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This Island Earth (1955)
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 14, 2015 9:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

larryfoster wrote:
I think a Manta Ray and a Sting Ray are the same, or close.

Dean Jeffries and Bill Mitchell would respectfully disagree.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu May 28, 2015 6:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ever wonder what the interocitor would look like if it had a rectangular screen instead of a triangular one?

Wonder no more.
Very Happy





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~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 7:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tonight I noticed that this thread didn't have the picture of Charlotte Lander and the info I found about her. Must have been on the old All Sci-Fi.

Anyway, here she is, along with the info from IMDB
____________________________________

IMDB: Charlotte Lander was a tall Las Vegas showgirl in the Folies Bergere who came to Hollywood for extra work and appeared in only two movies uncredited, and then disappeared, probably returning to Las Vegas as a chorus girl or model in the mid-1950s.



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


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Tue Nov 28, 2017 10:15 am; edited 2 times in total
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Robert (Butch) Day
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 1:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Two BTS shots.





Anyone ever find out what the device hanging from the ceiling is?

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ralfy
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 5:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Rex Reason, Star of Sci-Fi Classic 'This Island Earth,' Dies at 86"

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/rex-reason-dead-island-earth-843188
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Pye-Rate
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 25, 2015 1:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The thing hanging from the ceiling looks like a lamp hanging in a skylight.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2015 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In defense of Cal Meacham, let's review all the evidence Cal had that Exeter's claim about the advanced technology his group had developed was true.

(1) Cal receives a small bead that out-performs the bulky X-C condenser we see just before Joe hands him the envelope. Joe tells him he tested one of the beads and it withstood 50,000 volts. Cal holds the bead up for a close-up and says, "If that were true, we could build a generator that would run an entire factory . . . and it would fit in a matchbox."



Conclusion: The capabilities of the component and it's miniaturization held profound implications. (So right off the bat, the bead itself impressed the hell out of Cal.)

(2) The catalog arrives, and even the material it's made of (metal as light and flexible as paper) encourages Cal to believe that the makers of both the bead and the catalog have developed some advanced techniques.



(3) Cal reads the descriptions of various interocitors and concludes that they have astounding capabilities. He uses a bit of hyperbole to express his amazement — "Laying a four-lane highway at the rate of a mile a minute would be a cinch."

Conclusion: Cal has seen hard evidence of advanced technology in the form of the bead and the catalog's material, and he wants to see more.

(4) The parts arrive, and with Joe's assistance he assembles the device. While doing so he's able to inspect each piece and form theories about what they are and what they do. He may have come to some startling conclusions about the technology he was handling, and this would further his convictions that it was beyond anything modern science possessed.



But even if the mechanism and it's components were a complete mystery to Cal — a leading scientist and a brilliant man — this too would have fueled his growing conviction that the superior technology he'd already encountered was just the tip of the iceberg.

(5) When the interocitor is complete and Cal discovers he can have a two-way conversation with the man on the view screen, he's as perplexed as ever. He's familiar with how common cathode ray tube televisions and bulky TV cameras are constructed.

And yet none of that technology is built into the interocitor!



Cal has just finished assembling this strange device by following the blueprints, but until Exeter appeared he had absolutely no idea that the big triangle was some kind of view screen, or that the device had a built-in camera with no visible lens, which allowed Exeter to see him.

We should also remember that Cal installed nothing he recognized as speakers or microphones. And yet he can hear and speak to Exeter.

Conclusion: In just those few minutes Cal spent chatting with Exeter's image, he realized that everything the device did was accomplished without any recognizable components used by current technology!

(6) Exeter activates the neutrino rays remotely from his location, and energy beams powerful enough to destroy the "metal" catalog were generated using the common 120 volt current. Dr. Cal Meacham, famed nuclear physicist, would know better than anyone that this was quite an accomplishment.



(7) Exeter then activates the interocitor's self-destruct, and the device melts down to slag — again with no power source other than the 120 volt household current.

Recap: Even though the intercitor's audio / video capabilities were similar to common cameras and televisions, Cal knew the device used none of the technology employed by those devices, because he had assembled it himself!

By having Cal build the interocitor from scratch, Exetor was confident he just needed to show Cal that the bizarre machine had a monitor screen, speakers, and microphones which Call had installed himself . . . without even realizing what they were.

And then, just to seal the deal, Exeter shows Cal just how efficient the device is in using a tiny amount power to produce a powerful destructive force.

Gentlemen, I propose that This Island Earth did a masterful job of presenting the scene in which Dr. Cal Meacham felt a compelling need to find out more about Exeter and his group of researchers, along with the amazing technology they had developed.

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


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sat Aug 03, 2019 1:29 pm; edited 6 times in total
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2015 4:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:

Cal Meacham skyping with Exeter over a flatscreen monitor of 1:1:1 aspect ratio.

Bud, you just summarized what I like so much about the first (second?) chapter of this movie.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks, Wayne.

I had fun puzzling all that out, and it definitely increased my respect for the movie.

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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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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 5:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Here are some interesting trivia items from This Island Earth from IMDB.

1. In a magazine article the special effects department admitted that the "mutant" costume originally had legs that matched the upper body but they had so much trouble making the legs look and work properly they were forced by studio deadline to simply have the mutant wear a pair of trousers. Posters of the movie show the mutant as it was supposed to appear.

2. It is believed that the Earth miniature used in the effects shots was also used to make the 50's-80's Earth in space Universal Pictures fanfare opening.

3. According to Faith Domergue, the pants of her costume were so skintight that she could not wear underwear. A female assistant had to help her put them on and take them off.



4. After the dinner at the secret facility, what the German scientist says is: "Ladies and gentlemen, the meal was excellent, but after Mozart's marvelous music I need to be alone with myself for a while. Good evening."

5. There was a sequel to this film in the works in 1956. Screenwriter Franklin Coen and producer William Alland submitted a script titled "Aliens In The Skies" to Universal Pictures, and for a short time it was announced as in "pre-production development" at the studio.

However, the studio boss, Edward Muhl, shot down their proposal when he looked over the proposed budget for the film, to be shot in Technicolor and CinemaScope, and to co-star Rex Reason and Faith Domergue reprising their roles, to be released in 1957.

It was too expensive, he said.

Muhl's idea of a science-fiction movie in the 1950s was a cheaply-made B-movie with a monster in it for the kids.

6. The only woman from Metaluna seen in the film is played by Charlotte Lander, in her only screen appearance, at the control console for the decompression tubes on board the saucer.



7. The film was shown in drive-in theaters in the US in the summer of 1960 on a double bill with Forbidden Planet (1956). It was also re-issued in theaters in America in July 1964. There is a three-color 1964 reissue of the full-color 1955 one-sheet and an abridged 1964 version of the 1955 press book.

8. Most of the sound effects, the ship, the Interociter, etc are simply recordings of radio teletype transmissions picked up on a short wave radio played at various speeds.



9. Shock-rock group GWAR titled their fourth album 'This Toilet Earth' as an homage and parody of this picture.

10. After Dr. Meacham has arrived at the secret lab in Georgia and the scientists are having a dinner, a woman comments on the music playing at the background by saying: "Mozartti on oikein kaunista." This is Finnish and means "The music of Mozart is very beautiful."

11. The Metaluna flying saucer design was, in fact, based on a famous photograph of an Unidentified Flying Object. In 1950, a farmer by the name of Paul Trent saw, and photographed, a strange craft flying overhead.

He managed to take two photos before the craft sped off at fantastic speed and disappear over the horizon. Known as "The McMinnville Incident", because it occurred in McMinnville, Oregon, Trent's photographs have never been exposed as a hoax, and they remain amongst the very best photos ever taken of a UFO.



12. Universal, dissatisfied with some of Joseph M. Newman's work, brought in Jack Arnold to re-shoot the Metaluna scenes.

13. In August 1957, this film was being shown on a double bill with Invaders from Mars (1953).

14. A print of this film was loaned to MGM where another science fiction spectacle, Forbidden Planet (1956), was being prepared.

15. Actors Jeff Morrow and Rex Reason went on record in interviews promoting this film that when the scenes involving the Mutant came up, they did all they could from not trying to sneak out of the theatre at the premiere. They were totally embarrassed by the Mutant costume that they likened to a giant bug.

They felt that the Mutant completely ruined what they thought was an otherwise decent film. Of course, it's the Metaluna Mutant that people now remember most when "This Island Earth" is mentioned.



16. The internal elevator tubes used in the spacecraft and on Metaluna are the same type used in The Time Tunnel TV show for its Tic Toc Center.

17. The wooden crates used to deliver the "interociter" parts were themselves reused in the 1959 film "Imitation of Life". In a scene where Susan Kohner is beaten by Troy Donahue she slumps on a crate in an alley. On the top of the crate is stenciled "Ryberg Electronics", the company featured in "This Island Earth".



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


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sat Aug 03, 2019 1:40 pm; edited 3 times in total
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 10:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would have gladly helped Faith with any problems she may have had!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 11:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

When we watched it in the chat room tonight we noticed that her pants weren't nearly as tight as she described them. Miss Domergue was fibbing . . . Rolling Eyes

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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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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 3:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
Exeter then activates the interocitor's self-destruct, and the device melts down to slag — again with no power source other than the 120 volt household current.

Or 220 volts, judging from the size of the plug and power cord.

IMDb wrote:
11. The Metaluna flying saucer design was, in fact, based on a famous photograph of an Unidentified Flying Object. In 1950, a farmer by the name of Paul Trent saw, and photographed, a strange craft flying overhead.

He managed to take two photos before the craft sped off at fantastic speed and disappear over the horizon. Known as "The McMinnville Incident", because it occurred in McMinnville, Oregon, Trent's photographs have never been exposed as a hoax, and they remain amongst the very best photos ever taken of a UFO.

Piffle. http://www.csicop.org/si/show/the_trent_ufo_photosbest_of_all_timefinally_busted
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
14. A print of this film was loaned to MGM where another science fiction spectacle, Forbidden Planet (1956), was being prepared.

This was used to avoid any similarities in the production design, and caused a change in the Control room set. The original design for the D.C. stations was a two-piece tube with a frosted section. That was changed after seeing the tubes in TIE Control room.

David.
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 2:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The tubes and the x-ray effects were the best part of the film.

I recently watched a pristine print of the film and was very impressed!

I was surprised to see how much was cut in all the tv versions I've seen! The story was actualy coherant and showed that the writers were't the ones to blame for the dissapointment I felt before!
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