ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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In the mood for a lunar excursion to search for Moon women in showgirl outfits? Well, we’re got one!

How ‘bout a journey to Antarctica, just in case there’s a deep valley filled with dinosaurs? Hey, it’s worth a shot!

Or maybe you’d rather climb a plateau in South America to find . . . well, more dinosaurs.





Pick your pleasure, gentlemen! Moon Babes or Mammoth Monsters — you can't go wrong.
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1 Missile to the Moon (1958)



Director Richard E. Cunha decided to remake "Cat Women of the Moon" just six years after the notorious original. He didn't improve it a bit -- in fact, it might be worse. He used some imaginative cost-cutting measures to create the sets -- which unfortunately didn't work worth a crap.

For example, when the builder of a private moon ship opens the curtains in his living room to show a visiting general his spacecraft located outside, the rocket is a two-dimensional mockup positioned just outside the window!





And when the spacemen land on the moon, the full-sized mockup of the rocket they stand beneath is obviously just a flat cardboard mockup! Notice that the shadow is just a thin line on the ground. The top of the poor thing doesn't even reach the top of the frame, and it's visibly damaged. It appears to be patterned after the popular rocket used in Flight to Mars and several other 1950s sci-fi movies.





The lunar "rockmen" which attack the astronauts are very convincing -- except that the actors' noses appear to protrude from the featureless stone heads of the costumes!







I figure it was a subtle joke played by the creators of the costume: a nose smack in the middle on the stone "face". Look closely and there's even the suggestion of eyes. It's not easy to see, so I doubt many folks have ever noticed it.

The plot and the acting are equally uproarious. After learning that the government is going to take over his private moon-rocket project, a scientist discovers two young fugitives hiding inside his spacecraft.





He pulls out a gun and threatens to shot them if they don't agree to serve as crewmen on his lunar voyage. During the trip, the scientist reveals that he is actually an alien from the Moon -- and he built the rocket to get back home!

The rocket's control is more impressive in this behind-the-scenes photo that in the movie itself.





The lunar civilization is comprised mostly of former beauty contest winners, all dressed in high heels and old fashioned Las Vagas show-girl costumes.







Gary Clark (How to Make a Monster) plays one of the young escapees. Also starring Richard Travis, K. T. Stevens, Cathy Downs, and Tommy Cook. Look for lovely Leslie Parrish (Lil' Abner - 1959) as a principle character.
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The Land Unknown (1957)



This rip-roaring sci-fi adventure scores high marks in several categories. The story concerns four people whose helicopter lands in an unknown prehistoric valley, a freak temperate zone located thousands of feet below sea level in the Antarctic, kept warm by volcanically-heated water and a permanent cloud layer that traps the warm air.







The special effects are by Universal's FX wizard Clifford Stine, and even though the dinosaurs are not animated, they are extremely effective and enjoyable.





"Great shot, sweetheart, that was beautiful! But let's try that scene again, okay? And this time I'd like to see just a bit more primal rage."





The Tyrannosaurus Rex is a man in a suit, the flippered dinosaur is a convincing mechanical model, and the rest of the dinosaurs are portrayed very effectively as enlarged lizards.







All the dinosaurs are skillfully integrated with live action shots. Stine loaded the film with wonderful scenes of the fog-shrouded prehistoric landscape, using marvelous matte shots and impressive sets, creating a Skull Island atmosphere.







In some ways, this is the perfect 1950's sci-fi film. It proudly presents a wealth of facts about the Antarctic before it begins its fanciful story. The music by Joseph Gershenson is extremely effective. Director Virgil Vogel (The Mole People) keeps the action moving right along. Hero Jock Mahoney (a former stunt man who does all his own stunts in this film, and who later played Tarzan) is a stalwart hero.





Shawn Smith makes a very gorgeous-and-gutsy heroine. She can be seen as the severe heroine in It! The Terror from Beyond Space and one of the delicious mini-skirted ladies in World Without End. She also appears in many other films under her other screen name, Shirley Patterson.

Henry Brandon does a commendable job as a half-crazed survivor from a previous expedition to the Antarctic region.







Also starring Douglas Kennedy and William Reynolds. Produced by William Alland (This Island Earth, "The Space Children", etc.).

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Lost Continent (1951)



A synopsis of this film and a list of the cast members is bound to raise false hopes.

Sad to say, it sounds much better than is looks. Even the poster cheats by showing a T-Rex, despite the fact that there isn't one in the movie.

But the story is very ambitious. With more money and the right talent, this could have been a fine movie.

An atomic rocket crashes atop a lofty plateau on a South Sea island, a plateau where dinosaurs still survive. (Never mind the fact that South Sea islands don't have plateaus, just volcanoes. But the climax addresses this to some degree.)

Three military men and three scientists fly to the island, climb to the top of the plateau, and struggle through the savage environment to recover important data from the rocket.





The cast consist of sci-fi veterans: Cesar Romero (The Jungle), John Hoyt (Attack of the Puppet People), Hugh Beaumont (The Mole People), Whit Bissell (The Time Machine), Hillary Brooke (Invaders from Mars), Sid Melton (Captain Midnight), and a bit part by Acquanetta (Captive Wild Woman).



The jungle sets and tabletop miniatures bear a pleasing resemblance to a poor-man's Skull Island (misty and surrealistic). The rugged assent to the top of the plateau is a nice mountain-climbing adventure all by itself, and the special effects during the climactic earthquake are nicely done.

The cast does a good job with Richard Landau's competent script, with intelligent dialogue and good character interaction. Admirable music by Paul Dunlap. Directed by Sam Newfield.

In spite of these assets, the film is defeated by the poorly done animation (the credits do not name the animator). Only two triceratops, one brontosaurus, and one pterodactyl are shown.







The dinosaur models lack detail. Lost Continent came out early in the sci-fi craze of the 1950s, before any of Harryhausen's movies. The producers didn't realize how hungry the public was for rampaging stop-motion monsters.

But at least this movie primed the pump just a little bit for the sci-fi movies to come.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)