ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Another British science fiction comedy that most of us have never even heard of, rescued from obscurity by Jimbo Berkey's website, Free Classic Movies. Unfortunately, Jimbo has retired his website, but I rescued his review years ago and posted it here, pictures-and-all!

You'll find dozens of Jimbo's reviews which I posted on All Sci-Fi. I'm very glad I did so.

The strange title of this unique movie is puzzling even after we know what the movie is about. But if you can read his comments and not be eager to watch it, the expiration date on your imagination has expired.

Here's the review I rescued of Stop Press Girl, and the link to watch it on YouTube. The picture quality and the audio are very good — and it's been colorized! )
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In sleepy Slipford England, the Peters family has a secret that will put London on its ears. It seems that every woman in the Peters family can stop any mechanical machine from working without even trying.

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In fact it is almost impossible for any mechanical device to operate properly in the presence of a Peters girl. Let me be even more clear: a Peters girl can indeed be in the presence of a mechanical device for exactly 14 minutes and 59 seconds before her strange power takes over, but at the fifteen minute mark . . . to the second . . . every clock, watch, automobile, trolley . . . yes, every mechanical device in her vicinity will immediately stop at the fifteen minute mark.

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There is nothing that Jennifer Peters, played by Sally Ann Howes, can do to prevent this from happening.

Well, almost nothing. It seems that if she is either asleep or unconscious her magical powers will not stop all machinery, but she doesn't know this. Her Uncle Arthur, played by James Robertson Justice, hasn't told her about the strange powers of the Peters women, and Jennifer only knows that she cannot wear a watch because they all break after about fifteen minutes on her wrist.

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This phenomenon isn't a big thing for Jennifer, because in remote sleepy Slipford the life is very old fashioned and her powers are not known to anyone but the family. But just imagine what might happen if Jennifer, not knowing about her super-powers, would one day board the train for London.

Just imagine what might happen if Jennifer gets to London and rides a street car.

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Just imagine what might happen if Jennifer sat in a movie theater with the projectors grinding away happily for 14 minutes and 59 seconds.

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Just imagine what might happen if she got on an airplane.

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I don't imagine that the story authors would permit the plane to take off into the air, but just imagine that the airplane did indeed take off with Jennifer aboard.

Wait just one minute . . . instead of imagining what might happen, pop a big bowl of white kernel popcorn with plenty of warm melted butter drizzled over it and enjoy the show.

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

[Rick]

I saw this on TV when I was a kid and, for a while, I thought maybe nobody but me had ever heard of it. Maybe I'd even dreamt it.

Then I saw a mention of it in one of the Scheuer or Maltin movie books, so I knew it was real.

That first viewing, when I was young, was a real gift. I had no idea when I started watching the movie what it was about. It was just on and it was something to watch, so I did.

When I realized that it had this fantasy/s-f thing goin' on, I was thrilled. Very rarely did I get to "discover" such a thing. Usually I'd seen an ad in the paper or a friend had told me about it or it had a title which gave it away. But this one...I mean, STOP PRESS GIRL could be almost anything.

I didn't see it again till just about a year ago and...it's cute. Nothing special, but cute. And, because it was all MINE all those years ago, it still holds a special, if tiny, place in my affections.
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Man need not kneel before the angels,
Nor lie in death forever,
But for the weakness of his feeble will.

[Bud Brewster]

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Forgive me if I wander way off the topic of Stop Press Girl, but I was worried the thread for this obscure movie would never get a reply (much less a really good one like yours, Rick), so I figure this thread will appreciate the attention — and it's not like I'm hijacking a long discussion about the movie.

That said, here's a few thoughts about Jimbo Berkey's site, Free Classic Movies — which unfortunately Jim has retired from service.

Jimbo's website was huge, and he loved maintaining it. When I saw the comments he was posting with some of the movies he offered, I asked his permission to paste them on All Sci-Fi, along with the pictures he posted with the comments.

Rick, I just realized that I like your comments and Jimbo's for the same reason: you both share your personnel experiences and emotional reactions to movies in such an entertaining way.

I had so much fun sharing Jimbo's work here that I decided he had earned one of the All Sci-Fi T-shirts I was giving away to special members a few years ago. And when I sent it to him, I asked him to post a picture of himself wearing it.

He did something even better. He made a picture of this young lady, who might be his daughter, because he's about my age.

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Recently I decided to enhance the All Sci-Fi logo on T-shirt shown above by zooming in and painting over the faded colors to make the logo brighter and sharper. While doing so I realized Jimbo had Photoshopped her into the background. It isn't apparent unless you examine it very closely. I guess he didn't care for the actual background of the original picture, so he did what I love to do.

Fix up pictures and make them better.

I did the same enhancement of the All Sci-Fi logo on this picture of a young lady who lived a few doors down from me about five years ago. She agreed to pose in a prototype of the T-shirt before the much better versions were done professionally by John Street Graphics.



The young lady is lovely, the pictures turned out well, but the logo didn't look very good. So, recently I went to work with Paint.net by zooming in on it until the logo filled my display, and then carefully repainting every pixel on top of the original. It worked out well and looks much better now.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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This movie and it's totally unique premise about a young lady who doesn't realize she possesses the ability to neutralize all kinds of machines within fifteen minutes of being near them (without knowing she has this strange power) — the movie makes brilliant use the concept by presenting a wealth of situations in which she unwittingly shuts down trains, automobiles, and other mechanisms while trying to go from her rural home to London and then move around during her first visit to the big, mechanized city!

Imagine a person who causes machines near her to stop working while traveling around a modern city!

I was delighted when the plot finally did exactly what I was expecting — it put the unsuspecting young lady aboard a commercial airliner, never realizing that her strange power would kick in just fifteen minutes after takeoff and cause the plane to crash!

The climax is extremely satisfactory, and I highly recommend this rare and original science fiction movie! It's more fun than a barrel full of android monkey clones!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

I'd love to have seen a Stop Press Girl prequel set during WW II.

The British Isles are under attack by Nazi Germany. Their intelligence division finds out about are charming young lady with her mysterious super powers and decides to train her as an agent and send her, along with highly skilled commandos on a mission to gum-up the enemies machinery.

Along the way, our girl and her team discover Hitler's plan to launch a massive new aircraft carrying a brand new type of bomb that will devastate England and finally bring it to its knees.

Will Stop press Girl be able to avert this tragedy in time?And at what cost?

[Gord Green]

Of course she'd have to row across the Channel and then walk (Or maybe bicycle!) through Europe to Germany!
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

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Gentlemen, those are the kinds of posts I like the best here on All Sci-Fi —
thought problems which are like puzzles that are fun to solve.

First let's address Pow's "secret mission" idea. How does Sally Anne Howes sabotage the new aircraft without being IN it and causing it to crash . . . which would only destroy one aircraft, leaving the Germans to build dozens more.

One idea that came to mind would be to have her find a way to visit the factory where the aircraft, tanks, and other vehicles are being built. Based on a scene in the movie which involved Sally completely shutting down the printing presses at a large London newspaper, we know that Sally's mere presence in the factor would cause production to grind to a halt!

Sally would never have to approach the machinery, so the Germans would have no reason to suspect her as the saboteur.

As for Gord's clever observation that Sally can't just hop onto a plane, boat, car, or train to get from England to German, here's what I came up with.

Perhaps British Intelligence could arrange her transportation in "relays". In other words, she starts out in England riding in a car, with a second car following far enough behind to be unaffected by her power.

As soon as the lead car conks out, the trailing car catches up and transports Sally for fifteen minutes until it conks out as well. The former lead vehicle, after recovering, would catch up to car is riding in, and she would board it again.

This "leap frog" strategy would continue until the cars reach to coast of England, at which time two motor boats do the same thing as the car until they reach the coast of France, and then Sally continues traveling in two cars.

I should point out that the movie explains that whenever Sally is asleep or heavily sedated, her "machine stopping" power is negated. So, she could actually be flown to Germany if she were kept unconscious all the way — but I think the relay method is more fun!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

And once Sally crosses over from England it was very common at that time to see people still getting about by bicycle or carriages drawn by horses.

Could Sally arrive via a glider?

[Bud Brewster]

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Ummm . . . what?

After reaching France she would just continue to travel by car using the relay method I described.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

Relay method would be a bit tough to follow through on logisticly speaking. Too many cogs and too many wheels.

Gliders and bicycles seem to be much more practical.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]