ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Behold!

Two A&C comedies and one nature documentary produced by (believe it or not) Irwin Allen!

The Animal World (1956) gave Ray Harryhausen and Willis O'Brien a chance to work together and create some awesome dinosaur scenes!



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Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953)



Bud and Lou play Slim and Tubby, two American's in turn-of-the-century London who desperately want to become English police officers.

Boris Karloff is the schizophrenic Dr. Jekyll (Karloff), and Eddie Parker wears the makeup of the hideous Mr. Hyde. Monster makeup is provided by Bud Westmore, though it certainly isn't his best.

A & C comedies always try to give the audience the most monsters for their money; in this one not only does Karloff turn into a monster, so does Lou (when he sits on a hypodermic needle) and several policemen (when they are bitten by monster-Lou).



Craig Stevens ("The Deadly Mantis") is the hero that gets the girl (Helen Wescott). Directed by Charles Lamont.
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Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)




One A & C's best comic efforts, with superior special effects by David Horsely (who later supervised the effects for This Island Earth). Bud and Lou play detectives tangled up in a case involving a prizefighter who uses an invisibility formula to get the goods on a gangster.

Arthur Franz (Flight to Mars, Invaders from Mars) is the prizefighter. William Frawley (I Love Lucy) and Sheldon Leonard lend their comedic talents to the proceedings. Directed by Charles Lamont.
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The Animal World (1956)

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No, it isn't science fiction, but it's a glorious presentation of scientific speculation in the grand tradition of Disney's True Life Adventures (many of which it predated).





And for millions of science fiction fans who love movies about dinosaurs, this is the film that demonstrates what 20th Century Fox's 1960 version of "The Lost World" should have looked like.

Ironically, both films were produced and directed by Irwin Allen!





Two years earlier, Allen won an Academy Award for his documentary-style study of ocean life called "The Sea Around Us." Ray Harryhausen and Willis O'Brien provided the brilliant animation for a segment of "Animal World" dealing with prehistoric life.







In it we see dinosaurs walking, eating, fighting, and even laying eggs, including the hatching of a baby brontosaurus -- pink, slick, wet, and cute as a button. It bares a striking resemblance to Little Foot in Don Bluth's cartoon feature, The Land Before Time.





The stop-motion animation models in "Animal World" are highly detailed, and their prehistoric environment is beautifully designed (a table-top landscape with spectacular mountains in the background). Dinosaur enthusiasts can still purchase the excellent ViewMaster set which offers 3-D pictures of the dinosaurs.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)