ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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What a great trio of great posts!

A sci-fi comedy from 1949, a classic horror film for 1935, and a magnificent movie from 1958, the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

If you can't think of an intelligent reply to these three post, perhaps you'd be happier posting Kute Kitten Photos on Facebook!





My goodness, how intellectually stimulating! This must be the Poster Child for the ME-OW TOO movement!

(You know I'm just kiddin' guys. I'm eager to read your posts. )
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It Happens Every Spring (1949)

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In addition to being an enjoyable romantic comedy, this is actually a tidy little sci-fi yarn that foreshadows the 1950s sci-fi craze that began the following year.

Ray Milland stars as an underpaid college professor who can't marry fiance Jean Peters because he's so poor. Fame and fortune will be his, however, if he succeeds with his experimental attempts to develop a solution that causes wood to repel termites (what a concept!). But a baseball crashes through his laboratory window and destroys his equipment, botching up the solution during its final mixing stage. Milland ends up with something very different than what he intended to make: a liquid that repels wood. He soaks a baseball in the solution and discovers that no bat can touch it!

Unfortunately he can't duplicate the accident that created the solution, so he only has one small bottle of it. Milland conceives a bold money-making scheme; he applies for a job as a rookie pitcher with a down-on-their-luck team. Using solution-soaked baseballs that repel bats, Milland throws impossible-to-hit pitches, and soon his low-ranked team becomes serious contenders for the pennant!

Paul Douglas plays the team's catcher and loyal friend to Milland, but neither he nor Milland's fiance' know about the anti-wood solution that makes Ray seem like the ultimate pitcher.



The special effects of the baseball hopping and looping over the bat are terrific (and the ball makes the same sound as Gort's ray in "The Day the Earth Stood Still"). There's plenty of laughs in this imaginative, well-played little classic from 20th Century Fox. Paul Douglas does a fine job as Milland's roommate and the team's catcher. Directed by Lloyd Bacon from a witty screenplay by Valentine Davies.
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The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)



Boris Karloff and Colin Clive lend their talents to a sequel that equals the classic original. The basic tone is quite different from its predecessor, laced with a great deal of subtle satire.

The film begins on a stormy evening at the mansion of Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester) and her husband Percy Shelley (Douglas Walton), along with their friend, Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon). Lancaster cringes each time a lightning bolt flashes outside, and she tells the two fascinated men the strange sequel to her famous story, "Frankenstein". The narrative begins just minutes after the original film ended, at the smoldering remnants of the burning windmill in which the monster presumably perished. The monster emerges from the water in the flooded cellar of the windmill, scorched but still alive.

Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) is taken to the village, where he begins his recovery from the injuries received after being thrown from the windmill by the monster. During his recuperation he is contacted by Dr. Praetorious (Ernest Thesiger), who wants to work with him on a new process for creating life (great special effects of miniature people in glass bottles). Dwight Frye (Dr. Frankenstein's lackey in the original) plays Karl, Dr. Praetorious' lackey in this one.

The film's standout scene involves a blind hermit who befriends the hapless monster, teaching him the pleasures of good conversation, good violin music, and a good cigar after dinner. None of the subsequent Frankenstein movies allowed the monster to show this tortured, human side to its character.





In the climax, Clive and Thesiger collaborate to make a mate for the monster (also played by Elsa Lanchester), but the ungrateful girl does not respond well to her freakish mate.







Masterful direction by James Whale from a screenplay by John L. Balderston. The powerful music was written by Franz Waxman (and re-used frequently thereafter in such things as "Flash Gordon"). A good job by all. Followed by a sequel in 1939 , "Son of Frankenstein".
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The Colossus of New York (1958)




Ignore any unfavorable reviews you might read about this unheralded gem. I saw it in 1958 as the first feature at a drive-in, and I shouldn't have bothered to wear socks that night — because this movie just knocked 'em off anyway.





Ross Martin plays a renowned scientist and humanitarian with big plans to end world hunger by developing techniques to grow food in desert and polar regions.





He's got a wonderful son and a lovely wife — but he dies in a tragic auto accident, and his father (a famous surgeon) removes Martin's brain so that his other son (an automation expert) can construct a huge robot body which will allow Martin to live and continue his humanitarian research.









Martin's wife and son aren't aware of the bizarre experiment. They both think he's dead.




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Trapped in the unfeeling robot body, longing to see his family again, the sanity of the poor man begins to deteriorate, and his former humanitarian nature changes drastically.





He also develops paranormal powers; he can "see" events which occur many miles away and he can kill with deadly rays from his glowing eyes (great special effects by John P. Fulton).





The exciting climax takes place when the robot/man smashes his way into the United Nations building during a meeting of top scientists. Death rays abound.


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The death ray effects are the most impressive I've ever seen — and all this in a low budget movie that didn't get released on DVD until 2011!







The robot/man's young son (Charles Herbert) plays a key role in the exciting climax.


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Mala Powers is both attractive and effective as Martin's grieving wife.


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John Baragrey is superb as the jealous and ill-fated brother who has designs on Mala. Otto Kruger portrays the brilliant, atheistic father who learns a hard lesson about what makes humans act humane.

The robot body (worn by Ed Wolff) is an awesome creation, one of the best robots Hollywood has ever produced. The Colossus of New York was directed by Eugene Lourie, who did Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Gorgo, and The Giant Behemoth.


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The screenplay is by Thelma Schnee, based on a story by Willis Goldbeck.

Despite its modest budget, the movie delivers more than its fair share of genuine suspense, as well as being intelligent and thought provoking. The strange and beautiful music score is by Van Cleave, who did The Conquest of Space and The Space Children, the latter of which was specifically made by Jack Arnold to serve as a second feature at drive-ins for The Colossus of New York — one of my absolute all-time favorite science fiction films.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)