ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Don't look now guys, but Halloween is right around the corner!

However, don't worry, mates, because All Sci-Fi is here to rid you of all your nightmares! We can free you from your phobias and help you face your deepest fears!

Fore example, are you afraid your face will turn to stone! Well, worry no more, old friend! My doctor told me that this only happened once . . . in a movie called The Face of Marble (1946).

Perhaps you're scared of scaly things — like lizards and snakes.

Well, by friend, just grab one of those nasty creatures by the tail and toss it right out your back door! Then you can enjoy The Flying Serpent (1946) with complete peace of mind!'

Ah, but what if you're afraid of being attacked by a macabre creation that was made by a mad scientists who cobbled together a hideous creature, using nothing but old dead bodies?

Well . . . in that case . . . please don't watch the third movie below!



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The Face of Marble (1946)

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A Monogram Pictures horror film with a very slight science fiction element thrown in. John Carradine portrays a mad doctor who finds a way to bring dead people (and a dog) back to life.

Pretty droll and unimpressive film. Directed by the great William "One Shot" Beaudine — the man who supposedly never re-shot a scene, no matter how badly it turned out.
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The Flying Serpent (1946)

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PCR studios reused the basic concept of its own 1941 feature "The Devil Bat" for this yarn about an archaeologist (George Zucco) who dispatches his enemies by hiding a feather on them from a reptile-bird that is supposed to be an ancient Aztec god.

The reptile-bird kills the victim and retrieves its feather. This "monster" may remind older viewers of Flubadub from "The Howdy Doody Show". Directed by Sam Newfield under the name Sherman Scott.
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Frankenstein (1931)

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The film that launched Universal Studios' long-running horror film series which lasted almost twenty years.





Mary Shelley's bizarre novel became director James Whale's landmark movie, a white-knuckle thrill ride for three generations of movie-goers. The plot went through considerable revision from its origins in Shelley's novel before making it to Whale's film; the screenplay was penned by Garret Fort and Francis Edward Faragoh from an adaptation by John Balderston of a play by Peggy Webling based on the novel by Shelley.

Karloff's subtle-but-spooky makeup was created by Jack Pierce, who stayed pretty busy for the next twenty years with Frankenstein and all the spinoff monsters.





Two very worthy scenes were edited from the original release version. The first was judged to be sacrilegious; when Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) sees the hand of his creature move for the first time, he shouts, "It's alive! It's alive! Now I know what it's like to be God!" The reference to God was later snipped out.

The second missing scene was taken from the strange episode in which the creature joins a little child tossing flowers into a lake. Charmed by the child's sweet nature, he joins her at play, but when they both run out of flowers the simple-minded creature tosses the child into the water, thinking she'll float too. She drowns before his bewildered eyes — a tragedy made even more horrible by the monster's complete lack of malice.

The edited version ends with the two playing by the lake, and later the girl's father is seen carrying her dead body into town. The audience is left to wonder why the creature turned on the child.

"Frankenstein" was followed in 1935 by "Bride of Frankenstein", a worthy sequel with an astonishing amount of dark humor woven into the macabre plot. Karloff played the creature in only one other film, "Son of Frankenstein", the third in the series.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)