Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Phillip Kaufman directs this 1978 remake of the original, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (IBS78). Donald Sutherland plays the lead character, also named Bennell. Brooke Adams plays his love interest. Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Cartwright play the “other couple”, the Bellicecs. W.D. Richter’s screenplay follows the ’56 story fairly closely (good for fans of IBS56), but adds some 70s flavor and fills a few plot holes from the original. The setting is downtown San Francisco and the Haight-Ashbury suburb, not the small town of Santa Mira.

Quick Plot Synopsis
From a distant planet, transparent balloon-like “spores” rise up into space. A “solar wind” blows them past several planets until they come to Earth. They fall with the rain and take root on plants around San Francisco. Elizabeth picks on of the odd little pods with a pink flower and brings it home. When she wakes up, her boyfriend has changed. She follows him as he meets with many strangers. She tells her boss, Matthew. He suggests she talk to a friend, Dr. Kibner, a pop-psychologist. En route to a book signing party, a man runs up to the car raving about how “they” are coming to get them. He runs away and his hit by a car. The police have no record of the event. At the party, Kibner poo-poohs reports of people changing. At Jack and Nancy’s mud bath spa, they find a partially developed pod person. It begins to resemble Jack. There is much freaking out. When the police come, there is no body. Kibner, who is a pod-person by now, tells them all to go to Matthew’s and get some rest. They all nod off. Pods disgorge copies of the four. Nancy wakes everyone on in time. They flee, after Matthew hacks up his pod-copy. As the crowd and authorities gain on them, Jack and Nancy split off to draw them away. Matthew and Elizabeth sneak up to his office. From there, they can see lines of people getting pods from trucks, and pods being loaded onto trucks. They realize that they must stay awake, so take several “speed” pills. They evade some searches, but are found by Kibner, pod-Jack and Geoffrey. Kibner gives them injections of a sedative to make them sleep. After a bit of monologuing about spores coming from a dying world and how being a pod is a good thing, Matthew fights back. He and Elizabeth escape and pretend to be pod-people. A dog with a man’s face makes Elizabeth scream, so the crowd shriek the awful pod shriek and purse them. They escape in the back of a truck. The truck brings them to a pod-growing factory. They hide in the tall grass outside. Elizabeth cannot stay awake any longer. While Matthew holds her close to him, her body crumbles away. Naked pod-Elizabeth stands up in the grass. Matthew runs into the factory and starts chopping down light fixtures. This starts fires on the pod-growing floor. Pod-Liz spots him, points and pod-shrieks. A chase ensues. Fade to black. Fade in to Matthew and Elizabeth working in the office in stoic fashion. At quitting time, all the pod-employees walk out. While Matthew walks in a bleak courtyard of city hall. Nancy calls to him. She has evaded pod-ification all this time. Matthew points at her and shrieks the awful pod-shriek. Zoom in to black. Roll silent credits. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The script of IBS78 follows that of IBS56, so much of the original tension and suspense of the original still works. The pod-shriek is effective (and chilling). The actors do a fine job with their roles. Sutherland and Adams make a sympathetic couple. Veronica Cartwright’s Nancy is a fun character and very 70s. The many little visual touches add to the experience.

Cultural Connection
Boomer Bogeyman — The original film was released amid great angst over communism and/or its opposite, McCarthyism. Loss of the “American Way of Life”, small town charm, apple pie, love, laughter, etc. were what the adults of the “Greatest Generation” and young adults of the “Silent Generation” worried about. For them, IBS56 captured their fears of losing the America they knew — the intimacy and friendliness of small town Americana. Fast forward to 1978, and communist infiltrators and loss of small-town charm were not big concerns. The audiences in 1978 were the Baby Boomers. They grew up with a more urbane mindset, hence setting IBS78 in San Francisco, Haight-Ashbury and the whole “summer of love” implications. They grew up through the 60s with the narcissism of youth. “Don’t trust anyone over 30.” Trouble was, the early Boomers were doing just that. For the flower children of free love and peace signs, the relentless march of time was turning them into middle-aged adults. For the Boomers, turning into boring adults was a terror to send them running and screaming.

Notes
Popular Pods — Finney’s 1954 novel has spawned four films directly, and influenced several. The 1956 version, starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Winters is often considered the best. IBS78 is a very faithful remake of the ’56 version, using many of the same characters and names, though tweaked a bit. The 1993 version, Body Snatchers, uses the trope of pod-replacements, but in a new setting with new characters. The 2007 version, Invasion, uses yet other new characters and a new location. Each has its fans. Finney’s Pod People is a metaphor that resonates across several generations. Each generation (Gen X, Millenials, etc.) seems to have their own zeitgeist bogeyman.

Skewed Views — As a bit of visual art, director Phillip Kaufman gives the viewer many visuals to symbolize how “wrong” things look to the characters. Note Matthew’s broken windshield and the many views of the city through it. The world as they knew it was shattered. Note the odd “fun house” mirrors at the book signing party. The distorted reflections. People don’t look the same. Kaufman makes frequent use of the old standard tilted-camera, as well as several times people pass behind semi-transparent barriers (shower curtains, pebbled glass, etc.) such that you know someone is there, but they are undefined.

Filling Holes — IBS78 attempted to fill some of the plot holes from IBS56. How did they get there? IBS56 did not dwell much (at all) on how the pods got to earth, or what their intent was. They just were. IBS78 fixed that by more obviously showing the spores leaving a planet and coming to earth. Kibner’s small monologue about fleeing a dying world, adds a bit more, which Finney’s novel had, but IBS56 did not. What happened to the original bodies? IBS78 shows us that the originals crumble into small piles of rubble. Note the red trash trucks that appear after each pod-ification. Usually, small boxes or bundles are being tossed in. The rubble of the originals. In IBS56, the pod-ified all show up fully clothed, even though their semi-formed pod bodies are naked. That was the 50s and the Hayes Code. IBS78 “fixed” that by showing the audience a naked Elizabeth. Granted, it was also a very trendy thing in 70s film to include some frontal nudity — just because they could. But it did fill an old plot hole, AND it was far nicer to show a naked Brooke Adams than a naked Leonard Nimoy, for example.

Dour Ending — Finney’s novel had an upbeat ending. The aliens decide to abandon their invasion and leave Earth. This was in line with the 50s model — a scary fate, yet seeds of hope. Daniel Mainwaring’s script for the 1956 film changed that, such that the pods win. The studio is said to have urged that they change it to an upbeat ending. So, in the final film, Miles makes it to safety and tells his tale. Richter’s screenplay for IBS78 recreates the dour ending. The pods win. The 70s was much more comfortable wallowing in gloom and doom, so it was better accepted. And besides, all those Boomers were going to get older, no matter how much they fought it. They could not escape middle-age by running and hiding. Their youth was doomed too.

Adults Are Boring — The Geoffrey character is the most overt example of the underlying zeitgeist angst. (See Connections above) He encapsulates the “horrible” fate that the young, free-spirited characters fear — becoming a boring, responsible adult. Before being pod-ified, Geoffrey has tousled hair, likes to watch basketball games on TV, wears shorts and t-shirts, and is openly libidinous. After his change, his hair is combed neatly, he wears a 3-piece suit (trendy in the late 70s), shows no amorous interest in Elizabeth and watches clocks on television. CLOCKS. This latter part seems symbolic and telling — a kids’ view of what adults are like. Bor-ing.

Not Feelin’ the Love — Like in Orwell’s 1984, the main characters are rebels against The System, and fall in love. Both are “broken” by the system. Afterward, they see each other again, but are passionless towards each other. Kibner exposits that in the Pod People world, there is no hate, or love. People just have their jobs to do.

Fun Cameos — Just for fun, and a sense of homage to the original, Kevin McCarthy gets to be his original character, Dr. Miles Bennell in IBS78. He’s the frantic man who pounds on Matthew’s car windows telling him that “They” are coming and that “You’re next.” It's like he survived the first attempted invasion, only to be lost to the second. Also, look for Don Siegel, director of IBS56, playing the cab driver as Matthew and Elizabeth are trying to get to the airport.

Bottom line? IBS78 is a fairly faithful update/remake of the original. It keeps much of the sense of paranoia. Yes, it is ‘updated’ for a 70s audience. Some dislike this, others like it. Later re-remakes would have their detractors and fans too. Yet, even fans who prefer the ’56 original, are generally accepting of IBS78. Even people who are not fans of sci-fi should watch IBS(56 and 78). As a cultural metaphor, IBS is worth watching.

Killdozer

This little film lies just outside of the study’s stated boundaries, being a television release only, and more of a horror/thriller than sci-fi. However, requests from readers tapped it back in bounds — even if just barely. Since it had no theatrical release, the book cover from the original novella is shown at left. Killdozer is often cited as one of those “so bad they’re good” movies, and a member of that small sub-genre of vehicles running amok. It certainly has a cult fan base. Clint Walker (famous as Sheriff Cheyenne Bodie on the TV series Cheyenne (’55-62) stars as the stalwart construction crew chief. His crew includes Carl Betz as Dennis, Neville Brand as Chub and James Wainwright as Dutch. A very young Robert Urich (pre-Spencer For Hire) is an early expendable, as is James A. Watson Jr. as Al.

Quick Plot Synopsis
After an explosion in space, a blue meteor tumbles towards earth, landing on a small island. On a remote island 200 miles off the coast of Africa, a crew of six men is left, with their construction equipment, with orders to construct a base camp for an oil company. After a mild bit of character development (tensions, backstories and the like). The young bulldozer operator, Mack, hits a rock that won’t move. His boss, Kelly, shows him how to deal with it by ramming the rock with the big D9 Cat. The rock glows blue and hums. The glow enters the D9’s blade and Mack is zapped with excess energy. The D9 then starts moving on its own until Kelly cuts its fuel line. Mack dies awhile later of what looks like radiation sickness. Tensions mount in the group. Al takes the checked-out and fixed up D9 out to do some work, but it gets a mind of its own. He jumps off, but can’t crawl backwards with his mouth open faster than a D9. He hides in a culvert pipe. (bad move) The D9 crushes him. More group tensions. The D9 roars in and trashes their camp. The four men flee in two jeeps and a truck, headed for the hills. They plan an ambush, thinking to use fire to stop it. En route to their ambush site, the D9 ambushes them. The jeeps get away, but Chub in his 1964 F-150 is caught by the blade, crushed and blows up. The three remaining men retreat to the hills again. Dutch does a bit too much drinking and decides to go to the beach for a swim. The D9 is there waiting for him. The jeep engine stalls. Dutch keeps trying to start it, then resigns himself to being crushed. He is. Dennis and Kelly try to fight machine with machine using a big Northwest 80D cable shovel excavator. After a protracted battle, the shovel finally snaps some cables. Kelly and Dennis run away, then hatch a plan to electrocute the dozer. They hook up a portable generator to some big steel perf plates (such as those used in temporary runways). Kelly tries to bait the dozer, but it doesn’t comply until Kelly breaks one of its headlights. Then, in bulldozer rage, it rumbles onto the plates and is electrocuted. After much sparking, smoke and flames, the dozer’s blade glows blue, then fades out. The thing is dead. Dennis and Kelly both know that no one will believe them, but are happy to be alive. The End.
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Why is this movie fun?
The absurdity of the premise makes the film easy for mockers to mock, but it actually a fairly tightly done made-for-TV thriller. The actors turn in reasonable performances, given the material. The battle between D9 and Excavator is fascinating for the audacity of it.

Cultural Connection
Lexical Legs — Despite the relative obscurity of an ABC Movie of the Week, Killdozer managed to enter the cultural lexicon with enough “legs” to still be a relevant and understood term 30-plus years later. In 2004, a disgruntled business owner in Colorado armored up a bulldozer and went on a rampage, damaging several civic buildings and business. He eventually committed suicide when the dozer got stuck, though may have intended to do so anyhow. His armored bulldozer quickly got the media nickname of Killdozer. YouTube videos of the 1974 movie still garner thousands of hits. A punk rock band named themselves after the film. An obscure form of homage.

Notes
Sci-Fi Origins — Even though the 1974 screenplay is not particularly sci-fi, the original story, penned by Theodore Sturgeon in 1944 was more so. In the original story, the alien entity was leftover from an ancient battle between aliens and their sentient machines that involved the lost continent of Atlantis. The construction crew disturb the resting place of the alien entity, which then resumes its warlike function — killing. Sturgeon had a hand in the screenplay, though to what extent is unknown. Sturgeon also wrote screenplays for two Star Trek (TOS) episodes: Amok Time and Shore Leave.

Book - Movie Comparisons — The book was set in WWII. The men were constructing an air strip on a remote Pacific Island, not an oil company base camp off the coast of Africa. Hints of the original story show up in the film, however, with the Quanset hut that they find, left over from WWII and the big metal plates they have on hand, which were used for making temporary airstrips. The book kills off the demon dozer with aerial bombardment, not electrocution. Both end, however, with the survivors admitting that no one will ever believe them.

Bad Machines — Killdozer is perhaps the more famous of the machines-gone-bad sub-genre. These include Duel (’71) (even though it was clearly the driver, not the tanker truck that was bad), The Car (’77), Christine (’83), Maximum Overdrive (’86) and Trucks (’97). The genre as a whole, has the credibility hurdle of things big, slow, and not especially scary being jazzed up to seem scary.

Untimely Deaths? — One of the endearing (or exasperating) features of Killdozer is how something so big, loud and slow, could ever catch a victim. In this, Killdozer share the puzzlement with the carpet monster in Creeping Terror (’64) and other such films. In those films, the victims help the monster by standing in one place and screaming “No no, don’t eat me” long enough for the slow monster to get up to them and eat them. In Killdozer, actually only two of the deaths were of this sort of easily avoidable doom. Mack died of radiation. No running would have helped there. Chub died when his truck was ambushed and rolled over. Not much running there. Al, however, is one of the lame deaths, as he obligingly crawled around slower than a D9, then hid in a flimsy metal pipe. Dutch did the classic waiting-too-long to try and restart his engine. When the D9 was upon him, he just sat there at accepted his fate. Perhaps being drunk does that. So, yes, some of the deaths are lame. But half of them weren’t.

Good Ol’ Electrocution — Using electricity to kill the monster is a very old, and somewhat hackneyed plot device. It was, of course, how The Thing was stopped in 1951. It destroys the Indestructible Man in ’56. It toasts the giant energy robot in Kronos (’57). and the Crab Monsters in ’57, Colossal Beast in '58 too, and numerous monsters after that. Such a tried and true monster solution.

Marvelous Echo — Marvel Comics put out an issue of Worlds Unknown in 1974, based only loosely on the film and drawing from the original short story for yet a third variant to Killdozer. The cover was wildly sensationalized and not germane to any of the three story variations (there was no woman character, and the dozer did not have a toothed blade or angry eyebrows). But, in this, the cover is in keeping with sci-fi movie posters tradition: which must feature a menaced babe of ample proportions and something with jagged teeth and/or angry eyes.

Bottom line? Killdozer is a cultural cult icon. For that reason alone, it deserves to be experienced. As a sci-fi film, it’s pretty darned thin. As popcorn entertainment, it fares pretty well. The actors do a fair job and the director, Jerry London, does a good job keeping the pace brisk and the exposition short. High art, its not, but it’s still fun and has thousands of fans.

The End of the World

The old 70s paradigm of doom and malaise lives on in this low-budget indie apocalyptic movie, The End of the World (EotW). The producers managed to recruit some well known, or better known actors such as Christopher Lee, Dean Jagger, Lew Ayres and Madonald Carey. All but Lee get scant screen time. Kirk Scott and Sue Lyon, both second-tier actors, garnered the lion’s share of the camera. Charles Band produced the film before he got better at producing. John Hayes directed, though is forte had been trashy horror or trashy soft porn. The resulting tale of alien-duplication and intrigue to destroy the world unfolds very very slowly.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A cook in a remote diner whiles away the empty hours of night until a Catholic priest walks in asking if he can call the police. Before he can, the pay phone blows up, as does the juke box and coffee machine. The latter scalds the cook such that he runs through a window and kills himself. A stunned Father Pergado (Lee) staggers up to a convent to be greeted by his evil twin. Cut to a “high-tech” computer lab where Andrew works. He picks up some strange signals from space. He has a ‘feeling’ about them. Andrew and his lovely wife, Sylvia (Lyon) investigate where the signals are coming from, but only find a peaceful convent. Andrew brushes off some professional obligations in order to pursue his obsession with the signals. They check out a second site, only to discover that it was a secret government eaves-dropping base. (at least there was a transmitter that time.) They are released. With no other leads, they revisit the convent. The second visit still revealed nothing, so they sneak back in a third time. The nuns capture them and take them down to a basement full of alien technology. The fake Father Pergado is actually an alien named Zindar. He and his “nuns” have taken human form to complete their mission. Unfortunately, their tampering with Earth messed up their matter transporters, so they’re stuck on Earth. Zindar holds Sylvia hostage to force Andrew to steal some special rare isotope crystal which will fix their transporter device. Andrew does so, reluctantly, but successfully. The transporter is fixed. Zindar exposits that they came to destroy the Earth because it spews ‘disease’ into the universe. He tells Andrew and Sylvia that, as aliens, they’re not such bad folks so Andrew and Sylvia are welcome to come to their planet instead of staying on the earth (which is about to blow up). Zindar briefly changes from Christopher Lee to an alien puppet head (seen in the poster), then beams away. Andrew and Sylvia decide life on an alien world is better than blowing up, so they transport away. The Earth blows up. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Christopher Lee is clearly the primary value in EotW. Despite the extra-lame script and career-killing production, he performs as an A-level professional. Sue Lyon is easy on the eyes.

Cultural Connection
Chronic Gloom —The 50s were rife with worries about nuclear doom, but despite that, almost all 50s apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic movies were essentially optimistic. Mankind somehow found a way to avert disaster. By the 70s, however, people seemed to give up that vestige of hope. With all the new plagues of doom the 70s wallowed in — pollution, overpopulation, starvation — it was easy to think there would be no light at the end of the tunnel. No way to avert doom. EotW is a blunt (if clumsy) statement of that sentiment. Nothing mattered. The Earth was just going to blow up.

Notes
Dark Klaatu — Klaatu came to Earth in The Day The Earth Stood Still (’51) to deliver a warning. Mankind had better mind its Ps and Qs or the galactic powers would have to destroy the Earth to preserve all those other planets out there. Zindar comes in a similar sort of messenger role but with bad news. “The planet earth has emitted an overabundance of diseases. You are contaminating the universe. All the planets, lightyears away from here will suffer, unless it is destroyed. We have received our orders.” There is no reprieve. Mankind did not mind its Ps and Qs.

Evil Twin — For no particularly expressed reason, the real Father Pergado is kept alive and allowed to keep praying at the altar. Why the duplicated nuns were not kept on, was never explained. The real Pergado (also played by Lee) is “artistically” differentiated by being dressed in all white. Whereas Zindar, the fake Pergado is in all black (with cape!). The fake nuns come to escort the real Pergado down to test out the matter transporter. They get him just as he finishes reciting the Lord’s Prayer, ending on the line, “…and deliver us from evil.” The transporter is still broken, so the real Pergado dies. Perhaps this is what happened to the real nuns. They were sent in as human guinea pigs to test the unit. Not a very advanced-technology way of testing equipment.

Wasted Talent — Perhaps, due to his father Albert’s reputation (as a second-tier actor, director and producer), Charles Band seems to have been able to sign up some known actors for his very obscure indie film. It is said that Christopher Lee only agreed to take the job because he had been told that the other known actors, such as Dean Jagger, Lew Ayers, etc. were in the film. These other actors, however, were wasted in bit parts with very little screen time. Jagger was Andrew’s cranky boss with only two small scenes. Lew Ayers appears only once as the manager of the eavesdropping base. Macdonald Carey plays a security guard. Instead of having the better talent play major roles, the lead characters were played by middling television actors (Scott and Lyon).

Catholi-phobia? — Screenwriter Frank Ray Perilli must have had a personal fear of nuns and things Catholic. He seemed to expect that the mere sight of a convent and closeups of frowning nun faces would creep out the audience. Maybe for some, they do. For most, however, the dots do not connect. Whatever ‘horror” Perilli was hoping for never materializes. Nuns just are not scary, unless one is already afraid of nuns.

Bottom line? EotW is an almost painfully slow film. At nearly 90 minutes long, it could easily have been cut to run less than an hour. It would still be lame, but faster. Far too much of it is shot at night, with insufficient lighting, which only makes the long padded sneaking-through-the-night scenes feel even longer. Lee is okay acting-wise. Others were wasted efforts (see above). Scott is bland as a hero. Lyon is pretty in a mid-70s (pre-Farrah) sort of way and looks good in a towel (twice!), but she adds little. Charles Band would go on to produce better films, but EotW is not among them. Unless one is a big Christopher Lee fan, there is little reason to sit through this film.

Empire of the Ants

The old-school style of sci-fi movie did not simply vanish after Star Wars rewrote the paradigm. Indeed, Samuel Z. Arkoff’s American International already had a few old-paradigm projects in production when the New Age began. Empire of the Ants (EoA) follows quickly on the heels of another Arkoff production based on an H.G.Wells story, Island of Dr. Moreau. Unlike Island, EoA is a much looser adaptation, but clearly trying to cash in on Wells’ name recognition. Bert I. Gordon provides his usual “magic” as special effects expert and director. Joan Collins stars as Marilyn, the shrew-ish and shifty real estate developer. Robert Lansing stars as the heroic and taciturn boat captain. The rest of the cast are lesser lights and television actors. Of note, though, Christine is played by Jack Palance’s daughter, Brooke.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Under the credits, we are shown a boat dumping 55 gallon drums of nuclear waste. We know this because it says so on the drums in big red letter. One drum washes ashore and starts leaking. Ants swarm over the silvery ooze. Meanwhile, Marilyn welcomes aboard captain Dan’s boat, a group of would-be buyers for parcels in her Dreamland Shores development in a remote area of Florida and right where the ants are eating the ooze. The group of prospects is the usual social sampling for group-survives-ordeal stories. There is a retired couple, a middle aged couple, a younger couple. There is a middle-aged single woman, a curvaceous blonde and a liesure-suit single guy. Much of the early part of the movie is devoted to character development and drama. Christine and Larry, the younger couple have a weak marriage because he’s a total jerk. Larry tries to maul Coreen, the blonde, but gets kneed for it. The middle-aged single woman has a sad back story and takes a shine to single captain Dan. Liesure suit Joe has a sad back story too, and Coreen takes a shine to him. While touring the parcels, the middle aged couple discover that the development is a scam. They are, however, attacked and killed by giant ants. The ants then attack the rest of the group, who flee. A thunderstorm douses their protective camp fire, so they must flee again. The retired couple hide in a shed and get eaten later. Christine trips but Larry is too big of a wuss to save her. She is killed. The rest make it to a row boat and row up the river. Eventually, the ants jump on them, killing Larry. The rest are herded by the ants towards a small town with a sugar factory. The people in the town act strange and thwart the group’s efforts to leave. It turns out that the queen ant has set up shop in the factory and gasses the residents to bend their wills to hers. Thus, her army of human slaves feed her ants the sugar. The survivors resist indoctrination. Captain Dan uses road flares to set fire to the queen. In the pandemonium, the survivors escape. Heroic Joe opens the valve on a gasoline tanker truck and drives it all around the factory. He jumps from the moving truck, which crashes and explodes into flame, obligingly. The factory and (presumably) all the ants burn. The survivors escape in an outboard motor boat. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Some may enjoy EoA as one of those so-bad-they’re-good sorts of movies. Much of the fun is nostalgic. EoA is, at it’s heart, a mid-50s big bug movie, dressed up in leisure suits and bellbottoms. If shot in black and white, and the fashions adjusted, EoA would fit right into the 50s. Joan is her usual saucy self. Pamela Shoop (as Coreen) is easy on the eyes. Brooke Palance adds an understated pretty too.

Cultural Connection
Old Bogey Men — The roots of Gordon’s screenplay ring the old alarm bells about nuclear radiation. By the mid-70s, audiences had grown accustomed (weary) to pronouncements of ecological doom. The old bogey man of the dangers of nuclear radiation must have seemed almost quaint to audiences in 1977. As per the old magic, the radioactive waste manages to make the ants grow huge — which radiation was imagined to have the power to do — and it also made them more intelligent.

Notes
Based on the Book — Actually, a short story. H.G.Wells wrote “Empire of the Ants” in 1905 as a multi-chapter short story. James Turley and Bert I. Gordon’s screen adaptation is very loose, but does draw some elements from Wells’ original. In Wells’ story, a Brazillian gunboat is sent up the Amazon to investigate stories of ant infestations. He thinks he’s just being dissed by his superiors, but hears rumors and encounters a derelict boat with dead men aboard. The boarding party are killed by largish (a couple inches) ants which behave oddly organized. The captain burns the derelict. The gunboat comes to a deserted town near a sugar factory. Seeing more ant activity and no human survivors, the captain leaves. The narrator thinks it’s just a matter of years before the ants’ empire reaches civilization and there’s nothing anyone can do. Knowing the original story, various scenes seem less like non sequiturs. The burning boat. The trip up the river, the ant-controlled town. The sugar factory. Wells, however, did not have nuclear waste as his bogey man.

Ant Fest & Body Snatchers — Turley and Gordon’s story is a hybrid of Them! (’54) which has raditation-enlarged ants, and Phase IV which had intelligent ants (though not large) that work at controlling humans. Throw in a dose of Invasion of the Body Snatchers with the mind-controlled townsfolk just for fun.

Bad Bugs -- Director Gordon tried to disguise the modest nature of his "giant" ant puppets by (a) not showing them very much and (b) making sure the camera is wiggling crazily whenever there is an ant attack close up. The technique is a bit overdone, almost to the point of inducing motion sickness in sensitive souls. But, what's a director to do with a low budget?

Touch of Noir — There is a hint of film noir in Turley’s characters. None are “clean”. Marilyn is a catty scam artist. Her helper, Charlie is her resentful “kept man”. Dan is a grumpy misanthrope. Coreen was a gold digger who got dumped. Joe was an out-of work divorcee. Thomas trusted no one. Mary was a nag. Larry was a loser AND a jerk. His wife Christine was milk toast and burdened with daddy's money. The old couple just mooch on tours like that one, for the free vacation angle. Margaret was the lonely, bitter spinster. Unlike classic noir, the misfit toys find future mates and leave the island. Dan and Margaret warm to each other. Coreen gets feelings for Joe. Presumably, things get better for the two couples.

Bottom line? EoA is clearly an old-school low-B grade film. After the high polish of Star Wars, EoA looks especially dowdy and cheap. The acting can be amusing for it’s weakness — such as victim #2, Mary, standing still and screaming a LOT, while the ants slowly crawl up to her. EoA is low quality entertainment, but not entirely a waste. It would make a fun tripe-feature Ant Fest with Them! and Phase IV.

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.

The Stepford Wives

The first theatrical release sci-fi movie of 1975 was The Stepford Wives (TSW). It is one of the landmark films of the 70s. William Golden developed the screenplay from Ira Levin’s 1972 novel of the same name. Bryan Forbes directed. Katherine Ross and Paula Prentiss starred. Many in the rest of the cast were familiar faces too. Tina Louise has a small but important role as the first woman to change.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The Eberhardt family move from an apartment in downtown New York City, to an upscale suburb in Stepford, Connecticut. The move is entirely Walter’s idea. Joanna reluctantly goes along with the disruption. She notices that the women of Stepford are nice, but shallow. Joanna meets another newcomer to Stepford, Bobbi. (Paula Prentiss) Happy to find another “normal” person, they become friends. Walter is invited to join the locally prestigious Men’s Association. This flares up some lingering squabbles over male chauvinism vs. feminism between Walter and Joanna. Odd little events start to worry Joanna. Joanna and Bobbi notice that the Stepford husbands are bland milk-toasts of men, but all have adoring trophy wives. Joanna and Bobbi do meet Charmaine, (Tina Louise) another newcomer and avid amateur tennis fan with her own court. Joanna sits in on a Men’s Association meeting at the Eberhardt home, One man (a sort of Vargas parallel) sketches Joanna while the others banter fundraising ideas. The meeting leader, (Patrick O’Neal) is called “Diz” because he was once an engineer at Disneyland. Charmaine goes away for a weekend with her husband and returns a Stepford wife. Bobbi and Joanna are convinced that all the high-tech firms in Stepford must be polluting the water. They get a sample analyzed, but there’s nothing odd in the water. Bobbi goes away for a weekend with her husband, and returns a Stepford wife. In a moment of frustration, Joanna stabs Bobbi. There is no blood. Bobbi goes into repeated motions (dropping coffee cups) and repeating phrases. Joanna runs home to find that her two kids are gone. She comes the Men’s Association mansion on a suitably dark and stormy night. Diz is there and tells her it is her time. Joanna runs from dark spooky room to dark spooky room, stopping in what looks like a partial recreation of her bedroom. In it, is a copy of herself, brushing her long hair. The copy, however, has only incomplete black spheres for eyes (Eyes as windows of the soul, therefore Robo-Joanna has no soul, get it?). Joanna 2.0 looks the same, but is now a 36 DD where Real-Joanna was a 34 AAA at best. Robo-Joanna smiles a menacing smile, secures a strangling cord in both hands and walks towards Joanna. Fade to black. Fade back in to the Stepford supermarket. Tepid muzak plays while Stepford wives float along behind their shopping carts. They are all dressed in long, frilly sun dresses and wide-brimmed hats. Joanna is there too, in similar frilly attire. Zoom in on her now complete, but expressionless eyes. Freeze frame. Roll Credits. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Fans of the paranoia sub-genre of 50s sci-fi, can appreciate this mid 70s refresh of the trope. There are a lot of tangent topics raised by the script.

Cultural Connection
The term “Stepford wife” entered into the general cultural language. Even forty years after the movie, it is still understood. The word “Stepford” has gotten into dictionaries, meaning someone that is bland and submissive. A “Stepford wife” being  “a married woman who submits to her husband's will and is preoccupied by domestic concerns and her own personal appearance.” In 2011, Cindy McCain (wife of Senator John McCain) said, “I've seen things written about me that said "she's cold," or "she is a Stepford wife." Really, I'm just very shy.” Levin’s novel, and Forbes’ movie, made a lasting impression on the culture, even spawning

Notes
Based on the Book — The movie follows the story line of Ira Levin’s 1972 novel very closely. There are always ways in which movies cannot capture what the written word can, but in this case, the movie almost did a better job. For instance, in the book, the robotic nature of the duplicates is not made as clear. Levin may have preferred the ambiguity. Were they biological clones? Petty zombies? Forbes makes it clear that the Stepford wives are robot duplicates. The real wives were killed. This point too, is not as clear in the book. Forbes' scene with Robo-Joanna and her strangling cord make the fates of the real women terribly clear. Both the book and the movie indulge in vulgarity like a college freshman away from home for the first time. Both Levin and Forbes may have sought to use vulgarity as a marker for “real” people, but what does that say about the culture?

Better Without Bimbos — William Goldman had originally envisioned the Stepford wives to be dressed provocatively. They would be trophy bimbos. Bryan Forbes’ wife, Nanette Newman, was cast as Carol Van Sant. Newman was an accomplished actress in her own right and attractive, but at 40 years old, did not look good in Goldman’s bimbo-wear. So, the costuming took a more conservative tack. Barbie gave way to Betty Crocker. This actually saved the film from becoming kitsch — a slightly darker version of Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (’65) in which the robots are primarily eye candy. Middle-aged men making bikini-babes would have been shallow and juvenile. Them making “nice” mild suburban homemakers has more complexity.

The Dark Side of Disney — Apparently, the animatronics at Disneyland creeped some people out. Disney’s robo-entertainment was also the inspiration for Westworld (’73). Forbes’ robots don’t go bad as overtly as the Gunslinger, but the scene in which Robo-Joanna is implied to kill the real Joanna shows the same technophobia. The Disney connection is made abundantly clear in the “Diz” character, who worked for Disney. When Joanna is talking with the therapist she says she knows she is due to be replaced. It will look like her, “but it won’t be me. She’ll be one of those robots at Disneyland.” Some people saw a dark side to the magic kingdom.

Pods For A New Age — The Stepford wives are the pod people for a new generation. There is much similarity between TSW and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (’56). Both are classics of the people-being-replaced conspiracy trope. In both stories, the “normal” people exhibit several human imperfections, and they are slowly and systematically replaced by bland, emotionless duplicates. Where Body Snatchers was responding to the insidious creeping in of communism (or McCarthyism, if you prefer), the Stepford wives represent a very common 70s anxiety about technology dehumanizing us.

Feminist Film? — On a shallow level, TSW serves as a feminist indictment of male-dominated society. There is talk of male chauvinism, burning bras, equality and mean-old-men forcing women into domestic roles. Yet these are more of a red herring. Beneath that veneer lurks the darker story of men willing to live a lie. Diz rationalizes the scheme to Joanna. “Wouldn’t you do the same thing? Wouldn’t you like some perfect stud waiting on you around the house? Praising you. Servicing you. Whispering that your sagging flesh was beautiful, no matter how you looked?” That was, after all, what the men of Stepford were doing. They wanted trophy wives, or at least the appearance of them, to lie to them, even though they knew it was pre-programmed lies. Why would a tape recording of a woman saying "You're the best!" have any value to the man? In this, Levin and Forbes make a commentary about that darker side of mankind’s heart. To paraphrase the bible verses, They refused to accept the truth, instead believing the lie. TSW is also about there being something wrong with the men.

Bottom line? TSW is not to be missed. One need not be a fan of sci-fi to benefit from watching it. TSW is a cultural touchstone. There is the usual 70s technophobia, but there are some many tangental social commentaries to muse over too. The banality of suburban life. An urban-dweller’s fears of un-hip suburbia. The subtle Frankenstein: Adam trying to fabricate his own idealized Eve. Science and technology doing the immoral “Because we can.” There are more than a few cup-of-coffee conversations to be mined from TSW. The film spawned several sequels and an unfortunate remake in 2004. The original is best. Watch it.

Invasion: UFO

A good movie to follow up on the previously reviewed film is Invasion: UFO. This movie is actually a re-edit of some episodes of the British sci-fi television series, UFO, which ran from September 1970 to July 1971. The series was the work of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. They were famous for their 60s sci-fi series using marionettes as actors such as Stingray and Thunderbirds. Invasion: UFO (IU) was a theatrical release. The story line drew from several UFO episodes. (more on that below). Network execs cancelled the show, feeling that earth-based sci-fi was no longer fashionable. Anderson would roll with the realities and rework his sci-fi series ideas into a space-bound version, Space:1999 in 1975.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A man and two women come across a flying saucer in the woods. The red-suited aliens machine gun down two of them and capture the surviving woman. Cut to Colonel Ed Straker and General Henderson in a Rolls Royce. The car is hit by laser fire from a UFO overhead. Henderson is hurt in the crash, so Straker is made commander of the super secret agency, S.H.A.D.O. (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization) Fast forward 10 years to 1980. SHADO has it's HQ under a movie studio, it has a base on the moon, its own satellites and lots of cool vehicles. The aliens send saucers to steal or sabotage a shipment of SHADO surveillance equipment. The saucer is shot down. The wounded alien is examined, but dies in earth's atmosphere. Straker concludes that the aliens are a "dying" race from a planet depleted of resources. They come to steal human organs for transplant in order to prolong their alien lives. Another UFO gets through SHADO's outer defenses and disappears somewhere in Canada. Straker's units eventually find the saucer and capture another alien. Straker tries to interrogate (or plead with) the alien, but he dies too. After a lull in UFO sightings, a cargo ship is attacked and sunk. Straker's teams discover that the aliens have an undersea base and use a volcano for power. Straker and Col. Foster examine the seabed dome to discover a duplicate of SHADO's command center. Alien copies of SHADO staff come and give commands to drop defenses. Straker and Foster escape and the dome is blown up. Apparently, the ruse failed. The aliens mount a mass attack with two waves of UFOs. In the climactic battle scene, the SHADO pilots' marksmanship is much improved. Earth is saved...for now. Straker has to give Peter the bad news that one of the aliens they captured (and later died) had the heart of his sister (the captured woman from the opening scene). At the funeral, Straker muses darkly over whether this battle was the end, or just a beginning. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
If one still has an inner eight-year-old boy, the ample supply of exotic models will be a treat. Since the IU is a compilation of several UFO episodes, there seems to be a new wonder-craft every 15 minutes or so. The model work and effects hold up well, even in our CGI world. It is also amusing to watch how many of these vehicles flying and driving around, have the name SHADO painted on them. Surprising visibility for such a super secret organization.

Cultural Connection
Even though the original television series aired in 1970 and 71, people in the mid-70s were just as obsessed (perhaps more so) with UFOs than they were in the early 70s. (see notes on previously reviewed film: UFO: Target Earth The re-release of Anderson's work in 1974 was very good timing.

Notes
Serial Tradition -- The practice of cobbling together episodes into a "feature film" is old. For instance, in 1939, Universal Studios released The Phantom Creeps, a serial (chapter play). Later that year, they assembled the episodes (cutting out the recaps) to release a feature film version. This practice would continue with Flash Gordon, Commando Cody, and Rocky Jones: Space Ranger, to name just a few. In IU, three of the episodes provided the meat of the footage. The early quarter of the film comes from UFO's first episode, "Indentified." The middle section came from the episode "Computer Affiar." The underwater alien base and climactic battle sections came from the episode, "Reflections in the Water," (which was actually UFO's last episode.) Snippets from other episodes were used to help with continuity, but the result can still seem choppy or full of non-sequiturs, due to the remix process.

Moon Babes -- The fine 50s tradition lived on in Anderson's vision of Babes In Space. Catwomen of the Moon ('53) posited that the moon would be inhabited by slender 20-somethings in tight leotards. Note the moon base ladies in IU. They're all shapely 20-somethings. (middle-aged women are not allowed on the moon) and in form-fitting metallic suits that accentuated their curves. Matching purple wigs and vast amounts of eye make were apparently required, but only on the moon.  The same characters appear a few times on earth, in more conventional clothes and no wigs. It must be a Moon Babe thing.

Retro-Nasty -- Even though aliens were morphing into benevolent Care Bears after the mid-70s, Anderson's aliens were still in the older Golden Era style of hostile invaders. Also in the 50s tradition, the aliens regard humans as simple a livestock to be harvested. Recall how the aliens in Teenagers From Outer Space ('59) sought to use Earth as a sort of remote ranch where their lobster monsters (which the aliens ate) would feed on humans.

Darn Dying Aliens -- Solidly copying H.G.Wells and his opening of his novel "War of the Worlds" (1898), Anderson has Commander Straker (a James T. Kirk copy himself) summarize the aliens: "Imagine a dying planet in some distant corner of the universe. Its natural resources exhausted. Its inhabitants sterile. Doomed to extinction. A situation we may one day find ourselves in, gentlemen. So they discover earth. Abundant, fertile. Able to satisfy their needs. They look upon us not with animosity, but callousness. As we look upon our animals that we depend on for food. Yes, it appears they are driven by circumstance across a billion miles of space, driven on by the greatest force in the universe --. Survival." Just like Wells said.

ToMAYto - ToMAHto -- Of some amusement to American ears is how the British preferred to make the term UFO into a word and not just as initials. Several times, the characters refer the saucers as "You-Fohs", not "U.F.Os."

Bottom line? IU is fun viewing. Since you get two season's worth of episode production jammed into an hour and a half, the pace is quick enough -- to the point of sometimes not making much sense. Despite the youth-appeal of Anderson's cool craft, the story threads are rather glum and pessimistic. Humans as donor stock. Death from the sky at any moment. There is even a recast of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers flavor of creepy. IU is thoroughly 70s and "mod", so fun for nostalgia, but not too bad as entertainment, even if you don't remember the 70s.

Yog: Monster From Space

This study has included only a few of the many kaiju films produced since Godzilla. ('54) After the first few, the kaiju genre veered in a different direction (e.g. Gamera, etc.). The japanese title of "Yog" was: "Gezora, Ganime, Kameba: Kessen! Nankai no daikaijû". The english-dubbed re-release was, Yog: Monster From Space (Yog) . It is included here for its historical value and for having more of a classic 50s sci-fi plot device -- an amorphose alien from outer space who wants to conquer the earth. Yog was a sort of "last hurrah" of the Toho team and director Ishiro Honda. Since their first effort, Godzilla, was such a landmark of 50s sci-fi, it seemed fitting to bookend with the team's last.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Two parallel threads start the story. Thread One involves an earth probe sent to Jupiter to study it. En route, the probe goes "missing" because a sparkly blue "amoeba" being enters the probe and sends it back to earth. Thread Two involves a hotel developer who hires a photojournalist to shoot the remote island for promotion. He's not keen on the job, but the island is where he saw Helios 7 parachuting down. He and the pretty developer's rep, Ayako set out. They are joined by a Dr. Mida who wants to study the biology of the island and a shifty Mr. Obata who says he's an anthropologist keen to study the islanders. On the island, a giant squid monster rises up, terrorizes a villager named Rico, trashes some huts and disappears. The islanders think the outsider are angering their gods. The squid monster, named Gezora, attacks again, trashing the village. The humans use fire and leftover WWIi ammunition to drive Gezora back into the sea. The amoeba leaves dying Gezora and enters a crab which becomes Ganime. The crab does about the same and is eventually blown up. The amoeba leaves fragments of Ganime and returns in a giant turtle-thing: Kameba. Rico comes out of his amnesia stupor to recall that bats confused Gezora. The group search for bats and find a cave with many. The amoeba inhabits Obata (who was actually an industrial spy for a rival developer). The voice-over alien exposits about how they, the AstroQuasars, plan to conquer the earth with monsters. Possessed Obata almost destroys the bats (with fire), but human Obata resists and lets the bats out. The bats confuse a new Ganime and Kameba so they revert to their natural behavior -- fighting with each other. They epic-battle themselves into falling into a volcano. Possessed Obata throws himself into the volcano, so as to kill off the last AstroQuasar. Everyone is sad. The ship comes back to the island and everyone is happy, though no one will believe their wild tale.

Why is this movie fun?
The giant rubber-suit-monster genre became somewhat tedious in the 60s, but Yog has something more to it. For one, the monsters are somewhat interesting in their portrayal. A walking squid? The story of an amorphous alien returning to earth in an earth spacecraft, is SO 50s that there is nostalgia value.

Cultural Connection
As mentioned in the first paragraph, Yog is something of a bookend for the Toho/Honda era of kaiju. About the time Yog, Toho would undergo a management change and much of the team would be dispersed. On one end of their era is Godzilla, on the other is Yog.

Notes
Dubbing -- The english dubbed version was released in the summer of 1971 as Yog, Monster from Space or Yog: The Space Amoeba. The dubbing was problematic, as it usually was. Whatever sincere mood Honda might have created, was damaged with the shrill voice-over for Ayako or sound-booth grunting or footsteps or background crowd murmurs, etc.

Ro-Man, Plan 9 and AstroQuasars -- The rather shallowly written aliens, the AstroQuasars, give no reason for why they want to conquer the earth. They just do. Their use of monsters to do so, is reminiscent of Robot Monster ('51) in which Ro-Man uses dinosaurs to do his conquering (that is, recycled footage from One Million B.C. ('40)). It is also reminiscent of Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space ('59) in which dead humans are raised to do the conquering for the aliens. The trope had been used by Toho several times too, during the 60s. It was a bit cliche by 1970s.

Redeemed by Death -- A recurring trope in japanese movies (not just kaiju films) was the sacrificial hero. He was usually a good guy, like Sezawa in Godzilla, who gives his life to stop the monster and save the others -- all a very noble kamikaze sort of sentiment. In Yog, it was the shifty Obata who atones for his own shifty-ness by defying his AstroQuasar possessor and throwing himself in the volcano. Yes, he was bad, but he did good in the end.

Vicarious Victory -- Just a hint of vicariously rewriting history lurks beneath Yog. The islanders find a japanese ammo dump left over from the war. Using their WWII weapons, they successfully repel the invaders.

Bottom line? Yog is not a great film, and it's easy to see why it's fairly forgotten. It is almost just another multi-monster battle of the rubber suits, but it's just a little bit more. The dubbing can be annoying, but Honda keeps the pace brisk and the visuals varying. Gezora, while a bit hokey as a kaiju, is actually kind of fun to watch. Fans of the 60s monster vs. monster stories will find more of the same. Fans of Honda's Godzilla will find just enough of his human touch to the story to make it worthwhile. Not great, but worthwhile.

Unearthly Stranger

A fitting digression following Karloff's Alien Terror is this film from 1964. Unearthly Stranger (US) is a British production, released in the UK in '63, but in America in '64 via American International. The story is solidly in the invading aliens-in-human-disguise genre. US is the product of obscure producers ("Indpendent Artists"), a serviceable (but lesser-known) director and written by a man whose prior effort was the strange The Brain That Wouldn't Die.  US stars John Neville (later famous as the Baron von Munchausen). The angelic Gabriella Licudi co-stars as the unearthly stranger.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Mark Davidson runs along the dark streets of London, panic in his eyes. He runs to his office and starts to tape his story, since he expects to die soon. (Flashback begins). A Professor Munroe is a key researcher in a project to harness the power of the human mind to teleport human consciousness to other planets. (better than rockets) In his office, a whirring sound starts. He clutches his ears and drops dead on his desk. Major Clarke (Security) tells Munroe's boss, Prof. Lancaster, that several American scientists and a couple Russian ones, all engaged in the same line of research, died the same way. Mark Davidson is Munroe's likely replacement. He is told nothing. Clarke puzzles over Davidson's new bride who doesn't seem to have any documented history. Davidson is curious about a trace element found in Munroe's body -- an element thus far only found on returning space capsules. He goes downstairs to check out Munroe's body, but the casket is full of bricks. Then the casket is just gone. Davidson muses to Lancaster, about whether "others" out there, might have solved the mental teleportation thing first and are on earth already. He someone wonders about his bride, Julie. He's never seen her blink. Davidson invites Lancaster over for a surprise dinner. She blinks obviously, but Lancaster happens to oversee her take hot casseroles out of a hot over with her bare hands. Full suspicion falls on Julie, but Davidson defends her (love is blind). Davidson refigures out the formula that Munroe had worked on and thinks he has it. He arranges for Lancaster to meet him at the office, but Clarke is there instead. He takes the folder with the formula, but is stricken dead in the outer room. The folder is a pile of smoking ash. Davidson and Lancaster figure that the aliens must have to concentrate pretty hard to keep up their human form. If they were unconscious, say from Ether, they could see their true form. They agree to try it on Julie. Davidson goes home. Julie confesses being "one of them." Her assignment was to meet him, seduce him, then kill him, but she fell in love instead. They can't just run away. "They" will find them. The noise whirrs. Davidson holds Julie tight, but she disappears. Only the robe remains. Davidson runs to his office (end flashback). He's making his tape when the secretary, Miss Ballard comes in. She is one of them and tells how her kind have been on earth for 20 years, they're all around, thwarting man's attempts to get into outer space. Now it's his turn to die. At that moment, Lancaster comes up from behind Ballard and slaps a gauze full of ether over her mouth. After much struggle, she falls out a window. When they rush to the sidewalk, only a white lab coat remains. The crowd of pedestrian gawkers have creepy stoic faces. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
US is proof of how a well crafted story can be told on screen with a very small budget. The story is well told, not giving away too much too soon and with a few false trails to keep things mysterious. The acting is good, never feeling like actors reciting lines. The fact that there are ZERO special effects makes US all the more remarkable.

Cold War Angle
Much in the same vein as Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('56), the paranoia of the Cold War drives the plot. People might seem like one of "us", but all the while really one of "them." At one point, David suspects his wife is a Russian spy. Who else could it possibly be?

Notes
Credit Worthy -- The credits say the story was "based on an idea by" Jeffrey Stone (an actor who played mostly minor roles). Stone's "idea" seems based on the 1937 novel "To Walk The Night" by William Sloane. The Carlton/Stone story in US has several similarities, but also enough deviations. Central to both, is a mysterious beautiful woman with no documented past, who doesn't fit in well. She is married to a man doing very advanced research -- in a field where top researchers keep mysteriously dying. Her mission is to kill the men in that line of research. The deviations occur in the several characters and their relationships. The research in US is teleportation, not time travel. And, in keeping with the Body Snatchers mood, there are many of them, not just the one woman. Still there are enough similarities that Sloane deserved some credit.

Camera Angles -- Perhaps best for a second viewing -- after the story is familiar -- note the camera work Fisher uses. The camera work knits together smoothly, so individual shots don't stand out as a distraction. There are tilted-cam shots for the "something's not right here" mood. There are long shots of cars driving away, but also extreme close ups of a screaming face. Even in those close-ups, Kirsch opts for deep depth of field compositions -- A close-up face on one side of the screen, and some distant objects, like an attic door, or down a spiral stairwell on the other. Kirsch keeps things visually interesting.

Memorable Creepy -- One great scene stands out, among several. Julie, returning from grocery shopping, stops by a playground to watch the kids playing. She smiles at their fun. But, one by one, the kids stop playing, stand still and stare at her. Then, en masse, they slowly back away, never taking their stare from her. Nothing is said. It's all body language talking.

The Power of Love -- Like in several other alien invader stories, the alien is "turned" by the power of human love. Julie was sent as an assassin, but experienced human love. This is usually male aliens falling for our obviously desirable earth women. I Married a Monster From Outer Space ('58) comes readily to mind.

Bottom line? Unearthly Stranger is definitely worth seeking out, even if it's airing at 3 a.m. on some obscure cable channel. It's a well told story, well acted and very well filmed. It has no special effects to speak of, but never feels cheap. This is first rate B movie sci-fi entertainment.

Alien Terror

The second of Boris Karloff's "last" sci-fi films was Alien Terror (AT) It was shot mostly in Mexico as one of four Columbia cheapies, AT's Mexican title was "Invasion Siniestra". This was the weaker of the two. It still had Juan Ibanez as one of the writers, and Jack Hill as one of the directors, but new collaborators did not improve the team. Set sometime in the late 1800s, the story is a patchwork of alien-takeovers, sabotage and a psychopathic woman-killer. The killer is played by Yerye Beirute, who also played Karloff's dim assistant in the sister film, The Fear Chamber

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. John Mayer (Karloff) and his assistant, Dr. Isabel Reed conduct their experiment but the chamber produces an explosive " beam" straight up through the roof and out into space. This attracts the attention of some aliens in a saucer. They land and decide to destroy the beam machine for the safety of the universe.They need a human to "inhabit" and control to carry out the sabotage. They select Thomas, a psychopathic killer of women, because he has a weak, (controllable) mind. Mayer performs his ray demonstration successfully for a group of dignitaries and generals. Possessed-Thomas enters later, giving a "gift" to Mayer. In the box is a glowing blob alien that inhabits Mayer too. The two of them then set about changing the machine to be a spectacular failure, so mankind will never try it again. Isabel and Mayer's pretty blonde niece, Laura, are suspicious of the creepy Thomas. Isabel sneaks off with some of the alien's advanced math. Thomas keeps being creepy and kills a couple more women. He kills Isabel too. Laura confronts Thomas too, so he starts strangling her. Paul (handsome hero who likes Laura) comes in, saves Laura and fights Thomas. Mayer, whose mind struggles against his alien controller, turns on the ray machine and zaps Thomas in the face. Badly hurt, Thomas goes outside to moan, wail and get killed by the mob of angry villagers. The glowing blob alien leaves Mayer and inhabits Laura. She tries to get to the machine, but Mayer knocks her out. Mayer has her lying on a table, about to kill her with his ray (and the alien). This bluffs the glowing alien blob to come out of her and sit (handily) in the focusing ring of the ray machine. Mayer sets the machine to overload and all three leave. Boom, explosion, sparks and fire. The house is in flames. Mayer muses that he learned a lot of things from his alien "guest" that will help mankind, but they must never mess with "the ray" again or the aliens will return. The aliens leave in their saucer vowing that mankind shall never get nuclear technology. Roll credits. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Almost all the fun of AT is in Boris Karloff. Despite the absurd script and his failing health, he delivers his lines with sober sincerity. Some of the tropes are of nostalgic value too. A lone genius working in a remote mansion, using bailing wire and bricks, creates a nuclear energy beam -- ah, but aliens from a saucer, inhabit human bodies to try and destroy his machine. All very 50s.

Cold War Angle
Once you clear away the psycho-killer fluff in the story, the remainder is classic 50s cautionary tale about the dangers of nuclear power. Aliens arrive (like Klaatu) because mankind is not responsible enough to handle such power. The aliens succeed in stopping Mayer's ray from becoming a weapon, but apparently did not return to mess with The Manhattan Project.

Notes
Klaatu As Pod Person -- AT is a curious hybrid of The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('56). Instead of the benign Klaatu, we get "sinister" aliens who inhabit humans to prevent mankind from developing nuclear power. The energy-beings taking over human bodies is also reminiscent of the Diaphinoids from the Gamma One film, War of the Planets ('66) and Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires ('65)

Plot Conflict -- It's almost painfully apparent that the writers, (Juan Ibanez, Karl Schanzer and Luis Vergara) were telling two different stories. One is the sci-fi story of aliens, take-overs and ray weapons. The other was a twisted tale of a psychopath who compulsively killed young women. AT's runtime would have been far too short for a feature film with only the sci-fi parts. Instead of developing the usual other subplots (romance, professional betrayal, international spies, etc.) the writers opted for gruesome killings. Odd and unnecessary plot elements include: Isabel being scarred from some earlier experiment, yet "hot", cleavage-y and lonely; Thomas having a limping girlfriend who knows he's a killer but loves him anyway (?) but he kills her at the aliens' urgings (why?), catacombs as meeting social place, pretty blonde adult daughters of villagers who wander around alone in the woods even though many women have been killed already -- yet after several are killed, the villagers still haven't called in the police.

Don't Need No Body -- A plot quirk which was poorly explained (or not thought out) suggests that the aliens could not directly affect things on earth because they were "pure thought." This is why they needed to inhabit Thomas and Mayer. That doesn't quite explain the silver-suit pretty-boy alien. He had a body. It's almost suggested that the silver alien might be visible only to Thomas, so he doesn't really have a body, just a projected vision of one. The trouble with that theory is that Silver Boy hands Thomas a box. He could affect matter then. Perhaps Silver Boy is an inhabited other-alien-race body needed to pilot the ship full of thought beings. (because they couldn't reach the pedals).

Sounds Wrong -- Listen for an odd bit of dubbing when Mayer finishes his demonstration for the generals. Still with his welding helmet on, a voice -- very much NOT Boris Karloff -- says, "This is our gift to the future, gentlemen. A way to destroy obstacles in the path of progress." Then Boris takes off the helmet and it's his voice again. What was all THAT about? A sound edit that needed fixing after Boris had died? Surely someone could have been found with a voice closer to Karloff's. A continuity error where the alien was supposed to be inhibiting Mayer? (this happens later). It's just odd.

Bottom line? AT is a very strange movie, almost more determined to be about Thomas and his compulsion to kill young women, than it was about aliens. The alien take-over part is of some interest, even if most of that story is told by Boris giving exposition. Viewers not fond of murder movies will probably want to skip AT. Fans of alien take-over films might find some redeeming value. Fans of Karloff get a rare glimpse of the man in his final year. Obviously weak and frail, he still had great stage presence.

The Body Stealers

Tigon Pictures sought to produce a more general-audience film than its usual exploitation and horror fare. The Body Snatchers (TBS) was certainly a milder project, though perhaps too mild. Patterned, in part, along the traditional sci-fi trope of alien abductions and substitutions, that plot line itself is abducted by low-budget James-Bond-esque elements. An uneasy alliance of government, military and scientists try to uncover the mystery of 14 men who disappeared in "Thin Air" (an alternate title). The film features a couple familiar (if not that big) names, such as George Sanders and Maurice Evans, but is mostly filled out with lesser or obscure actors.

  Quick Plot Synopsis
Three men skydive to test out a Jim's new parachute design. While they're floating down, they disappear. Only their chutes come to earth. At an air show, exhibition skydivers also disappear without a trace. Jim (Niel Connery, yes, Sean's brother) and General Armstrong (Sanders) want all parachute jumps cancelled while they investigate. Mr. Hindsmith, a Minister's aide, blusters pompously. Jim and Armstrong are told to investigate quietly to avoid publicity. Jim calls on Bob Megan (Patrick Allen), who has an overactive libido. Cynical Bob doesn't really care, but takes the job for $25,000. Bob finds a parachute pack buckle on the airfield. Later that night, Bob comes across a tall leggy blond on the beach. He quickly puts the moves on Lorna, who kisses back, but runs away and disappears. Later, Jim tells Bob to "lay off the dames." They meet Dr. Julie Slade who is not charmed by Bob. Word comes in that they found one of the missing men, but he dies. Later still, Bob is killing time on the beach. Lorna reappears, apologizes for running off. They kiss some more. It's implied that they go far beyond that. Next morning, Jim comes upon them, taking photos. Lorna runs away again. At the hotel, Julie calls with news. Before she can tell Bob, she's knocked out. Bob rushes to the lab. She's sore, but okay. Dr. Matthews thinks it might all be something extraterrestrial, but Bob scoffs. Julie explains that the fiber of the parachutes and even dead Harry's tissues were changed. Radiation? Maybe something more. The parachutes are gone. Bob fetches his buckle. It tests radioactive too. Jim's photos showed only Bob. Lorna did not photograph. Bob plans to do a skydive himself, in a radiation-proof suit, to investigate. Lorna tries to talk him out of it. He goes on up. Jim chases Lorna into the woods. Sees something. Screams, and is later found dead. Bob parachutes, feels the same pain, sound and disappears for a short while. He reappears, but remembers nothing. Bob goes to talk to Armstrong. Julie goes to find the now-missing Matthews. At Matthew's dark and spooky house, Julie looks down in the creepy basement. She finds Matthews (dead) and under glass. She turns and delivers two really serious screams, then faints. Bob finds Lorna at the beach again. Hug, kiss. Meanwhile, Armstrong finds out that Matthews signed the test papers saying the chute's were fine. Bob follows Lorna to Matthews house, where he finds the fainted Julie. One of the aliens. named Martis, appears, looking like Matthews. Exposits about how their planet, Mygon, is dying of a plague and they needed these kidnapped men to help them. Martis plans to kills Bob and Julie for knowing too much, but lurking Lorna stuns Martis with her ray gun. Bob persuades Lorna to leave the kidnapped men. He'll drum up a squad of volunteers when she comes back in a year. The men start to wake up. Jim walks Lorna to her ship. They hug and kiss some more, then she disappears, as does the ship. No one will believe the whole incident, so Hindsmith says to lose the files and just pretend it never happened. The military men smile and agree. Julie flies off with Bob in his private plane. The End.

  Why is this movie fun?
Another iteration of the venerable body-snatcher trope has a level of fun, even if done poorly. The aerial footage adds some visual fun. Aviation fans get a few more visual treats too.

  Cold War Angle
With the mixture of traditional themes and tropes, it is doubtful that the writers or producer were crafting anything related to the Cold War.

  Notes
Snatchers -- The premise plays on the old body-snatchers trope of Golden Era sci-fi. The aliens in TBS are both simple kidnappers, but also the traditional form-takers. They do all this, not to invade, but because they need humans to help them with their plague problem. Though one wonders what earthling parachutists would have had to offer this Mygonian civilization that builds interplanetary space cruisers and has ray weapons.

  Ol' Fashioned Abduction? -- The original story had perhaps come from late 50s, or early 60s when alien-takeover was still cool). Even the title is obviously close to the 1956 classic. By 1967, when They Came From Beyond Space was produced, the trope was already tired. There are some small hints that the original script may have been intended for an American production that wasn't especially forthcoming. Note that Jim refers to women as "dames" (not a british-ism) and also promises to pay Bob 20,000 dollars (not pounds).

  Too Much Plot? -- The traditional plot of aliens abducting humans and taking on human form, was itself abducted and took on the form of a "free love" spy "thriller." The newer writers were much more interested in Bob's rapid sexual conquests than aliens abducting people. What was the point of Jim discovering that aliens can be photographed? If poor Harry's body was transformed into something "else", what about all those men in the basement waking up? Aren't they something "else" too? What about the plague on planet Mygon? If the Minister wants it all to have "never happened", will there be any volunteers like Bob said? Ministerial denial is tidy, but Lorna is coming back in a year. What then? The writers had far too many ideas to ever get resolved in one low-budget movie.

  Cheap Dames -- A curious feature to TBS is how women are portrayed. Except for Dr. Julie, they're little more than objects for sexual conquest -- even if they're aliens. In that vein, the alien-of-interest is a tall blond with long legs and fond of short short short skirts, though she never appears in the two-piece shown in the poster. Hindsmith's secretaries smilingly accept that their job is to "please" the boss. The poor hotel keeper, Mrs. Thatcher (a past-prime woman fond of deep-cut necklines) blatantly wishes she could "please" like the young girls, but gets no offers. Yes, movies are short, but Bob's character is written such that serious necking, (and more, if time allows) routinely follows "Hi, what's your name?"


Good Alien / Bad Alien -- We only get two aliens: Lorna and Martis. She is "good", while he is "bad." She is enjoying the sensuality of the human form (skinny dipping, sex, etc.). She develops compassion for us lowly humans. Martis is heartless and goes about his kidnapping mission with no remorse. Good triumphs over evil. This duality is also an old trope. The Brain From Planet Arous ('57) being a flagrant example. Teenagers From Outer Space ('59) also featured the alien who gets a soft spot for earthlings because of "love."

  Talk is Cheap -- The producers and director followed the B film solution to having too much story for their budget. Quite often, the characters sit in plain rooms talking about events off camera rather than those events being filmed. Talk is much cheaper than special effects or stunts. Some missing elements suggest that the aerial footage might have eaten most of the meager budget, forcing the cheap talk. Jim sees something behind the tree, screams and dies. Julie sees what we must assume is the alien Martis in his horrible native form. She screams and faints. This would have been the logical spot for the director to show the hideous alien (model, mask, makeup, post-production optical effects…something) even if only briefly. But we see nothing, making her scream pretty pointless. Perhaps there was no budget left for it. The omission leaves an odd hole.

  Prop Watch -- You have to wait until the final few minutes of the movie, but you get to find out that Lorna and Martis are (or must be) Dalek's. Her ship is clearly the saucer-cruiser featured in Dalek's Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. ('66). Tigon must have paid some licensing fee for the use of the model from Amicus Productions. Perhaps they paid by the minute, as the appearance is very brief.

  Plane Crazy -- A visual treat for aviation buffs is the multiple appearances of the De Havilland DH89 "Dragon Rapide" twin-engine biplane. First built in 1934, the DH89s were a mainstay of pre-war local passenger service. It's an unusual plane for American audiences. Also of minor interest is Bob's personal plane, a Beagle Pup. The Beagle company was on hard times and hoped the Pup would be a popular private aviation machine. It wasn't popular enough. Beagle made it for only two years, 68-70) then went into receivership.

 Bottom line? Viewers with a low tolerance for very cheaply done films might want to give TBS a miss. Fans of cheap Bond knock-offs will get to see Bob try to jump anything with two X chromosomes. TBS is definitely a weak member of the alien-takeover genre, but fans of that flavor will find a little bit to like. The airfield settings and occasional skydiving are different, but perhaps not enough for most folks.

Five Million Years to Earth

Nigel Kneale's original story (Quatermass and the Pit) ran as a serialized TV drama in 1959. Hammer Films produced a feature film version of the same story (and the same title) in the UK in 1967. 20th Century Fox marketed the movie in America a year later with the title Five Million Years to Earth (FMYE). This is the third in the Quatermass series. Even though it is a sort of sequel, FMYE is an altogether different story, drawing nothing (beyond Professor Quatermass) from the prior two.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Workers expanding a London subway station at Hobb's End unearth skulls and bones of odd large-headed ape men. Dr. Roney dates them at 5 million years old. Workers then uncover a strange object. Professor Quatermass, saddled with the smarmy Colonel Breen, investigate. The military think it is an unexploded Nazi bomb. Locals and newspaper archives tell of strange goings on in that neighborhood dating back to medieval times, whenever the soil was disturbed. Soldiers and workers around the hull report visions of goblins. A hole appears in the ship, revealing decaying insect creatures. Roney and Quatermass are convinced they are dead Martians. Their theory is that 5 million years ago, the Martians could see that their planet would no longer be habitable. They couldn't live on earth. So, they took ape creatures from earth and genetically altered them to have high intelligence and other martian qualities. The Martians would live on (genetically, at least) in a proxy colony. The British government and military scoff at this theory. They claim the ship, insect things and bones were all a Nazi propaganda ploy. Work at the station will resume. Television crews setting up to cover the resumption, inadvertently supply the ship with high voltage. It starts to glow and hum and control people. Supplied with vast electrical power, the ship projects its "race memory," beams. It triggers genes grafted into the human DNA -- though not everyone has the genes. Riots break out. Killings. The earth rumbles. Buildings break. Quatermass himself is affected. He tries to kill Roney, who is immune to the ship's projections. Part of the martian genome was to instinctively kill anyone who was "different," to keep the colony pure. Only by concentrating on his "human" identity, can he keep the urges in check. A huge glowing projection of an insect martian appears over London, as if to spread its control over a wider area. Roney thinks it can be neutralized if grounded, because of legends that the devil didn't like iron. (?) He maneuvers a construction crane to touch the apparition. In the fiery discharge, Roney succeeds, but dies doing so. London is badly damaged, but saved. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
FMYE is a great bit of story telling. The topic fresh and there is plenty of action. Yet, there is much to mull over with Kneale's notions of the roots of human evil. For 50s sci-fi fans, it's fun to dabble in another martian invasion (even if by proxy).

Cold War Angle
The primary theme is an exploration of racial issues, particularly the intolerance of difference. The Cold War is more of a background hum than clear theme. All three of Kneale's Quatermass tales were built around fear (of some outsiders) and paranoia (who could you trust?). In this case, smug and pompous bureaucrats and military leaders, ignore the danger signs of big trouble brew right at their feet. It is more of an "enemy within" tale.

Notes
As Seen on TV -- This story originally aired on BBC television in December 1958 and January 1959 in six half-hour episodes. Kneale himself adapted his teleplay into the screenplay, so it's little wonder the movie follows the TV series very closely. Some lines exactly the same. Sometimes they're delivered by other (peripheral) characters. Some scenes remained (such as the knocking-out of Barbara), though not in quite the exact same place in the story line. The movie's special effects are, naturally, better than the teleplay. The original title made more sense for the TV series, in that the ship was found while excavating for a building's foundation -- a pit. The movie's setting of a subway station doesn't fit "a pit" as well. Perhaps that's why the title change for American distribution.

Space Roots -- Where the Stargate television series imagined that ancient earth "gods" were really encounters with egotistical aliens, Kneale imagines, in FMYE, that legends of demons and the devil, and psychic powers all had a common extraterrestrial source -- the Martians!

Undermining Darwin -- Despite the typical overtones of evolutionary theories ("apemen", etc.), Kneale cuts the legs off the popular notion of steady-state evolution. Human intelligence was not the result of slow and steady mutations and darwinian survival of the fittest. Instead, he posits that earth apes got a serious genetic upgrade from the Martians. Humans didn't evolve from apes, we're martian halfbreeds! At one point, Barbara even says, "We ARE the Martians."

Inherited Evil -- The Martian genetic "gift" had it's benefits and drawbacks. Earth apes got the intelligence boost, but also inherited the martian urge to destroy anything different. In this, Kneale aimed at social commentary -- intolerance of other races -- opens a much larger can of worms. He suggests that most (if not all) of humanity's dark side, stems from ancient "race memory". That, in itself, is a controversial notion base on racist theories. Via this plot device, Kneale seems to be absolving humanity of direct responsibility for its evils. The human genes were basically "innocent" animal. It was the goblin-like horned "devil" martians that introduced the bad genes. This has a coincident parallel to the Biblical account, in which it was the devil which introduced sin to innocent Adam and Eve.

Good Old Mars -- Firmly in the 50s idiom, Kneale pictures Mars as a planet which was once more comfortably habitable and hosted a flourishing civilization. In this, he is good company with H.G. Wells and others. Mars is also still the "Bringer of War" in that martian genes cause human belligerence. Note the nod to H.G.Wells in that the martian bug creatures walked on three legs. This was more apparent in the TV series, but is still in the movie's screenplay.

Bottom line? FMYE is a well-done, well paced sci-fi with 50s roots (a '59 TV series). It also has many thoughtful twists, turns and nuggets to muse on. By modern CGI standards, the special effects can seem dowdy, but FMYE was not a movie to show off special effects. For fans of old sci-fi, it's a must-see.