ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Quick, name three sci-fi movies who titles begin with the letter "M" — and one of them has to star Gregory Peck!

(Gregory Peck? )

Yep, Mr. Peck does a bang-up job as NASA's Director of Manned Spaceflight in the movie that was released just one year before Apollo 13 (the actual lunar mission), whcih gave us an even more gripping space drama, one which captured the attention of the world.

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction — even science fiction.



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The Magnetic Monster (1953)




It isn't really a "monster", it's a small chunk of exotic matter which surges with magnetic force every 11 hours, causing an "implosion" of everything metallic in the immediate area. Each surge causes the isotope to grow in strength, which means it will eventually threaten the Earth itself.

The isotope also grows in size, a clear indication that the material is converting energy into matter. Because of the film's low budget, most of these spectacular events are only presented as verbal descriptions in the dialogue. The story is structured as a Dragnet style investigation.





Richard Carlson (It Came from Outer Space) and King Donovan (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) are "A-Men", representatives of the Office of Scientific Investigation (OSI). The audience follows the investigators' attempts to track down the man who created (and still possesses) the dangerously radioactive isotope.





The special effects for the exciting climax are borrowed from the 1930s German film Gold, but the scenes are impressive and effective. In the climax, Carlson wears a trench coat in a few long shots so he will match a key figure in the borrowed scenes. But after this little trick is employed, Carlson sheds the coat and gets to work saving the world!







Producer Ivan Tors and director Curt Siodmak co-wrote the script, originally intending it as a pilot for a television series about a trouble-shooting scientist who worked for the Office of Scientific Investigation. Each episode of the series would focus on some interesting aspect of science, using a fictional story to illustrate various scientific principles.

The Science Fiction Theatre (1955-57) became the final form of the series which Tors and Siodmak created. By focusing on the strange properties of magnetism and demonstrating how these properties could cause a world-threatening situation, The Magnetic Monster is a perfect example of the kind of stories which The Science Fiction Theatre offered television audiences each week.
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Marooned (1969)




Big-name stars in a big-budget movie about a manned orbiting capsule whose engines fail to fire when the astronauts try to make re-entry.





Richard Crenna, Gene Hackman, and James Franciscus are the three astronauts who face the fearful prospect of dying in space. Gregory Peck is the mission control commander forced to make the tough life-and-death decisions.





Nancy Kovack ("Jason and the Argonauts"), Lee Grant, and Mariette Hartley are the three attractive wives who might soon be widows.





The ending promotes American-Russian cooperation. The special effects won an Oscar. If you bear in mind that this is drama first and science fiction second, you'll enjoy it. Directed by John Sturges from a screenplay by Mayo Simmons.



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Missile to the Moon (1958)




Director Richard E. Cunha decided to remake "Cat Women of the Moon" just six years after the notorious original. He didn't improve it a bit -- in fact, it might be worse. He used some imaginative cost-cutting measures to create the sets -- which unfortunately didn't work worth a crap.

For example, when the builder of a private moon ship opens the curtains in his living room to show a visiting general his spacecraft located outside, the rocket is a two-dimensional mockup positioned just outside the window!





And when the spacemen land on the moon, the full-sized mockup of the rocket they stand beneath is obviously just a flat cardboard mockup! Notice that the shadow is just a thin line on the ground. The top of the poor thing doesn't even reach the top of the frame, and it's visibly damaged. It appears to be patterned after the popular rocket used in Flight to Mars and several other 1950s sci-fi movies.





The lunar "rockmen" which attack the astronauts are very convincing -- except that the actors' noses appear to protrude from the featureless stone heads of the costumes!







I figure it was a subtle joke played by the creators of the costume: a nose smack in the middle on the stone "face". Look closely and there's even the suggestion of eyes. It's not easy to see, so I doubt many folks have ever noticed it.

The plot and the acting are equally uproarious. After learning that the government is going to take over his private moon-rocket project, a scientist discovers two young fugitives hiding inside his spacecraft.





He pulls out a gun and threatens to shot them if they don't agree to serve as crewmen on his lunar voyage. During the trip, the scientist reveals that he is actually an alien from the Moon -- and he built the rocket to get back home!

The rocket's control is more impressive in this behind-the-scenes photo that in the movie itself.





The lunar civilization is comprised mostly of former beauty contest winners, all dressed in high heels and old fashioned Las Vagas show-girl costumes.







Gary Clark (How to Make a Monster) plays one of the young escapees. Also starring Richard Travis, K. T. Stevens, Cathy Downs, and Tommy Cook. Look for lovely Leslie Parrish (Lil' Abner - 1959) as a principle character.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)