ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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From the excellent novel by Frank Robinson comes one of producer George Pal's least effective efforts, hampered by below-par special effects, and a sometimes-confusing plot.

George Hamilton, Michael Rennie, and an all-star cast do their best with this story of a desperate search for an illusive, evil "superman" who can kill by telekinesis, disguise his appearance with telepathic hypnosis, and create hallucinations that confound his pursuers. The superman's identity is not revealed until the climax.

The film lacks the spooky, atmospheric quality that the premise requires. The result is a kind of ghost-story-told-in-broad-daylight.

Directed by Byron Haskin. Robinson's novel succeeds much better, including the surprise ending. (For additional reading on the evolutionary superman idea try "Phoenix Prime" by Ted White. Hint to George Lucas: it would make a great movie!).

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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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I read the novel back in 1969 and enjoyed it very much.

But the movie . . . not so much.

Some of the reasons are shown in the video of the films opening credits, which include scenes of psychedelic images and animated toy soldiers shooting at the characters. George Pal meant well with all that stuff, but it just wasn't effective dramatically.


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

[bulldogtrekker]

I would still like to see the movie, which I have never seen. I like movies with human-carrying centrifuges.

[orzel-w]

I first saw The Power on TV back sometime in the '60s. I enjoyed it then, but was annoyed at the two obvious places the movie was "edited for TV". The first was when the centrifuge is opened after spinning out of control, showing its effect on the passenger. The second was the sequence near the end where the antagonist is imposing his control on George Hamilton to render his brain into jelly. You could tell the TV editors had cut something out.

One scene I thought was clever was when one of the scientists goes into his office to retrieve a folder from his file cabinet. The entry to his office is a gate in a half-height wall. The camera pans with him in one continuous shot from the entry to his file cabinet at the far end of the office, then back to the former entry, which is now a blank wall up above his head, with no door. He turns around and grabs a chair to stand on, then back to the "entry", which has now become a totally blank wall all the way up to the ceiling.

Altogether, the movie is about a half-hour's worth of material stretched out to 108 minutes.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[alltare]

I thought THE POWER was pretty good. Like Orzel, I first saw it on TV, but I have since bought the DVD that has no edited scenes. For many years, I thought this was a made-for-TV movie because I had never seen a theatre ad for it. I was floating around in the Tonkin Gulf when it was released, so it sneaked right past me.

THE POWER sometimes reminds me of Cronenberg's SCANNERS, another (better) movie about telekinesis and telepathy. It also has the famous exploding head scene, which is always fun. THE POWER only has the bulging eyes scene (one of Orzel's edited scenes, I think).

[bulldogtrekker]

Well, TCM had their George Pal tribute this week. I finally got to see The Power and it started off promising and went downhill after the centrifuge scene. I guess you could say the trailer was effective since that was the only footage I had ever seen and the trailer made me want to see the movie.

The idea that the team was researching human endurance for space research was interesting. I love movies with centrifuges.

There was an odd scene when Suzanne Pleshette and George Hamilton were getting romantic in the dark and we hear a zipper unzipping. When we see them again, Suzanne is fully dressed and George's shirt was unbuttoned. So what was unzipped?

[scotpens]

[Bogmeister]

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_________________ The Power (1968) Trailer


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This is a strange one. I have the Laserdisc, a double-bill set with Atlantis,the Lost Continent. I bought it about 15 years ago. It was finally released as a print-on-Demand DVD last year. The intriguing concept involves a possible superhuman - a person born years ago who had genetically skipped numerous generations and is therefore a man of tomorrow living today, with vast powers of the mind.

I've always been struck by the innovative, off-the-wall approach by George Pal to this sci-fi thriller; what about that music and those weird zoom-ins & outs? The Power — THE POWER!

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Recalling all the strange, off-kilter moments, I always want to go back and watch this after a couple of years go by in-between screenings.

However, while watching, I start to wonder why I was so worked up about it. I'm not sure what the problem with this is — maybe George Hamilton's bland hero or the slow pace in parts. Or maybe I'm just unsatisfied with the limited amount of time or exposition given to the superhuman villain (Michael Rennie).

I'm not sure what to make of the threat posed by the supervillain's character in this film. On the one hand he seems to be the most dangerous man, er, superman on Earth. On the other, he doesn't seem to be doing anything with his superhuman abilities except stalking & killing a small group of scientists.

He's been around for awhile — the actor is not a young man here — and whatever threat he poses, he'll probably pass away in a decade or so anyway. So the whole thing comes across like an interesting, experimental exercise in the power corrupts principle, yet not very substantial.

It's also rare in that science fiction films did not tackle this subject very much (see the Star Trek pilot episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before" about a couple of years earlier and in the seventies Carrie / The Fury as the rare samples).

Later, of course, we have been overwhelmed with the Marvel Comics super-hero movies of this past decade, so this film can be looked upon as a precursor to all those X-Men, Spider-Man and Fantastic Four movies. Other prominent examples are the obvious Superman films.

This film does have a rather large cast of well-known character actors — Richard Carlson is best known for starring in a number of sci-fi films in the golden age (the fifties). Earl Holliman offers a quirky yet slightly disturbing supporting role here. Nehemiah Persoff and Arthur O'Connell are the elder scientists. Gary Merill is an investigating cop, and watch for beefy Aldo Ray popping up as another menacing character.

As to the female roles — Suzanne Pleshette as Hamilton's colleague/girlfriend is gorgeous & sultry, while older femmes Yvonne de Carlo, Barbara Nichols & Celia Lovsky are in smaller roles.

BoG's Score: 7 out of 10

Powerful Trivia: rumored as one of Forrest J Ackerman's cameos in this one, as a hotel clerk, according to Wikipedia, but . . . no mustache.

Star Trek TOS actor alert: both Lovsky and Lawrence Montaigne appeared together in the episode Amok Time, as Vulcans.



BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB only has 11 trivia items for this movie. Here's the ones I found the most interesting.
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~ Miklos Rozsa's score is one of the few movie scores to make extensive use of the cimbalom.

Note from me: One of the aspects of this movie I dislike is the frequent intrusions by the sound of that damn cimbalom — and the fact that closeup shots of the musician playing it were edited into into the movie for no logical reason!

~ This was Byron Haskin's last feature film as director, and the final film that George Pal produced under his contract with MGM. According to Haskin, the studio was so anxious to be rid of Pal that they deliberately sabotaged this film, casting it with the wrong actors, keeping the budget too low and skimping on the all-important special effects.

Note from me: When I first saw this movie during its initial release I was so annoyed by the poor way it was made it completely ruined my enjoyment. The above statement seems to explain just why this George Pal movie seems so flawed.

~ The Woody Woodpecker doll on the news stand outside the convention hall is a nod to Walter Lantz, good friend to George Pal.

Note from me: Spotting Mr. Woodpecker in George Pal movies if fun for true fans of the genre.

~ Miklos Rozsa's first film score for nearly five years. Although he lived into the mid-1990s, he did only a handful of film scores subsequently.

Note from me: Mr Rozsa's scores include The Thief of Bagdad (1940), The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959), Ben-Hur (1959), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), and Time After Time (1979.
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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 found this to be an intriguing, if hardly perfect, movie. It explores the science fiction theme of humans who have somehow mutated into a superior being. This was done memorably by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby in 1963 with their Marvel comic book the X-Men which dealt with "homosuperior" humans. On Star Trek: TOS episode "Space Seed," we are introduced to a group of genetically engineered humans.

The Power unfolds as a mystery science fiction movie. Someone unknown possesses "the Power," and is ruthlessly eliminating anyone who might prove to be a competitor.

One does wonder if this individual is so vastly ahead of human mental & physical evolution as established in the movie, why can't they quickly determine who the other person is that has similar abilities? No answer is given as to how these people came to have such abilities. As I wrote, it's hardly a flawless movie.

George Pal does manage to have a number of visually interesting and dramatic shots throughout his film. The conclusion leaves the audience wondering exactly what happens next instead of wrapping it all up in any positive way.

The talented cast does a credible job with all their characters even if some of the actors are not the ones that Pal wanted in the first place. MGM reportedly did all they could to sabotage this movie in order to push George along and out of working for their studio. That's a disgrace if true. George was a very talented and imaginative gentleman who deserved respect and consideration. No one working with him ever seemed to have anything bad or negative to say about their dealings with him. Then again, looking for honor or class in Hollyweird is akin to seeking kindness & compassion from Putin.

[Bud Brewster]

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Mike, you've convinced me that I should give this movie another chance. Would you be interested in sharing it in All Sci-Fi's Chatzy Room (< — LINK)?

The Power | Full Movie | George Hamilton | Suzanne Pleshette | Richard Carlson


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

[Pow]

Sure, this movie could be shared on the Chatzy Room, Bruce.