ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

If you're not a member of All Sci-Fi, registration is easy. Just use the registration password, which is —

gort



Attention members! If you've forgotten your password, just email me at brucecook1@yahoo.com.
____________________________________________________________________

"Help! Is there a doctor in house?"

Yes, there is. In fact, we have three in the house today — but I certainly wouldn't allow any of them to treat me!

First, there's Dr. Renault, who seems to have a secret. I don't trust him . . .

Next there's Dr. Satan — whose name alone doesn't suggest a friendly beside manner. And to make matters worse, he doesn't' have nurses, he has robots that remind me of big scary beer cans!





And finally, there's Doctor X. Seriously, folks, who'd want to put the fate of their health in the hands of man with a creepy one-letter name? Not me!
____________________________________________________________________

Dr. Renault's Secret (1942)

___________________

20th Century Fox takes a crack at horror/science fiction in the midst of Universal's heyday, using a good cast but a fairly routine concept. Scientist George Zucco turns a gorilla into an ape-man, portrayed by J. Carrol Naish.

This competent little yarn from director Harry Lachman runs less than an hour.
____________________________________________________________________

Doctor Satan's Robots (1940)

______


[Also released as: "Mysterious Dr. Satan" and "Doctor Satan's Robots"]

Feature version of the enjoyable republic serial, with an imaginative plot and better-than-average acting, even though the fight scenes are a bit scarce. The editing of this condensed version does an admirable job of meshing the chapters into a coherent story (although it tends to leap ahead of itself confusingly near the end).

John English plays "Copperhead", a masked avenger who pits himself against Dr. Satan (Edward/Eduardo Ciannelli), a mad scientist who steals a "remote control cell", a device which he uses to electronically manipulate everything from airliners to his own menacing (and poorly designed) robot.

The robot is reused in numerous other serials. The villain forces his own men to wear devices strapped to their chests which allow him to electrocute them by remote control whenever they are captured by the authori??ties. Dr. Satan's final comeuppance is both well-deserved and well-designed.

Directed by William Whitney. Eduardo Ciannelli is best remembered for his role as the evil cult leader in "Gungha Din".
____________________________________________________________________

Doctor X (1932)

__________


Dr. Xavier (Preston Foster) works at a scientific research lab run by Lionel Atwill on Long Island. The police suspect Atwill of committing a series of cannibalistic murders, but the killings are actually the work of the evil Dr. X.

Fay Wray is the lovely heroine being stalked by the killer who, with the use of synthetic flesh, can turn himself into a monster.

Although it hasn't aged well, this is a great horror/science fiction tale, originally filmed in the early two-color process.

Special makeup effects were created by Max Factor, and the sets are by Anton Grot. One year later the same stars and director (Michael Curtiz) made "Mystery of the Wax Museum".
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)