ALL SCI-FI

[The Spike]

Strange how absorbed man has been in the size of things!

Dr. Cyclops is directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and written by Tom Kilpatrick. It stars Albert Dekker, Thomas Coley, Janice Logan, Charles Halton and Victor Kilian. Music is collectively arranged by Ernst Toch, Gerard Corbanara and Albert Hay Malotte, and cinematography is by Henry Sharp.

A group of scientists are requested to join Dr. Alexander Thorkel (Dekker) at his remote laboratory in the Peruvian jungle. Once there they find the doctor is losing his sight but working on something very secretive. Soon enough they wish they hadn't stuck around to find out just what it is he is up to.

One of the better of the "mad scientist" movies from the classic era of sci-fi schlockers, Dr. Cyclops boasts nifty effects work, lovely Technicolor and a superb lead performance by Dekker. As in the best traditions of such genre fare, the science is mad as a box of frogs, which here involves miniaturization. Thorkel pushes the boundaries of his work and this puts his "guests" into grave danger as they enter a small world beset with everyday perils.

It's never truly a horror film, as evidenced by the jaunty musical score that accompanies much of the "little people's" adventures as they strive to survive, and this is something that has taken first time viewers by surprise and disappointed them. This really is a picture asking you to enjoy yourself with a smile on your face whilst appreciating the super craft involved for the era.

There's no brainy botherings or statements of metaphoric substance, while away from Dekker the acting is hardly high grade stuff. But transport yourself into this bonkers sci-fi adventure and a good time is assured at the very least. 7.5/10
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The quality of mercy is not strnen.

[Bud Brewster]

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From the director of "King Kong" (Ernest B. Schoedsack) comes this Technicolor classic, a strange but effective mixture of suspense and lighthearted adventure (mostly the latter).

A mad scientist living in the Amazon jungle sends for a famous professor to help him with his research. But when the professor arrives (in the company of a lazy hero, a feisty heroine, and a comic-relief Mexican guide), the mad scientist merely asks the professor a single technical question.

After receiving the answer he needed to overcome a stumbling block in his research, the mad scientist simply thanks the professor and orders him to leave. The outraged professor refuses, so the mad scientist uses his invention to shrink the professor and his companions to six-inch miniatures.






The miniaturized group must improvise clothing, weapons, and tools to help them survive against a host of dangers (most notably a hungry alligator). The over-sized sets and special effects are amazingly good, equaled only by "The Devil-Doll" (1936).

"Dr. Cyclops" has the added advantage of being in color. Humorous scenes and dialogue make the whole thing a thoroughly fun movie to watch.




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

[Pow]

Dr. C is one of my favorites.

[Bogmeister]

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_______________ Dr. Cyclops Official Trailer #1


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This film - Dr. Cyclops - is on DVD in the
The Classic SCI-FI ULTIMATE COLLECTION

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The film is slow in parts and there is indeed a lack of tension in most scenes, not helped by the jokey attitude of the shrunken characters in a few scenes.

Their first scene as little people, when Dr. Cyclops invites them to escape up some stairs, is scary. But after that it's mostly cheesy fun.

The score even imparts a whimsical tone to parts of the film. I never thought of this as an amusing attempt at the 'shrinking people' plot, until now. I always thought the aim here was to thrill & terrorize — I guess I got that impression when I was younger. Now, some of the scenes come across as a big, er, little joke.

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This was an unusual color film way back then, and interestingly enough this now manifests as a startling color film in the 21st century. I'm particularly taken by the color of the film. On this relatively new DVD, seen on a relatively new HD TV, the clarity and color of the picture is striking.

This is a 70-year old film and it looks like new on this DVD version — very sharp. When such 'new' versions of a film are unveiled, certain FX scenes are also revealed as not too great, being seen so clearly for the first time. But bot in this case.

One example is the scene of the little people climbing on a stack of books to open a door. It holds up well — those look like real books to me and a real, normal-sized door.

BoG's Score: 7 out of 10



BELOW: Not everyone may be aware that Thrilling Wonder Stories ran the first movie tie-in by a science fiction magazine. In the June, 1940 issue, the "Novelet of Men in Miniature by Henry Kuttner" was illustrated with stills from the film. The cover illustration was by Howard V. Brown.

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Also, I was not aware until now that the actor in the first scene with Albert Dekker is Paul Fix, the prolific character actor usually seen in westerns, playing doctors or sheriffs. He puts on an accent here and is swiftly dispatched by the villain.

Other shrinking people films have been mentioned but this reminds me more of the Land of the Giants TV series; maybe it's just that both were in color.

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Finally, anyone here familiar with the novel The Micronauts by Gordon Williams?

I have a Bantam paperback published in 1977. In the novel's plot, food resources on our planet are dwindling and one option is Project Arcadia, which involves transferring human consciousness into tiny cloned bodies. It's another variation of shrinking a person. A special team of tiny humans is sent into a typical garden test region — you can probably see where this is going.

The writer, Williams, wrote two sequel novels, The Microcolony and Revolt of the Micronauts.




BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

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Let's Create a Sequel!
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~ A Question for the Members: If the process which was invented by Dr. Cyclops became known to the scientific community in 1940 (the release date for this movie), could it have been used in several ways by the American military and its allies in WWII?

~ Here's what I came up with.: During WWII the transportation of troops in large numbers from America to Europe was done with "troop ships" that were commandeered for this tasks.

For example, RMS Queen Mary holds the all-time record for the most troops on one passage — 15,740 on a late July 1943 run from the U.S. to Europe.





Unfortunately, these troop ships would sometimes be sunk by German submarines or aircraft, causing the deaths of all aboard.

However, imagine the advantages of being able to shrink down hundreds of soldiers and then place them into large aircraft — like the B-17 Flying Fortress, or the commercial transatlantic aircraft like the one shown below!

During WWII, Transworld Airlines (TWA) opened regular transatlantic service in 1942. But it transferred its entire fleet of five Boeing 307s, along with their flight crews, to the ATC (Air Transport Command)!





Yes sir, you could pack each one of those babies with a few hundred teeny tiny soldiers and fly 'em over to England on a regular basis.

Then they could unshrink the brave doughboys and send 'em out to kick the kraut's Aryan asses all the way back to the freakin' Fatherland!

The baffled Nazis would scratch their blond heads and wondered where the hell all those American soldiers suddenly came from!

Wouldn't this concept make a nice feature film for the war-weary folks back home during the dark years WWII?
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Nifty idea, Bud.

The question would have to be addressed as to why thousands of soldiers weren't reduced & covertly transported behind enemy lines so as to utterly take the enemy surprise in one fell swoop? End of war. Though in reality, orchestrating such a massive & complicated military operation throughout all the countries where the war was taking place would be impossible to successfully pull off.

Limitations could be imposed on the shrinking process such as they had in Fantastic Voyage where there was a 60-minute time frame before the agents grew back to their regular size.

Perhaps the shrinking process could be so complicated and time consuming that only a certain number of troops could be reduced in size, and not that often.

[Bud Brewster]

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has a very interesting trivia items about this production.
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~ Standing more the 6'6", director Ernest B. Schoedsack was very aware of his status as a giant among men.

Some of his colleagues from that era suggest that the filmmaker's height may have motivated, at least unconsciously, his desire to approach the subject in his artistic endeavors.

While many mad doctors were played by actors who were relatively modest in size, Albert Dekker (who had never before been associated with this genre) was selected for the role in part because of the similarity between his own bulky build and that of the director.

Note from me: This most just a supposition by the author of the item above, but I suppose it could be true.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Steve Joyce]