ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Good in places, bad in places; this loose screen adaptation of the Ray Bradbury book at least attempts to capture the nebulous poetic feel of Bradbury's work.

The basic concept is tough to grasp; a lady tatoo artist (Claire Bloom) puts magic pictures on a wandering hobo (Rod Steiger), and the pictures invoke hallucinogenic visions of alien planets and the distant future.

The plot contains three mini-stories ("The Veldt", "The Long Rains", and "The Last Night of the World"). The mini-stories are memorable, but the connecting plot about two travelers (Steiger and Robert Drivas) is muddled and melodramatic. Viewers who dislike surrealistic filmmaking may be unhappy with the ending.

Also starring Don Dubbins, Jason Evers, and Tom Weldon. Directed by Jack Smight from a screenplay by Howard B. Kreitsek. Music by Jerry Goldsmith.
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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]

The Bradbury book is one of my favorite short story collections ever, but I thought this film fell pretty short of capturing the spirit of Bradbury's prose. I think the best Bradbury adaptations were those on the original Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock series. His books have never seemed to be very well adapted in films.

I think, perhaps it's because film's aim to have scale and stylistic qualities that don't suit his writing. The short, simple and economical style of Sterling's Twilight Zone suited it almost perfectly.

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several intesting trivia items for this production,
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~ According to the Guinness Book of World Records, this film has the record for longest time applying make-up each day, at 20 hours.

Note from me: Dear Lord . . . I'm sure Rod Steiger just loved that experience.

~ The full-size crashed spaceship used in the second segment, "The Long Rain" is actually the spaceship used in Planet of the Apes (1968), Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) and Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971).

Note from me: That ship sure got around!

~ When Jack Smight contacted Ray Bradbury about buying the rights to "The Illustrated Man", Bradbury informed him he would sell it if Smight hired Burt Lancaster, Paul Newman or Rod Steiger for the lead role.

Note from me: "Burt, Baby, this is your agent! I've a terrific part for you!!

"How long will the make-up take?"

"Twenty hours."

Click! (Dial tone . . . )

"Paul Baby! I gotcha the role of a lifetime!"

"No thanks! I just got a called from Burt."

"Hello Rod! How's it hanging, Sweetheart! Boy, have I got a juicy role for you!"

"Really? What will I have to do?

"Practically nothing! In fact, you can sleep though most of it!"

~ Make-up director Gordon Bau and a team of eight assistants spent ten hours applying the temporary tattoos to Rod Steiger's torso, plus another full day tattooing his hands, legs and lower body.

Note from me: "Boy, when I get my tattooed hands on that damn agent, they'll bury him in pieces!"

~ Rod Serling, who used one of Ray Bradbury's stories (The Twilight Zone: I Sing the Body Electric (1962)), referred to this in an interview as one of the worst movies ever made.

Note from me: Rod should be reminded that his version of the Bradbury story about the robot nanny was pretty damned dull!

~ Kirk Douglas was keen to play the lead role. He had also previously owned the rights to Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and "The Martian Chronicles".

Note from me: Kirk got lucky and missed this questionable opportunity . . .

~ The segment called "The Veldt," based on Ray Bradbury's 1950 short story, has been dramatized numerous times for radio, film and TV, including the sci-fi radio show "Dimension X" in 1951 and The Ray Bradbury Theater: The Veldt (1989).

Note from me: Envoy the radio version.

__________________ The Veldt (Dimension X)


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~ Claire Bloom and Rod Steiger were married at the time this movie was filmed. They were divorced the same year the film was released, 1969.

Note from me: Coincidence? I wonder . . .

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