ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

What a movie!

It's got (A) an infamous reputation, (B) a cult following, and (C) the pride of knowing it inspired both an off-Broadway musical comedy and a big-budget movie musical.

All this from a Roger Corman movie that was shot in only two days!

It's all about a nerdy flower store clerk who boost business in a skid row store by displaying a talking, meat-eating plant he calls Audrey, Jr. (named after the girl he loves).

The owner of the shop is played by Mel Welles, who went on to direct "Lady Frankenstein" in Italy. The screenplay was written by Charles Griffith, who also plays a hold-up man and provides the voice of the carnivorous plant ("Feed me! I'm hungry!") He later had to sue to receive credit when the stage play became a hit.

Young Jack Nicholson is a masochist who visits his dentist for fun. Dick Miller is a customer who buys flowers and eats them. Jonathan Haze stars as the clerk who serves the hungry plant until it's big enough to eat the store (although the box of the prerecorded tape shows the now-famous Nicholson holding the plant).


Despite the film's seventy-minute running time, it's crowded with black-comedy gags; they overlap each like roofing shingles. The first one is a quick spoof of "Dragnet's" typical kick-off narration, after which things get increasingly frantic until the plot finally swallows its own tail and vanishes altogether.

Critics initially scoffed at Corman's "two-day movie", but now they refer to it as "one of Corman's best efforts". (Ah yes, those fickle film critics . . . )

A computer-colorized version is available if you'd like to see what a carnivorous gilded lily looks like.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Rocky Jones]

I hadn't realized it was shot in two days. That just goes to show it's not as much a matter or budget or time as imagination and talent to make a classic. The quirkiness of this one made it a big favorite in my little circle of sci-fi geeks as a kid.

I rather enjoyed the musical remake film, too (actually, based on the stage production, I suppose). It was one of those rare times when a remake did a nice job of expanding and enhancing the concept of the original.

[ralfy]

720p resolution:

____________ The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)


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[Krel]

The movie was shot in two days, because that is all the time they had with the sets. The sets are from another movie, who's name I don't know. The Producer offered the sets to Roger Corman, but he only had the weekend to use the sets because they were to be struck on the following Monday.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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I've never seen this classic. I'll have to watch this good copy.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)