ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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The first time I ever saw The Day the Earth Stool Still was on March 3, 1962 after enjoying four weeks of tingling anticipation, based on the trailer below which Saturday Night at the Movies showed during the commercial breaks each week for a solid month.

____ The Day The Earth Stood Still - trailer (1951)


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In the months that followed, I yearned for the same breathless anticipation I felt for an upcoming event on Saturday Night at the Movies. It was like an addiction. I needed a fix. I had a movie-lovin' monkey on my back!

Finally, in January of 1963 (almost a year later), I saw a trailer for a very UN-science fiction movie called The Long, Hot Summer, and all that steamy, sultry, Southern, summer drama fired my young blood. I was determined to enjoy four weeks of eager longing to see this movie and then enjoy it so much it would be a life-long favorite.

To make a long story short, I succeeded. Read my post about The Long, Hot Summer for more details.

The Long, Hot Summer thread
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____________ The Long, Hot Summer - trailer


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Two weeks before The Long, Hot Summer aired, Saturday Night at the Movies showed Niagara, a 1953 melodrama in which Marilyn Monroe never look better. The previews each week on four consecutive Saturday nights fueled my enthusiasm, and ended up I liking it, too.







Youtube's color version of the trailer is very fuzzy, but this black-and-white version is crystal clear.

________________________ Niagara - trailer


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When it aired again as a summer rerun, I made a reel-to-reel audio tape, the way I had done with The Long, Hot Summer when it aired as a rerun. I spent the summer of 1963 (along with frequent occasions over the next few years) listening to the tapes of these movies (and others) in my room after the lights were out and I lay in bed, letting the sound of those cinematic fantasies combine with the approach of sleep to create imaginary movie theaters in my head.

My only regret about Niagara is that it was made right before Fox went ape over CinemaScope, so this wonderful film is not in widescreen.

The DVD of Niagara does not offer a very good picture, but I've ordered the Blu-ray, which is supposedly a vast improvement. I'm looking forward to watching it and reliving The Summer of '63 right in my living room.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

The movie was filmed at and around Niagara Falls NY, my old stomping grounds. Unfortunately, I was only 7 or 8 at the time, so I never got to see Ms Monroe in the flesh (So to speak!); But I saw all the places she was at.

I WAS lucky enough to be at the Falls the day Christopher Reeve and Margo Kidder were filming a scene from SUPERMAN II! They had a huge crane set up by the side of a viewing area and Christopher was attached to a cable from the crane 50 feet above. I watched them do a few takes swinging him from the cable.










That was the day I saw Superman fly!

[Brent Gair]

[Bud Brewster]

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Good to know, Brent!

My Blu-ray won't arrive until October 11th, and when I wrote the post above, I thought about your firm dedication to picture quality and your extensive Blu-ray library, so I hoped you would have something to say on the subject.

I'll send my DVD to my good friend Bulldogtrekker in South Carolina so he and I can share the movie while chatting on Facebook (something we do on a daily basis ). He has repeatedly stated that he's less "picky" than I am when it comes to picture quality, so I'm sure he'll be happy with the DVD.

As I said earlier, my fondness for this movie goes back to my teenage introduction to it in the early 1960s, so even though it's no classic, it's certainly a movie I have strong feelings about.

Your comments are greatly appreciated, Brent.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

And just to stay on topic-----



She could break your heart.

[Brent Gair]

One unique thing about Marilyn is that if she could walk out of 1953 and appear on the street today, she'd be a smokin' hot contemporary beauty without having to change anything.

If you look at most other post war babes from 1945 to 1960, they'd need to be "restyled" to fit in today. Think of women from Rita Hayworth to Julie Adams or Anne Francis. Hotties all...but they'd need hair and makeup makeovers for 2016. I worship Rita Hayworth but if she magically appeared on the street today with her hairstyle from GILDA, people would whisper.

But look at that picture of Marilyn. Sixty years later and you could put that picture on any magazine cover and she'd be in style.

[Bud Brewster]

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I never thought of that, Brent, but by gum you're right.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[alltare]

Great work, Bud and Gord, for doing the impossible- for actually finding a way to link Marilyn to a scifi thread.

[Bud Brewster]

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Today I finally opened my new Blu-ray of Niagara after having it for a few weeks, and I was amazed at the difference between it my older DVD!

Incredible!

I've been guilty in the past of saying that a DVD was as good as Blu-ray in some cases, but this one is a example of the striking difference between the two! The DVD was a huge disappointment when I first watched it, but this Blu-ray is stunning.

Brent Gair's comments about the Technicolor photography at end of that legendary era are bang on target! Watching the Blu-ray of this film is like going to an Imax 3D movie!

Every scene is like looking out a window. Every shot is a work of art. Every moment is like something you're experiencing yourself.

If you've seen this movie before and loved it, buy the Blu-ray and see it like you never have before. If you've never seen it, this is your chance experience a Hollywood classic like the audiences did in 1953.

It's a moving work of art that rivals anything in the Louvre.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Marilyn was iconic.

But when I watched Niagara it was the lovely Jean Peters that drew my eye & still does.

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ Even though she had a starring role, Marilyn Monroe was still under contract to 20th Century-Fox as a stock actor at a fixed salary, so she actually made less money than her make-up man did.

Note from me:I guess this is one of the reasons why the studio system collapsed.

~ During filming of the shower scene, director Henry Hathaway had to keep yelling at Monroe to keep away from the shower curtain and away from the lights as she insisted on being naked (as she was under the bed sheets at the beginning of the film). To pass the censors of the time, the scene was darkened in post-production.

Note from me: I guess THIS is one of the reason why the Hayes Codes were abandoned!

~ The famous walk by Marilyn's character Rose Loomis across the cobblestone street holds the record for the longest walk in cinema history - 116 feet of film, and it was 26.92 seconds long.

Note from me: That's one scene which the mail viewers watch without a single blink!

~ In April 1953, the Provincial Legislature member for Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada complained about the film giving Niagara Falls a bad name. He explained that instead of an educational film the production company is delivering a film about murder and suicide and seamy lives, doing nothing but harm to the honeymoon capital.

Note from me: This reminds me of the way San Francisco objected to Harryhausen's giant octopus wrecking the Golden Gate bridge.

~ The Rainbow Cabins were not real cabins, they were movie sets built exclusively for the film at a cost of over $25,000. They were built in Queen Victoria Park directly across from the American Falls. The stone structure located by the Rainbow Cabins was torn down, but a similar one can be found in the same park at "Rambler's Rest."

Note from me: It's too bad The Rainbow Cabins were not an actual vacation spot. After the movie came out the owner could have charge a fortune for honeymooning couple to stay in the place where Nigara was filmed!

~ When Joseph Cotten's character says his wife would like to wear that dress right in the middle of Yankee Stadium, this may be an inside joke. At this time Marilyn Monroe was in the middle of a high profile relationship with retired New York Yankee, Joe DiMaggio. They would marry early the following year.

Note from me: I'm sure Joe DiMaggio was proud to be romancing a rapidly rising 20th Century Fox star. But I've read that he was not bit happy when he watched Marilyn pose for the camera and thousands of onlookers while her dress was blowing up for the scene in The Seven Year Itch.





~ Among the last films done in 'three-strip' Technicolor by "Twentieth Century-Fox." "Fox" later switched to CinemaScope. There were compatibility issues between 'three-strip' Technicolor and CinemaScope but not between CinemaScope and Eastmancolor.

Note from me: I love the movies that were made in three-strip Technicolor. The color is so vibrant, and I don't think any of the modern color film methods ever matched it.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)