ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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A movie based on an H.G. Well novel, a movie based on a Jules Verne novel, and movie based on a story written by Edward D. Wood.

Ah yes, Hollywood salutes the great works of literature!
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First Men in the Moon (1964)

After watching my exquisite download of this movie today for the first time in years, I was very impressed with the special effects and the fine photography!





However, what I continue to dislike is the blatant dishonesty of Arnold Bedford (Edward Judd) and all his shifty schemes.

I also dislike the overblown performance of Lionel Jeffries as Professor Cavor.

I must admit, however, that the scene in which Bedford suddenly assaults the selenites while they're urging the two men to cross the rock bridge is very dramatic. Cavor pleads with him to stop tossing the selenites off the bridge!

Carvor knows that Bedford's savage acts of violence doom his own hopes of establishing friendly relations with the selenites.

Also on the positive side are the scenes of the caverns on the Moon. They are spectacular, along with the special effects that portray the selenite technology.





As for Harryhausen's animation, I confess that I was more impressed with it during my recent viewing than ever before!

Aside from the Moon Cow scene, the animation lacks the dramatic action we see with the cyclops and the ymir.





But the animation of the selenites effectively demonstrates the way Harryausen's skill allowed him to create characters which could express emotions with subtle movements!





Perhaps the most impressive scene in the movie is the remarkable confrontation between Cavor and the selenite's supreme leader. The noble scientists makes no attempt to white wash the sins of mankind when questioned about the true nature of our race!





When the selenite leader learns that Cavor is the only one who can make cavorite and allow other men to reach the Moon, he tells the noble scientist that he and his secret must remain on the Moon.

I realized that the selenite leader didn't say Cavor must die . . . just that he must not leave!

We can infer from this that the lunar aliens were not planning to kill the humans — only to prevent them from making it possible for mankind to threaten the Moon with the same death and destruction we have wreaked upon our own race . . .

This viewing of the movie has inspired me to make more comments about it based on ideas I had about the story and the science it presents.

I'll ponder those thoughts for a few days and make another post soon.

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The Bride and the Beast (1958)

Good God, the trailer for this movie is deliciously lascivious!

We see the ape standing face-to-face with the lovely lady in her bedroom while she seems to be perfectly happy with the fact that the lustful simian creature yanks off her diaphanous nightgown and tosses it onto the floor!.





Later in the trailer we watch the ape lovingly carry the lady into his cave . . . while she appears eager to accept whatever fate awaits her!

My God . . . I have GOT to watch this movie and find out just how far it went to defy the sensors of the 1950s.

____________Bride and the Beast (1958) Horror


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Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)

Let's Create a Sequel!
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~ A Question for the Members: If the subterranean world which was explored by our heroes in the movie had an ocean with a shoreline populated by dimetrodons, what other creatures might have been in the vast caverns beneath the Earth's surface.

~ My Theory: In this case, I don't have to come up with an answer, because Verne did it for us! Here's a few excerpts from the Wikidedia plot synopsis,to which I added a few gorgeous illustrations I found, some of which fit well with the description.
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The explorers descend many miles and reach a cavern of colossal size.





It's a genuine underground world that's lit by electrically charged gas near its ceiling and filled by a deep subterranean ocean —





— which is surrounded by a rocky coastline covered with petrified tree trunks, the fossils of prehistoric mammals, and gigantic living mushrooms.





The travelers build a raft out of semipetrified wood and set sail.

While at sea they encounter a prehistoric fish (Pterichthys) from the Devonian Period, and giant marine reptiles from the age of dinosaurs — including an Ichthyosaurus which battles and defeats a Plesiosaurus.





[A section of the coast] is the site of an enormous fossil graveyard, including bones from the pterodactyl, Megatherium, and mastodon

The nephew and uncle venture into a forest featuring primitive vegetation from the Tertiary Period. In its depths they are stunned to find a prehistoric humanoid more than twelve feet in height, watching over a herd of mastodons.



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With all these wonderful precedents established by Verne himself, a sequel to this movie would be fully justified in presenting countless wonders from a subterranean "Lost World" that equaled the one created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle!

Not only is this lost world larger than Doyle's plateau in South America, it's environment is much better protected from the rest of planet, sheltered deep within the Earth.

I was surprised by Verne's solution to the problem of illuminating the underground environment. The idea of "electrically charged gas near its ceiling" might not be scientifically sound, but it beats the movie version's somewhat implausible phosphorescent lichen on the cave walls!

We should note that the novel contains a description of violent lightning storm which threatened to destroy the explorers' raft. I admire Verne for suggesting that the electrical energy in those gases near the cavern's ceiling weren't always benign and convenient.

I challenge the members of All Sci-Fi to come up some exciting story elements for a sequel we could call —

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