Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17061
Location: North Carolina
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 Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2022 12:18 pm Post subject: FEATURED THREADS for 3-15-22 |
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The Colossus of New York kicks thing off with a discuss of the Nathan Van Cleave soundtrack, followed by comments concerning an enjoyable made-for-TV movie with Ted Danson as a secret agent who battles the evil Christopher Lee.
The Thing from Another World wraps things up with a debate about whether stop motion would work for an adaptation of Who Goes There?
We'd greatly appreciate any replies you might wish to add. 
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The Colossus of New York (1958)
| Krel wrote: | | Building death ray eyes into the creation. Do I really have to point out the poor thinking here? |
The "death ray eyes" are tough to explain, but it's a fascinating concept and a fantastic special effect by the great John P. Fulton.
On one hand, the evil brother wouldn't actually have the technological ability to build a death ray into his brother's robot head . . . and he certainly had no reason to do that, as you so well pointed out.
But on the other hand, how DID Ross Martin create those death rays? Well, consider the fact that his energized brain had significant areas that were completely idle because they were no longer connected to a body which had to monitor and regulate all the physiological systems that kept him alive — heart, lungs, nervous system, etc.
As a result, Ross Martin's artificially energized brain — 100% of it — could be used to develop amazing abilities!
For example, he could see events taking place miles away — like the two ships that collided at sea, and his own brother talking on the phone with his father. He could also telepathically hypnotize his father and order him do things against his will.
We even see his brain pulsing with light when he uses the death ray!
Conclusion: Ross Martin did the same sort of thing we see in other movies when powerful minds do astounding things — like Professor Xavier, for example.
That said, I've always assumed that if Ross Martin hadn't died at the end, his powers would have increased . . . with disastrous results! 
The Blu-ray of this movie is excellent. I highly recommend both it and the one for its original double-bill feature, The Space Children.
| Krel wrote: | | The movie has a real interesting soundtrack. I haven't seen the movie in years, but as I recall, it was an all piano soundtrack. |
It does indeed, David!
And a wonderful CD is available with the soundtracks of both The Colossus of New York and The Space Children, the two movies that were released as a double feature in 1958.
Both soundtracks are by Nathan Van Cleave, who also did The Conquest of Space and Robinson Crusoe on Mars.
YouTube has the entire The Colossus of New York soundtrack at the link below, with each track in a separate video — but once you start the title theme, all the rest will follow automatically.
____ The Colossus of New York (1958) - Main Title
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Once Upon a Spy (1980 TV movie)
I'm still interested in watching this enjoyable made-for-TV spy spoof, but so far the only way to watch is to by getting the DVD shown above. I saw it when it aired and 1980 and thought it was fun.
Meanwhile, here's the jazzy opening credits. Not bad at all, really, if you bear in mind that it's a spoof. 
____________ Once Upon A Spy opening credits
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The Thing from Another World (1951)
Pow, your analysis of a stop-motion version of The Thing is extremely well thought out. Bravo.
I guess my lack of enthusiasm for a Harrhausen "Thing" stems from the fact that this movie's major strength is the way we only get a few brief looks at the alien — and that was deliciously scary. Your suggestions are all about giving us plenty of good looks a detailed alien design.
But you seem to think that would have been a much better movie than what Hawks made. I'm afraid I just don't agree with your initial premise. 
| Quote: | | I just felt it was a shame that producer Howard Hawks had a marvelous opportunity to give the audience something fresh for his film. |
Nobody loves great alien designs more than me, as evidenced by our Fan Art Gallery 1. But with The Thing from Another World, "less was more".
As for the alien in the original story, the characters only saw the body of the frozen alien (in the ice), and then again at the end when they kill it with a blow torch. The majority of the story was about how frightened the men were by the possibility that any of them could be an alien.
In other words, Ray could have animated a great climax if the movie followed the novel, but that's about it
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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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