ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Well, here we go again — another trip down memory lane to my misspent youth and all those science fiction movies I watched. This one was the second feature at the Roosevelt Drive-in in College Park, GA — and the first feature was Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.

If I go to heaven when I die, God will make me ten years old forever. I'll play space cadet all day with my friends, help Dad tune up the 1950 Ford in the late afternoon —





— and spend the evenings at the drive-in, watching sci-fi movies from the back seat.





The Roosevelt had a neon globe on the top of the marquee that was, I swear, the same color as Robby's voice tubes!





This is what Cinema Treasures has to say about the Roosevelt Drive-in:





The Roosevelt Drive-In frequently showed sci-fi and horror movies during the 1950's and 1960's, as well as a generous helping of lighter family fare. It was an extremely popular and well-run theater during the golden age of drive-ins.

Yep, I can confirm that. This movie is one of a handful that punctuated my childhood with science fiction experiences. Some of them were life changing, and others were just a good ole' time on a warm Saturday night with the family.

This particular one was made on a shoe-string budget by the same director (Fred F. Sears) who did "Earth versus the Flying Saucers" (with which it was originally co-billed), and it can actually deliver some nice suspense if you overlook the less than Oscar-quality acting.

In some ways, Sears did a better job of camera direction in this one than in the Harryhausen classic. The story is fairly simple; an unfortunate man (Steven Ritch) in a small Northern town discovers that he turns into a werewolf at unexpected moments.







Eventually he learns that he was injected with an experimental serum by two unscrupulous scientists.





Doug Megowan ("Creation of the Humanoids", "The Creature Walks Among Us") plays the sherriff who tries to figure out what kind of strange animal is killing off the local citizens.






I remember this movie and the great Harryhausen second feature more clearly than most of the films I saw in the 1950s. It was a magical evening for an eight-year-old boy who loved sci-fi like life itself.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

Oh, yeah, that one would have required a lot of covered-eyes time!
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Rocky Jones]

Well, it's obviously low budget, but they didn't skimp on face fur. In high school I once went to school on Sadie Hawkins Day as a werewolf using the directions in Dick Smith's Monster Make-Up Handbook. I did it myself and it took almost all night. I don't think I looked much worse than this guy. I did have a lot of fun scaring the girls, though. And, no, I didn't go to dance like that.

[Bud Brewster]

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Well, shoot me for a heretic, but I actually like the werewolf in this movie better than Lon Chaney's werewolf in "The Wolfman".

Lon looks too much like he just left the styling saloon after asking them to leave little more on top than the last time 'cause chicks dig it!



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

[orzel-w]

The pointy ears are always a nice wolfy touch.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

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Right. And chicks dig 'em.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

I watched this feature tonight, rented from Netflix. As the movie progressed I began noticing familiar landmarks, highway markers and store signs. It was filmed at Big Bear in California, between 45 and 50 crow miles from here. (We have a view of the mountain from our town.)

This intersection in the film had a prominent sign directing drivers to "North Shore Resorts" to the left and "South Shore Resorts" to the right.



The road to the right passed across the lake's dam. A separate bridge has since been built, as seen in these photos. (In the late 1980s the 2-lane bridge had to be retrofitted to bring it up to earthquake safety standards. So when the highway needed to be widened, they probably decided it would just be better to build an entirely new bridge.) This photo shows the new bridge under construction, with traffic still using the old bridge seen in the movie.



Here are the last vestiges of the old bridge just before removal.



This is a 1964 photo of the old dam, which is now underwater. This is the structure on which the werewolf met his demise in the movie's finale.


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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

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Well shave my head and call me Yul! That is one terrific post, Wayne. I love it when somebody documents the locations of a movie like this and provides info about the area and what's happened to it over the years.

I saw this movie when I was eight years old in 1956, at a drive-in on a double bill with Earth vs the Flying Saucers, and I remember that climactic scene on the bridge very well. Your photos and the info are greatly appreciated.
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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 just love trailers, don't you guys? Here's a good one.

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_______The Werewolf (1956) - Theatrical Trailer


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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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An IMDB trivia item states and important fact about this movie which is part of the reason I like it more than the Universal Horror films with the Wolfman.
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The werewolf in this film was the screen's first science-fictional, non-supernatural lycanthrope. While possessed of incredible strength and ferocity, he could be killed by ordinary bullets and didn't require a full moon to cause transformation.
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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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Let's Create a Sequel!
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~ A Question for the Members: Could a sequel have been in made in the late fifties for this low-budget but admirable sci-fi version of the werewolf legend?

The Wikipedia article for this movie has an interesting description of the plot which describes why the two unscrupulous doctors experimented on the poor man who was injured in an auto accident and came to them for help at their remote laboratory in the San Bernardino National Forest in California.
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They had injected him with "irradiated wolf serum", which they had never before used on humans. The doctors believe that the serum, when perfected, will allow "a select minority of people" — chosen by them — to survive the unavoidable nuclear holocaust that's coming. Lycanthropy, however, is an unfortunate side effect.
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That's an new and original version of the werewolf idea; these scientists want to inoculate the human race against radiation poisoning! Believe it or not, there really are treatments that do this today! Here's what Nation Library of Health says about the research in this area back in 2007.
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The development of an anti-radiation vaccine could be very useful in reducing acute radiation syndromes.
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Other websites describe the progress that's been made to develop anti-radiation vaccines!

So, despite the despicable nature of the two scientist who experimented on the poor man in this movie, they were actually working on something that would benefit people who might be exposed to radiation in industrial accidents or nuclear reactor mishaps.





~ Here's what I came up with.: After the authorities investigate the strange incident we see in The Werewolf and discover the reason for the man's nightmare transformation into something b oth human and animal, they focus their attention on the research notes of the two scientists and learn that — with further work — their anti-radiation vaccine might succeed!

Soon thereafter, a government sanctioned research program is started, with volunteers who are given a modified "safe" anti-radiation vaccine which has been approved for human trials.

Unfortunately, what the researchers fail to take into account is the fact the Duncan Marsh (the man who became a werewolf in the original movie) only transformed during situations in which he experienced extreme emotions!

Those are the most dramatic scenes in the original.





Duncan Marsh was a good man, but he was a high-strung person who experienced several traumatic situations in the original story — all of which triggered his transformations into a werewolf. (I'm basing this on the movie, which I own a DVD of.)

Unfortunately, the researchers in charge of the project in this "imaginary sequel" were not aware that the vaccine would cause a violent physical reaction whenever any of their subjects had the same kind of emotional nature as Duncan Mars, and who happened to experience any kind of traumatic situation! :shock;

So, guys, that's the premise for a sequel we wished they'd made in 1957 — a year after the original.

Just to prevent this sequel from being too much like the original, we could have TWO of the research subjects be affected by the flaw in the vaccine and turn into werewolves!

And just to REALLY give the plot an unexpected twist, one of the volunteer/werewolves becomes enraged by his suspicions concerning this wife's infidelity with another of the young volunteers, causing him to turn into a werewolf and escape from the lab so he could go out to kill her!

But the other volunteer realizes that his colleague wants to kill his wife, even though the husband's suspicions are false.

But the second volunteer has fallen in love with the lovely lady, so his fear for her safety triggers his own transformation, and he escapes to go after the enraged werewolf husband who is hell bent on savagely murdering his own wife!

We could involve the original cast as well and have them rally to the aid of the science researchers who hope to recapture both of the escaped volunteers, especially the "good" werewolf who — despite his savage condition — is trying to rescue the lady from her monster husband.





The climax would be a Werewolf vs Werewolf battle in the poor young woman's home as she watches her enraged husband and the man who's grown to love her, each battling it out!

I've already created a prototype of the poster for this sequel. The blue one (symbolically, of course) is the "good" werewolf who fights to save the lady.





How all this ends could go in a number of ways, depending on the kind of climax each of us prefers! Frankly I'd like to see the two Dog Boys kill each other, after which the fickle young woman run off with the rich "cat lover" who lives down the street!

Just kiddin', guys!

Please "Think Like a Writer" and tell us what you think of wacky idea.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[johnnybear]

Don Megowan as the good guy? Surely not? Megowan was always the bald headed killer or monster guy in films! Him being the Sheriff is like Christopher Lee being Van Helsing in a Dracula film!!!
JB

[Bud Brewster]

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This version of the poster is beautiful — even if the werewolf really wasn't blue.

Perhaps he only turned into a werewolf under a Blue Moon.


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