to be a savior to both his people and Earth — by preventing nuclear war, via their super-intelligence. Both book and film end with Newton failing in his mission as savior. The book was more flagrantly partisan, in that the “scandal” over Newton, Democrats lose power to Republicans, who it is presumed, will push Earth into the nuclear apocalypse. The film did not dabble in politics. Newton just failed to save his family.

Reverse Abduction — An interesting twist on the tired alien-abduction trope, has earthlings “abducting” the alien and subjecting him to all sorts of vague and terrible medical procedures. (why was everyone so fascinated with Bowie’s nipples?) The alien is released from abduction, but no one will believe his story. He is alone with his experience.

Failed Savior — As a sort of noir flip-side of the Klaatu motif, Newton “falls” to earth, originally to save the people of his dying world (this also being an old trope). IN the book, he is simultaneously trying to save earthlings from nuking ourselves. Instead of standing strong, like Klaatu, he succumbs to earth vices (mostly gin, sex and television) and loses his motivation to do much more than be pitiful. In MWFE, the alien is neither hero, nor villain. He becomes a victim.

Art-Porn — Roeg has a reputation for artsy directing, but his overuse of naked bodies and exaggerated fake sex often strays over the line of artistic statement, to budget porn. When the naked/sex is there, pretty much just for the sake of having it there, it’s more porn than art. The final fling between Newton and Mary-Lou, with the bizarre chrome pistol prop tries to be more artsy than porn, though given both character’s development (estrangement), a gleeful hedonist fling with odd toys doesn’t fit. As art-porn, it didn’t have to fit.

They’re After Our Women — As with the classic old trope, the alien takes up with a pretty earth girl. Mary-Lou is attractive, if not particularly deep. Newton keeps her, rather than falls in love with her (in classic Gen X form), but as with many other sci-fi films in which the alien male wants (or “has”) the earth female, it is just assumed that the “mechanics” would be identical (enough). Learning English and earth customs from television is plausible, but functional sex? Pretty thin ice. Note too, that between Mayersberg’s script and Roeg’s direction, women come off pretty badly. They’re either shallow bumpkins, or “letcherous little girls”.  No noble "modern" women here.

Bottom line? MWFE is a complicated film with noir tendencies. It has it’s ardent fans. It has it’s harsh critics. The film benefits from the viewer knowing the story in the book. The film’s story can be seen as a sort of film-poem about Gen X, for whom the world was too-much-TV, cheap/easy sex, and too much booze. Also, subtly about the loneliness and despair, even in victory (Newton was amazingly wealthy, but never happy). As a sci-fi film, there are snippets of aliens on another world, but these stay fragmented and distant. MWFE isn’t for everyone. Given the frequent nudity and fake sex, it’s not a good choice for work or family night. Viewers who dislike non-linear art films, will likely be annoyed. Still, some rave about the film.

The Ultimate Warrior

The 70s appetite for post-apocalyptic tales rolled on with the American release of The Ultimate Warrior (TUW) in late June of 1976. The story is not really “science” fiction, as much as it belongs in the post-apocalyptic genre. Yet, this genre often included sci-fi stories, so the two are popularly associated. Yul Brynner stars as a freelance “warrior” amid the tribal societies of a post-apocalyptic New York City. Max von Sydow stars as “The Baron”, leader of one of the tribes. William Smith stars as “Carrot”, leader of a ruthless rival tribe. Robert Clouse, famous as the director of martial arts films such as, Enter The Dragon, wrote the story as well as directed. Taking place in far off 2012, Clouse imagined things could get really bad in 40 years.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Text on screen: New York, 2012 A.D. Still images paint a picture of ruin and desolation. In the city, there is a compound, fortified with junk ramparts, in which a remnant of civilized mankind lives. They call their leader: The Baron. They are puzzled by a man who just stands in front of the library, for days, in a meditative trance. Convinced that the man is the warrior he needs, The Baron makes him an offer of food, lodging, freedom and cigars. The cigars get Carson’s attention. They have a deal. The Baron’s son-in-law, Cal, has gardens on the rooftops. He is growing food plants that are immune to the plague that decimated the earth decades ago. The Baron’s real plan is not just to have Carson be their warrior. He wants Carson to take his pregnant daughter, Melinda and Cal out of the city via subway tunnels, to go live on an idyllic island off the North Carolina coast. Civility within the compound is breaking down. People accuse each other of secretly hoarding food and not sharing. One shrew of a woman ventures out beyond the gates, assuming that she knows where some powdered milk is hidden. Members of the rival (and criminal) gang, led by a read-headed man named Carrot, catch the couple in the bakery and kill them. They use the baby as bait to lure more out in attempted rescue. Carson goes out and kicks a lot of butt, but the baby was dead. Carson’s men sneak up to the roof gardens at night via ladders. In the fighting, Cal is killed, as are many of Carrot’s men. This attack moves up The Baron’s timetable. He sends Carson and Melinda off through the tunnels. The rest of the people see this and turn on the Baron, accused of hiding food. He is killed by his own people. Meanwhile, Carrot’s men also know that Carson and Melinda are on the run. They want the seeds, so track and follow them through the tunnels. Carson defeats a few, but Melinda goes into labor. He helps deliver the baby boy, just in time for Carrot and his gang to arrive. There is more fighting. Carson keeps an upper hand, so Carrot’s men all run away. Carrot and Carson go mano a mano. Carrot wields a steel ball on a cable, like a mace. Eventually, Carson grabs it and they struggle. Carrot falls down an access shaft and hangs by the cable twisted around Carson’s wrist. Carson tries to cut the cable with an axe, but cannot. So, he pulls it up a bit, and chops off his own hand. Carrot falls to his death. Carson sticks his stump into a torch flame to cauterize the wound. He and Melinda keep traveling, eventually seeing an island off the coast. Freeze frame, The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Seeing the civilized world we like to assume is permanent, in a state of abandon and decay, has a curious fascination. The trope isn’t new, by any means, but TUW presents it an understated stage. Yul Brynner does a good job as Carson, giving the usual stoic hero a bit more human depth. Max von Sydow does a good job as The Baron, the world-weary (yet resolutely hopeful) leader of a decaying society.

Cultural Connection
TEOTWAWKI — Exploring the notion of The End Of The World As We Know It, has shown up periodically in books since the early 1800s, and later in movies. Writers and audiences had a sinking feeling (every now and then) that the civilization to which people had grown accustomed to might fail. Then what would people do? In the industrializing era of the 19th century, teotwawki fiction did not get a lot of traction. Mankind just seemed to be solving problems left and right. How could civilization not just keep getting better and better (meliorism). Still, the occasional prophet in the wilderness asked the question: what if? With the advent of the nuclear era, the prospect of comfy civilization crumbling looked a lot more plausible. When the late 60s-early 70s added angst over pollution and overpopulation, people had even more reasons to picture teotwawki. The end of civilization was taking on more of a "when" than "if" quality.

Notes
A Tale of Two Tribes — Mankind is shown as reduced and polarized into two social groups. The Baron’s group represent the leftover civility, if not quite the “goodness”. Carrot’s group clearly represents the consortium of badness. To underscore this, Clouse has their headquarters be a prison block. Between the two tribal camps were the “street people” — unorganized feral humans who preyed on the weak or the stray.

BioHazard — Just what crashed civilization is not given much ink in the script. Clearly, why civilization fell was not crucial. That it did, is a given. Mankind must deal with it. A few lines of dialogue explain that there was a plague which not only affected people (in the subway tunnels are skeletons wearing gas masks), but more importantly, the plague killed the world’s food crops. Those who did not die of plague, or starved to death, were reduced to scavengers of whatever food existed before the plague. TUW shares this food-doom theme with No Blade of Grass (’70). This was a background them in Silent Running (’72) and Soylent Green (’73). The 70s was a time of food angst.

Taint of Doom — Within The Baron’s group, can be seen the legacy problems that plagued mankind since Cain slew Abel. They cling to hope, and try to maintain some semblance of order, but the fallen nature of humanity shows through the widening cracks. Shortages lead to jealousies and suspicions. Tempers are short. One man, a sort of Judas character, steals a tomato (forbidden fruit) and plants it in another man’s hut. The framed man gets no support from his neighbors, hinting at offstage tensions or rivalries. When The Baron arranges the escape of Carson and Melinda, the people turn on The Baron. They accuse him of taking food, or even simply the crime of having food he had not shared. In a jealous rage, the mob kills The Baron. Only The Baron’s lieutenant seems to realize afterward how they had suddenly decayed into a savage mob, ala The Lord of the Flies.

Symbolic Hope —The Baron saw the decay of his group growing. That is why he recruited Carson. It wasn’t to protect the group from Carrot’s gang, although he did do some of this. The Baron saw the only hope for the survival of civilized man, was to once again become producers of food, not scavengers. Symbolic of that hope is the bag of seeds which Cal had grown. Also symbolic is the unborn child within Melinda. The fabled island off North Carolina is a neo-Promised-Land where mankind can start over. Carson and Melinda, while never cast as a romantic pair, become a sort of Adam and Eve with their Garden sanctuary off the coast.

Why “Ultimate” Warrior? — In the usual melodrama formula, an “ultimate” warrior would be a Schwartzeneger type who defeats all enemies. Here, though, the “ultimate” describes Carson’s role as the archetypal heroic MAN. He cares for and protects the maternal figure (Melinda). With the seeds, he prefigures his role as homesteader/provider. He delivers a baby! He was even willing to sacrifice his own hand to insure the micro-family would be safe from evil. Yes, he battles all the baddies, but all that in protection of the micro-family. This is ultra-manhood, not mere machismo.

Which Wrist? — A viewer might ask (and has) why Carson did not cut off Carrot’s hand instead of his own. There are a few problems with this “obviously” better plan. One, Carson may not have had the strength left, after all those fights, to pull heavy Carrot up high enough. Second, is that Carrot would not have simply held still enough for Carson to make the chop, which leads to: Third, to have his cable-gripped hand within range of the axe, would put the axe within range of Carrot’s free hand. To swing at Carrot’s wrist was to risk Carrot grabbing the axe and pulling Carson down too. Fourth, is that pulling Carrot up high enough to chop his wrist, would put Carrot's free hand within grabbing distance of the edge of the hole. No, it was no sloppy mistake by the scriptwriter. Carson had to sacrifice his own wrist to avoid the risk of Carrot getting out.

We’re Not in New York Anymore, Toto — Even though the story takes place in the ruins of New York City, the filming was actually done in California, mostly on sound stages and back lot generic “city” sets. The only visuals to place the action in New York, are still photos at the beginning and end. It interesting to see in the beginning montage, that the Twin Towers were still standing in “2012”. Of course, who in 1975 would have guessed what 2001 would bring?

Bottom line? TUW is an interesting post-apocalyptic tale that predates the more famous Mad Max series. There are several tangents to muse upon. The acting is convincing, the sets bleak and the cinematography reasonably good. Fans of Clouse for his martial arts and fight scenes may be disappointed, as fighting is not the focal point. Fans of post-apocalyptic tales can enjoy the usual stories of bravery and survivorship. TUW is not well known, but worth the time to watch.

Logan's Run

MGM released in the summer of 1976, a major sci-fi film: Logan’s Run (LR). It was an A-grade effort and might have been seen as the landmark film for the 70s, had not Star Wars eclipsed it. LR is dystopia and youth-centrism and mod sets/locations, long hair for guys, feathery big hair for the girls. LR is still the pinnacle of 70s sci-fi in many ways that a galaxy far far away is not. Michael York stars as Logan 5. Jennifer Agutter stars as Jessica 6. Peter Ustinov stars as The Old Man. Watch for Farrah Fawcett in a minor role as the lovely medical assistant.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Text on screen sets up the story. “Sometime in the 23rd century, the survivors of war, overpopulation and pollution are living in a great domed city, sealed away from the forgotten world outside. Here, in an ecologically balanced world, mankind lives only for pleasure, freed by the servo-mechanisms which provide everything. There’s just one catch: Life must end at thirty unless reborn in the fiery ritual of carrousel.” Logan 5 is a Sandman. His job is to track down “runners” — people who turned 30, but do not report for fiery death in the carrousel ritual. He and his co-worker, Francis 7, run down and kill a man who skipped the last ritual. Logan meets Jessica 6, who refuses his advances. Later at Sandman HQ, Logan turns in the personal effects of the runner they terminated. This includes a metal Ankh. The computer (that runs the city) gives Logan a special assignment, to find Sanctuary (where the thousand or so escaped runners are supposed to have gotten to.) By avoiding Logan’s questions about carrousel, he figures out that no one gets “renewed”. Everyone dies at 30. The computer advances his LifeClock (crystal in his left palm) such that it’s now Logan’s LastDay. He must become a runner. Logan seeks out Jessica (since she wears an Ankh). She and her underground railroad friends do not trust Logan and plan to kill him. Logan spares a runner, which wins over Jessica. They continue to escape the city, but are pursued by Francis 7, who thinks Logan is a real runner. Logan and Jessica get out of the city via an elevator to a frozen series of tunnels and chambers. There they meet Box, a robot whose job was to freeze-preserve food. Box has suffered a programming error and frozen/preserved those 1059 runners. None had really escaped. Logan fights Box and wins. He and Jessica escape amid mild cave-ins. They emerge outdoors to see a sunrise, but have no idea what the sun is. They follow a ruined highway to a forest-overgrown Washington DC. In the vine-entangled Senate chamber, they meet The Old Man. He is a kindly, but dottery old man who doesn’t know much. He’s seen no other people for many years, and knows nothing of Sanctuary. Francis followed them there. He and Logan fight to the death, which means Francis’. Logan decides that since there is no Sanctuary, they must return to the domed city and liberate everyone from the fiery doom. They take The Old Man with them, but he can’t swim through the seawater intake ports, so just waits. Inside the city, the people won’t listen to Logan or Jessica. They are captured by Sandmen. The computer interrogates Logan. When his holographic ‘surrogate’ (truth serum-ish) says there is no Sanctuary, the computer suffers a system collapse. In the mayhem of sparks, Logan and Jessica escape. The city starts to explode and burn. People scream and flee. Finally, a wave of young refugees come across The Old Man, fascinated by his white hair and beard. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
LR is fun on a few different levels. For one, the look and feel as so totally 70s. Even the themes are clearly the spawn of 70s points-of-view. Then too, there are many metaphors and analogies which give the story much depth as a social commentary. Add to all that, the performances of York and Agutter are fine. Agutter is particularly easy on the eyes. Ustinov is amusing.

Cultural Connection
The Cult of Youth — Nolan’s story was written back in the mid 60s when America was experiencing a massive shift into the worship of youth. “Don’t trust anyone over 30.” Films like Wild in the Streets (’68) and Gassss (’70) were based on the same premise that only the young would somehow be left to rule the world. Old people would be banished or eliminated. Thus was the arrogance of youth given expression in film. If they ruled the world…it wouldn’t actually be any better. Youthful utopia is never attained.

Notes
Based on the Book — William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson wrote the novel “Logan’s Run” in 1967. There were plans to produce a movie shortly afterward, though this ran into delays. They penned a script which followed their book, but the producers balked at the projected expenses. The book’s scenes would have required several expensive sets (such as the colony on Mars segment). David Zelag Goodman's screenplay made several revisions, while maintaining the basic premise. In the book, people were terminated when they turned 21, not 30. They were terminated in a Sleep Room, which makes the job title of Sandman more of logical. Logan 3 (not 5) still escapes with Jessica 6, but they eventually do find Sanctuary. This happens to be a colony on Mars. Francis, in the book, turns out to be a key leader in the Underground. Goodman's story is different in key features, but may actually be a better story.

Carrousel — As mentioned above, the book had people terminated via a lethal injection in the Sleep Rooms. As the production of LR was delayed, MGM’s Soylent Green was released in ’73. One of its key scenes is lethal injection rooms as the euthanasia solution to population control. So, LR could not have them too, even if Nolan’s novel had them before Soylent Green did. Enter the elaborate “carrousel” ceremony in which the participants and audience are led to believe they “ascend” to some high plane of “renewal” to be reborn later. In reality, they merely rise to the ceiling and explode. The city’s computer knows that there is no renewal, just obliteration as population control. When the computer refuses to answer Logan’s questions about the carrousel ceremony and Renewal, he comes to realize the truth. This is a key scene in Goldman’s story. This is the moment when a mortal man realizes his own mortality. This neatly matches that threshold event in everyone’s lives (usually while a youth or young adult), that they will not live forever, but will die someday.

Metaphorical Trap of Youth — Goodman's story creates a neat metaphor for the idealistic island that the narcissism of youth creates. Inside the domed city, the young enjoy their carefree (and meaningless) existence of eating, socializing, sex and little else. Outside of their bubble is a whole wide world, but they are both uninterested in it, and afraid of it. Continuing with the metaphor, after Logan 5 realizes his mortality, he can no longer remain in the bubble of ignorant bliss. For that matter, none of the inhabitants can remain either. Once they come “of age,” they are destroyed. But, they imagine their existence to be perpetual, via Renewal. This cycle of ignorant bliss becomes a deadly trap. Even when Logan returns to tell them the truth, they refuse it. Only when Logan bursts their bubble (makes the city explode) are they forced out into the real world where they encounter “old age”.

Old Age Through Young Eyes — Some viewers find Peter Ustinov’s Old Man character hammy and overplayed. Instead of the wise old man to teach the neophytes (ala Obi wan Kenobi), he is a dottering old fool who recites pointless lines from a T.S. Elliot book about cats. Apparently, he cannot read (or is selectively ignorant), because despite being surrounded with books, he seems to know almost nothing about the world or place he lives in. He’s kindly, benign but simple and pretty much useless. This would be the youthful view of what old people are like. They’re all dottering old fools, prattling on and on about nothing of importance (to the teen mind). In this, the subtle Youth Rules message is upheld.

Sanctuary Lost — A rather nice double twist in LR is the legendary Sanctuary. The disaffected within the city spread word of its existence, even though no one has seen it. Viewers find out that all of the 1056 runners which had escaped the city, were actually still within it — frozen by malfunctioning Box, the food storage robot. Logan and Jessica were actually the first city people to ever make it out. Logan is disappointed to learn from Old Man, that there is no Sanctuary. That is, in the mystical, magical way he had been imagining it. He sees it as Sanctuary Lost. Unrealized by Logan, he was standing in it. He and Jessica were like a new Adam and Eve, “beloved husband” and “beloved wife” in a lush green world all to themselves. When Logan frees the city’s inhabitants, they all end up finding the real Sanctuary — normal mortal lives in the natural world, not the contrived and managed pseudo-childhood existence they had in the city.

City Planning — Reading between the lines, it appears that the city was built by elders long before, with the massive central computer in charge of everything. To balance incoming resources, the computer creates the age limit and termination plans. The computer itself seems to have accepted the existence of Sanctuary as an absolutely necessary component of its city planning program. Discovering that Sanctuary did not exist causes a total system failure. “Input Contrary.” Why? Perhaps having an opponent “outside” was fundamental to the city’s protection plans. Runners had to be terminated, lest they increase the power of the opponent. The city needed to be protected, lest the outsiders jeopardize the city. Tyrants need an “enemy” to justify their tyranny. Another theory is that somehow Logan's having returned from the outside world is a clue to the computer that the outside is habitable again.  With no more need for the protective bubble, the computer self-destructs. The trouble with this theory is how uncontrolled the computer's meltdown was.

Subtle Technophobia — Woven into the background of LR are subtle technophobia themes. Technophobia was a popular theme in the early 70s, less so by the mid to late 70s. (thus pointing to an early 70s writing of Goldman’s screenplay). Note the deadly tyranny of the Computer. The program says everyone must die at 30, so they do. Note too, the Box character — that semi-comic robot in the ice chambers. It appeared to have originally had a job as a food preserver robot. It kept repeating a chant: “Fish, plankton, sea greens and protein from the sea.” But Box noted that at some point, the sea food supply stopped. That is when the people began to try and escape the city. Box, like the stereotypical computer gone amok (ala Hal), begins to freeze the escapees as if they were the food he was supposed to preserve. Automated systems become the deadly overlords. Classic technophobia.

Early 70s Demons — Another hint that Goldman’s screenplay hails from the early 70s, is the triple bogeymen of Overpopulation, Pollution and War. Somewhat undermining those traditional demons is that the outside world is not toxic. Logan and Jessica frolic in Eden-like forests. The pollution problem was, apparently, not so terrible after all.

Iconic Ruins Trope — Several films play with favorite cultural landmarks in ruins as a commentary on the mortality of even a great nation. Planet of the Apes (’68) was an early major landmark in this trope, with the partially buried Statue of Liberty as the surprise ending. Later films, such as Independence Day (’96) and others, would almost gleefully go around blowing up cherished American landmarks. LR’s portrayal of Washington DC as more-or-less intact but abandoned, is a subtle twist on this trope. It’s not so much that America as “destroyed” as that Americans got lost. Their populist capital was still there “for the people” — the books, the paintings, the governmental chambers — but the culture itself had been destroyed.

Bottom line? LR is one of the big sci-fi films of the 70s. It is a more cerebral film, with many thoughtful tangents to muse over. It should be on the viewing list of any serious sci-fi fan. Younger viewers (born after 1970) need to cut the film some slack for being very 70s in style. Don’t kvetch over hair styles or fashions, or the non-CGI special effects. Get over it and get into the story instead. It’s worth it.

Food of the Gods

Bert I. Gordon started out in the 50s making “big bug” sci-fi films, such as Beginning of the End (’57), Amazing Colossal Man (’57) and Earth vs. The Spider (’58) to name but a few. His productivity waned a bit in the 60s, but B.I.G. was not done. Food of the Gods (FotG) was Gorodn’s adaptation of a portion of H.G.Wells’ novel, though Gordon appeared to be trying to ride on Wells' coattails in the promotion of the film. Gordon wrote the screenplay, produced and directed. The scenario was perfect for Gordon’s classic small-things-made-big techniques. Gordon’s adaptation resulted in a story that was almost purely in the horror genre. But, since Wells’ story was sci-fi, this film is worth including in this study. FotG did spawn a remake in 1989, which horror fans feel was superior this film (if only for having better “gore”).

Quick Plot Synopsis
Morgan, a minor league football player and two friends decide to vacation on a Canadian island to relax before a big game. While out horseback riding, Dave rides into the woods alone. There he is attacked by a swarm of giant wasps. Morgan meets Mrs. Skinner. She and her husband (a backwoods couple) found the “food” oozing out of the ground. They fed it the chickens and they grew big. Wasps eat and and grow big. Mr. Skinner gets eaten by giant rats, though no one knows this. Morgan and Brian take dead David back to the mainland. Business man, Mr. Bensington comes to the Skinner farm with his biologist, Lorna, to buy the rights to the food. Morgan and Brian arrive too. A young couple, Thomas and Rita, are introduced but factor in later. Giant rats attack Thomas and Rita in their stuck RV. They run to the house. The rats carry off Lorna. Morgan and Brian save her from the rat hole. Now everyone is trapped in the house. Bensington wants tries to gather jars of the food to drive back with, but the rats attack and kill him. Moran and Brian do recon in the jeep. They electrify a fence, which stops the rats. The rats try to go around the fence via a river, but sink instead of swim (too big/heavy to swim). The rats disable the generator and attack the house. Much shotgun fire ensues. With the aid of a homemade pipe bomb, Morgan and Brian break free to drive up to a modest dam at a lake. They blow it up. While they’re gone, the rats attack and kill Mrs. Skinner. Morgan and Brian return, but the rats get Brian. The rest of them flee to an upstairs balcony as the floodwaters swell around the house. The rats can swim, so slowly drown off, one by one. Those on the house get Morgan’s shotgun, including the white rat leader. As Morgan douses the pile of dead rats with gasoline, he recalls his father saying the earth would get its revenge for all the bad things men have done (ecologically speaking). As the credits roll, we see two of Bensington’s jars flow down stream where some cows drink the food-tainted water. Their milk goes to a school where some kids drink it. Freeze frame. The End (?)

Why is this movie fun?
The whole small-things-made-big genre is a fond (if somewhat cheesy) feature of the 50s. So, it has a nostalgic quality in FotG. In fact, if it weren’t for the mid-70s automobiles and being filmed in color, FotG could pass for a 50s B-film. FotG evokes memories of other rodent-monster films from the Golden Era, such as The Mole People (’56) and Killer Shrews (’59)

Cultural Connection
Earth’s Revenge — A recurring theme in many 70s movies is the environmental-wickedness of modern man. Pollution gets elevated to the ultimate sin. As mentioned in other review notes, anxiety over pollution surpasses nuclear anxiety in the 70s. Instead of radiation causing monsters, pollution spawns monsters.
Rats Were Big — The popularity of films such as Willard (’71) and Ben (’72) indicate that rats were enjoying a wave of popularity as the monster d’jour in the 70s. Other rat films would follow

Notes
Based on the Book (sort of) — The credits acknowledge that the source of the story came from H.G. Wells’ 1904 novel, “The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth.” Actually, the entire story in FotG stems from just a side-thread in the novel. The bulk of the novel focuses on the human giants and society’s inability to adjust to them. Early in the novel, however, there is a scientist named Bensington who creates The Food. He entrusts it to a rural couple, Mr. and Mrs. Skinner, who aren’t careful and The Food enters into the food chain. This creates giant wasps and worms and rats. These get hunted down and destroyed fairly early on and the story then goes on to human giants. The novel is not one of Wells’ better efforts, tending to get a bit talky and slow.

The Rest of the Story — Bert I. Gordon actually did a movie based on the rest of Wells’ novel, in 1965. Village of the giants plays out the story of some youths who become tyrannical giants. While Gordon’s VotG is played as youth-pandering farce, he still manages to catch some of the social commentary about the struggles between established generations and ones growing up after them.

Non-Sci-fi — Where Wells’ book has The Food being a product of some naive scientists (as per usual), Gordon’s screenplay has it simply oozing up out of the ground. This fits well enough into his moralizing message that the earth itself would be extracting her revenge for all the nasty stuff mankind has been doing. Having a natural cause for the monsters removes that small vestige of science that Wells included, making FotG more of an eco-horror film.

Renaissance Man — Actor Marjoe Gortner plays a football quarterback with an impressive range of skills. He is pretty skilled at using a pitchfork to fight off a giant rooster. He is a quick study on the workings of naturally occurring growth goo. He is a crack shot with a 12 gauge. He knows how to make pipe bombs and molotov cocktails. He knows how to rig up an electric fence (that somehow is not shorted out when the fence goes into the river.) He also knows just how to blow up a dam. Fortunately, he is a wise enough leader type to not be distracted by a vacuous female.

You Call Yourself A Scientist? (or an Actress?) — Most of the acting in FotG is adequate to the task of a B-grade horror film. Pamela Franklin’s portrayal of Lorna, however, stands out as particularly lame. Granted, Gordon’s script painted her badly. She’s supposed to be a biologist, but gets nothing science-y to say, and as the rats are massing to attack the house, she tells Morgan that she wants to make love to him. (huh? Not now, missy.) But it’s not all Gordon’s fault. Franklin plays her part as if the crew were just doing lighting tests. For example, giant rats kidnap her and drop her down one of their rat holes. How would someone act in that situation? Freak out a little, maybe? Franklin just stands there as if waiting for a bus. There are many other scenes in which Franklin clearly is not getting into character, but is simply someone reciting the correct lines. She has done better work, but had lost the zeal for film. FotG was her last feature film. She went on to several other television roles,

Actual Actress — In contrast to the disinterested Pamela Franklin, is Ida Lupino, who plays Mrs. Skinner. This is a small role for a big star. Lupino started film roles in the 30s. She was supposed to be (yet another) blonde ingenue — the usual curvaceous, pretty eye candy. But, she proved to be a talented actress capable of tackling some very tough and edgy roles. She was more of a name from the 40s and 50s. Obviously beyond the eye candy stage in the mid-70s, she still managed to give the Mrs. Skinner character the most feeling of any of the FotG roles. Gordon may have hired her for her latent marquee power, but she also managed to give his cheesy film some dignity.

Bottom line? FotG is a fairly predictable film in the horror genre. There is no science in the fiction. The acting is okay, except for Franklin. The special effects are vintage B.I.G, although the superimposed “wasps” are pretty poor, even by 1950s standards. While passable as entertainment, FotG might be a good first film in a double feature, with Gordon’s Village of the Giants as the second. Ignoring the discontinuity (natural goo vs. science potion), starts to piece together Wells’ original novel.

Embryo

Jack Thomas’s story for Embryo revisits one of the perennial tropes in sci-fi: man creating life. As is usual for this trope, the story is a sci-fi / horror hybrid. Rock Hudson stars as the customary misguided doctor. Barbara Carrera stars as his creation. In essence, the story is a modern spin on Frankenstein. A well-meaning doctor creates a human being, whose very newness creates problems which ultimately undo him. Though Embryo had a theatrical release, the photography, sets and acting exude 70s television quality. The re-release title of Created to Kill is much less artistic, but also misleading.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Paul Holliston hits a dog while driving home. He takes the hurt dog to his home medical lab, trying to save it. Dog was pregnant. He can’t save the dog, but keeps one pup fetus alive via medical techniques he and his dead wife worked on. It works. The premature pup grows at amazingly fast rate, becoming a full grown dog in a few days. He is able to stop the rapid growth. The dog is also very smart. However, the dog also kills a yappy dog and hides Yappy in some bushes. Paul want to try his formula on a human premature fetus. Doctor friend reluctantly agrees. Suicide girl was 5 months pregnant. Paul gets the fetus. The treatment works, but too well. The fetus grows into a small girl, then a teen. Finally, Paul stops the growth, which was becoming rapid aging. The subject is now a svelte young woman. She awakens. Paul teaches her about the world, but she has an advanced mind, so learns fast. Speed-reads many books. At a party, she makes her debut as Victoria Spencer, Paul’s new lab assistant. She amazes everyone with her wit, charm and beauty. She beats a chess champion (Roddy MacDowell) in her first game. That night, she seduces Paul to “experience” more. Victoria starts to feel pains. She sneaks injections of a drug to slow the aging, but it never lasts. She learns that the cure requires the pituitary gland of a 6 month old fetus. Paul’s sister-in-law, Martha threatens to expose Victoria as a fake. Victoria gives her an injection while she sleeps so she has a heart attack later. Victoria lures a pregnant prostitute to the house intent to steal the baby, but Helen (Paul’s daughter-in-law) interrupts. The prostitute fetus apparently did not work, so Victoria drugs Helen and takes her baby (by C-section). Paul and Gordon interrupt. In the scuffle, Victoria stabs Gordon dead. The fetus is lost. Victoria flees, driving a yellow TransAm. Paul gives chase, finally causing her to crash. The car bursts into flames, but Victoria was thrown clear. Paul tries to drown her in the river, but is stopped by a crowd. Paramedics say that the woman (now with much “old woman” makeup) is having a baby! Nooo! shouts Paul. Fade to black. Sound of a slap and a baby cry. Roll credits. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Rock Hudson manages to bring some first-tier acting to the cast, but Barbara Carerra steals the show. Besides being excellent on the eyes, she manages to give depth to the Victoria role. While the first three quarters of the film are fairly slow paced, the final minutes are very fast paced. The twist ending is intriguing too. Roddy McDowall gives an entertaining performance as the high-strung chess master.

Cultural Connection
The Abortion Debate had people arguing about when an unborn baby (a fetus) was a “person” or not. America was still trying to adjust to the new Roe v Wade decision. Dr. Holliston’s goal to save very-premature fetuses seems to come from the pro-life side. Victoria’s cold approach to getting a fetus — even if it meant murder — seems to represent the pro-abortion side. The story manages to pre-sage the embryonic stem cell debate that would rage 30 years later.

Notes
Dr. Frankenstein, I presume — The story in Embryo is a modern retelling of the classic Frankenstein story. A well-meaning doctor thinks he has a special process that will benefit mankind. He steps over moral lines to experiment on human material. In both cases, the human material was technically outside of the law (already dead for Frankenstein, not yet a viable “human” for Holliston). Both manage to ‘create’ an adult who is totally new to the world — the emotional development of an infant, but the body of an adult. The creation kills people, more out of self-preservation than malice. The creation destroys the doctor’s life. (Literally, in the 1931 film, figuratively in the novel, legally/ethically in the Embryo film)

Untempered Intellect — Victoria gets to symbolize the cold scientific mind: highly capable, but morally rudderless. She reads the Bible, thinking it was an interesting story but “highly illogical.” Logic was not the point of the Bible. She totally misses morality. When she plays chess with McDowall, she has no social experience to see the wider scale of human games (ego, etiquette, deference, etc.), only winning. So, when Victoria recognizes a threat to her happiness, she reacts without scruples, killing Martha. When it came down to killing people (the prostitute) and Helen’s baby in order to live, she acted without hesitation. She had the intellect to act, but no ethics to restrain that action. The point being, that intellect might be innate, but morality must be learned.

Computer Room — The greasy Liesure-Suit-Larry character is a computer manager. He shows Victoria his room-sized computer (and it’s a really big room too). This was the pinnacle of high-tech computing the mid-70s. Tall cabinets of blinking lights and spinning tape drives line the walls. She types into an input station. He monitors at a different station. He retrieves the answer from a printer larger than a chest-style freezer. Those were the days. Big was impressive back then.

Car Nut — Cars don’t factor into the story much, but Martha’s bright yellow TransAm is so symbolic of the mid 70s. It’s hard not to point it out.

Bottom line? Embryo is a decent enough sci-fi / thriller. Some decry it as cheap horror, but there isn’t much horror in it. Victoria doesn’t go ‘psycho’ so much as she simply lacks morality. Hudson’s acting is okay, if not up to his caliber. Carrara does a good job, looking naively happy, conflicted and panicky-resolute. The director (and producers?) included some gratuitous nudity as de riguer for film in the 70s (and beyond). Embryo may be slow paced and a bit talky for some, but it is actually a fairly thoughtful rendition of the classic Frankenstein story.

Time Travelers

In 1976, Irwin Allen tried to launch another time travel television series like he had with The Time Tunnel a decade earlier. Time Travelers (TT) was a pilot film for television. That's why there is a newspaper ad, in lieu of a theater poster at left. But, since Allen was a major name in pop-sci-fi, and TT bears many affinities to his earlier time travel story, it seemed fitting to include it. Sam Groom stars as Dr. Clint Earnshaw. Richard Basehart stars as Dr. Henderson. The original story was by Rod Serling, though he did not write the screenplay.

Quick Plot Synopsis
During Mardi Gras in New Orleans, many people are coming down with a mysterious illness that doctors have dubbed XB. It has a 40% mortality rate and officials fear a nationwide epidemic if the revelers all travel back to infect their home states. A man named Jeff Adams is sent from Washington to conscript Dr. Earnshaw (Groom) to a daring experiment to find a cure. Jeff is cagy and Clint is cranky. Eventually, the beans are spilled that they intend to travel back in time to 1871, just before the great Chicago Fire, to find a Dr. Henderson who cured people with an identical disease. Henderson’s records were all destroyed in the fire. Clint agrees and they travel back. But, the computer wasn’t quite as precise on the date or time. They are 4 days late, and a mile off. The fire will break out only a day later. Jeff and Clint manage to find Henderson at the hospital and tell him the Surgeon General sent them to help. They try to learn Henderson’s secret, but he really don’t know himself. Seeking a blood sample of a “cured” patient goes awry and Jeff must hide out, accused of murder. Client, meanwhile, is succumbing to the disease and getting delirious. Henderson’s niece, Jane, a lonely ‘modern” woman, grows fond of Clint. He’s fond of her too. The fire breaks out in Mrs. O’Leary’s barn. With little time left before the fire reaches the hospital, Clint discovers that it was not the drugs Henderson was using, but the elderberry wine he used as the delivery medium. A rare fungus in the fermentation was the key anti-biotic. All the bottles are gone, so Jeff pursues the last patient who left with a bottle. He finds him, and returns just as the hospital is evacuating. Clint does not want to return to 1976, but to stay in 1871 with Jane. While Jeff tries to argue/reason with Clint, Henderson and Jane run in the hospital to fetch a tardy patient when the hospital blows up. Relieved of his conflict, Clint joins Jeff struggling back to the time portal point. They return. Clint recovers from his XB fevers. Jeff and others intimate that he’d be perfect for some other historical-medical adventures. What? The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Time travel sci-fi are amusing food for thought, in themselves. TT is reasonably well paced with enough plot twists to keep it from being totally predictable. It is amusing, too, to see 1871 as seen through the 70s lens. The men have 70s-fashionable long hair. Back in the mid-70s, such hair was simply “normal” — as if eternal.

Cultural Connection
Fire Facts — The writers neatly included some tidbits of the history of the fire, without falling into the trap of retelling myth. On that October night, a man named “Pegleg” Sullivan first reported the fire coming from a barn owned by Patrick and Catherine O’Leary. The actual cause of the fire was never determined. Reporter Michael Ahern made up the story about Mrs. O’Leary milking her cow, which kicked over a lantern into some straw. Her dereliction allowed the fire to spread. Irish immigrants made for easy scapegoats. The O’Leary Cow story became widely circulated and believed as gospel. Ahern later retracted the story as pure fiction, but a cultural die was cast. The writers of TT were careful to include Sullivan and the O’Leary barn, but not the cow and lantern part. The O’Leary’s maintained that they were asleep in bed when the fire started, not out milking any cows.

Notes
Time Tunnel 2.0 — Irwin Allen, flush with success at his two big disaster flicks, The Poseidon Adventure and Towering Inferno (’74) thought the time might be right to remake his 1966 television series, The Time Tunnel. TTT was reasonably successful for a television series. It had two seasons. The premise would be roughly the same, with a team of 1976 moderns venturing back in history each week to grapple with some major event. The brass at ABC were not sufficiently convinced, so no series resulted. Perhaps TT was too much a repeat of TTT. Since the moderns could not change the past, it seemed to suggest that all of their adventures result in no particular changes, so what was the point?

Edith Keeler 2.0 — The romantic sub-plot in TT is quite reminiscent to one in the Star Trek (TOS) episode, “The City on the Edge of Forever.” In that episode, Kirk has to travel back in time to try and correct some time tampering done by a delusional McCoy. Kirk falls for the lovely and vulnerable Edith Keeler — leader of a growing pacifist movement. In the denouement, Kirk must allow Edith to die in a traffic accident in order to set time right again. In TT, it is Clint who gets smitten with the lovely and vulnerable Jane. He wants to stay in 1871 with her. It is Jeff who plays the (then-sober) McCoy and has to restrain Clint as Jane goes back into the burning hospital to her doom. Since she died in the fire, Clint could not save her without messing up history. Lesson? Don’t fall for historical babes.

Time Tunnel Ties — Aside from the general premise, Sam Groom, who stars as Clint, also played a minor part in The Time Tunnel. For five of the 30 episodes, he played Jerry, a not too pivotal technician. Watch for the room full of computer banks props in TT. They only get a few minutes of air time, but they are also recycled from the original TTT set.

Bottom line? TT is fun as the usual time travel genre. The production values are not great, but reasonable for mid-70s television. The acting is fair too. Basehart does the best job as the irascible Dr. Henderson. Tom Hallick (Jeff Adams) and Trish Stewart (Jane) come across as more typical of 70s television. Overall, though, TT is entertaining enough.

Track of the Moon Beast

This is one of those movies that is often panned as a “worst movie ever.” Track of the Moon Beast (TMB) is certainly a low-B indie production with a third-tier cast, but other “worst” films suffer more. Filmed in 1972, but released in 1976, did not help. Chase Cordell, who usually played bit parts like “Officer” or “Man #1” got his starring moment in TMB as the poor mineralogist named Paul who gets stricken by the moon chunk. Leigh Drake co-stars as his eye candy love interest, Kathy. Drake played in only two other films, as “dispatcher” and “officer”. Just about everyone involved, from producers to grips, were among the little nobodies of the movie industry. But, they all got together to make themselves a movie.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A huge meteorite collides with the moon. This impact sends billions of moon bits spraying off into space. Some fall into earth’s atmosphere. Watching the meteor shower is Paul, a mineralogist working the mountains, and his instant girlfriend, Kathy, a photographer. A tiny meteor fragment hits Paul in the head, leaving only a small scratch. They go to “his place” (actually, he lives with his mother, but she’s away). There is kissing. The next day, they attend a geology conference. Near one of the moon rocks, Paul feels sick. Later, they attend a folk-rock concert, featuring the “hit” song California Lady. Paul feels ill again, so Kathy takes him home. At night, when the full moon rises, Paul turns into a lizard man who likes to kill. He kills a drunk bowler coming home late. The sheriff is stumped by the gruesome deaths, so calls in Johnny Longbow, native american anthropologist. Johnny recounts some indian legends about man hit by lights from the sky, who becomes a lizard man. When Paul doesn’t get better, Johnny takes him to get tests. The X-rays show the fragment in his brain. Later, Paul turns into the Moon Beast again, and kills some campers. More doctors fly in to check out Paul. The fragment has broken up in his brain. Somehow, they just know that Paul will become atomically unstable and spontaneously combust. Paul and Kathy overhear this grim doctor talk. Paul wants to die as a man, not a flaming lizard, so runs away. Kathy covers for him. Unable to buy a shotgun, since there is an APB out for him, Paul goes up into the mountains to throw himself off, or something. Kathy follows him up to the mountains, totally devoted to the man she just met two days ago. Johnny has fashioned an arrowhead from one of the moon fragments, intending to shoot lizard-Paul. The added moon material should hasten the combustion. Kathy pleads for some other alternative that would keep and “Us”. But it’s not to be. Paul becomes the Moon Beast and freaks out Kathy. Johnny shoots lizardPaul. He, and/or the film, glow red for awhile before he is reduced to a small pile of burning paper. Everyone gets in their cars and leaves. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Fans of “so bad it’s good” films will find much to enjoy. The trope of something-turns-him-into-a-beast is tried and true (to the point of being threadbare). Despite being a product of the mid 70s, TMB has a very 50s feel to it. (the low-budget, extra-cheap 50s). And, there's something to be said in favor of Ms. Drake's nice legs.

Cultural Connection
Man’s Inner Monster — The trope is very old. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is an early iteration. The Wolfman in the 1940 and a score of low-budget films in the 50s and 60s. Culturally, there is an expectation that somewhere deep down inside of men, there lurks a monster. That’s what people call a serial killer or molester, or even a major swindler. Inside of mankind IS the capacity to do great evil. Stories like Dr. Jekyll and The Wolfman, et al, seem to be a way for the culture to look (via theatrical abstraction) at the face of that inner evil.

Notes
Wolfman Redux — The writers (Bill Finger and Charles Sinclair) did not work too hard to generate the story. The premise in TMB is essentially that of The Wolfman, but with a less mystical cause. But, in essence, it’s the same problem. Normal human by day, the rising full moon turns him into a monster that likes to kill. Both men, knowing the awful truth about themselves, want to die. To do so, however, takes a special weapon: a silver bullet, or an arrowhead of moon rock.

Amateur Hour — Many film critics kvetch about the low production values of TMB or the bad acting, etc. Granted, it’s not Casablanca, or even The Wolfman, but look at it this way. What if a bunch of people in the lower margins of the movie industry got together to do a movie themselves? An assistant director, Richard Ashe, would get to be The Director this time. Some associate producers on some obscure films would get to produce one of their own. A couple of writers (Finger and Sinclair) who wrote some television episodes, would get to do their own feature film screenplay. A guy who, up until TMB, played only uncredited bit parts or roles like “Man #2”, would get to be THE star. An attractive young folk singer thinks she’d like to try being an actress, gets to be the love interest. A whole bunch of other bit-part actors and actresses would get to play a character with a name! A singer who would have been in heaven to be a “one hit wonder,” gets to sing an entire song in the film. Woohoo! Don’t look at TBM as “bad” movie, but as a group project by a bunch of little nobodies you’ve never heard of, nor would again...but they got together and made a movie!

Worst Actress Ever? — Several critics have scoffed at Leigh Drake as being a terrible actress. Of course she was bad. She wasn't an actress. She was (and still is) a folk singer who may have attracted the producers’ eye (young, blonde, leggy) and said to her, “how would you like to star in a movie?” She should have said no? She gave it a shot. Yes, even Cordell (as wooden as he is) does manage to emote better than Drake does. Yes, she delivers her lines more successfully than with feeling, but watch her face, her eyes. She’s trying. She is a folk singer (band named Sugar Magnolia) trying to emote. One might suspect she did not get much help from her director — who had done a few jobs as assistant director in second units on some other obscure small films. “Yeah, Leigh, honey, that’s good enough. Next Scene!” Watch Drake freak out at the ending. The girl is clearly trying. Cut her some slack. Compare her to the two doctors, who may well be actual scientists told to go stand over there and read what’s on this card. TMB is their only film credit, and for obvious reasons.

Attempted Exploitation — For no particularly good reason, Ashe has actor Chase Cordell (Paul) appear rather frequently with his shirt off. Perhaps Ashe thought female viewers would like seeing a bit of amateur beefcake. Hmm. Maybe. For obvious reasons, Ashe has Leigh Drake appear only in very short skirts or shorts. Drake has nice legs and long legs, so Ashe sets up scenes and angles to show them off. They are almost more of the co-star than Drake herself. Clearly, the leggy exposure was expected to appeal to male viewers. There is a bit of attempted gore (ripping off a camper’s arm, etc.) but done so quickly and dimly (as befitting a small budget), that it would have little appeal to those who like that sort of thing. Ashe tried to jazz up the blandness of the script he had to work with. Chase’s chest and Leigh’s legs just weren’t enough. Lame lines are still lame lines.

Rock On — As thin as it is, the rationale behind the story, is that somehow moon rocks have an energy affinity for one another. While they’re on the moon together, all is peaceful and calm. But if separated, the moon rocks (somehow) transmit/attract energy from each other. Hence the fragment in Paul’s brain, when energized by the appearance of the full moon (the mother rock), causes him to mutate into a lizard man. Why not a squid man or an adorable puppy man, is never explained. Apparently, it’s just something innate in human DNA (our latent lizard-ness?), since it happened before to the indians. Paul was not a fluke, but a repeat.

Telltale Bumpers -- Proof that TMB was filmed earlier than '76 can be seen in all the cars that appear in the film.
They are all '71 or '72 Plymouth models. Note that they have the tidy little bumpers. Starting with 1974 models, (then) new crash impact laws required beefier bumpers. Since the tooling for most car platforms had a five year life cycle (or more), the expedient solution was to graft on honkin' huge chrome slabs.  These are what made '74-'76 models so, um, charming. Later refreshes of  model styling would absorb the honkin' huge impact absorbers to give absurdly large front and rear overhangs. The "charm" of late-70s, early-80s models. Newer materials would eventually let cars look a bit less absurd while fulfilling the law.

Bottom line? TMB is low-rent entertainment. It isn’t particularly sci-fi. It does take the semi-mystical premise of The Wolfman and try to give it more of a scientific spin. Moon Rocks, with a propensity to beam energy to each other…sometimes. Don’t expect a good movie. It will help. Expect an amateur production on a very low budget and at least give them some credit for trying.

Doomwatch

The first sci-fi movie in American theaters in 1976 was a re-release of a 1972 British film, Doomwatch (DW). It followed the tradition of Quatermass and Dr. Who, in being a feature film spin-off of a popular British TV series. Many of the television cast resume their small-screen roles, though in lesser importance. Ian Bannen stars as Dr. Shaw, who was not part of the television characters. Bannen does most of the on-screen work, while the television group provide backup. DW was re-released in America in January 1976. It was sometimes retitled “Island of the Ghouls” and sold as part of a triple feature with Grave of the Vampire and Garden of the Dead, even though DW was not much of a horror film.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Shaw is sent to the rugged island of Balfe off the Cornish coast to gather some specimens for the Doomwatch scientists to test. They want to track the success of a clean-up effort from an oil tanker spill the year before. Dr. Shaw meets with a cold and unfriendly reception on the island. Nonetheless, he gathers his samples. Instead of traveling back the next day, he sends the samples on, and stays on, intrigued by the islanders’ odd and secretive behavior. A crazed dog attacks him in the woods, leading Shaw to discover a shallow grave of a young girl. When he fetches the reluctant sheriff, the body is gone. Other mysterious doings keep Shaw asking questions, which makes the islanders even more hostile towards him. Shaw is attacked by a disfigured man hidden in an old barn. The lab tests showed elevated growth rates. The fish in the area grow to adult size in a short time. Undaunted by his beating, Shaw finds off shore, a Royal Navy restricted zone. Shaw arranges for a diver to check it out. He finds the dumped, but only mildly radioactive containers. He also finds some newer barrels. The admiral acknowledges the radioactive dump, but not the barrels. Those, it turns out, came from a chemical firm experimenting with growth hormone for livestock (via injection). When the experiment failed (the animals got deformed and violent), the firm hired another company to dispose of the waste, which they did by dumping it in the Navy’s restricted zone. The combination of radioactivity and sea water altered the hormone so that it could be absorbed digestively. The townsfolk have contracted a thyroid disease called Acromegaly, but are deeply ashamed, thinking the disfigurement was a sign of inbreeding or a divine judgement. Shaw tries to convince them to seek treatment on the mainland, but the disfigured folk rebel, saying the mass exodus would “kill” the island they’ve called home for centuries. They menace Shaw, but he stands firm. The islanders relent with weeping. The next day, boat loads of the disfigured are being shuttled to the mainland. Close-up on bubbling evil drums in the sea. Roll credits. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The director, Peter Sasdy, managed to build some suspense and mystery in the unfolding of the tale. For a 70s environmentalist-angst film, the script manages to avoid the typical Hollywood style (blunt, preachy and shallow), instead, building a tale with some pathos and depth. Rare for such films.

Cultural Connection
The Torrey Canyon — On March 18th, 1967, the supertanker Torrey Canyon became stuck on rocks off the Cornish coast and began leaking thousands of gallons of crude oil. This was England’s Exxon Valdez event, sludgy beaches, oil soaked dead birds, etc. It energized the growing environmentalist movement, and fed the enviro-angst that would would blossom into outright gloom in the 70s. The oil spill and cleanup mentioned at the outset of DW is not named, but to British audiences, would clearly be a reference to the Torrey Canyon spill just a few years earlier.

Notes
TV Spinoff — Like other films before it, DW was a theatrical released based on a popular television series. Doomwatch, the series, aired three seasons, starting in 1970. It featured a team of scientists solving envro-cases, rather presaging the now-ubiquitous team formula (ala CSI, etc.). Four of the series cast were in the feature film, though they played relatively minor roles. Actor John Paul, for instance, kept his role as Dr. Quist, but instead of being the “star”, was relegated to Shaw’s boss who got occasional calls from Shaw.

Enviro-Angst — Common for the 70s was the notion that mankind faced imminent “doom” from environmental issues: pollution, poor land management, overpopulation, man-made chemicals, etc. The name of the original TV series “Doomwatch” pretty well sums up the ethos of the time. Doom was expected. The eco-vigilant would stand watch. Today’s angst over GMO foods, “big pharma”, and evil corporations doing unscrupulous things to an unsuspecting public, is hardly new. DW (the movie) had it all — nuclear waste dumping, chemical company dabbling, growth hormones for the food supply, unscrupulous businessmen (the dumping company) and even a government prone to denial.

Victim Twist — What sets DW apart from the usual Hollywood versions of EnviroAngst, is its focus on the victims as part of the problem. The islanders’ denial of the (real) problem actually proves to be the toughest hurdle for Shaw and DW team. They could diagnose the problem, browbeat officials into compliance and connect the dots, but the islanders refused to admit that there even was a problem. This is an insight usually lacking in most EnviroAngst films. The public refusing to see the problem was part of the problem.

Boffin Saviors — DW has a curious mixed message about science. On the one hand, it was the unscrupulous chemical engineers who cooked up the failed growth hormone. It was the Navy’s nuclear scientists who created the “mildly” radioactive waste. Yet, it would be the boffins of the Doomwatch lab who would ferret out the truth and ultimately become the saviors of the islanders. The 70s suspicion of technology (and scientists) was not yet overpowering in 1970 England.

Bottom line? DW is more of a CSI-type mystery drama than it is a sci-fi in the usual sense. No aliens, or saucers, or monsters ever factor in. Instead, it’s a sciencey for having a lab and people in white coats doing stuff with microscopes and computers. Sci-fi’s good ol’ nemesis “radiation” makes a token appearance. The pacing can seem slow to American viewers (accustomed to lots of action), but the unfolding of the mystery is reasonably well done.