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It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 12:51 pm    Post subject: It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) Reply with quote




I had the poster on the left hanging on the wall of my room in the 1960s — along with about eight others from movies like This Island Earth and The Day the Earth Stood Still. But I didn't get to actually see this movie until decades later, sometime around 1980!

You might call this one the original version of Alien — or you might call it a remake of The Thing from Another World. Actually it's a little of both, but it stands on its own well enough. The fine score is by Paul Sawtell, although the title theme is borrowed from Kronos.






Marshall Thompson (Fiend Without a Face, First Man into Space) stars as the only survivor of the first mission to Mars (the wreckage of which is lying on the ground on the left).





A rescue ship picks him up, and he has a hard time convincing his rescuers that he didn't murder the members of his own crew to gain possession of all the food. He claims the deaths were caused by a strange creature which he glimpsed only briefly before it killed everyone but himself.





Unbeknownst to everyone, a hideous semi-humanoid creature has stowed away aboard the rescue ship, and it begins to attack the crew members during the trip back to Earth.









The story is solid and suspenseful, with competent acting, reasonably good direction by Edward L. Cahn, a fairly good monster suit designed by Paul Blaisdell (worn by Ray "Crash" Corrigan), and an extremely well-designed spaceship interior.





The cast includes the lovely Shawn Smith (aka Shirley Patterson), one of the gorgeous ladies from World Without End.





Her physical appearance in this movie, however, is very different from World Without End, as shown by the pictures below.







The rocket used in the film was originally designed by Chesley Bonestell for Destination Moon, but George Pal did not want a rocket with wings, so he rejected it.

But the design was used one year later in Flight to Mars (1951), and this same rocket blasted off in two other movies, World Without End and Queen of Outer Space — which makes it the third-most active space vehicle in the history of Hollywood space travel.

Only the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars and the Enterprise from Star Trek have more on-screen mileage!

In this film the wings are kept edge on to the camera in most scenes, so we only glimpse them in the scene below, a brief shot during the EVA. And small black rectangles are painted on the fuselage to resemble view ports.






The site at the link below provides an amazingly detailed and highly entertaining essay on this enjoyable movie. I highly recommend it.

Shadow's B-Movie Graveyard
_________________
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Brent Gair
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 2:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Woo hoo! May 19th from Olive Films.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 2:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

___________________________________

I'm started to love those Olive Films people! Thanks, Brent.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 10:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Here's what ten-year-old kids saw in 1958 (the age I was, back then). I didn't see the movie or the trailer in 1958, I'm sorry to say. Rats . . . Sad


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_____IT! The Terror From Beyond Space - Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 5:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Gord Green's recent post of the double-feature newspaper ad for 20 Million Miles to Earth / The 27th Day, inspired me to find other such ads for co-billed features from the 1950s.

I found ads for The Colossus of New York / The Space Children, and Earth vs the Flying Saucers / The Werewolf.

That inspired me go hunting for more great newspaper ad like those, and I've found several like the one below. I don't think I've ever seen The Curse of the Faceless Man, but I'll bet I'd have loved it in 1958 at the Roosevelt Drive-in after seeing It! The Terror from Beyond Space



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Thinking Outside the "Plot"!
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As I get older and wiser (or perhaps just wizened) I've discovered that the bad movies from the 1950s look even worse now, and the mediocre movies have begun to look really awful.

But the good ones (even the "fairly good ones") seem to hold their own against the ravages of time, especially if a bright fellow takes the time to ponder the concepts presented by an intelligent plot. Very Happy

This movie is a fine example. I’m bettin’ if I’d seen this one in 1958 when I was ten years old it would be one of my all-time favorites today. The sets are extremely good, the special effects are admirable, the cast it terrific, the story is so interesting they remade it as Alien — sort of — and the sets are extremely good (the 2nd best spaceship interior after the C-57-D).

For me the weak link in this otherwise strong chain is the monster suit. I would have preferred something much less bulky and slow-moving for a creature that evolved on Mars and slithers around in the ship’s air ducts like Bruce Willis in Die Hard.

Maybe something like these?



__________________



~ A Question for the Members: If the filmmakers had used a tall, slender man in a suit which gave him maximum mobility — something like a bit like my drawings above — would this creepy, almost reptilian version of the Martian been even more effective?

~ My Theory: Maybe so, but the existing creature is certainly scary enough for this kind of movie, and it must have been a hit with the kids in 1958.

In addition to the sets, the FX, the cast, and the story, it's really the basic concept that gives this movie the ability to stay relevant right into the 21st century. Hollywood today would be quick to make a sequel with a bigger budget and most of the same cast.

The story might go something like this.

Three ships are sent back to Mars to investigate the strange Martian survivors of a previous civilization (based on the speculations of the characters in this movie).

After landing on the Red Planet, they set up a prefabricated base camp with perimeter defenses that include an electrified fence, since the folks in the first movie found out that the creature responded to an electrified ladder between two the decks.






The creature attacked the crewmen in It! The Terror from Beyond Space to extract water from their bodies. So, water would be the bait the characters in this sequel would use to lure the creature into a trap.

The object of the mission would be to communicate with the creatures (if possible) and learn more about them for scientific reasons, or to capture one alive and take it back to Earth if the creature-or-creatures prove too hostile to deal with peacefully.

Generally speaking, the story would involve the challenges of surviving on Mars, attempting to make contact with the creatures, discovering that they are smart enough to be a genuine threat . . . but NOT smart enough to establish peaceful relations with.

The climax would involve an exciting scene in which the leader of the Martians (the alpha male, so to speak) would survive a mass attack on the humans’ defenses and almost prevent their successful emergency blast off.

But the humans would succeed in lifting off after the creature makes it aboard their ship, and they not only survive its vicious attacks, they manage to trap it in the cryogenic tank designed to keep it alive and incapacitated until they reach Earth!

Wow! Great idea for a movie, eh? I can just see it in my widescreen high definition Mind’s Eye!

What do you guys think?
Very Happy
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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It! It! It's on the ship! on the ship! It Breathes! It Hunts! IT Kills!! (naturally).

I wonder how Capt. Kirk or Capt. Picard would handle something like this alien monster creepin aboard their ships? (There was a similar plot line recently on the canceled Enterprise series, when a Gorn lizard alien was sneaking around the ship, but it wasn't as effective). Actually, the closest Star Trek TOS got to this was probably the episode "The Man Trap" — the first episode to be broadcast.



IT! just may be my favorite Sci-Fi film of the fifties. That's a strong statement considering that the decade also contained Forbidden Planet, War of the Worlds, Them! and a few others of excellent quality.

Many fans really like the film IT! but point out very quickly the low budget and cheap sets. But, I tell you, what they did with what they had was nothing short of spectacular.

I consider this one to be perfectly plotted, paced and cast. All the actors are quite good. Then there's that palpable sense of urgency and the claustrophobic sense of 'no place to go, no place to hide' which surpasses the eerie feeling of the later Alien.

In that later film, the ship was huge and there always seemed to be a place to hide; in this early version, the survivors run out of room quite quickly.

I think writer Jerome Bixby had a good case. I mean, Harlan Ellison successfully sued the makers of the Terminator film for similarities to a story of his which I never really understood.




I remember when I first saw IT! on TV about 40 years ago. I was very young, of course, and impressionable.

I tell you, that scene of the creepy monster breaking out of the compartment with the atomic reactor and grabbing that guy on the ladder was the single scariest scene of my childhood movie-viewing days. There was something about that monster chasing down, grabbing and destroying a weak human being (armed with a useless gun) that informed my nightmares for nights to come.

Even though I knew it took place on a spaceship in outer space somewhere, I was scared of the dark in my own house for a long time due to that scene.


BoG's Score: 8 out of 10


BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 1:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Ah-ha! Now we know that Andrew Bogdan's favorite movie from the 1950s was It! The Terror from Beyond Space the way my favorite is The Space Children. Very Happy

Ironically, Andrew said that he saw it 40 years ago . . . a statement he made in 2010 when he posted his review on The Base of Galactic Science Fiction. And since Andrew past away in 2015 at the age of 54, that means he was 9 when he first saw It! The Terror from Beyond Space.

I've often said I was 10 when I saw The Space Children in 1958, but since I saw it at a drive-in during it's initial release on double bill with The Colossus of New York, both of which were released in June, that means I saw it before my birthday in August.

Therefore, I was actually 9 years old, instead of 10.

So, Andrew and I both discovered our favorite science fiction movie at the tender age of 9. Cool

For record, I'm fond of It! The Terror from Beyond Space too . . . but unlike Andrew, I wouldn't rate it higher than Forbidden Planet or War of the Worlds, and I certainly don't have the strong feelings for it as I have for The Space Children.

In fact, I'd rate it about 6.5. Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Wikipedia has some interesting comment about this class movie.
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Reception

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2016)

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 69% based on 16 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 5.9/10.

Variety noted that the creature was the star: "‘It’ is a Martian by birth, a Frankenstein by instinct, and a copycat. The monster dies hard, brushing aside grenades, bullets, gas and an atomic pile, before snorting its last snort. It’s old stuff, with only a slight twist".

A retrospective film review by Dennis Schwartz favorably compared "It!" with Alien, a 1979 film that borrowed its creature feature plot liberally from its earlier counterpart.

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Those are some well-written comments. Very Happy

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~ The Space Children (1958)
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Maurice
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 7:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bogmeister wrote:
[...]I think writer Jerome Bixby had a good case. I mean, Harlan Ellison successfully sued the makers of the Terminator film for similarities to a story of his which I never really understood. [...]

The story goes that in an interview for Starlog Cameron said he "ripped off a couple of Harlan Ellison stories", so basically he put his own foot in his mouth so Ellison came after him for credit. (article on this matter)
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Krel
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 10:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That rocketship had to be the most used rocketship prop in Hollywood during the 1950s. The only one that could beat it would be the V2, and that was just stock-footage.

I remember on the old board we had a list of the movies it was in.

David.
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
I remember on the old board we had a list of the movies it was in.

It did indeed, and I seem to remember posting that list! Very Happy

I hope somebody else will recreated it, but I remember stating that the Flight to Mars rocket had more screen time than any other Hollywood spaceship . . . before the Millennium Falcon finally stole that title when Star Wars and all it's relatives came out! Cool

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 10:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Thinking Outside the "Plot"!
________________________________

~ A Question for the Members: Would a well-armed scientific expedition be sent back to Mars to determine if any more of the hideous monsters existed? If so, the threat they posed to future colonizing attempts would have to dealt with.

~ My Theory: This movie's version of Mars presents a very different kind of "Martian" than the ones in Rocketship X-M — a completely alien creature with no regard for human life, one that feeds on the people it kills!

The events in It! The Terror from Beyond Space seemed to indicate that the Martian possessed little-or-no intelligence.

Unlike my description of an expedition to the RXM version of Mars which — for humanitarian reasons — would have to respect the rights of the indigenous beings who survived the fall of the Martian civilization, the expedition in this case would be dealing with a dangerous creature, and the only reason the expedition members would have for wanting to keep alive would be to study it.

The base they would set up would include defensive measures designed to repel any of the creatures they encountered, such as the jpeg shown below, which I modified to include an electrified fence.




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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Martian withstood radiation exposure from the ship's reactor, gas, .45acp bullets, .30-06 bullets, hand grenades and an anti-tank bazooka rocket. I don't know what they could carry to protect themselves from the Martians. Except maybe a flamethrower, it didn't appear to like the cutting torch. But there's no evidence that it would have killed it, it may have just not cared for the heat.

Maybe a Ma Duce, the .50 caliber was originally designed as an anti-tank/structure weapon. But then so was the bazooka, and for thicker armor.

This is a tough one.

David.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Well, since I'm of the opinion that colonizing Mars is a huge waste of time and resources, why don't we just forget about the nasty Martians . . . or do what Ripley suggested in Aliens.


____________________ Nuke Mars from orbit!


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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