ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

[Also released as: "Planet of Blood"]

Good old Roger Corman acquired some spectacular special effects footage of spaceships from a Russian movie. He hired Curtis Harrington to write a script around it, and Harrington shot the film in seven and half days at a cost of $65,000.

Basil Rathbone sends an expedition headed by John Saxon to Mars to rescue a crashed alien spaceship. The only survivor is a humanoid female with green skin, slicked-back blond hair, and feline eyes. During the trip back to Earth the alien starts drinking the blood from several crewmen.

Florence Marly is convincing in her alien role; she has just the right look for a blood-thirsty alien. Guest appearances are made by Forrest J Ackerman (in a bit part back on Earth) and Dennis Hopper. Considering its limitations, this is a creepy and atmospheric little thriller.

Counting this one, Corman converted three Russian sci-fi films into psuedo-American versions during the 1960s. The other two are "Nebo Zowet" (retitled "Battle Beyond the Sun"), and "Planeta Bura" (which Corman reworked into two separate versions: "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet" and "Planet of the Prehistoric Women").
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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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As I mention above, this is actually a pretty good movie, considering the way it was made — pieced together with borrowed footage from a Russian movie and new scenes created from scratch.

Enjoy this trailers.

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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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On April 1, 2016 All Sci-Fi's Friday Live Chat featured Queen of Blood Here's the Youtube trailer and both the Veoh and VeeHD versions we offered for that event.


____________________ Queen of Blood - Trailer


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____________________ Queen of Blood @ Veoh


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__________________ Queen of Blood @ VeeHD



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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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Thinking Outside the "Plot"!
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~ A Question for the Members: Roger Corman did a great job of "borrowing" bits and pieces from a Russian movie and hiring screenwriter/director Curtis Harrington to write a script which he could turned into a good movie at a cost of only $65,000 . . . in just seven-and-a-half days,

God beat him by only 12 hours when He created the universe . . . but I suspect that God went WAY over budget! And we still have no idea when God's overly long story will finally end.

But seriously . . . am I the only one who thinks Mr. Corman's tale of an invasion by alien vampires has plenty of room for sequels?

~ My Theory: Consider the concept. A race of technologically advanced aliens with a hunger for blood send a small expedition to Earth in hopes of seeding our unwary world with slimy eggs that will hatch into a race of ruthless vampires who will feast on mankind!

And did we actually defeat this foul plot against the human race?

Nope. We didn't . . .

The movie ends with Forrest J. Ackerman — a simple lab technician — gleefully carting out a tray filled with the pulsating eggs (one of many which filled the ship), so that he and head scientist Basil Rathbone could have fun with them in their laboratory!

Meanwhile, back on the aliens' home world, these bloodsuckers are undoubtedly preparing for a more ambitious shopping trip to Earth to pick up plenty of fresh groceries for their families.

Or . . . are they?

The scenes we see of the alien world don't seem to show a massive preparation for a full-scale invasion In fact, their meager expedition to Earth seems more like a desperate effort to save a dying planet!





With that in mind — and based on the intercepted images which the aliens transmitted prior to their ship's arrival — I predict that mankind will realize we've gained a significant advantage by exposing the vampire queen's purpose and her evil plot . . . along with the info the aliens foolishly gave us in those transmissions!

The bottom line, folks, is that mankind is aware of the aliens' weaknesses, and we can defend ourselves against them.

Furthermore, we can reverse engineer their technology and travel to their planet to neutralize their threat to mankin!

(What do you think, guys? Is this a concept that would make a good sequel to Queen of Blood?)
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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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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ Basil Rathbone was paid $1,500 to act for a day and a half on this film and $1,500 for half a day on Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965), another film that incorporated Russian film footage. Rathbone ended up working overtime and missed a meal.

The Screen Actors Guild demanded overtime pay, plus a fine for the meal violation, but producer George Edwards produced footage that showed the delay was because Rathbone had not memorized all his lines and insisted on skipping lunch.

Note from me: I'm glad the footage fromRussian movie was ised tp create this Americanized version. It's fun sci-fi movie.

~ John Saxon later claimed that Gene Corman had more to do with this movie than Roger Corman. Saxon estimated that his scenes were shot in seven to eight days, and that Dennis Hopper "was trying very hard to keep a straight face throughout" during the making of the film.

Note from me: This must have been a strange production on which to work — a patchwork of new America footage and the Russian movie.

~ Czech actress Florence Marly was a personal friend of Director Curtis Harrington. He later said that he had to fight with Roger Corman in order to hire her "because she was an older woman". Harrington would say, "I'm sure he had some bimbo in mind, you know? So I fought for Marly because I felt she had the required exotic quality that would work in the role."

Harrington also said Dennis Hopper "was like a part of my little team by then", so he agreed to also appear.

Note from me: The unusual beauty of Florence Marly is key the success of this movie.

~ Director Curtis Harrington felt that Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) must have received some inspiration from his feature, saying "Ridley's film is like a greatly enhanced, expensive and elaborate version of Queen of Blood."

Note from me: Hmmm . . . not to sure about this claim.

~ This film was made using special effects from the Soviet film Mechte navstrechu (1963), but Director Curtis Harrington estimated that 90% of the film was his.

Note from me: The footage we see from the Soviet film Mechte navstrechu (1963) is so impressive that I'd love to see the entire film.

~ In the final shot, the man holding the alien eggs is Forrest J. Ackerman. At the time, Ackerman was the editor of the magazine "Famous Monsters of Filmland" (aka "Famous Monsters"). This film got coverage in his magazine.

Note from me: I'm sure that Forry had a ball appearing in this movie.

~ Alien queen actor Florence Marly made a 16 mm sequel Space Boy (1973).

Note from me: I can't find a source for this video . . . ;(
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[tmlindsey]

I cannot find any video either, but based on the supposed remake mentioned below, it's more of a music video or "art film" than anything else

~ From Wiki:

Space Boy is a 1973 short science fiction film directed by Austrian artist Renate Druks. It was written by Florence Marly and featured music from electronic music pioneers Bebe and Louis Barron. It's rumored that Frank Zappa drummed on the soundtrack. The film was nominated for a Grand Prix at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.

Stuart Thomson plays the titular Space Boy and writer Florence Marly is the cosmic seductress Valana.

Space Boy was intended as a sequel to Curtis Harrington's 1966 science-fiction horror film, Queen of Blood, also featuring Marly, and itself based on an earlier Soviet film. In 2009, Space Boy was remade by Columbus, Ohio, filmmaker, Mike Olenick.

The remake can be watched here: https://www.mikeolenick.com/films/spaceboy
Watch at your own risk.
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"Have you never wondered what it would be like to walk between the ticks and tocks of Time?"

[Bud Brewster]

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Dear lord, watching the video is like enduring seven minutes of shock therapy!

The Wiki claim that it features music from "electronic music pioneers Bebe and Louis Barron" is totally bogus. The opening credits says "cybernetic music score by Jeremy Boyle". It vaguely imitates the FP tonalities, but with no skill whatsoever!

As for the rambling "poem" that runs through the video, it's not only badly written, the banshee-like voice that reads it has all the appeal of a dentist's drill.

Nanette Hayakawa (the allegedly seductive alien woman), looks like a slutty, overweight waitress at a truck stop restaurant. She's got long witch-like gray hair, and a figure like a has-been lady wrestler. A better name for the film would be Galaxy Granny.

Tim warned me when he said, "Watch at your own risk."
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)