ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Phantom made some very interesting comments about the three movies below.

Please read 'em and add a reply. I mean gosh, folks — this ain't rocket science, for Pete's sake.
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Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

I have to agree with Bog on this one. It has never been a favorite of mine. Apart from the iconic monster and Julie in that famous swimsuit, the movie never catches fire. Even the supposed killing of the monster lacks energy.

It may be that, like the universal mummy series, the Creature on land is just too slow moving. I can picture Carlson racing through the jungle at breakneck speed while the Gillman lumbers behind. Carlson stops to take a breath, turns and there is the crustacean looming over him.

The same can be said for Revenge of the Creature. By the way, did anyone ever question how a freshwater monster is able to function in the ocean? Duel gills?

The Creature Walks Among Us, no one's favorite, is the most intriguing of the three, especially in these ecologically sensitive times. Granted, there is too much soap opera padding between the characters, but the mutilation of one of nature's most amazing animals, even if to save its life, is tragic and the final scene on the beach as he stares at the water that will now kill him is a memorably haunting conclusion.

I saw movies two and three in a theater prior to catching the original, which I finally got to see during a movie night in a church basement in the late fifties.
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Doctor X (1932)

You won't find Curtiz listed among the great directors by film critics, but he was genuinely one of the greatest. Scan his output on the IMDb and you will be astonished at the number of award winning classics he made during the thirties and forties.

Besides Dr. X and Mystery of the Wax Museum, he was responsible for 20,000 Years in Sing Sing with Spencer Tracy, The Black Legion and Casablanca with Bogart, Captain Blood and The Adventures of Robin Hood with Flynn, Angels With Dirty Faces and Yankee Doodle Dandy with Cagney, The Sea Wolf with E.G. Robinson and his last picture, The Comancheros with Wayne. There is at least one movie for every genre in the book.

He made his first film in 1912 and his last in 1961, and even directed Presley in King Creole.

As for his malapropisms, they were genuine.

During the shooting of one of his films the director demanded "Bring me a poodle." No one ever questioned the mercurial Curtiz, so the next day someone brought a poodle to the set.

Curtiz exploded. He didn't want a poodle, he wanted a puddle of water.
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Captive Women

I saw this in a run down movie theater in Times Square in the mid fifties and barely remembered it, including the title. Your chronological list of films cleared the clog in my mind and I went in search of more information.

Found a watchable print on Youtube and saw it for the first time in over sixty years. I've never seen it on television, although it is listed in Maltin's Film Guide, nor do I ever remember it being discussed anywhere.

You will understand why when you see it. Best to watch during a bright afternoon; at night, you will be asleep in about five minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UpjNgH6svY[url][/url]
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)