ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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[Also released as: "The Only Way Out is Dead" and "The Heart Farm"]

Sandy Dennis and surgeon Stuart Whitman ("City Beneath the Sea") discover that millionaire Burle Ives has a sinister purpose for maintaining his plush, mountain-top medical center. Ives is arranging for young, healthy, male patients to be on hand so that his own failing health can benefit from stolen organ transplants.

Good location photography in the Canadian Rockies and taunt direction by John Trent make this one both pleasing to the eye and exciting to watch. This Canadian made-for-TV movie received a theatrical release in Europe.

Also starring Jack Creley, Ron Hartman, and Tom Harvey.
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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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Good grief! There's no DVD for this movie, but Amazon offers a VHS tape of it . . . for $241.88!

UPDATE July 7, 2019: It's no longer listed on Amazon.
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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]

________________________________

I actually like the premise for this story. Some very interesting ideas are possible if we have a secluded, mountain-top medical facility where a team of highly skilled doctors are developing transplant techniques to keep their aging, super-rich employer alive.

Initially the viewer thinks of the rich man as a villain who preys on others to prolong his own life. And the doctors seem equally villainous for killing off their victims to supply the old man with replacement parts!

But as the story progresses we learn that the doctors are developing amazing life-saving techniques which will benefit all mankind when their discoveries are made known — and they plan to reveal them when they've been perfected!

Then we learn that the doctors aren't being unscrupulous at all! The patients are volunteers who have been paid large sums of money to donate specific organs for the research. The entire project is an experiment intended to find ways to exchange organs from on person to anothe . . . for the benefit of both.

For example, it one patient has an unusually strong heart but he's perfectly
content to live a somewhat low key lifestyle, he agrees to swap hearts with an athletic man who has a less vibrant heart which isn't well suited for the strenuous activities he enjoys!

But the most surprising and interesting aspect of the story is the fact that the millionaire is actually aware of the altruistic aspect of his expensive medical facility. At yet, he has explained the sad fact to the doctors that it will only continue to operate while he's alive, because his greedy heirs will divide up his fortune and close the medical facility after he dies!

And so, the viewer finally learns that the rich old man's determination to remain alive, in spite of his advancing age and declining health, is not a selfish wish to cling to life at any cost. He's actually fighting to keep the medical facility going so that the doctors can continue their important work as long as possible!

Hey, what do you think, guys? I'd really appreciate a bit of feedback. To be honest I've been a bit disappointed when the members of All Sci-Fi offered so few comments on posts like this one — a pitch for a story idea I was hoping other folks would respond to.

Come on, guys . . . Think like a writer!
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

I actually like the premise of this story!

Some very interesting ideas are possible if we have a secluded, mountain-top medical facility where a team of highly skilled doctors are developing transplant techniques to keep their aging, super-rich employer alive.

Initially the viewer thinks of the rich man as a villain who preys on others to prolong his own life. And the doctors seem equally villainous for killing off their victims to supply the old man with replacement parts!

But as the story progresses we learn that the doctors are developing amazing life-saving techniques which will benefit all mankind when their discoveries are made known — and they plan to reveal them when they've been perfected!

Then we learn that the doctors aren't being unscrupulous at all! The patients are volunteers who have been paid large sums of money to donate specific organs for the research.

In some cases, the volunteers know they are sacrificing their lives, and they've arranged to have their impoverished families receive the payment for the organs they've sold to the medical facility.

The entire project is an experiment intended to find ways to exchange organs from on person to anothe . . . for the benefit of both.

For example, if one patient has an unusually strong heart but he's perfectly content to live a somewhat sedentary lifestyle, he agrees to "swap hearts" with an athletic man who has a less vibrant heart which isn't well suited for the strenuous activities he enjoys!

But the most surprising and interesting aspect of the story is the fact that the millionaire is actually aware of the altruistic nature of his expensive medical facility. At yet he's made the doctors aware that it will only continue to operate while he's alive, because his greedy heirs will divide up his fortune and close the medical facility the moment he dies!

And so, the viewer finally learns that the rich old man's determination to remain alive in spite of his advancing age and declining health is not just a selfish wish to cling to life at any cost! He's actually fighting a noble battle to keep the medical facility going so that the doctors can continue their important work as long as possible!

Hey, what do you think, guys? I'd really appreciate a bit of feedback. To be honest I've been a bit disappointed when the members of All Sci-Fi offered so few comments on posts like this one — a pitch for a story idea I was hoping other folks would respond to.

Come on, guys . . . Think like a writer!
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)