ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Frankly folks, if the three brilliant posts below don't tempt you guys to post a few replies, I challenge you to find a message board with stuff this good!

Good luck, boys!
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Our Man Flint (1966)



James Coburn is Derek Flint, America's answer to that Limy wimp, James Bond. Anything Bond can do, Flint can do better in this highly imaginative spoof of the 1960s spy craze.





Flint has four live-in lovelies in his hi-tech, high-rise apartment.











He wears a wrist watch that also serves as a spectroscopic analyser, and he carries a cigarette lighter with 82 built-in functions (including blow-torch and gun). Natually Flint invented both gizmos himself (unlike Bond, who was given all his equipment).





Before leaving on a mission to save the world, Flint suspends himself between two chairs, supported only at head and heels, and "relaxes" by stopping his heart!





The villians are three kindly scientist who want to control the world for its own good, using science to provide the maximum possible drug-induced pleasure to the world's populace. The scientists hope to cow the governments of every nation into submission by controlling the world's weather and threatening a series of natural disasters. The best secret agents of America and England fail to stop them, so Flint agrees to help (he's a free agent, employed by no one).





The action-packed climax takes palce on the scientists' island paradise (inside a fake volcano!) where Flint is attacked by an eagle trained to attack Americans (!).











He karate fights his way through a legion of soldiers and rescues his kidnapped harem of girlfriends, along with the shapely Gila Golan ("Valley of Gwangi").







Good special effects, a fine cast, and wonderful music by Jerry Goldsmith. Directed with great style by Daniel Mann.



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Red Planet Mars (1952)




This is the most controversial sci-fi film of the 1950s — and for good reasons.

But before we get into the controversy, let's consider the merits of the movie, along with a word of warning about the story.

In this film, nobody goes to Mars, and no Martians invade the Earth. It's a moody and intense story about a research project at a mountain-top laboratory where a team of husband-and-wife scientists (Peter Graves and Andrea King) succeed in making contact with intelligent beings on Mars. Neither the scientist nor the audience actually gets to see the Martians.

But we do get to see telescopic photoes Mars showing the polar caps before (pictured below) and after the Martians have melted them to send water through the canals.







On the positive side, the scientific terms and concepts used in the story are admirably accurate. And watch for technological innovations like flat-screen TV's and remote controls, years ahead of their time. The laboratory set is extremely well designed, with a few gizmos reminiscent of the Krell lab in Forbidden Planet







Also on the plus side are the messages exchanged by Earth and Mars. These messages are sent in the form of a complex code, displayed as flickering lines on a large, circular video monitor.









The transmitter which Graves uses to send and receive these messages was originally invented by a Nazi scientist. Unbeknownst to Graves, this same Nazi scientists now occupies a secret lab which is located in the Andes mountains, funded by the Russians. The Russians want him to listen in on the Earth / Mars conversation, hoping to gain advance scientific knowledge from the Martians.





Oddly enough, the weird manner in which these messages are received is the film's chief strength. The eerie mood created by the blinking monitors in the hi-tech lab enhances the alien nature of the unseen Martians. The scene in which the Martians send their first intelligible message is electrifying — even though it's just a series of numbers which represent the value of Pi!





After the first stages of a common language have been established, the Martians begin sending messages which describe their highly advanced agricultural methods and energy-producing techniques. As a result, Earth's economy begins to collapse because people think the Martian super-science while make Earth's technology obsolete.

The social and economic concepts presented by the story are complex and challenging.





Okay, that's the good news. Now for the controversial part.

Red Planet Mars was deliberately written and directed to present a very direct Christian world-view to the general public. And yet, despite the fact that the filmmaker's hearts were in the right place, their method of deliver is painfully heavy handed.

The story's Christian message is presented much too boldly, using direct references to both God and Christ which attempt to hammer their message into the hearts of their audience. As a result, the film only succeeds in pushing non-Christians away from the point of view the story is trying to sell, instead of drawing them closer to it.

Bear this in mind when you view the scenes in which the scientists ask the Martians how they keep from blowing themselves up with the enormous power of their super-science. The Martians answer by saying that they have submitted the question to their supreme leader — who, according to the messages, is God!

The answer is translated as, "Seven lifetimes ago you were told to love good and hate evil. Why have you denied the truth?"

Since, according to earlier Martian messages, the Martian lifespan is 300 years, the message is interpreted as a reference to Jesus Christ, who lived 2,000 years ago. Subsequent messages make reference to the worship of false gods and the sins of mankind.

When the Martians reveal that they are ruled directly by God, this news causes a world-wide religious upheaval. The atheistic government in Russia is overthrown, and the Soviet satellite countries are released from communist rule.

In the past, many reviewers criticized the film for suggesting that the Soviet Union could be so easily toppled. But the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992 and the revival of Christianity in Russia during recent years has vindicated Red Planet Mars on this point.

Remember, I said this movie was controversial.

Warning: don't be confused by scenes which suggest that the ex-Nazi scientist is actually responsible for sending all the Martian messages. In spite of some confusing plot twists, sharp-eyed viewers will realize that there is good reason to believe that the Martians are real!

The climax is both unexpected and uplifting — a classic battle between good and evil. Give this one a fair chance and it will amaze and inspire you. Graves and King give dynamic performances — although Ms. King gets a little carried away with a few of her more dramatic lines.

Herbert Berghof as the Nazi scientist is excellent.









Marvin Miller (the voice of Robbie the Robot) is a treat as the Russian bureaucrat. Morris Ankrum's presence in the cast is both mandatory and welcome in view of the fact that he appeared in more 1950s sci-fi films than any other actor (including John Agar).

Last but not least — director Harry Horner was born in Czechoslovakia, a satellite country of the former Soviet Union. As such, his perspective on the subject of Soviet oppression should be viewed as more than mere opinion. Bare that in mind while watching the film.
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[b] The Werewolf (1956)]




Well, here we go again — another trip down memory lane to my misspent youth and all those science fiction movies I watched. This one was the second feature at the Roosevelt Drive-in in College Park, GA — and the first feature was Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.

If I go to heaven when I die, God will make me ten years old forever. I'll play space cadet all day with my friends, help Dad tune up the 1950 Ford in the late afternoon —





— and spend the evenings at the drive-in, watching sci-fi movies from the back seat.





The Roosevelt had a neon globe on the top of the marquee that was, I swear, the same color as Robby's voice tubes!





This is what Cinema Treasures has to say about the Roosevelt Drive-in:





The Roosevelt Drive-In frequently showed sci-fi and horror movies during the 1950's and 1960's, as well as a generous helping of lighter family fare. It was an extremely popular and well-run theater during the golden age of drive-ins.

Yep, I can confirm that. This movie is one of a handful that punctuated my childhood with science fiction experiences. Some of them were life changing, and others were just a good ole' time on a warm Saturday night with the family.

This particular one was made on a shoe-string budget by the same director (Fred F. Sears) who did "Earth versus the Flying Saucers" (with which it was originally co-billed), and it can actually deliver some nice suspense if you overlook the less than Oscar-quality acting.

In some ways, Sears did a better job of camera direction in this one than in the Harryhausen classic. The story is fairly simple; an unfortunate man (Steven Ritch) in a small Northern town discovers that he turns into a werewolf at unexpected moments.







Eventually he learns that he was injected with an experimental serum by two unscrupulous scientists.





Doug Megowan ("Creation of the Humanoids", "The Creature Walks Among Us") plays the sherriff who tries to figure out what kind of strange animal is killing off the local citizens.






I remember this movie and the great Harryhausen second feature more clearly than most of the films I saw in the 1950s. It was a magical evening for an eight-year-old boy who loved sci-fi like life itself.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)