ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

A story inspired by a comment made by President Truman concerning the A-bomb and how it would affect the world.

The film was produced under government supervision — a sign of how hot this subject was in 1947. Brian Donlevy ("The Creeping Unknown", "Enemy from Space") is the head of the Manhattan Project. Ludwig Strossel plays Albert Einstein, the man whose funny little equation unlocked the power of the atom.

Tom Drake is the frightened scientist who argues that even the enemies of America should not have to suffer the effects of this terrible new weapon. He loses the argument and Japan loses two cities.

Hume Cronyn ("Cocoon", "*batteries not included") co-stars.

An interesting film, if for no other reason because of the interaction of Brian Donlevy and Ludwig Strossel. Think of it as: "Professor Quatermass meets Professor Einstein".

Directed by Norman Taurog.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Rick]

I saw this movie on a late show, I'm gonna guess around the mid-60s. By accident.

See, I thought I was going to be watching Bert I. Gordon's epic, THE BEGINNING OF THE END. At this late date, I'm not sure how that happened. I believe that the newspaper and/or the TV Guide listed Bert's movie, but it's possible they got it right and that I, in my eagerness, mistakenly assumed it was the big bug movie.

Anyway, I watched the movie. And, to be embarrassingly honest, I was never really positive that it wasn't the right movie. I knew Peter Graves was supposed to be there...I didn't see him...I didn't see his name in the credits...maybe I just missed it. Hmmm. As the evening wore on, I began to suspect...yeah, this is not it. Damn.

But I stuck with it because it was a really good movie and... nah, gotta tell the truth...I was never positive and I kept careful watch for any giant grasshoppers right through the entire movie. Well, I mean...it was about atomic stuff right? And we all know atomic stuff makes giant critters, right? Ah, never mind. Sigh.

But it is, as far as I can recall, a good movie. I haven't seen it since. Fortunately, I have seen BEGINNING OR THE END several times, so I got my big bug fix.

And it's a happy ending.
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Man need not kneel before the angels,
Nor lie in death forever,
But for the weakness of his feeble will.

[Bud Brewster]

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I feel compelled to say something more than just "Damn, Rick, another cool story. Keep 'em comin'."

Of course, that's true too — but here's another story with a happy ending. The first time I saw King Kong was on TV around 1960 when a local station actually showed it in prime time, and there was a newspaper article about it, prior to the airing.

My mother told me it was a well-known movie and that I'd love it. My whole family watched it with me. Mom was right, of course.

About a year later the same station scheduled it again, but this time on the late show. Mom was going to watch it with me again . . . but some sort of local political event was airing live prior to the movie, and it went a bit long. Very long.

In fact, it went so long that almost an hour passed and the live event showed no sign of being over soon, so my mother apologized for being sleepy and assured me that the movie wouldn't be shown.

Brave, loyal, and true sci-fi fan that I was, I stayed up and waited. When the live whatever-it-was finally concluded, a station announcer came on and said, "Due to delay of our scheduled movie, it will now be shown . . . without commercial interruption."

No kidding. So, that was the second time I saw King Kong.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[alltare]

[Rick]

Yes I dood it. I lost track of how many times I had to edit the ORs and the ANDs in that post. I finally got so muddled that I had to flip over to IMDb just to make sure I remembered which was which.

And I still missed one.
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Man need not kneel before the angels,
Nor lie in death forever,
But for the weakness of his feeble will.

[Bud Brewster]

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I haven't seen the movie yet and I can't find a download source, but this has to be the dullest trailer in MGM history. What WERE they thinking?
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_________ The Beginning Or The End 1947 Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)