ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

_______________________________________

One September 23rd, 1961, NBC made history. And I was there to see it.

The National Broadcasting Company dressed up Barry Sullivan and Clu Gulager in tuxedos (the stars of the popular 1960 Western, The Tall Men) and placed them on a big empty sound stage so they could stroll around and chat with America about a new series NBC was starting that night at nine o'clock.

NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies

They kicked off the weekly event with the first Fox movie filmed in CinemaScope (although The Robe was the first one they released), the star-studded comedy called How to Marry a Millionaire.





The network had worked out a deal with 20th Century Fox to air thirty — count 'em, THIRTY — of their best movies from the late 1940s through the late 1950s. It was the first time any of the networks aired movies on a weekly basis. The Wizard of Oz, a yearly event, was the closest they'd ever come to this new and wonderful idea.





About half of the movies were made from 1953 to 1958, when Fox went plum ape over CinemaScope and stereo, desperately hoping the movie-going public would throw away their televisions and come back to movie theaters.

Their expectations were a trifle unrealistic.

Ironically, back in 1961 America was watching these movies on black & white television sets no bigger than 25', with the whole family snuggled up together on the living room sofa, happy as Eskimos in an igloo.

To be honest, I don't have clear memories of sharing those movies back in the 1960s with my parents and sister (they were there, of course), but I do remember the movies I loved the most, like The Long, Hot Summer, The Seven Year Itch, The Egyptian, and Beneath the 12 Mile Reef.




_______


Naturally The Day the Earth Stood Still was a big event on March 3, 1962.

Today I've got DVDs and downloads of all my favorites, and I still enjoy them.


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

[Bud Brewster]

Another magnificent 20th Century Fox movie I first saw on Saturday Night at the Movies was The Enemy Below. Several years later I saw the Star Trek episode Balance of Terror and realized the story was inspired by this fine film.

I watched The Enemy Below this evening, and during the credits I noticed for the first time (after all these years) that it was produced AND directed by Dick Powell!

Powell was a delightful crooner and the star of numerous romantic comedies in the 1930s, but in the '40s he managed to land several serious roles and surprised audiences with his fine acting talent.

Then he switched to direction and was equally impressive! This movie is proof that Mr. Powell was a very talented man.
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

A great Western from 1954 which Saturday Night at the Movies featured in the early 1960s was Garden of Evil.

It was one of the first CinemaScope films, and it starred Gary Cooper, Susan Hayward, Cameron Mitchell, and Richard Widmark!

Plus an incredible score by Bernard Herrmann.

There are several versions on YouTube, but the best one by far has a great picture.

____________________Garden Of Evil 1954

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

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

For years I'm been looking for a video which featured the original opening of NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies.

The video below is apparently the closets I'll ever come.

__ Distant Replay: NBC's Saturday Night At The Movies


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

[scotpens]

^^ The above link is wrong. There should be a forward slash between "com" and "watch."

Here's the correct YouTube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjRcI1Rr3R0

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

Scotpens, I am eternally grateful! I have fixed the link with your corrected versions.

Thank you, sir!
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

I just watched the YouTube tribute to NBC Saturday Night at the Movies again, and it is magnificent!

If you any of you older guys remember that series from the early 1960s, that video will bring back fond memories. I've collected about 25 of the movies from the first few seasons, and I watch them periodically.
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

Recently our friends at Turner Classic Movies aired several movies I first saw on NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies with my family on weekends in the early 1960s. It became a tradition for us whenever the features appealed to me and at least one other family member.

Mom and my sister (All Sci-Fi's newest member, Robin the Robot, leaned towards the "chick flics", while Dad was a solid fan of the Westerns.

I was the wild card of the family — a dewy-eyed dreamer who kept hoping for a science fiction movie.

I finally got my wish on March 3rd, 1962 when they aired The Day the Earth Stood Still. In fact, NBC started showing the trailer for it four weeks in advance, and each week the announcer would precede the trailer with a countdown.

“Four weeks from tonight, on Saturday Night at the Movies, Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal star in . . . The Day the Earth Stood Still!”

____ Trailer - The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)


___________

Bingo! I was hooked. It changed my life.

Later that summer I waited with breathless impatience for the rerun. I don't remember if anyone else in the family watched it with me, because my attention was focused on my family's hugh 25" Low-Def B&W TV.

I had already become a fan of SN@tM since it fist premiered with How to Marry a Millionaire on September 23rd, 1961.

__ How To Marry A Millionaire Original Trailer 1953


___________

The third feature that aired was Titanic (1953), with awesome special effects of the sinking luxery liner that caused me and the guys at school to draw pictures of it during class the following Monday!

I think you'll enjoy the spectacular music in this terrific trailer.

____________ TITANIC (Theatrical Trailer 1953)


___________

The following week I watched The Garden of Evil (1954) with my farther, because he loved Westerns. This one has an amazing score by Bernard Herrmann, and I've enjoyed my DVD of this movie for decades.

The music used in the trailer beow, however, is from King of the Khyber Rifles . . . which is also by Bernard Herrmann. The second link is a fine copy of the full movie!

_______________ Garden of Evil (1954) Trailer


___________

Only one other SN@tM features besides The Day Earth Stood Still qualifies as science fiction, a comedy that was shown near the end of season 1 called It Happens Every Spring, about an inertia-defying horsehide sphere which scientist Ray Milland invents.

________ It Happens Every Spring (1949) Trailer


___________


____ It Happens Every Spring 1949 | Full Movie HD


___________

The third Saturday in SN@tM's season 2 is another favorite of mine which also features a score by Bernard Herrmann. With my father's help, I made a reel-to-real audio recording by hooking a wire from TV speaker inside the TV to the microphone jack of my recorder.

I listen to the tape so often in my bedroom after going to bed that I could image the whole movie — in B&W and 4:3, of course.

Here's the trailer (but it's not a very good one . . ).

_________________The Egyptian (1954) trailer


___________


One month later I saw Beneath the 12-Mile Reef for the first time and made an audio tape of it, too!

_______Beneath the 12-Mile Reef ≣ 1953 ≣ Trailer

___________

I'm pleased to report that YouTube has 1 GB version of this wonderful movie, which happens to be the third CinemaScope movie produced by 20th Century Fox!

The Bernard Herrmann soundtrack is magnificent, in full stereo.

________ Beneath The 12-Mile Reef(1953) soundtrack

___________

It's surprising how many of those 20th Fox movies are graced by Bernard Herrmann scores. Here's yet another one I enjoyed back on Novermber 17th, 1962— less then a third of the way through season 2!

This exciting jungle adventure features Robert Mitchum, Susan Hayward, and Walter Slezak (as the bad guy, naturally . . . ). Great location photograph and wonderful jungle sets combine to make this a thrilling movie for a fourteen-year-old boy like me.

__ WHITE WITCH DOCTOR (1953) Theatrical Trailer


___________

_________
White Witch Doctor (1953) full movie


___________

I don't know which studio nitwit decided to have Bernard Herrmann's title theme outrageously sped up, but the version below from an album by Charles Gerhardt conducting the National Philharmonic Orchestra is infinitely better! D

_________
WHITE WITCH DOCTOR-Suite (Bernard Herrmann)


___________

By February, 1963 I was eager to watch just about anything that SN@tM aired — but what I really wanted to do was experience the "Four Week High" I'd felt while eagerly awaiting The Day the Earth Stood Still, a year earlier.

So, I decided to try an experiment. I made a conscious effort to generate an eager anticipation for the sexy melodrama that was scheduled for February 16th, just one month away.

Based on the trailer which NBC aired for four weeks in a row, the movie promised scandalous situations and nail-biting melodrama with several very attractive ladies, including the lovely Lee Remick!





I deliberately psyched myself up by watching the trailer each week during the four movies that preceded it, and by telling myself I could hardly wait to see this steamy, sultry, southern drama.

Here's the trailer that got me so hot and bothered.

______________ The Long, Hot Summer Trailer


___________

Wonder of wonders, my experiment worked, and the movie became an unexpected favorite of mine, which I still enjoy to this day.

In fact, when my daughter (ASF member Ticket2theMoon) was a teenager, she and I watched it together each year, and now she has the same nostalgic affection for it that I have.


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