ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Bogmeister reviews Dr. Cyclops (1940), The Thing from Another World (1951), and Two Lost Worlds (1951) — two good mvies and one bad one.
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Dr. Cyclops (1940)

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_______________ Dr. Cyclops Official Trailer #1


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This film - Dr. Cyclops - is on DVD in the
The Classic SCI-FI ULTIMATE COLLECTION

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The film is slow in parts and there is indeed a lack of tension in most scenes, not helped by the jokey attitude of the shrunken characters in a few scenes.

Their first scene as little people, when Dr. Cyclops invites them to escape up some stairs, is scary. But after that it's mostly cheesy fun.

The score even imparts a whimsical tone to parts of the film. I never thought of this as an amusing attempt at the 'shrinking people' plot, until now. I always thought the aim here was to thrill & terrorize — I guess I got that impression when I was younger. Now, some of the scenes come across as a big, er, little joke.

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This was an unusual color film way back then, and interestingly enough this now manifests as a startling color film in the 21st century. I'm particularly taken by the color of the film. On this relatively new DVD, seen on a relatively new HD TV, the clarity and color of the picture is striking.

This is a 70-year old film and it looks like new on this DVD version — very sharp. When such 'new' versions of a film are unveiled, certain FX scenes are also revealed as not too great, being seen so clearly for the first time. But bot in this case.

One example is the scene of the little people climbing on a stack of books to open a door. It holds up well — those look like real books to me and a real, normal-sized door.

BoG's Score: 7 out of 10



BELOW: Not everyone may be aware that Thrilling Wonder Stories ran the first movie tie-in by a science fiction magazine. In the June, 1940 issue, the "Novelet of Men in Miniature by Henry Kuttner" was illustrated with stills from the film. The cover illustration was by Howard V. Brown.

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Also, I was not aware until now that the actor in the first scene with Albert Dekker is Paul Fix, the prolific character actor usually seen in westerns, playing doctors or sheriffs. He puts on an accent here and is swiftly dispatched by the villain.

Other shrinking people films have been mentioned but this reminds me more of the Land of the Giants TV series; maybe it's just that both were in color.

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Finally, anyone here familiar with the novel The Micronauts by Gordon Williams?

I have a Bantam paperback published in 1977. In the novel's plot, food resources on our planet are dwindling and one option is Project Arcadia, which involves transferring human consciousness into tiny cloned bodies. It's another variation of shrinking a person. A special team of tiny humans is sent into a typical garden test region — you can probably see where this is going.

The writer, Williams, wrote two sequel novels, The Microcolony and Revolt of the Micronauts.




BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus
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The Thing from Another World (1951)]

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The seminal alien invader film, jump-starting that whole fifties plethora of hostile aliens from outer space and rampant paranoia about what is 'out there.'

Of course, within the context of this film, it's not being paranoid to worry about such threats.

This was based on the famous John Campbell story "Who Goes There?", about a shape-shifting alien, but it was changed to a man-shaped plant alien (played by very tall Jim Arness). The alien is discovered in the Arctic by a research team, frozen in a block of ice.

We can predict what follows: the block of ice thaws . . .



One strength to the narrative is the isolated location, naturally lending a chill to the proceedings. But the story also becomes a study of American teamwork and management, headed authoritatively by Ken Tobey's military man.

Not all members of the group always agree with his assessments, notably one scientist who wants to communicate with the creature. But Tobey never wavers — this threat has challenged him and his group, and must be destroyed.

This no-nonsense approach must have been at the direction of producer Howard Hawks, though the credited director is Christian Nyby.

BoG's Score: 7.5 out of 10

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Trivia from the Thing: The last lines of dialog contain the famous warning to Keep Watching the Skies. Bill Warren used this as the title for his book on fifties sf cinema. The movies was remade in 1982 by John Carpenter, who followed the original concept of the story.


BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus
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Two Lost Worlds (1951)

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________________ TWO LOST WORLDS - trailer


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The first starring role for Jim Arness (later on Gunsmoke 1955-on) takes place way back in 1830 and, for the FX, relies only on stock footage (from One Million BC/1940) of big beasts very late in the film.

This is like a Jules Verne adventure, but very low budget.

The story concerns itself with pirates and a ship's captain (Arness) in the 1st two-thirds of the film, and it's very repetitive. Some of the characters end up on a lost island in that final third, and the so-called dinosaurs (enlarged lizards) appear only in the final minutes. It's a short film, just over an hour.

BoG's Score: 3 out of 10