ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Me oh my . . . if only the world actually possessed the kind of incredible creatures that we see in science fiction movies.

Giant insects that are deadly, snowmen who are abominable, and huge scorpions which are. . . . well, black!

That’s one of the purposes of science fiction. It puts the impossible right in front of us on the big silver screen!

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The Black Scorpion (1957)

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_________________ The Black Scorpion Trailer

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Giant scorpions invade Mexico, threatening stars Richard Denning & Mara Corday (above), with stop-motion FX by legend Willis O'Brien (best known for King Kong/1933).



This has some slow spots but then there's that central sequence of the two guys (including star Denning) descending into the cavern from hell. Besides the visuals of the giant creatures, the entire sequence is informed by that constant howling of the monsters.

A little kid has stowed away "to help" and ends up getting chased by some sandtrap spider-thing. The whole sequence is quite nightmarish and very well done. Denning is a little stiff and too cool here; halfway down, the two men spot a giant scorpion in the cavern wall; Denning doesn't even blink. Time to take a photo; OK, proceed. Giant scorpions don't seem to impress Denning's character one iota.



______ The Black Scorpion - Underground Battle


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____________ The Black Scorpion - Stadium Battle


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Later on, there are the scenes with the derailed train and all the passengers getting chased by the scorpions. Again, there's a nightmarish tone to these scenes which elevate this above the average big monster picture of the fifties. Willis O'Brien — ya done did it again. I agree, though, there a couple close-ups of the giant scorpions(s) — drooling — which could have used some trimming. In the plot, there are a bunch of giant scorpions in Mexico but, towards the end, there's just the largest one, maddened by hunger or something. A wild ending.

BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10





On the DVD, there's a very intriguing special feature - test footage of 2 sequences. The first is named 'Las Vegas Monster' and is a long one featuring what looks like an enlarged, mutated gibbon trying to get into a shack. Then a truck arrives and the monster attacks the truck. Then the thing attacks a helicopter - all very well done and surprisingly smooth. The 2nd one is called 'Beetlemen Test Footage' and is shorter, but in color. This footage was done by Pete Peterson, the assistant to O'Brien at the time. The footage was discovered in a trunk of Peterson's after his death in the 1960's.

~ Ignore the title on the thumbnail below.

_______________ The Black Scorpion - Trailer

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BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus
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The Deadly Mantis (1957)

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_________________ The Deadly Mantis Trailer


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In this one, a giant preying mantis from prehistoric times is suddenly thawed out in the Arctic Circle.

This entry in the giant insect threat of fifties cinema is in many ways a generic, prototypical effort.

It copies quite a bit from earlier features, namely THEM! (54), TARANTULA (55) and IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (55) (this last is not a giant insect), but THE DEADLY MANTIS has a very similar beginning, featuring a long-winded explanation of our radar defense network, in documentary fashion.

The film it copies most, in fact, is IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1955). It's got the same set-up with the 3 main characters of 2 guys and a lady — the military hero is played by Craig Stevens, while the scientist hero is William Hopper (from 20 MILLION LIES TO EARTH).

They form a familiar triangle, a benign 'let's get along' trinity. Then the plot copies elements from THEM!, as if it's a murder mystery in the icy north, when the hero (Craig Stevens) finds a wrecked base but no bodies of military personnel.

The difference is, in THEM! it really did come across like a mystery. In this one, the audience has already been shown the giant creature as it was thawing.



A later moment in the movie copies a famous scene from TARANTULA, when the female lead (Alix Talton) walks in front of a large window through which we can see the huge insect. She and the two guys in the room are oblivious to the creature's presence for several moments as the tension builds.

To the film's credit, the giant threat does come across as very tough and dangerous. At the midpoint, a couple of soldiers attack the monster with a flamethrower and a machine gun; this only annoys it.

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There's one innovative moment even later — a nice attempt at spooky doings: a lone woman exits a bus on a foggy evening and we think that she must be the next victim; but, the giant monster doesn't concern itself with such small morsels — it goes after the bus and all the other passengers.

But, such moments are very few in this film.

Most of the story drags; this is especially bad in the final act, when things should have picked up, but there are innumerable shots of the flying giant insect, emitting its annoying droning noise, as the military makes strategy.

Somehow, the giant mantis gets "mortally wounded" (in the words of the other hero William Hopper — the primary hero, Stevens, used the unorthodox method of crashing his jet into the creature. In the climax the monster seeks refuge in New York's Brooklyn Tunnel.

This final sequence again copies the final act of THEM. Finally, I've always found it extra hard to buy into the huge size of the insect (as large as the largest dinosaurs). I can understand a prehistoric insect the size of a car, but not much bigger than that.

BoG's Score: 6 out of 10


BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus
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Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas (1957)

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____ The Abominable Snowman Of The Himalayas


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The Abominable Snowman (UK) AbominableSnowman001.jpg

Hammer Films offering of the legend of the Yeti, otherwise known as the titular character.

Peter Cushing plays the moral scientist in this one, a botanist staying at a monastery in the Himalayan mountains with his wife and an assistant. Enter the immoral explorer, played by Forrest Tucker, and the two are soon trudging into the high wastelands with a few others in the quest to find the elusive missing link. Tucker's associates include a shady trapper (Robert Brown).

The actions of these two neer-do-wells soon plunge the expedition into calamity, showing — as usual — that mercenary attitudes will always work against such an enterprise. There's also the ever-present danger of avalanches.

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This was based on a play called "The Creature" and a TV BBC production (Tucker's character was played by Stanley Baker in the earlier version) and gets by with a lot of suggestion and possibly mystical ramifications.

There's quite a bit of theorizing, usually by Cushing, but also by the resident high lama, who hints in stilted English that there's more to the Yeti than we think, and that mankind may eventually be replaced — exactly the opposite of how we all think of the supposedly dying-away snow creatures.

The creatures remain mostly unseen until the very end, except for one glimpse of a huge hairy arm and paw, grasping at a discarded rifle. Tucker overacts a bit, but then again he was supposed to be a flamboyant opportunist.

BoG's Score: 7 out of 10

_ Commander USA presents Abominable Snowman


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