ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

The title is a bit misleading; the alien (created by Paul Blaisdell) actually has only two eyes, but it takes control of a few dozen animals, using their eyes to spy on a lonely family which lives in a desert region of California.

Even then, that's not exactly a million eyes, but then Hollywood (a) loves to exaggerate, and (b) was never good at math.

The family is attacked by various birds and animals, including their own dog. Despite its technical flaws, the film is lauded by some critics as an effective science fiction yarn. Unfortunately the rock-bottom budget seriously flaws the film's appearance. Directed by David Kramarsky.

Executive producer Bert I. Gordon once stated in an interview that James Nicholson, AIP's co-founder, made up the title for the film and designed an ad campaign, complete with a poster showing a million-eyed alien, all of which he used to pitch the as-yet-unmade film to a group of exhibitors. The exhibitors were so impressed with the ads that they attended a preview screening after the film was finished.

They were appalled by what they saw.

There was no million-eyed alien, just an unimpressive, seldom-scene creature and an alleged "spaceship" which Gordon himself described as "a coffee percolator buried in the sand".

Still, you have to admire the way the poster artist actually depicted the creature they way it appears in the movie. Mostly.



One of the exhibitors, Joe Levine, offered to finance a completely redone version of the concept, one that lived up to the great ads. But James Nicholson demonstrated true American ingenuity by improvising a "special effect" directly onto the existing print — he literally scratched the film to add a "lightning" effect to the spacecraft scenes, effectively hiding the prop's unfortunate resemblance to a crude prototype of a Mr. Coffee.

The movie was released without further improvements.
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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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The trailer for this one is a hoot.

I love the voice of the alien who sounds like a glib playboy bragging about his Jaguar and his new blue blazer. Then the narrator takes over and tells outrageous lies while we see quick clips which don't really support his lewd suggestions that the alien's mind control causes a German Shepherd to have carnal desires for a girl, or that a man becomes "the violator of every code of decency, guilty of acts you'll never believe."

Hot stuff, huh? Kinky movie . . . if there was a word of truth to all this crap. Like this claim:

"One of the most fantastic terror thrills the screen has ever brought you."

Oh brother . . .

But don't take my word for it, friends. Watch the trailer and find out . . . find out for yourselves . . . find out if Bud Brewster is the most outrageous liar on this planet or any other! Watch —


_____________ The Trailer with 1,000,000 Lies!


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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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Here's a great deal! Watch this fine print of the movie from YouTube while ignoring the subtitles in Russian (or whatever the hell they are), and than enjoy these IMDB trivia items for this production!

____________ Da Beastsky vit a Miilion Eyesky!


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~ James H. Nicholson had come up with a tremendous ad and title and pre-sold the movie to exhibitors. Then they made the movie. When the distributors viewed the finished film, they were disappointed because the ads were so much more interesting.

Note from me: Sadly, that's the case with many movies: great ads, crappy movies.

~ According to American International Pictures head Samuel Z. Arkoff, Roger Corman's contract called for four films at a budget of $100,000 each. By the time it came to "The Beast with a Million Eyes," the fourth film in the series, there was only $29,000 to $30,000 left, so Arkoff signed off on shooting the picture non-union in Palm Springs.

Note from me: The budget scrapped the bottom of the money barrel, and the movie ended up looking the same way.

~ Because of budgetary considerations, the "monster" ended up being a teakettle with a lot of holes in it.

Note from me: It's too bad they didn't have more money. They could have used a large coffee pot . . .

~ Producer Roger Corman was unsatisfied with the way the film was progressing and took over from director David Kramarsky, without credit.

Note from me: Can't imagine why Roger didn't want to put his name on this brilliant work of cinematic art!

~ The tiny budget meant music, credited to "John Bickford", is actually a collection of public-domain record library cues by classical composers Richard Wagner, Dimitri Shostakovich, Giuseppe Verdi, Sergei Prokofiev, and others, used to defray the cost of an original score or copyrighted cues.

Note from me: Well, if you're going to steal something, make sure is high quality stuff, right?

~ When Samuel Z. Arkoff of ARC received The Beast with a Million Eyes he was unhappy that it did not even feature "the beast" that was implicit in the title.

Paul Blaisdell, responsible for the film's special effects, was hired to create a three-foot-tall spaceship (with "beast" alien) for a meager $200. Notably, the Art Director was Albert S. Ruddy, who would later win two "Best Picture" Academy Awards for The Godfather (1972) and Million Dollar Baby (2004).

Note from me: Some people reach a peak and fall from grave and end up at the bottom. Ruddy, however, started at the bottom shot up like a rocket!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)