ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Three movies with good concepts, but two of them have mediocre executions.

Doc Savage: Man of Bronze (1975) proved that movies which are set in the 1930s can be very exciting . . . if they're done like Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Empire of the Ants (1977) tries to be complex and scary, but just doesn't have the chops for the job.

Embryo (1974), however, has such an unusual plot that it manages to grab the audiences attention.
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Doc Savage: Man of Bronze (1975)




The great George Pal's last film is carefully styled to have the squeaky-clean, unreal look of escapist pulp fiction — which, admittedly, is exactly what author Kenneth Robeson's popular series character is.

The campy screenplay is by George Pal and Joe Morhaim. But "Star Wars" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" showed the world that pulp fiction doesn't have to be campy, that realism and imaginative escapism can be skillfully blended.

The jokey presentation in "Doc Savage" figuratively elbows the audience in the ribs like a bad comedian. In "Doc Savage" even the musical score proclaims the film's insincerity: a boisterous male choir sings the hero's praises to the tune of a John Philip Sousa march.

Still, "Doc Savage" does have its good points. Star Ron Ely, formerly TV's "Tarzan", makes a pretty impressive Man of Bronze, and his diverse team of consultant-experts are accurately styled from the descriptions in Robeson's novels.

Pamela Hensley ("Buck Rogers in the 25th Century") is an attractive heroine. The film's most notable special effect is presented when one of the characters is attacked by a ghostly horde of flying green snakes with glowing red eyes. The snakes are animated cartoons, writhing through the air as if they are swimming.

Director Michael Anderson gave us a better sci-fi film the following year, "Logan's Run".
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Embryo (1974)

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Beware: strange movie.

Scientist Rock Hudson experiments with a process that allows him to grow a fetal dog and a fetal human in artificial "wombs". These fetuses emerge from their artificial wombs as full-grown adults in only four weeks. The human fetus turns into Barbara Carrera ("Condor Man", "The Island of Dr. Moreau").

She has received a prenatal education which causes her to be literate and intelligent at "birth". Her creator makes no secret of the fact that he has sexual designs on Barbara -- and she's been conditioned to respond!

But her high intelligence also allows her to quickly realize that her accelerated growth rate is causing her to deteriorate, and she tries in vain to concoct a cure for herself.

Roddy McDowall and Dr. Joyce Brothers make a brief appearance during a party. Diane Ladd plays a shy, inhibited woman. Directed by Ralph Nelson.
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Empire of the Ants (1977)



Don't be fooled by that terrific poster.

Producer-director Bert I. Gordon borrowed the title from an H. G. Wells story, but he didn't borrow the plot. His version of the story centers on a group of real estate investors trapped on an island with a horde of giant ants which were spawned by (you guessed it) radiation leaking containers of radioactive waste, rather than a bomb.

This is basically a good 1950s concept given a bad 1970s treatment; instead of likable characters who cooperate with each other to battle the ants, we get a selfish group of argumentative types, interested only in looking out for number one.

Bert I. Gordon's special effects are substandard. The cast includes Robert Lansing ("4 D Man") and Joan Collins.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)