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The Black Hole (1979)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2015 5:28 pm    Post subject: The Black Hole (1979) Reply with quote



Disney promoted this one aggressively, including a TV special about visual effects — the one in which Mike Jittlov presented his "Wizard of Speed and Time" number, complete with a catchy tune and the brilliant stop motion animation of dancing film cans, cameras, tripods, and (you guessed it) Mike Jittlov himself.





The movie desperately wanted to be a slick and savvy sci-fi thriller, but it just didn't have the imagination and talent behind it to work. It's painfully slow paced, not overly intelligent in the plot department, and . . .well, it literally goes to hell in the climax. Nobody really knows what all those scenes at the end mean, with Maximilian Schell trapped inside the body of the big red floating robot. It certainly didn't serve as a satisfying substitute for any of the possible conclusions involving a trip through a black hole.

If you've never seen it and want to get the feel of the movie without watching it all the way through, just listen to the title theme by John Barry in this Youtube video.

The music isn't bad, but the movie never moves fast enough to need anything more lively than this!
Shocked



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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2015 6:23 pm    Post subject: Re: The Black Hole (1979) Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
The movie desperately wanted to be a slick and savvy sci-fi thriller, but it just didn't have the imagination and talent behind it to work. It's painfully slow paced, not overly intelligent in the plot department, and . . .well, it literally goes to hell in the climax.

And giving the two "good guy" robots Disney cartoon eyes didn't help.



Bud Brewster wrote:
The music isn't bad, but the movie never moves fast enough to need anything more lively than this! Shocked

Could just as well have been used in a James Bond movie.

Here's a review posted at IMDb, by somebody who was either paid well by the studio, or who had been kept in a dark closet most of his life:


Andrew-31 (Boston, MA) wrote:
Not only is The Black Hole beautifully made from a technical aspect, it has marvelous performances. Robert Forester (Jackie Brown), Anthony Perkins (Psycho), Ernest Borgnine, Maximillian Schell. It does get a little campy but it is a Disney movie after all and it can be forgiven its attempts at comic relief. This is a very unlikely sort of film for Disney, were it made today it would have been made under the Miramax header rather than Disney, and like another unlikely Disney film, Tron, it is tragically underrated. The special effects and set design are breathtaking, but it is the script which is the best part. The ending is one of the most surreal and haunting in any science fiction film (and especially bold for a Disney film) The characterizations are wonderful and the robots, especially Maximillian (in my book the greatest cinematic robotic villain to date), are unforgettable.

To this reviewer anything by Disney must be gold.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2015 4:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The movie does have a couple of interesting ideas. No other intelligent life has been found by the exploring nations, and space travel is extremely expensive. So expensive, that the Cygnus broke the bank, and Earth has turned to small scout ships like the Palomino for exploration.

It was intended for the space walk scenes for the cast to wear emergency space suits. Their costumes were designed to serve the function. They had gloves in a pocket, and the collars were to be pulled up and over their heads for the helmet. The cast refused to wear them. They thought it would be too dangerous while doing the wire work. I have never seen a photo of the costumes, but I would love to.

Weren't they talking about remaking TBH a couple of years back?

David.
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2015 11:24 pm    Post subject: Re: The Black Hole (1979) Reply with quote

orzel-w wrote:

Bud Brewster wrote:
The music isn't bad, but the movie never moves fast enough to need anything more lively than this! Shocked

Could just as well have been used in a James Bond movie.

Not to knock John Barry's talent as a composer, but that's true of at least three-fourths of his film music.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 10:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" is what really sells that movie, and I was surprised when I learned after seeing the movie that the theme I loved so much wasn't John Barry at all.

I wonder if Barry actually wrote a theme for the film, but when the producers heard it they yawned and said, "Maybe we could just borrow some classical stuff."
Confused



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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I totally agree with your assessment of TBH,Bud.
I remember going to see this movie with a bunch of friends & all of us wanting to like it as it was a Disney film with a huge budget.

In the opening scene there is a moment where the robot is outside the Palomino.The captain tells the female astronaut, Kate, to contact Vincent with her e.s.p.

E.S.P.!!! To a robot!!!

It was all downhill from there.
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Rocky Jones
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 10:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I haven't thought about this one in a long time (or wanted to), but I'd have to agree. It's hard to imagine anyone trying to sit though it without trying to nod off a bit. It's as if they simply hired the wrong people to make to it. It seemed to be aiming for more of a 2001 style, though it was two years after Star Wars changed the game for space films. While Star Wars had the feel of film created by young film geeks outside the establishment, this one obviously came from within the Hollywood establishment and it really showed.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 11:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gentlemen, we have consensus.

It's hard to imagine how a big team of talented, intelligent film makers could work on a film for years and not realize they were make a cinematic sleeping pill!

Let's just consider one tiny detail -- Vincent's eyes.




Why didn't somebody -- ANYBODY -- say, "Come on, guys! A robot needs more than just two black dots for what's supposed to be camera lenses. Here, I dashed this off in ten minutes just to show you what I mean. Not great, but a little better, right?"



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


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Krel
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 7:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vincent's eyes were a last minute thing. The original eyes were made of tiny colored squares that could change shape by altering which square was shown. I can't remember the technical name, but the eyes were to work like the road signs that can change it's message by showing, either a black square, or a colored square. The effect didn't work out.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 9:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

And my reply to that is -- no eyes at all would have been better than the silly things they settled for!



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


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ralfy
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 03, 2015 6:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw this when I was young and enjoyed it very much. The music for the opening credits is pretty good.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know just what you mean. The music is enjoyable, and it was fine in the scenes that depicted stately moments of visual beauty. It didn't work well for the action scenes, and I suspect John Barry knew that.

As for your enjoyment of the movie itself, you mentioned you'd seen it when you were very young. Most of the movies considered classic from the 1950s are revered by the people who love them because they saw them when they were very young.

Please understand, I'm not criticizing the movies. We all have a special appreciation for imaginative fiction when we're young, which we tend to loose as we get older.

I think we'd all love to have a compact, portable device that worked like that machine in "Brainstorm" -- recording our senses and our emotional reactions. Then we could see a movie for the first time, record the experience, and relive that initial enthusiasm when we "watched" it again later.

And before somebody points out that this still wouldn't allow us to see a movie through the eyes of a ten-year-old, I've got that figured out too.

Show a movie to a ten-year-old and then replay his experience. I think it would be fun.

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


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Pow
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2015 8:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Even though this film was terrible, I did love the designs for both of the spaceships very much.

Also found it clever that the crew of the Palomino had their comm badges attached to the collar of their uniforms. Seemed practical,easy to access.

Years later we'd see them do something similar on ST:TNG with their badges.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2015 9:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Also found it clever that the crew of the Palomino had their comm badges attached to the collar of their uniforms. Seemed practical,easy to access.

Years later we'd see them do something similar on ST:TNG with their badges.

Hey, good point! And I think the collar is a better location than the chest (as in TNG) because it would pick up your voice better, even when you whispered.

Ironically the ear piece we actually have today is the best design of all, because you're the only one who can hear what's being said to you.

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


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Pow
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 12:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Always loved to see film/TV sf shows various devices they utilized.

Be it communication, weapons, or other scientific tools.

ST(TOS) lead the way with their fantastic designs of the Tricorder, Phaser, Communicater. Each design still holds up well in design to this very day.

Other favs of mine are: The Hornet Sting from The Green Hornet show, Blaster (Battlestar Galactica, original series) Qualta Blade (the superb Farscape), Medical Glove (Earth 2), to name but a few.

Even if a show isn't that hot, sometimes the props they'd use would be really nifty to see.
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