ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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A sci-fi tale from bargain-basement horror master William Castle.

Christopher George (from TV's "Rat Patrol") is a secret agent in the year 2118 who knows how to prevent the West from being destroyed by their mortal enemies, "Sino-Asia".

Unfortunately George has amnesia, so scientists stimulate his memory by causing him to think he's a bank robber in the 1960s. (That's certainly a novel treatment for amnesia.)

His subconscious creates a lethal force -- an animated effect by the Hanna-Barbara Studios. (That's certainly an unexpected side-effect to a medical treatment.)

Castle is famous for his novel promotional gimmicks for low budget horror films such as "The Tingler", which featured vibrating seats. "Project X" doesn't quite fit this mold. (But the poster is kinda cool, huh?)
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Brent Gair]

An above average Blu-ray from Olive Films.



The delightful schlockmeister, William Castle, produced ROSEMARY'S BABY and gave himself a brief cameo in the movie.

[Pow]

I recall watching this film on TV many years ago.

Found it intriguing; part Mission: Impossible & part sf.

They had a number of interesting concepts bouncing around & some cool-looking (at that time) FX.

[Bogmeister]

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An ambitious but low-budget, labored and talky sci-fi pic taking place a little over a hundred years from now. The plot involves the strained relations between the two super powers of this future era, the U.S. and China.

Christopher George plays a genius of the era named Hagen who went on a secret mission to the Orien. His last words before losing his memory and konking out was that the U.S. would be destroyed by some Sino-Chinese plot in 14 days.

The U.S. military and some scientists (headed by Henry Jones, along with Philip Pine and Lee Delano) concoct an elaborate plan to place Hagen in a recreation of a sixties farm, and role-play him as a bank robber on the lam, hoping that this will somehow trigger his buried memories.

A couple of hitches pop up: a modern female (Greta Baldwin) from a nearby factory strolls in, ruining the 1960's feel of the whole play, and then the mysterious Gregory Gallea (Monte Markham) shows up suddenly, being the other agent who had escaped China with Hagen.




Some of this is tough to follow, and the irony here is that if Gallea hadn't bothered to intrude on this set-up, the eventual revelation of China's plot probably would have never been revealed. All Gallea had to do was stay out of it and the plot would have succeeded.

As the hero, George is required to be in a fitful sleep or dazed during much of his role. He is essentially a pawn during the whole film.

The FX, such as they are, usually involve severe cost-cutting measures. Many images are representations of memories, having a surreal feel, including Hagen's mission to China. It's similar to the imagery in Angry Red Planet (1960), including the use of animation. Much of the plot also involves wiping the memories of a person and then creating a new template, an artificial person as a result.

BoG's Score: 5 out of 10





BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Pow]

Since director William Castle didn't have the kind of budget that a sci-fi film as ambitious as this one needed, he resorted to some imaginative visual effects as a solution.

When the scientists utilize a machine that allows them to see into Arnold's mind, it creates holographic-like images.

The sequences were accomplished by using animation created by the famed cartoon company Hanna-Barbera.

The artistic designs are reminiscent of the H-B television show "Jonny Quest." They look futuristic and the designs are nifty.

In order to convey the scenes of the dream state agent Arnold is in as this incredible mechanism delves into his mind, a number of techniques are utilized.

Wavy imagery, a haze, double-exposures, reverse-negative images are employed.

The animation saved on the requirement for a lavish budget that would have been required for the scenes involving the undersea prison, futuristic looking city, and the VTOL-style jet aircraft.

It may have not been faultless, but I gotta give Castle & his production team an A for effort in their blending of live action with animation.

The plot addressed genetic creation of a virus, genetic breeding, the ability to see a person's dreams, memory wipes. It had a lot of compelling ideas all going on at the same time and made for an intriguing if imperfect film.

[scotpens]

I was able to download a pristine, HD copy of Project X ripped from the Blu-Ray disc. I'm 30 minutes into it and it certainly looks, well, interesting. Definitely has a TV-movie feel to it.

[Bud Brewster]

[Krel]

It is a very inventive film that used props from "Robinson Crusoe On Mars". One thing I liked is that no one complained about life in their time, it was normal to them.

There is a movie review site named And You Call Yourself A Scientist!?, which I haven't been to in years. But...

Okay, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS ABOUT THE ENDING.

We were discussing the ending, and she and I had a disagreement about the ending. She felt that it was Christoper George's brain in the tank at the end, and I said that it was Monte Markham's brain in the tank. Her argument was that since it was Christoper George in the end hologram, that was his brain in the tank.

My argument was that there was no need to remove C.G.'s brain, as they could just put him back in the freezer until they found the cure. Plus he was a loyal scientist/agent. M.M. on the other hand was a turncoat agent, and his brain was already in the tank.

The big clue was Henry Jones gleefully looking at the brain saying that he will tell them more dead, than he ever would when he was alive.

C.G. had his amnesia drug activated, while M.M. never did, he was killed before it could activate. So they gave him a new personality so he wouldn't catch on and would reveal all the intelligence he had gathered. They picked C.G. character because M.M. was familiar with his personality.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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The trailer certainly makes the movie look interesting.

__________________ Project X Trailer (1968)


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