View allAll Photos Tagged MARS_53
MARS_53 [30 points]
How appropriate this space invader is. A vista view from Rue de la Loge through Passage Claude McKay towards te Vieux Port of Marseille (Quai du Port).
Till August 2020 I found and flashed all 13 space invaders of wave 1 (MARS_01 - MARS_11 - 2004 and wave 2 (MARS_12 and MARS_13). But during wave 3 in August 2020 the number of space invaders went up to 97. In total 84 space invaders on my list again.
Onscreen FlashInvaders message: GOLD ANCHOR
All my photos of MARS_53:
MARS_53 (Close-up, July 2021)
MARS_53 (Wide shot, July 2021)
Date of invasion: 11/08/2020
MARS_53 [30 points]
How appropriate this space invader is. A vista view from Rue de la Loge through Passage Claude McKay towards te Vieux Port of Marseille (Quai du Port).
Till August 2020 I found and flashed all 13 space invaders of wave 1 (MARS_01 - MARS_11 - 2004 and wave 2 (MARS_12 and MARS_13). But during wave 3 in August 2020 the number of space invaders went up to 97. In total 84 space invaders on my list again.
Onscreen FlashInvaders message: GOLD ANCHOR
All my photos of MARS_53:
MARS_53 (Close-up, July 2021)
MARS_53 (Wide shot, July 2021)
Date of invasion: 11/08/2020
Lobby Card (11" X 14")
Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, and William Schallert. Directed by Herbert L. Strock.
Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, and William Schallert. Directed by Herbert L. Strock.
When two scientists at a top-secret government installation devoted to space research are killed -- in their own test chamber, seemingly by an experiment gone awry -- Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) is sent out from Washington to investigate. Sheppard mixes easily enough with the somewhat eccentric team of scientists, though he always seems in danger of being distracted by the presence of Joanne Merritt (Constance Dowling), who serves as the aide to the project director Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall) but is, in reality, another security agent. Sheppard is as puzzled as anyone else by the seemingly inexplicable series of events overtaking the installation -- properly operating equipment suddenly undergoing lethal malfunctions, and the radar tracking aircraft that aren't there -- until he puts it together with the operations of NOVAC (Nuclear Operated Variable Automatic Computer), the central brain of the complex. But the mystery deepens when he discovers that NOVAC was shut down during one of the "accidents" -- and even the computer's operators can't account fully for the whereabouts of GOG and MAGOG, the two robots under the computer's control.
"...and then without warning, the machine became a frankenstein of steel," says the sensationalist poster text. This is the third story in Ivan Tors' OSI trilogy. His first "Office of Scientific Investigation" story was Magnetic Monster in early 1953. The second was Riders to the Stars in early '54. With Gog the loose trilogy is complete. Unlike the Star Wars trilogy in which the stories build upon each other, each of the three OSI stories are separate tales which have nothing to do with each other. The common thread is the idea of there being a sort of Science FBI agency whose job it is, is to check out the scientifically strange. In that regard, Tors' OSI is a bit like a foreshadowing of the X-Files TV series, but without any of the New Age paranormal focus.
In keeping with the previous two stories, Gog is more of a detective murder mystery movie. Tors was a huge fan of "hard" science, not fanciful fiction fluff, so Gog, like the other two movies, is chock full of reveling in sciencey stuff in an almost geeky way. This reverence for real science keeps things from getting out on shaky limb, as many sci-fi films to. The events are much more plausible, less fantastic.
Synopsis
At a secret underground research facility, far out in the desert, scientists working on preparations for a manned space mission, are getting murdered mysteriously. Two agents from the OSI are dispatched to solve the mystery and keep the super secret space station program on track. The scientists are killed in various ways, mostly through equipment malfunctions. The facility director and the agents suspect sabotage. Small transmitter/receiver boxes are found within equipment in different parts of the facility. They suggest that someone on the outside is transmitting in the "malfunctions" in order to kill off the program's scientists. Occasional alarms indicate some flying high intruder, but nothing is clearly found. One of the base's two robots, named Gog, kills another technician while it's mate, Magog, tries to set up an overload within the base's atomic pile. The OSI agents stop Magog with a flame thrower. Meanwhile, interceptor jets scramble and find the highflying spy jet and destroy it with missiles. Once the trouble is past, the Director announces that they will be launching their prototype space station the next day, despite the sabotage attempts to stop it. The End.
The time spent reveling in techno-geekery has a certain Popular Science charm to it. There's an evident gee-whiz air about space and defense sciences which is fun to see. People were fascinated with things rockety and atomic. For various fun bits, see the Notes section.
Gog oozes Cold War from every frame. First is the base's underground location to make them safe from A-bombs. Next is the mysterious killer trying to stop the space station program. The high-flying mystery plane is "not one of ours." (that leaves: Them, and we all knew who they were.) The space station is to be powered by a solar mirror. Even that benign mirror has sinister possibilities. While demonstrating the mirror, the scientists use it to burn a model of a city. "This could happen...if we're not the first to reach space," says the Director. Space is the next "high ground" to be contested. At the end of the movie, when discussing the launch (despite the sabotage attempt) of the prototype space station, the Director says, "Through it's eye, we'll be able to see everything that goes on upon this tired old earth." The Defense Secretary says, "Nothing will take us by surprise again." An obvious reference to Pearl Harbor.
B-films often re-used props and sets from prior films in order to save on their budgets. Gog, even though shot in Eastman Color, was no exception. Two old prop friends show up in Gog. One is our venerable old friend, the space suits from Destination Moon ('50). Look for the centrifuge scene. The research assistants are dressed in them, and as an added bonus, they wear the all-acrylic fish bowl helmets used in Abbot and Costello Go to Mars ('53). Our second old friend is scene in the radar / security room, (the one with the annoying tuning fork device). Check out the monitor wall. It's been gussied up a bit, but it is the spaceship control panel wall from Catwomen of the Moon and Project Moon Base -- complete with the empty 16mm film reels on the right side. It's fun to see old friends.
B-films often include stock footage of military units, tanks, jets, battleships, etc. to fill things out. Gog is no different, and even commits the common continuity error of showing one type of plane taking off, but a different kind in the air.
What amounts to a small treat amid the usual stock footage of jets, some shots of a rather obscure bit of USAF hardware -- the F-94C Starfire with its straight wings and huge wing tanks. In 1954, the Starfire was one of America's coolest combat jets, yet we hear little about it. The swept-wing F-86 Sabers (which we see taxiing and taking off) were the agile fighter which gained fame over Korea. They're common stock footage stars. The F-94, with its onboard radar (in the nose cone) was deemed too advanced to risk falling into enemy hands. So, it didn't see much action , and therefore little fame. The heavier, yet powerful F-94C (one of the first US jets to have an afterburner) was 1954 America's hottest Interceptor -- designed to stop high flying Soviet bombers. It's blatant cameo appearance in Gog, intercepting the high-flying mystery plane, was a fun little bit of patriotic showing off.
The very name of the movie, Gog, is charged with meaning to American audiences of the mid 50s, though virtually lost on viewers of the 21st century. The names of the two robots, Gog and Magog, come from the Bible. More specifically, from the prophecies of Ezekiel (Chapter 38) and the Book of Revelation (chapter 20). While just who they are (nations? kings?) has been debated for centuries, their role as tools of Satan in the battle of Armageddon is clear. Mainstream American patriotic Christendom had settled on the idea that the Soviet Union was the prophesied "nations from the north" who would join Satan to oppose God. This gives the title of the movie a special Cold War significance. It also puts an interesting spin on the Dr. Zeitman character for having named the two robots in the first place. Since they were tools of the mega-computer NOVAC, what was he saying about NOVAC?
It is interesting that the base's radar could not detect the mystery plane (which was beaming in the 'kill' instructions to NOVAC) because it was made of "fiberglass" which rendered it invisible to radar. Now, fiberglass itself isn't sturdy enough for high-speed jets, and it would take until the 1990s before composite materials advanced to make the dream of a stealth aircraft a reality. Nonetheless, the dream (or nightmare) of stealth aircraft was on-screen in 1954 in Gog.
The super computer, NOVAC, controlled everything on the base. Even though the machines were not really killing scientists on their own, but following human orders from the mystery plane, there was the on-screen depiction of machines having a murderous mind of their own. (all pre-Steven King) In the techno starry-eyed 50s, it was fairly uncommon for the technology itself to be turning on its masters. This idea would gain traction later in the 50s, and especially in the 60s, but in '54, it was unusual.
A cautionary subtext to Gog is the danger of trusting in a supercomputer to manage defenses and a whole base. NOVAC doesn't go bad on its own, as the computer will in The Invisible Boy, Hal in 2001 or Colossus in The Forbin Project. In this movie, it was the nefarious "others" who hacked into NOVAC to make it do the killing, but this just demonstrates the danger. People were getting a little nervous about letting machines take over too much responsibility. We were starting to distrust our creations.
Until Gog, robots were fairly humanoid.
They had two legs, two arms, a torso and a head. Audiences had seen the mechanical Maria in Metropolis ('27), the fedora-wearing metal men in Gene Autrey's Phantom Empire serial ('35). The water-heater-like Republic robot appeared in several rocketman serials. There was the gleaming giant Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51) and the cute left over fedora-dudes in Captain Video ('51). The metal giant in Devil Girl from Mars ('54) was also humaniod, in a chunky way. Gog and Magog were a departure from the stereotype. They were noticeably in-human, which was part of the mood.
Bottom line? Gog seems a bit bland, as far as sci-fi tends to go, but it has a lot in it for fans of 50s sci-fi.
MARS_53 [30 points]
Very subtle and small space invader (only 51 pixels) but on the Vieux Port and because of this location MARS_79 is still worth 30 points. Easy to find if you know where to look.
Till August 2020 I found and flashed all 13 space invaders of wave 1 (MARS_01 - MARS_11 - 2004 and wave 2 (MARS_12 and MARS_13). But during wave 3 in August 2020 the number of space invaders went up to 97. In total 84 space invaders on my list again.
Onscreen FlashInvaders message: MISSION SUCCESSFUL
All my photos of MARS_79:
MARS_79 (Close-up, July 2021)
MARS_79 (Wide shot, July 2021)
Date of invasion 17/08/2021
MARS_53 [30 points]
Very subtle and small space invader (only 51 pixels) but on the Vieux Port and because of this location MARS_79 is still worth 30 points. Easy to find if you know where to look.
Till August 2020 I found and flashed all 13 space invaders of wave 1 (MARS_01 - MARS_11 - 2004 and wave 2 (MARS_12 and MARS_13). But during wave 3 in August 2020 the number of space invaders went up to 97. In total 84 space invaders on my list again.
Onscreen FlashInvaders message: MISSION SUCCESSFUL
All my photos of MARS_79:
MARS_79 (Close-up, July 2021)
MARS_79 (Wide shot, July 2021)
Date of invasion 17/08/2021
Starring Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt, Nancy Walters, Troy Donahue, and Whit Bissell. Directed by Jack Arnold.
This was Jack Arnold's last horror film for Universal, and the director pulled out all the tricks of his trade for this foray into the teenage drive-in monster genre. Joanna Moore and Arthur Franz star, and Troy Donahue makes an early screen appearance, in this campy campus creature feature.
Universal's B unit produced another sci-fi/horror hybrid in late 1958. It comes as an interesting coincidence, being released around the time of Hideous Sun Demon. Evolution must have been a hot topic then. Both movies feature a Jekyll & Hyde theme with "regressive evolution" as the science part of their fictions. Directed by Jack Arnold (of Black Lagoon fame), Monster on Campus (MoC) has above-average production values for the B market. The acting is pretty solid, with a couple exceptions, and the props are also above-average for what the B market was becoming accustomed to. The overall effect is an entertaining, if somewhat predictable tale.
Plot Synopsis
A university professor receives a ceolacanth (a "prehistoric" fish still found off South Africa). A dog who licks up the melt water from the fish's ice, goes savage. His fangs grow. The professor, Donald, cuts his hand on the fish's teeth and gets more melt water in the cut. He feels woozy, so a nurse drives him home. She is found dead (of fright) and Donald's house ransacked. He remembers nothing. The police suspect him, but fingerprints at the scene are not his. Later, a dragonfly is eating (or drinking) off the fish body. It later returns 2 feet across. Donald kills it, but its blood drips in his pipe. He smokes it, and gets woozie again. He becomes an ape-man. In this state, he kills a policeman assigned to guard him. Donald is sure that the ceolacanth's blood causes reverse evolution. Dog to wolf, dragonfly to a Meganeura, and a man back into an ape-like cave man. Donald's bosses think he's becoming unglued with his talk of giant bugs and ape men, so he's sent up to a mountain cabin for rest. In the cabin, Donald decides to inject himself with ceolacanth plasma, tape record the results and had set up cameras to capture it on film. He does this, but his girlfriend, Madeline, is driving up to see him. She encounters the ape-man on the road, swerves and crashes. Ape-man carries her off. When she screams, a forest ranger investigates. Ape-man kills him with a hatchet. The police arrive too, but Donald has returned to normal. After learning of the killings, Donald decides there is just one thing to do. He says he'll take them all to see the ape-man. He injects himself. When he returns down the hill as the ape-man, the police shoot and kill him. In death, he reverts back to Donald. The End.
The production values are good enough to keep a viewer focused on the story. As yet another evolution-based modernization of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it has some interest. Jack Arnold does a good job keeping the visuals interesting and the pace moving. The musical score uses many familiar themes and tones. One can almost hear the Creature's theme woven in there. It was also fun to see the old familiar trope of the "monster" carrying off the pretty girl in his arms.
There's no Cold War here. There is only a minor element of atomic cautionary tale in that gamma radiation altered the ceolacanth's blood to make it the monster-maker. Radiation makes monsters. Everyone knows that.
Several of the actors and others in MoC are familiar 50s sci-fi names. Jack Arnold directed Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54) and Tarantula ('55). Writer David Duncan wrote for Monster That Challenged the World ('57) and Black Scorpion ('57). Arthur Franz, who plays Donald, also starred in Invaders from Mars ('53) and The Flame Barrier ('57). Whit Bissel plays the skeptical Dr. Cole. He also played in Creature From the Black Lagoon and Target Earth ('54).
Another Jekyll & Hyde -- Like Hideous Sun Demon, MoC reuses the good-doctor and evil-beast device. As in HSD, the transformation was accidental, not deliberate as in Jekyll's case. MoC does return to the chemical agent, and returns to the ape-like imagery of the evil-beast. Common to them all is the good-doctor not remembering what he did while the evil-beast. All three had the faithful girlfriend. He original and HSD had the "other" woman (Ivy and Trudy), but MoC had only a rather chaste echo of that in Molly Riordan. MoC returned to the moral of the original, that every modern man carries his beast within.
The populist form of the theory of evolution is the unmistakable foundation of MoC. The genetic connection to the past was more scientifically clean than the embryology basis used in Hideous Sun Demon. The notion that chromosomes were additive over time was quite a leap, however. The ceolacanth was symbolic of evolution halted. Hence, it's blood (with some gamma ray help) had the power to neutralize those modern added layers. Hence the savage ape man, wolf-dog and giant dragonfly.
Shown in the first couple minutes of the movie, Professor Blake's collection of anthropoid face sculptures is a classic linear progression. A quick-eyed viewer might spot Piltdown Man in the line. This "early human ancestor" was finally confirmed as a hoax in 1953, fabricated from a modern human skull fragment and an orangutan jaw. Scientists might drop bogus facts quickly, but the public tends to hang onto them -- especially if they fit the mental model.
Near the end, Donald gives a little monologue on mankind. "It's the savage in man which science must meet and defeat if humanity is to survive." This was a rather Neitzschian view, that mankind was evolving into a better being, leaving behind his brutal self. Note, too, the science-as-savior angle. Mankind's savage nature (evil) was something chemical which science could cure.
Bottom line? MoC is a notch above the typical B-movie fare of the late 50s. It's production quality is enjoyable. The recast of Jekyll and Hyde is entertaining too. A triple feature of the 1931 Jekyll & Hyde movie, the Hideous Sun Demon and MoC, would be fun.
synopsis - second opinion.
In this sci-fi film, a college professor must deal with the cataclysmic consequences that ensue when a transmogrifying dragonfly bites a prehistoric fish from Madagascar. Soon after the bite, the strange fish becomes gigantic and begins passing on its new ability to morph all it comes in contact with back into their primal forms. When it bites a dog, the dog becomes a wolf. When some fish slime ends up in the professor's pipe, the professor put it to his lips, and he turns into a rampaging Neanderthal with a very large stone-axe that he freely wields around the terrified college campus. Bloody mayhem ensues.
review
Any Jack Arnold movie from the 1950s is worth seeing, but Monster On The Campus is clearly in the bottom half of his output, despite some suspenseful scenes and clever moments. Arthur Franz brings a dour sincerity to his portrayal of Dr. Donald Blake, the researcher who falls victim to contamination from an ancient fossil that causes him (or any other living thing) that comes in contact with it to revert to a pre-historic state. The movie also provides a vehicle for established veteran players such as Helen Westcott and Alexander Lockwood, and newcomer Troy Donahue, which makes it a strange mix on that level; and the presence of ubiquitous horror/sci-fi player Whit Bissell gives the movie resonance with modern cultists (William Schallert must have been busy elsewhere during the three weeks this movie was in production . . .). But Monster On The Campus, just by virtue of its title, has a certain built-in campiness that expresses itself overtly in a few scenes that, undoubtedly, elicited howls, hoots, and mocking gasps from drive-in audiences at the time. In all, it's not as atmospheric -- except in a few stylistically claustrophobic scenes -- or persuasive as Arnold's best work, and even lacks the underlying sincerity that helped drive works such as The Space Children. It's a fun thrill ride within its modest budgetary and production dimensions, but not much more.
College student JIMMY heads to campus with his dog, while in a classroom MADELEINE, the daughter of the UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT, gets a plaster cast made of her face by fiance DR. DONALD BLAKE. They are interrupted as Jimmy shows up with a special delivery - an ancient fish called a coelacanth that Donald has ordered from Madagascar. Donald notes that the coelacanth has a special ability to "resist evolution." The dog drinks some of the coelacanth blood - and soon goes crazy, attacking Madeleine. Jimmy and Donald subdue the dog and stick it in a cage.
Donald takes a sample of the dog's saliva for a rabies test, and notes that the dog has huge teeth. It seems to be an evolutionary throwback to a prehistoric wolf. The UNIVERSITY DOCTOR's assistant MOLLY shows up to get the saliva sample. Donald cuts himself on the coelacanth's teeth as he puts it away, and soon feels woozy. Molly puts him in her car and takes him home. Donald passes out in the car. Molly goes inside to call the Doctor - and a CREATURE comes in and attacks her!
Madeleine and a SECURITY GUARD look for Donald in the lab. He's not there, but the dog is back to being a friendly pet. Madeleine heads to Donald's house. It has been trashed. She finds Donald passed out in the back yard - and Molly dead! Cops soon arrive. At first they suspect Donald because they find his tie clip in Molly's hand, but he is quickly exonerated when the cops find an enormous handprint on a window. Is there a killer on the loose? The cops also note that Molly didn't die of any wounds - she had a heart attack. She died of fright!
Donald lectures to his students about evolution using the coelacanth as an example. Jimmy shows up to check on the dog, and Donald tries to show him the huge teeth - but they are gone. Donald wonders if he is imagining things. Cop STEVENS is sure that someone is personally after Donald, but Donald has no enemies. Stevens gives Donald bodyguard EDDIE.
Donald and Eddie note a small dragonfly land on the coelacanth. Donald also sees "crystallized bacteria" on a slide. He quickly shows the slide to the Doctor, but the bacteria seem totally normal. Did Donald imagine something again? Meanwhile, Jimmy and his girlfriend SYLVIA hear a strange, loud buzzing sound as they hide under some trees to make out. There is a moment of a fake scare, but it turns out to be another couple making out. Jimmy and Sylvia go to the science building - and here they and Donald all see a huge GIANT DRAGONFLY outside the window. Jimmy and Donald trap the giant dragonfly, which Donald recognizes as a prehistoric species.
Donald studies the giant dragonfly. As he does so, blood falls into his pipe, which he then smokes. As the dragonfly shrinks back to its original state, Donald transforms into a PREHUMAN ANTHROPOID! The "anthropoid" smashes up the lab and kills Eddie. The cops come, but find only dead Eddie, a huge footprint, and Donald passed out. Donald recognizes the footprint as coming from a prehistoric subhuman, but Stevens thinks it must have been faked to frame Donald.
Donald investigates, does experiments, and calls a PROFESSOR in Madagascar who investigates how the fish was preserved. Donald finds that the fish was preserved using gamma ray radiation! Donald cancels lots of classes to continue his studies, and Madeleine and her father are afraid he is cracking up. The President comes to Donald to ask him to take a leave of absence. Donald explains what he has learned - the coelacanth blood, treated with radiation, is transforming creatures into evolutionary throwbacks for short periods of time. Just as he explains this, Donald realizes that he was probably the person who transformed into the monster.
Donald heads up to the University President's cabin, where he prepares to experiment on himself. He plans to inject the coelacanth blood into himself and capture the transformation with cameras he has rigged around the room. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Sylvia tell Madeleine about the giant dragonfly. Donald isn't crazy after all! Madeleine heads up to the cabin to see Donald.
Donald injects himself with the coelacanth blood as Madeleine drives. He transforms into the anthropoid, trashes the cabin, and runs out into the road. Madeleine sees the anthropoid, screams, and crashes her car. A FOREST RANGER races to the scene and sees the anthropoid standing over her. He calls the cops and grabs his gun. The anthropoid carries Madeleine away. The cops trail them, and the ranger shoots the anthropoid in the arm. Madeleine wakes up and runs, the creature pursues and knocks her out again, and then kills the ranger. Madeleine recovers and makes it back to the cabin as the anthropoid transforms back into Donald. The cops meet them here. Donald develops the film from the cameras and sees a shot of the creature. He knows now that "the beast within" himself is the killer. He takes the cops outside, claiming to know where the anthropoid is hiding. As the Doctor looks on, he injects himself with the coelacanth blood one last time, telling the doctor to "watch closely and see evolution in reverse." He transforms into the anthropoid, and the cops shoot him before the Doctor can stop them. The Doctor and the cops watch in amazement as the dead anthropoid turns back into mild-mannered Donald.
Starring Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt, Nancy Walters, Troy Donahue, and Whit Bissell. Directed by Jack Arnold.
This was Jack Arnold's last horror film for Universal, and the director pulled out all the tricks of his trade for this foray into the teenage drive-in monster genre. Joanna Moore and Arthur Franz star, and Troy Donahue makes an early screen appearance, in this campy campus creature feature.
Universal's B unit produced another sci-fi/horror hybrid in late 1958. It comes as an interesting coincidence, being released around the time of Hideous Sun Demon. Evolution must have been a hot topic then. Both movies feature a Jekyll & Hyde theme with "regressive evolution" as the science part of their fictions. Directed by Jack Arnold (of Black Lagoon fame), Monster on Campus (MoC) has above-average production values for the B market. The acting is pretty solid, with a couple exceptions, and the props are also above-average for what the B market was becoming accustomed to. The overall effect is an entertaining, if somewhat predictable tale.
Plot Synopsis
A university professor receives a ceolacanth (a "prehistoric" fish still found off South Africa). A dog who licks up the melt water from the fish's ice, goes savage. His fangs grow. The professor, Donald, cuts his hand on the fish's teeth and gets more melt water in the cut. He feels woozy, so a nurse drives him home. She is found dead (of fright) and Donald's house ransacked. He remembers nothing. The police suspect him, but fingerprints at the scene are not his. Later, a dragonfly is eating (or drinking) off the fish body. It later returns 2 feet across. Donald kills it, but its blood drips in his pipe. He smokes it, and gets woozie again. He becomes an ape-man. In this state, he kills a policeman assigned to guard him. Donald is sure that the ceolacanth's blood causes reverse evolution. Dog to wolf, dragonfly to a Meganeura, and a man back into an ape-like cave man. Donald's bosses think he's becoming unglued with his talk of giant bugs and ape men, so he's sent up to a mountain cabin for rest. In the cabin, Donald decides to inject himself with ceolacanth plasma, tape record the results and had set up cameras to capture it on film. He does this, but his girlfriend, Madeline, is driving up to see him. She encounters the ape-man on the road, swerves and crashes. Ape-man carries her off. When she screams, a forest ranger investigates. Ape-man kills him with a hatchet. The police arrive too, but Donald has returned to normal. After learning of the killings, Donald decides there is just one thing to do. He says he'll take them all to see the ape-man. He injects himself. When he returns down the hill as the ape-man, the police shoot and kill him. In death, he reverts back to Donald. The End.
The production values are good enough to keep a viewer focused on the story. As yet another evolution-based modernization of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it has some interest. Jack Arnold does a good job keeping the visuals interesting and the pace moving. The musical score uses many familiar themes and tones. One can almost hear the Creature's theme woven in there. It was also fun to see the old familiar trope of the "monster" carrying off the pretty girl in his arms.
There's no Cold War here. There is only a minor element of atomic cautionary tale in that gamma radiation altered the ceolacanth's blood to make it the monster-maker. Radiation makes monsters. Everyone knows that.
Several of the actors and others in MoC are familiar 50s sci-fi names. Jack Arnold directed Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54) and Tarantula ('55). Writer David Duncan wrote for Monster That Challenged the World ('57) and Black Scorpion ('57). Arthur Franz, who plays Donald, also starred in Invaders from Mars ('53) and The Flame Barrier ('57). Whit Bissel plays the skeptical Dr. Cole. He also played in Creature From the Black Lagoon and Target Earth ('54).
Another Jekyll & Hyde -- Like Hideous Sun Demon, MoC reuses the good-doctor and evil-beast device. As in HSD, the transformation was accidental, not deliberate as in Jekyll's case. MoC does return to the chemical agent, and returns to the ape-like imagery of the evil-beast. Common to them all is the good-doctor not remembering what he did while the evil-beast. All three had the faithful girlfriend. He original and HSD had the "other" woman (Ivy and Trudy), but MoC had only a rather chaste echo of that in Molly Riordan. MoC returned to the moral of the original, that every modern man carries his beast within.
The populist form of the theory of evolution is the unmistakable foundation of MoC. The genetic connection to the past was more scientifically clean than the embryology basis used in Hideous Sun Demon. The notion that chromosomes were additive over time was quite a leap, however. The ceolacanth was symbolic of evolution halted. Hence, it's blood (with some gamma ray help) had the power to neutralize those modern added layers. Hence the savage ape man, wolf-dog and giant dragonfly.
Shown in the first couple minutes of the movie, Professor Blake's collection of anthropoid face sculptures is a classic linear progression. A quick-eyed viewer might spot Piltdown Man in the line. This "early human ancestor" was finally confirmed as a hoax in 1953, fabricated from a modern human skull fragment and an orangutan jaw. Scientists might drop bogus facts quickly, but the public tends to hang onto them -- especially if they fit the mental model.
Near the end, Donald gives a little monologue on mankind. "It's the savage in man which science must meet and defeat if humanity is to survive." This was a rather Neitzschian view, that mankind was evolving into a better being, leaving behind his brutal self. Note, too, the science-as-savior angle. Mankind's savage nature (evil) was something chemical which science could cure.
Bottom line? MoC is a notch above the typical B-movie fare of the late 50s. It's production quality is enjoyable. The recast of Jekyll and Hyde is entertaining too. A triple feature of the 1931 Jekyll & Hyde movie, the Hideous Sun Demon and MoC, would be fun.
synopsis - second opinion.
In this sci-fi film, a college professor must deal with the cataclysmic consequences that ensue when a transmogrifying dragonfly bites a prehistoric fish from Madagascar. Soon after the bite, the strange fish becomes gigantic and begins passing on its new ability to morph all it comes in contact with back into their primal forms. When it bites a dog, the dog becomes a wolf. When some fish slime ends up in the professor's pipe, the professor put it to his lips, and he turns into a rampaging Neanderthal with a very large stone-axe that he freely wields around the terrified college campus. Bloody mayhem ensues.
review
Any Jack Arnold movie from the 1950s is worth seeing, but Monster On The Campus is clearly in the bottom half of his output, despite some suspenseful scenes and clever moments. Arthur Franz brings a dour sincerity to his portrayal of Dr. Donald Blake, the researcher who falls victim to contamination from an ancient fossil that causes him (or any other living thing) that comes in contact with it to revert to a pre-historic state. The movie also provides a vehicle for established veteran players such as Helen Westcott and Alexander Lockwood, and newcomer Troy Donahue, which makes it a strange mix on that level; and the presence of ubiquitous horror/sci-fi player Whit Bissell gives the movie resonance with modern cultists (William Schallert must have been busy elsewhere during the three weeks this movie was in production . . .). But Monster On The Campus, just by virtue of its title, has a certain built-in campiness that expresses itself overtly in a few scenes that, undoubtedly, elicited howls, hoots, and mocking gasps from drive-in audiences at the time. In all, it's not as atmospheric -- except in a few stylistically claustrophobic scenes -- or persuasive as Arnold's best work, and even lacks the underlying sincerity that helped drive works such as The Space Children. It's a fun thrill ride within its modest budgetary and production dimensions, but not much more.
College student JIMMY heads to campus with his dog, while in a classroom MADELEINE, the daughter of the UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT, gets a plaster cast made of her face by fiance DR. DONALD BLAKE. They are interrupted as Jimmy shows up with a special delivery - an ancient fish called a coelacanth that Donald has ordered from Madagascar. Donald notes that the coelacanth has a special ability to "resist evolution." The dog drinks some of the coelacanth blood - and soon goes crazy, attacking Madeleine. Jimmy and Donald subdue the dog and stick it in a cage.
Donald takes a sample of the dog's saliva for a rabies test, and notes that the dog has huge teeth. It seems to be an evolutionary throwback to a prehistoric wolf. The UNIVERSITY DOCTOR's assistant MOLLY shows up to get the saliva sample. Donald cuts himself on the coelacanth's teeth as he puts it away, and soon feels woozy. Molly puts him in her car and takes him home. Donald passes out in the car. Molly goes inside to call the Doctor - and a CREATURE comes in and attacks her!
Madeleine and a SECURITY GUARD look for Donald in the lab. He's not there, but the dog is back to being a friendly pet. Madeleine heads to Donald's house. It has been trashed. She finds Donald passed out in the back yard - and Molly dead! Cops soon arrive. At first they suspect Donald because they find his tie clip in Molly's hand, but he is quickly exonerated when the cops find an enormous handprint on a window. Is there a killer on the loose? The cops also note that Molly didn't die of any wounds - she had a heart attack. She died of fright!
Donald lectures to his students about evolution using the coelacanth as an example. Jimmy shows up to check on the dog, and Donald tries to show him the huge teeth - but they are gone. Donald wonders if he is imagining things. Cop STEVENS is sure that someone is personally after Donald, but Donald has no enemies. Stevens gives Donald bodyguard EDDIE.
Donald and Eddie note a small dragonfly land on the coelacanth. Donald also sees "crystallized bacteria" on a slide. He quickly shows the slide to the Doctor, but the bacteria seem totally normal. Did Donald imagine something again? Meanwhile, Jimmy and his girlfriend SYLVIA hear a strange, loud buzzing sound as they hide under some trees to make out. There is a moment of a fake scare, but it turns out to be another couple making out. Jimmy and Sylvia go to the science building - and here they and Donald all see a huge GIANT DRAGONFLY outside the window. Jimmy and Donald trap the giant dragonfly, which Donald recognizes as a prehistoric species.
Donald studies the giant dragonfly. As he does so, blood falls into his pipe, which he then smokes. As the dragonfly shrinks back to its original state, Donald transforms into a PREHUMAN ANTHROPOID! The "anthropoid" smashes up the lab and kills Eddie. The cops come, but find only dead Eddie, a huge footprint, and Donald passed out. Donald recognizes the footprint as coming from a prehistoric subhuman, but Stevens thinks it must have been faked to frame Donald.
Donald investigates, does experiments, and calls a PROFESSOR in Madagascar who investigates how the fish was preserved. Donald finds that the fish was preserved using gamma ray radiation! Donald cancels lots of classes to continue his studies, and Madeleine and her father are afraid he is cracking up. The President comes to Donald to ask him to take a leave of absence. Donald explains what he has learned - the coelacanth blood, treated with radiation, is transforming creatures into evolutionary throwbacks for short periods of time. Just as he explains this, Donald realizes that he was probably the person who transformed into the monster.
Donald heads up to the University President's cabin, where he prepares to experiment on himself. He plans to inject the coelacanth blood into himself and capture the transformation with cameras he has rigged around the room. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Sylvia tell Madeleine about the giant dragonfly. Donald isn't crazy after all! Madeleine heads up to the cabin to see Donald.
Donald injects himself with the coelacanth blood as Madeleine drives. He transforms into the anthropoid, trashes the cabin, and runs out into the road. Madeleine sees the anthropoid, screams, and crashes her car. A FOREST RANGER races to the scene and sees the anthropoid standing over her. He calls the cops and grabs his gun. The anthropoid carries Madeleine away. The cops trail them, and the ranger shoots the anthropoid in the arm. Madeleine wakes up and runs, the creature pursues and knocks her out again, and then kills the ranger. Madeleine recovers and makes it back to the cabin as the anthropoid transforms back into Donald. The cops meet them here. Donald develops the film from the cameras and sees a shot of the creature. He knows now that "the beast within" himself is the killer. He takes the cops outside, claiming to know where the anthropoid is hiding. As the Doctor looks on, he injects himself with the coelacanth blood one last time, telling the doctor to "watch closely and see evolution in reverse." He transforms into the anthropoid, and the cops shoot him before the Doctor can stop them. The Doctor and the cops watch in amazement as the dead anthropoid turns back into mild-mannered Donald.
Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, and William Schallert. Directed by Herbert L. Strock.
When two scientists at a top-secret government installation devoted to space research are killed -- in their own test chamber, seemingly by an experiment gone awry -- Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) is sent out from Washington to investigate. Sheppard mixes easily enough with the somewhat eccentric team of scientists, though he always seems in danger of being distracted by the presence of Joanne Merritt (Constance Dowling), who serves as the aide to the project director Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall) but is, in reality, another security agent. Sheppard is as puzzled as anyone else by the seemingly inexplicable series of events overtaking the installation -- properly operating equipment suddenly undergoing lethal malfunctions, and the radar tracking aircraft that aren't there -- until he puts it together with the operations of NOVAC (Nuclear Operated Variable Automatic Computer), the central brain of the complex. But the mystery deepens when he discovers that NOVAC was shut down during one of the "accidents" -- and even the computer's operators can't account fully for the whereabouts of GOG and MAGOG, the two robots under the computer's control.
"...and then without warning, the machine became a frankenstein of steel," says the sensationalist poster text. This is the third story in Ivan Tors' OSI trilogy. His first "Office of Scientific Investigation" story was Magnetic Monster in early 1953. The second was Riders to the Stars in early '54. With Gog the loose trilogy is complete. Unlike the Star Wars trilogy in which the stories build upon each other, each of the three OSI stories are separate tales which have nothing to do with each other. The common thread is the idea of there being a sort of Science FBI agency whose job it is, is to check out the scientifically strange. In that regard, Tors' OSI is a bit like a foreshadowing of the X-Files TV series, but without any of the New Age paranormal focus.
In keeping with the previous two stories, Gog is more of a detective murder mystery movie. Tors was a huge fan of "hard" science, not fanciful fiction fluff, so Gog, like the other two movies, is chock full of reveling in sciencey stuff in an almost geeky way. This reverence for real science keeps things from getting out on shaky limb, as many sci-fi films to. The events are much more plausible, less fantastic.
Synopsis
At a secret underground research facility, far out in the desert, scientists working on preparations for a manned space mission, are getting murdered mysteriously. Two agents from the OSI are dispatched to solve the mystery and keep the super secret space station program on track. The scientists are killed in various ways, mostly through equipment malfunctions. The facility director and the agents suspect sabotage. Small transmitter/receiver boxes are found within equipment in different parts of the facility. They suggest that someone on the outside is transmitting in the "malfunctions" in order to kill off the program's scientists. Occasional alarms indicate some flying high intruder, but nothing is clearly found. One of the base's two robots, named Gog, kills another technician while it's mate, Magog, tries to set up an overload within the base's atomic pile. The OSI agents stop Magog with a flame thrower. Meanwhile, interceptor jets scramble and find the highflying spy jet and destroy it with missiles. Once the trouble is past, the Director announces that they will be launching their prototype space station the next day, despite the sabotage attempts to stop it. The End.
The time spent reveling in techno-geekery has a certain Popular Science charm to it. There's an evident gee-whiz air about space and defense sciences which is fun to see. People were fascinated with things rockety and atomic. For various fun bits, see the Notes section.
Gog oozes Cold War from every frame. First is the base's underground location to make them safe from A-bombs. Next is the mysterious killer trying to stop the space station program. The high-flying mystery plane is "not one of ours." (that leaves: Them, and we all knew who they were.) The space station is to be powered by a solar mirror. Even that benign mirror has sinister possibilities. While demonstrating the mirror, the scientists use it to burn a model of a city. "This could happen...if we're not the first to reach space," says the Director. Space is the next "high ground" to be contested. At the end of the movie, when discussing the launch (despite the sabotage attempt) of the prototype space station, the Director says, "Through it's eye, we'll be able to see everything that goes on upon this tired old earth." The Defense Secretary says, "Nothing will take us by surprise again." An obvious reference to Pearl Harbor.
B-films often re-used props and sets from prior films in order to save on their budgets. Gog, even though shot in Eastman Color, was no exception. Two old prop friends show up in Gog. One is our venerable old friend, the space suits from Destination Moon ('50). Look for the centrifuge scene. The research assistants are dressed in them, and as an added bonus, they wear the all-acrylic fish bowl helmets used in Abbot and Costello Go to Mars ('53). Our second old friend is scene in the radar / security room, (the one with the annoying tuning fork device). Check out the monitor wall. It's been gussied up a bit, but it is the spaceship control panel wall from Catwomen of the Moon and Project Moon Base -- complete with the empty 16mm film reels on the right side. It's fun to see old friends.
B-films often include stock footage of military units, tanks, jets, battleships, etc. to fill things out. Gog is no different, and even commits the common continuity error of showing one type of plane taking off, but a different kind in the air.
What amounts to a small treat amid the usual stock footage of jets, some shots of a rather obscure bit of USAF hardware -- the F-94C Starfire with its straight wings and huge wing tanks. In 1954, the Starfire was one of America's coolest combat jets, yet we hear little about it. The swept-wing F-86 Sabers (which we see taxiing and taking off) were the agile fighter which gained fame over Korea. They're common stock footage stars. The F-94, with its onboard radar (in the nose cone) was deemed too advanced to risk falling into enemy hands. So, it didn't see much action , and therefore little fame. The heavier, yet powerful F-94C (one of the first US jets to have an afterburner) was 1954 America's hottest Interceptor -- designed to stop high flying Soviet bombers. It's blatant cameo appearance in Gog, intercepting the high-flying mystery plane, was a fun little bit of patriotic showing off.
The very name of the movie, Gog, is charged with meaning to American audiences of the mid 50s, though virtually lost on viewers of the 21st century. The names of the two robots, Gog and Magog, come from the Bible. More specifically, from the prophecies of Ezekiel (Chapter 38) and the Book of Revelation (chapter 20). While just who they are (nations? kings?) has been debated for centuries, their role as tools of Satan in the battle of Armageddon is clear. Mainstream American patriotic Christendom had settled on the idea that the Soviet Union was the prophesied "nations from the north" who would join Satan to oppose God. This gives the title of the movie a special Cold War significance. It also puts an interesting spin on the Dr. Zeitman character for having named the two robots in the first place. Since they were tools of the mega-computer NOVAC, what was he saying about NOVAC?
It is interesting that the base's radar could not detect the mystery plane (which was beaming in the 'kill' instructions to NOVAC) because it was made of "fiberglass" which rendered it invisible to radar. Now, fiberglass itself isn't sturdy enough for high-speed jets, and it would take until the 1990s before composite materials advanced to make the dream of a stealth aircraft a reality. Nonetheless, the dream (or nightmare) of stealth aircraft was on-screen in 1954 in Gog.
The super computer, NOVAC, controlled everything on the base. Even though the machines were not really killing scientists on their own, but following human orders from the mystery plane, there was the on-screen depiction of machines having a murderous mind of their own. (all pre-Steven King) In the techno starry-eyed 50s, it was fairly uncommon for the technology itself to be turning on its masters. This idea would gain traction later in the 50s, and especially in the 60s, but in '54, it was unusual.
A cautionary subtext to Gog is the danger of trusting in a supercomputer to manage defenses and a whole base. NOVAC doesn't go bad on its own, as the computer will in The Invisible Boy, Hal in 2001 or Colossus in The Forbin Project. In this movie, it was the nefarious "others" who hacked into NOVAC to make it do the killing, but this just demonstrates the danger. People were getting a little nervous about letting machines take over too much responsibility. We were starting to distrust our creations.
Until Gog, robots were fairly humanoid.
They had two legs, two arms, a torso and a head. Audiences had seen the mechanical Maria in Metropolis ('27), the fedora-wearing metal men in Gene Autrey's Phantom Empire serial ('35). The water-heater-like Republic robot appeared in several rocketman serials. There was the gleaming giant Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51) and the cute left over fedora-dudes in Captain Video ('51). The metal giant in Devil Girl from Mars ('54) was also humaniod, in a chunky way. Gog and Magog were a departure from the stereotype. They were noticeably in-human, which was part of the mood.
Bottom line? Gog seems a bit bland, as far as sci-fi tends to go, but it has a lot in it for fans of 50s sci-fi.
Starring Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt, Nancy Walters, Troy Donahue, and Whit Bissell. Directed by Jack Arnold.
This was Jack Arnold's last horror film for Universal, and the director pulled out all the tricks of his trade for this foray into the teenage drive-in monster genre. Joanna Moore and Arthur Franz star, and Troy Donahue makes an early screen appearance, in this campy campus creature feature.
Universal's B unit produced another sci-fi/horror hybrid in late 1958. It comes as an interesting coincidence, being released around the time of Hideous Sun Demon. Evolution must have been a hot topic then. Both movies feature a Jekyll & Hyde theme with "regressive evolution" as the science part of their fictions. Directed by Jack Arnold (of Black Lagoon fame), Monster on Campus (MoC) has above-average production values for the B market. The acting is pretty solid, with a couple exceptions, and the props are also above-average for what the B market was becoming accustomed to. The overall effect is an entertaining, if somewhat predictable tale.
Plot Synopsis
A university professor receives a ceolacanth (a "prehistoric" fish still found off South Africa). A dog who licks up the melt water from the fish's ice, goes savage. His fangs grow. The professor, Donald, cuts his hand on the fish's teeth and gets more melt water in the cut. He feels woozy, so a nurse drives him home. She is found dead (of fright) and Donald's house ransacked. He remembers nothing. The police suspect him, but fingerprints at the scene are not his. Later, a dragonfly is eating (or drinking) off the fish body. It later returns 2 feet across. Donald kills it, but its blood drips in his pipe. He smokes it, and gets woozie again. He becomes an ape-man. In this state, he kills a policeman assigned to guard him. Donald is sure that the ceolacanth's blood causes reverse evolution. Dog to wolf, dragonfly to a Meganeura, and a man back into an ape-like cave man. Donald's bosses think he's becoming unglued with his talk of giant bugs and ape men, so he's sent up to a mountain cabin for rest. In the cabin, Donald decides to inject himself with ceolacanth plasma, tape record the results and had set up cameras to capture it on film. He does this, but his girlfriend, Madeline, is driving up to see him. She encounters the ape-man on the road, swerves and crashes. Ape-man carries her off. When she screams, a forest ranger investigates. Ape-man kills him with a hatchet. The police arrive too, but Donald has returned to normal. After learning of the killings, Donald decides there is just one thing to do. He says he'll take them all to see the ape-man. He injects himself. When he returns down the hill as the ape-man, the police shoot and kill him. In death, he reverts back to Donald. The End.
The production values are good enough to keep a viewer focused on the story. As yet another evolution-based modernization of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it has some interest. Jack Arnold does a good job keeping the visuals interesting and the pace moving. The musical score uses many familiar themes and tones. One can almost hear the Creature's theme woven in there. It was also fun to see the old familiar trope of the "monster" carrying off the pretty girl in his arms.
There's no Cold War here. There is only a minor element of atomic cautionary tale in that gamma radiation altered the ceolacanth's blood to make it the monster-maker. Radiation makes monsters. Everyone knows that.
Several of the actors and others in MoC are familiar 50s sci-fi names. Jack Arnold directed Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54) and Tarantula ('55). Writer David Duncan wrote for Monster That Challenged the World ('57) and Black Scorpion ('57). Arthur Franz, who plays Donald, also starred in Invaders from Mars ('53) and The Flame Barrier ('57). Whit Bissel plays the skeptical Dr. Cole. He also played in Creature From the Black Lagoon and Target Earth ('54).
Another Jekyll & Hyde -- Like Hideous Sun Demon, MoC reuses the good-doctor and evil-beast device. As in HSD, the transformation was accidental, not deliberate as in Jekyll's case. MoC does return to the chemical agent, and returns to the ape-like imagery of the evil-beast. Common to them all is the good-doctor not remembering what he did while the evil-beast. All three had the faithful girlfriend. He original and HSD had the "other" woman (Ivy and Trudy), but MoC had only a rather chaste echo of that in Molly Riordan. MoC returned to the moral of the original, that every modern man carries his beast within.
The populist form of the theory of evolution is the unmistakable foundation of MoC. The genetic connection to the past was more scientifically clean than the embryology basis used in Hideous Sun Demon. The notion that chromosomes were additive over time was quite a leap, however. The ceolacanth was symbolic of evolution halted. Hence, it's blood (with some gamma ray help) had the power to neutralize those modern added layers. Hence the savage ape man, wolf-dog and giant dragonfly.
Shown in the first couple minutes of the movie, Professor Blake's collection of anthropoid face sculptures is a classic linear progression. A quick-eyed viewer might spot Piltdown Man in the line. This "early human ancestor" was finally confirmed as a hoax in 1953, fabricated from a modern human skull fragment and an orangutan jaw. Scientists might drop bogus facts quickly, but the public tends to hang onto them -- especially if they fit the mental model.
Near the end, Donald gives a little monologue on mankind. "It's the savage in man which science must meet and defeat if humanity is to survive." This was a rather Neitzschian view, that mankind was evolving into a better being, leaving behind his brutal self. Note, too, the science-as-savior angle. Mankind's savage nature (evil) was something chemical which science could cure.
Bottom line? MoC is a notch above the typical B-movie fare of the late 50s. It's production quality is enjoyable. The recast of Jekyll and Hyde is entertaining too. A triple feature of the 1931 Jekyll & Hyde movie, the Hideous Sun Demon and MoC, would be fun.
synopsis - second opinion.
In this sci-fi film, a college professor must deal with the cataclysmic consequences that ensue when a transmogrifying dragonfly bites a prehistoric fish from Madagascar. Soon after the bite, the strange fish becomes gigantic and begins passing on its new ability to morph all it comes in contact with back into their primal forms. When it bites a dog, the dog becomes a wolf. When some fish slime ends up in the professor's pipe, the professor put it to his lips, and he turns into a rampaging Neanderthal with a very large stone-axe that he freely wields around the terrified college campus. Bloody mayhem ensues.
review
Any Jack Arnold movie from the 1950s is worth seeing, but Monster On The Campus is clearly in the bottom half of his output, despite some suspenseful scenes and clever moments. Arthur Franz brings a dour sincerity to his portrayal of Dr. Donald Blake, the researcher who falls victim to contamination from an ancient fossil that causes him (or any other living thing) that comes in contact with it to revert to a pre-historic state. The movie also provides a vehicle for established veteran players such as Helen Westcott and Alexander Lockwood, and newcomer Troy Donahue, which makes it a strange mix on that level; and the presence of ubiquitous horror/sci-fi player Whit Bissell gives the movie resonance with modern cultists (William Schallert must have been busy elsewhere during the three weeks this movie was in production . . .). But Monster On The Campus, just by virtue of its title, has a certain built-in campiness that expresses itself overtly in a few scenes that, undoubtedly, elicited howls, hoots, and mocking gasps from drive-in audiences at the time. In all, it's not as atmospheric -- except in a few stylistically claustrophobic scenes -- or persuasive as Arnold's best work, and even lacks the underlying sincerity that helped drive works such as The Space Children. It's a fun thrill ride within its modest budgetary and production dimensions, but not much more.
College student JIMMY heads to campus with his dog, while in a classroom MADELEINE, the daughter of the UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT, gets a plaster cast made of her face by fiance DR. DONALD BLAKE. They are interrupted as Jimmy shows up with a special delivery - an ancient fish called a coelacanth that Donald has ordered from Madagascar. Donald notes that the coelacanth has a special ability to "resist evolution." The dog drinks some of the coelacanth blood - and soon goes crazy, attacking Madeleine. Jimmy and Donald subdue the dog and stick it in a cage.
Donald takes a sample of the dog's saliva for a rabies test, and notes that the dog has huge teeth. It seems to be an evolutionary throwback to a prehistoric wolf. The UNIVERSITY DOCTOR's assistant MOLLY shows up to get the saliva sample. Donald cuts himself on the coelacanth's teeth as he puts it away, and soon feels woozy. Molly puts him in her car and takes him home. Donald passes out in the car. Molly goes inside to call the Doctor - and a CREATURE comes in and attacks her!
Madeleine and a SECURITY GUARD look for Donald in the lab. He's not there, but the dog is back to being a friendly pet. Madeleine heads to Donald's house. It has been trashed. She finds Donald passed out in the back yard - and Molly dead! Cops soon arrive. At first they suspect Donald because they find his tie clip in Molly's hand, but he is quickly exonerated when the cops find an enormous handprint on a window. Is there a killer on the loose? The cops also note that Molly didn't die of any wounds - she had a heart attack. She died of fright!
Donald lectures to his students about evolution using the coelacanth as an example. Jimmy shows up to check on the dog, and Donald tries to show him the huge teeth - but they are gone. Donald wonders if he is imagining things. Cop STEVENS is sure that someone is personally after Donald, but Donald has no enemies. Stevens gives Donald bodyguard EDDIE.
Donald and Eddie note a small dragonfly land on the coelacanth. Donald also sees "crystallized bacteria" on a slide. He quickly shows the slide to the Doctor, but the bacteria seem totally normal. Did Donald imagine something again? Meanwhile, Jimmy and his girlfriend SYLVIA hear a strange, loud buzzing sound as they hide under some trees to make out. There is a moment of a fake scare, but it turns out to be another couple making out. Jimmy and Sylvia go to the science building - and here they and Donald all see a huge GIANT DRAGONFLY outside the window. Jimmy and Donald trap the giant dragonfly, which Donald recognizes as a prehistoric species.
Donald studies the giant dragonfly. As he does so, blood falls into his pipe, which he then smokes. As the dragonfly shrinks back to its original state, Donald transforms into a PREHUMAN ANTHROPOID! The "anthropoid" smashes up the lab and kills Eddie. The cops come, but find only dead Eddie, a huge footprint, and Donald passed out. Donald recognizes the footprint as coming from a prehistoric subhuman, but Stevens thinks it must have been faked to frame Donald.
Donald investigates, does experiments, and calls a PROFESSOR in Madagascar who investigates how the fish was preserved. Donald finds that the fish was preserved using gamma ray radiation! Donald cancels lots of classes to continue his studies, and Madeleine and her father are afraid he is cracking up. The President comes to Donald to ask him to take a leave of absence. Donald explains what he has learned - the coelacanth blood, treated with radiation, is transforming creatures into evolutionary throwbacks for short periods of time. Just as he explains this, Donald realizes that he was probably the person who transformed into the monster.
Donald heads up to the University President's cabin, where he prepares to experiment on himself. He plans to inject the coelacanth blood into himself and capture the transformation with cameras he has rigged around the room. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Sylvia tell Madeleine about the giant dragonfly. Donald isn't crazy after all! Madeleine heads up to the cabin to see Donald.
Donald injects himself with the coelacanth blood as Madeleine drives. He transforms into the anthropoid, trashes the cabin, and runs out into the road. Madeleine sees the anthropoid, screams, and crashes her car. A FOREST RANGER races to the scene and sees the anthropoid standing over her. He calls the cops and grabs his gun. The anthropoid carries Madeleine away. The cops trail them, and the ranger shoots the anthropoid in the arm. Madeleine wakes up and runs, the creature pursues and knocks her out again, and then kills the ranger. Madeleine recovers and makes it back to the cabin as the anthropoid transforms back into Donald. The cops meet them here. Donald develops the film from the cameras and sees a shot of the creature. He knows now that "the beast within" himself is the killer. He takes the cops outside, claiming to know where the anthropoid is hiding. As the Doctor looks on, he injects himself with the coelacanth blood one last time, telling the doctor to "watch closely and see evolution in reverse." He transforms into the anthropoid, and the cops shoot him before the Doctor can stop them. The Doctor and the cops watch in amazement as the dead anthropoid turns back into mild-mannered Donald.
Starring Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt, Nancy Walters, Troy Donahue, and Whit Bissell. Directed by Jack Arnold.
This was Jack Arnold's last horror film for Universal, and the director pulled out all the tricks of his trade for this foray into the teenage drive-in monster genre. Joanna Moore and Arthur Franz star, and Troy Donahue makes an early screen appearance, in this campy campus creature feature.
Universal's B unit produced another sci-fi/horror hybrid in late 1958. It comes as an interesting coincidence, being released around the time of Hideous Sun Demon. Evolution must have been a hot topic then. Both movies feature a Jekyll & Hyde theme with "regressive evolution" as the science part of their fictions. Directed by Jack Arnold (of Black Lagoon fame), Monster on Campus (MoC) has above-average production values for the B market. The acting is pretty solid, with a couple exceptions, and the props are also above-average for what the B market was becoming accustomed to. The overall effect is an entertaining, if somewhat predictable tale.
Plot Synopsis
A university professor receives a ceolacanth (a "prehistoric" fish still found off South Africa). A dog who licks up the melt water from the fish's ice, goes savage. His fangs grow. The professor, Donald, cuts his hand on the fish's teeth and gets more melt water in the cut. He feels woozy, so a nurse drives him home. She is found dead (of fright) and Donald's house ransacked. He remembers nothing. The police suspect him, but fingerprints at the scene are not his. Later, a dragonfly is eating (or drinking) off the fish body. It later returns 2 feet across. Donald kills it, but its blood drips in his pipe. He smokes it, and gets woozie again. He becomes an ape-man. In this state, he kills a policeman assigned to guard him. Donald is sure that the ceolacanth's blood causes reverse evolution. Dog to wolf, dragonfly to a Meganeura, and a man back into an ape-like cave man. Donald's bosses think he's becoming unglued with his talk of giant bugs and ape men, so he's sent up to a mountain cabin for rest. In the cabin, Donald decides to inject himself with ceolacanth plasma, tape record the results and had set up cameras to capture it on film. He does this, but his girlfriend, Madeline, is driving up to see him. She encounters the ape-man on the road, swerves and crashes. Ape-man carries her off. When she screams, a forest ranger investigates. Ape-man kills him with a hatchet. The police arrive too, but Donald has returned to normal. After learning of the killings, Donald decides there is just one thing to do. He says he'll take them all to see the ape-man. He injects himself. When he returns down the hill as the ape-man, the police shoot and kill him. In death, he reverts back to Donald. The End.
The production values are good enough to keep a viewer focused on the story. As yet another evolution-based modernization of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it has some interest. Jack Arnold does a good job keeping the visuals interesting and the pace moving. The musical score uses many familiar themes and tones. One can almost hear the Creature's theme woven in there. It was also fun to see the old familiar trope of the "monster" carrying off the pretty girl in his arms.
There's no Cold War here. There is only a minor element of atomic cautionary tale in that gamma radiation altered the ceolacanth's blood to make it the monster-maker. Radiation makes monsters. Everyone knows that.
Several of the actors and others in MoC are familiar 50s sci-fi names. Jack Arnold directed Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54) and Tarantula ('55). Writer David Duncan wrote for Monster That Challenged the World ('57) and Black Scorpion ('57). Arthur Franz, who plays Donald, also starred in Invaders from Mars ('53) and The Flame Barrier ('57). Whit Bissel plays the skeptical Dr. Cole. He also played in Creature From the Black Lagoon and Target Earth ('54).
Another Jekyll & Hyde -- Like Hideous Sun Demon, MoC reuses the good-doctor and evil-beast device. As in HSD, the transformation was accidental, not deliberate as in Jekyll's case. MoC does return to the chemical agent, and returns to the ape-like imagery of the evil-beast. Common to them all is the good-doctor not remembering what he did while the evil-beast. All three had the faithful girlfriend. He original and HSD had the "other" woman (Ivy and Trudy), but MoC had only a rather chaste echo of that in Molly Riordan. MoC returned to the moral of the original, that every modern man carries his beast within.
The populist form of the theory of evolution is the unmistakable foundation of MoC. The genetic connection to the past was more scientifically clean than the embryology basis used in Hideous Sun Demon. The notion that chromosomes were additive over time was quite a leap, however. The ceolacanth was symbolic of evolution halted. Hence, it's blood (with some gamma ray help) had the power to neutralize those modern added layers. Hence the savage ape man, wolf-dog and giant dragonfly.
Shown in the first couple minutes of the movie, Professor Blake's collection of anthropoid face sculptures is a classic linear progression. A quick-eyed viewer might spot Piltdown Man in the line. This "early human ancestor" was finally confirmed as a hoax in 1953, fabricated from a modern human skull fragment and an orangutan jaw. Scientists might drop bogus facts quickly, but the public tends to hang onto them -- especially if they fit the mental model.
Near the end, Donald gives a little monologue on mankind. "It's the savage in man which science must meet and defeat if humanity is to survive." This was a rather Neitzschian view, that mankind was evolving into a better being, leaving behind his brutal self. Note, too, the science-as-savior angle. Mankind's savage nature (evil) was something chemical which science could cure.
Bottom line? MoC is a notch above the typical B-movie fare of the late 50s. It's production quality is enjoyable. The recast of Jekyll and Hyde is entertaining too. A triple feature of the 1931 Jekyll & Hyde movie, the Hideous Sun Demon and MoC, would be fun.
synopsis - second opinion.
In this sci-fi film, a college professor must deal with the cataclysmic consequences that ensue when a transmogrifying dragonfly bites a prehistoric fish from Madagascar. Soon after the bite, the strange fish becomes gigantic and begins passing on its new ability to morph all it comes in contact with back into their primal forms. When it bites a dog, the dog becomes a wolf. When some fish slime ends up in the professor's pipe, the professor put it to his lips, and he turns into a rampaging Neanderthal with a very large stone-axe that he freely wields around the terrified college campus. Bloody mayhem ensues.
review
Any Jack Arnold movie from the 1950s is worth seeing, but Monster On The Campus is clearly in the bottom half of his output, despite some suspenseful scenes and clever moments. Arthur Franz brings a dour sincerity to his portrayal of Dr. Donald Blake, the researcher who falls victim to contamination from an ancient fossil that causes him (or any other living thing) that comes in contact with it to revert to a pre-historic state. The movie also provides a vehicle for established veteran players such as Helen Westcott and Alexander Lockwood, and newcomer Troy Donahue, which makes it a strange mix on that level; and the presence of ubiquitous horror/sci-fi player Whit Bissell gives the movie resonance with modern cultists (William Schallert must have been busy elsewhere during the three weeks this movie was in production . . .). But Monster On The Campus, just by virtue of its title, has a certain built-in campiness that expresses itself overtly in a few scenes that, undoubtedly, elicited howls, hoots, and mocking gasps from drive-in audiences at the time. In all, it's not as atmospheric -- except in a few stylistically claustrophobic scenes -- or persuasive as Arnold's best work, and even lacks the underlying sincerity that helped drive works such as The Space Children. It's a fun thrill ride within its modest budgetary and production dimensions, but not much more.
College student JIMMY heads to campus with his dog, while in a classroom MADELEINE, the daughter of the UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT, gets a plaster cast made of her face by fiance DR. DONALD BLAKE. They are interrupted as Jimmy shows up with a special delivery - an ancient fish called a coelacanth that Donald has ordered from Madagascar. Donald notes that the coelacanth has a special ability to "resist evolution." The dog drinks some of the coelacanth blood - and soon goes crazy, attacking Madeleine. Jimmy and Donald subdue the dog and stick it in a cage.
Donald takes a sample of the dog's saliva for a rabies test, and notes that the dog has huge teeth. It seems to be an evolutionary throwback to a prehistoric wolf. The UNIVERSITY DOCTOR's assistant MOLLY shows up to get the saliva sample. Donald cuts himself on the coelacanth's teeth as he puts it away, and soon feels woozy. Molly puts him in her car and takes him home. Donald passes out in the car. Molly goes inside to call the Doctor - and a CREATURE comes in and attacks her!
Madeleine and a SECURITY GUARD look for Donald in the lab. He's not there, but the dog is back to being a friendly pet. Madeleine heads to Donald's house. It has been trashed. She finds Donald passed out in the back yard - and Molly dead! Cops soon arrive. At first they suspect Donald because they find his tie clip in Molly's hand, but he is quickly exonerated when the cops find an enormous handprint on a window. Is there a killer on the loose? The cops also note that Molly didn't die of any wounds - she had a heart attack. She died of fright!
Donald lectures to his students about evolution using the coelacanth as an example. Jimmy shows up to check on the dog, and Donald tries to show him the huge teeth - but they are gone. Donald wonders if he is imagining things. Cop STEVENS is sure that someone is personally after Donald, but Donald has no enemies. Stevens gives Donald bodyguard EDDIE.
Donald and Eddie note a small dragonfly land on the coelacanth. Donald also sees "crystallized bacteria" on a slide. He quickly shows the slide to the Doctor, but the bacteria seem totally normal. Did Donald imagine something again? Meanwhile, Jimmy and his girlfriend SYLVIA hear a strange, loud buzzing sound as they hide under some trees to make out. There is a moment of a fake scare, but it turns out to be another couple making out. Jimmy and Sylvia go to the science building - and here they and Donald all see a huge GIANT DRAGONFLY outside the window. Jimmy and Donald trap the giant dragonfly, which Donald recognizes as a prehistoric species.
Donald studies the giant dragonfly. As he does so, blood falls into his pipe, which he then smokes. As the dragonfly shrinks back to its original state, Donald transforms into a PREHUMAN ANTHROPOID! The "anthropoid" smashes up the lab and kills Eddie. The cops come, but find only dead Eddie, a huge footprint, and Donald passed out. Donald recognizes the footprint as coming from a prehistoric subhuman, but Stevens thinks it must have been faked to frame Donald.
Donald investigates, does experiments, and calls a PROFESSOR in Madagascar who investigates how the fish was preserved. Donald finds that the fish was preserved using gamma ray radiation! Donald cancels lots of classes to continue his studies, and Madeleine and her father are afraid he is cracking up. The President comes to Donald to ask him to take a leave of absence. Donald explains what he has learned - the coelacanth blood, treated with radiation, is transforming creatures into evolutionary throwbacks for short periods of time. Just as he explains this, Donald realizes that he was probably the person who transformed into the monster.
Donald heads up to the University President's cabin, where he prepares to experiment on himself. He plans to inject the coelacanth blood into himself and capture the transformation with cameras he has rigged around the room. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Sylvia tell Madeleine about the giant dragonfly. Donald isn't crazy after all! Madeleine heads up to the cabin to see Donald.
Donald injects himself with the coelacanth blood as Madeleine drives. He transforms into the anthropoid, trashes the cabin, and runs out into the road. Madeleine sees the anthropoid, screams, and crashes her car. A FOREST RANGER races to the scene and sees the anthropoid standing over her. He calls the cops and grabs his gun. The anthropoid carries Madeleine away. The cops trail them, and the ranger shoots the anthropoid in the arm. Madeleine wakes up and runs, the creature pursues and knocks her out again, and then kills the ranger. Madeleine recovers and makes it back to the cabin as the anthropoid transforms back into Donald. The cops meet them here. Donald develops the film from the cameras and sees a shot of the creature. He knows now that "the beast within" himself is the killer. He takes the cops outside, claiming to know where the anthropoid is hiding. As the Doctor looks on, he injects himself with the coelacanth blood one last time, telling the doctor to "watch closely and see evolution in reverse." He transforms into the anthropoid, and the cops shoot him before the Doctor can stop them. The Doctor and the cops watch in amazement as the dead anthropoid turns back into mild-mannered Donald.
Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, and William Schallert. Directed by Herbert L. Strock.
When two scientists at a top-secret government installation devoted to space research are killed -- in their own test chamber, seemingly by an experiment gone awry -- Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) is sent out from Washington to investigate. Sheppard mixes easily enough with the somewhat eccentric team of scientists, though he always seems in danger of being distracted by the presence of Joanne Merritt (Constance Dowling), who serves as the aide to the project director Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall) but is, in reality, another security agent. Sheppard is as puzzled as anyone else by the seemingly inexplicable series of events overtaking the installation -- properly operating equipment suddenly undergoing lethal malfunctions, and the radar tracking aircraft that aren't there -- until he puts it together with the operations of NOVAC (Nuclear Operated Variable Automatic Computer), the central brain of the complex. But the mystery deepens when he discovers that NOVAC was shut down during one of the "accidents" -- and even the computer's operators can't account fully for the whereabouts of GOG and MAGOG, the two robots under the computer's control.
"...and then without warning, the machine became a frankenstein of steel," says the sensationalist poster text. This is the third story in Ivan Tors' OSI trilogy. His first "Office of Scientific Investigation" story was Magnetic Monster in early 1953. The second was Riders to the Stars in early '54. With Gog the loose trilogy is complete. Unlike the Star Wars trilogy in which the stories build upon each other, each of the three OSI stories are separate tales which have nothing to do with each other. The common thread is the idea of there being a sort of Science FBI agency whose job it is, is to check out the scientifically strange. In that regard, Tors' OSI is a bit like a foreshadowing of the X-Files TV series, but without any of the New Age paranormal focus.
In keeping with the previous two stories, Gog is more of a detective murder mystery movie. Tors was a huge fan of "hard" science, not fanciful fiction fluff, so Gog, like the other two movies, is chock full of reveling in sciencey stuff in an almost geeky way. This reverence for real science keeps things from getting out on shaky limb, as many sci-fi films to. The events are much more plausible, less fantastic.
Synopsis
At a secret underground research facility, far out in the desert, scientists working on preparations for a manned space mission, are getting murdered mysteriously. Two agents from the OSI are dispatched to solve the mystery and keep the super secret space station program on track. The scientists are killed in various ways, mostly through equipment malfunctions. The facility director and the agents suspect sabotage. Small transmitter/receiver boxes are found within equipment in different parts of the facility. They suggest that someone on the outside is transmitting in the "malfunctions" in order to kill off the program's scientists. Occasional alarms indicate some flying high intruder, but nothing is clearly found. One of the base's two robots, named Gog, kills another technician while it's mate, Magog, tries to set up an overload within the base's atomic pile. The OSI agents stop Magog with a flame thrower. Meanwhile, interceptor jets scramble and find the highflying spy jet and destroy it with missiles. Once the trouble is past, the Director announces that they will be launching their prototype space station the next day, despite the sabotage attempts to stop it. The End.
The time spent reveling in techno-geekery has a certain Popular Science charm to it. There's an evident gee-whiz air about space and defense sciences which is fun to see. People were fascinated with things rockety and atomic. For various fun bits, see the Notes section.
Gog oozes Cold War from every frame. First is the base's underground location to make them safe from A-bombs. Next is the mysterious killer trying to stop the space station program. The high-flying mystery plane is "not one of ours." (that leaves: Them, and we all knew who they were.) The space station is to be powered by a solar mirror. Even that benign mirror has sinister possibilities. While demonstrating the mirror, the scientists use it to burn a model of a city. "This could happen...if we're not the first to reach space," says the Director. Space is the next "high ground" to be contested. At the end of the movie, when discussing the launch (despite the sabotage attempt) of the prototype space station, the Director says, "Through it's eye, we'll be able to see everything that goes on upon this tired old earth." The Defense Secretary says, "Nothing will take us by surprise again." An obvious reference to Pearl Harbor.
B-films often re-used props and sets from prior films in order to save on their budgets. Gog, even though shot in Eastman Color, was no exception. Two old prop friends show up in Gog. One is our venerable old friend, the space suits from Destination Moon ('50). Look for the centrifuge scene. The research assistants are dressed in them, and as an added bonus, they wear the all-acrylic fish bowl helmets used in Abbot and Costello Go to Mars ('53). Our second old friend is scene in the radar / security room, (the one with the annoying tuning fork device). Check out the monitor wall. It's been gussied up a bit, but it is the spaceship control panel wall from Catwomen of the Moon and Project Moon Base -- complete with the empty 16mm film reels on the right side. It's fun to see old friends.
B-films often include stock footage of military units, tanks, jets, battleships, etc. to fill things out. Gog is no different, and even commits the common continuity error of showing one type of plane taking off, but a different kind in the air.
What amounts to a small treat amid the usual stock footage of jets, some shots of a rather obscure bit of USAF hardware -- the F-94C Starfire with its straight wings and huge wing tanks. In 1954, the Starfire was one of America's coolest combat jets, yet we hear little about it. The swept-wing F-86 Sabers (which we see taxiing and taking off) were the agile fighter which gained fame over Korea. They're common stock footage stars. The F-94, with its onboard radar (in the nose cone) was deemed too advanced to risk falling into enemy hands. So, it didn't see much action , and therefore little fame. The heavier, yet powerful F-94C (one of the first US jets to have an afterburner) was 1954 America's hottest Interceptor -- designed to stop high flying Soviet bombers. It's blatant cameo appearance in Gog, intercepting the high-flying mystery plane, was a fun little bit of patriotic showing off.
The very name of the movie, Gog, is charged with meaning to American audiences of the mid 50s, though virtually lost on viewers of the 21st century. The names of the two robots, Gog and Magog, come from the Bible. More specifically, from the prophecies of Ezekiel (Chapter 38) and the Book of Revelation (chapter 20). While just who they are (nations? kings?) has been debated for centuries, their role as tools of Satan in the battle of Armageddon is clear. Mainstream American patriotic Christendom had settled on the idea that the Soviet Union was the prophesied "nations from the north" who would join Satan to oppose God. This gives the title of the movie a special Cold War significance. It also puts an interesting spin on the Dr. Zeitman character for having named the two robots in the first place. Since they were tools of the mega-computer NOVAC, what was he saying about NOVAC?
It is interesting that the base's radar could not detect the mystery plane (which was beaming in the 'kill' instructions to NOVAC) because it was made of "fiberglass" which rendered it invisible to radar. Now, fiberglass itself isn't sturdy enough for high-speed jets, and it would take until the 1990s before composite materials advanced to make the dream of a stealth aircraft a reality. Nonetheless, the dream (or nightmare) of stealth aircraft was on-screen in 1954 in Gog.
The super computer, NOVAC, controlled everything on the base. Even though the machines were not really killing scientists on their own, but following human orders from the mystery plane, there was the on-screen depiction of machines having a murderous mind of their own. (all pre-Steven King) In the techno starry-eyed 50s, it was fairly uncommon for the technology itself to be turning on its masters. This idea would gain traction later in the 50s, and especially in the 60s, but in '54, it was unusual.
A cautionary subtext to Gog is the danger of trusting in a supercomputer to manage defenses and a whole base. NOVAC doesn't go bad on its own, as the computer will in The Invisible Boy, Hal in 2001 or Colossus in The Forbin Project. In this movie, it was the nefarious "others" who hacked into NOVAC to make it do the killing, but this just demonstrates the danger. People were getting a little nervous about letting machines take over too much responsibility. We were starting to distrust our creations.
Until Gog, robots were fairly humanoid.
They had two legs, two arms, a torso and a head. Audiences had seen the mechanical Maria in Metropolis ('27), the fedora-wearing metal men in Gene Autrey's Phantom Empire serial ('35). The water-heater-like Republic robot appeared in several rocketman serials. There was the gleaming giant Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51) and the cute left over fedora-dudes in Captain Video ('51). The metal giant in Devil Girl from Mars ('54) was also humaniod, in a chunky way. Gog and Magog were a departure from the stereotype. They were noticeably in-human, which was part of the mood.
Bottom line? Gog seems a bit bland, as far as sci-fi tends to go, but it has a lot in it for fans of 50s sci-fi.
1. Hues of blues, 2. Glendalough village .., 3. A Light Bright Twirly Delight ., 4. Cloud z500, 5. Horse and carraige and cobblestones.., 6. Untitled, 7. The non conformist .., 8. Beautifull Spring is here,,
9. Not the way we usually ride our bike haha, 10. Water quiffs and windmills, 11. Charming Paris stroll along the river, 12. Red is the rose,, 13. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder., 14. On the edge, 15. flickr.com/photos/42419413@N02/8161880385/, 16. Nature gave me ribbons and bows .,
17. Dappled, 18. Flames, 19. Chilly coral, 20. Wicklow harbour ., 21. A view across Ireland to the Irish sea., 22. Life is all about balance .. lol, 23. salt, 24. Late autumn glory,
25. Happy St Patricks Day to one and all, 26. Spiral stairs out of control, 27. The fun place, 28. The ghost on the lid., 29. The tube in the cube, 30. Underwater sky, 31. Water water everywhere Wexford, 32. A little slice of the chocolate life,
33. Stop the world im ready to get back on !!!!! haha., 34. The Valley In County Wicklow Ireland., 35. Daisy chains in the sun., 36. Colourful canals Amsterdam.., 37. A journey through space and time., 38. Autumn leaf, 39. Glendalough village .., 40. I can see in the dark.,
41. Daggers of light in the storm, 42. Aim, 43. One little miracle of nature ,, 44. Colours and feathers, 45. The moon, 46. Lucky Strike, 47. Colour me beautiful mother nature, 48. Tall and proud,
49. Coming in to land .., 50. Little pink heather in the snow, 51. Romantic sunset sings to me !!!!!!!, 52. Manky Marbles Abduction to Mars, 53. Complicated, 54. Looking at the light, 55. metal web in latern light, 56. look what the beard got lol,
57. Pink Lady., 58. Irish landscapes Wicklow, 59. Contained circles reflected....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, 60. Roadway to blue moon city., 61. The sky, 62. Just Love., 63. Soaring higher and higher towards the heavens, 64. Lit up one week done .,
65. Colours of nature, 66. Ireland through my Irish eyes, 67. Side view, 68. Reflected windows in the moonlit canal Amsterdam ..., 69. Into the Light., 70. Lines and lights in Dublin., 71. My favourite little home, 72. Goodbye i am Going to seek the sun for the summer,
73. Raindrops are falling on my head lol, 74. Sunny smile touch my heart, 75. Force of nature Ireland
Created with fd's Flickr Toys
One Sheet (27" X 41")
Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, William Schallert. Directed by Herbert L. Strock
Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, and William Schallert. Directed by Herbert L. Strock.
When two scientists at a top-secret government installation devoted to space research are killed -- in their own test chamber, seemingly by an experiment gone awry -- Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) is sent out from Washington to investigate. Sheppard mixes easily enough with the somewhat eccentric team of scientists, though he always seems in danger of being distracted by the presence of Joanne Merritt (Constance Dowling), who serves as the aide to the project director Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall) but is, in reality, another security agent. Sheppard is as puzzled as anyone else by the seemingly inexplicable series of events overtaking the installation -- properly operating equipment suddenly undergoing lethal malfunctions, and the radar tracking aircraft that aren't there -- until he puts it together with the operations of NOVAC (Nuclear Operated Variable Automatic Computer), the central brain of the complex. But the mystery deepens when he discovers that NOVAC was shut down during one of the "accidents" -- and even the computer's operators can't account fully for the whereabouts of GOG and MAGOG, the two robots under the computer's control.
"...and then without warning, the machine became a frankenstein of steel," says the sensationalist poster text. This is the third story in Ivan Tors' OSI trilogy. His first "Office of Scientific Investigation" story was Magnetic Monster in early 1953. The second was Riders to the Stars in early '54. With Gog the loose trilogy is complete. Unlike the Star Wars trilogy in which the stories build upon each other, each of the three OSI stories are separate tales which have nothing to do with each other. The common thread is the idea of there being a sort of Science FBI agency whose job it is, is to check out the scientifically strange. In that regard, Tors' OSI is a bit like a foreshadowing of the X-Files TV series, but without any of the New Age paranormal focus.
In keeping with the previous two stories, Gog is more of a detective murder mystery movie. Tors was a huge fan of "hard" science, not fanciful fiction fluff, so Gog, like the other two movies, is chock full of reveling in sciencey stuff in an almost geeky way. This reverence for real science keeps things from getting out on shaky limb, as many sci-fi films to. The events are much more plausible, less fantastic.
Synopsis
At a secret underground research facility, far out in the desert, scientists working on preparations for a manned space mission, are getting murdered mysteriously. Two agents from the OSI are dispatched to solve the mystery and keep the super secret space station program on track. The scientists are killed in various ways, mostly through equipment malfunctions. The facility director and the agents suspect sabotage. Small transmitter/receiver boxes are found within equipment in different parts of the facility. They suggest that someone on the outside is transmitting in the "malfunctions" in order to kill off the program's scientists. Occasional alarms indicate some flying high intruder, but nothing is clearly found. One of the base's two robots, named Gog, kills another technician while it's mate, Magog, tries to set up an overload within the base's atomic pile. The OSI agents stop Magog with a flame thrower. Meanwhile, interceptor jets scramble and find the highflying spy jet and destroy it with missiles. Once the trouble is past, the Director announces that they will be launching their prototype space station the next day, despite the sabotage attempts to stop it. The End.
The time spent reveling in techno-geekery has a certain Popular Science charm to it. There's an evident gee-whiz air about space and defense sciences which is fun to see. People were fascinated with things rockety and atomic. For various fun bits, see the Notes section.
Gog oozes Cold War from every frame. First is the base's underground location to make them safe from A-bombs. Next is the mysterious killer trying to stop the space station program. The high-flying mystery plane is "not one of ours." (that leaves: Them, and we all knew who they were.) The space station is to be powered by a solar mirror. Even that benign mirror has sinister possibilities. While demonstrating the mirror, the scientists use it to burn a model of a city. "This could happen...if we're not the first to reach space," says the Director. Space is the next "high ground" to be contested. At the end of the movie, when discussing the launch (despite the sabotage attempt) of the prototype space station, the Director says, "Through it's eye, we'll be able to see everything that goes on upon this tired old earth." The Defense Secretary says, "Nothing will take us by surprise again." An obvious reference to Pearl Harbor.
B-films often re-used props and sets from prior films in order to save on their budgets. Gog, even though shot in Eastman Color, was no exception. Two old prop friends show up in Gog. One is our venerable old friend, the space suits from Destination Moon ('50). Look for the centrifuge scene. The research assistants are dressed in them, and as an added bonus, they wear the all-acrylic fish bowl helmets used in Abbot and Costello Go to Mars ('53). Our second old friend is scene in the radar / security room, (the one with the annoying tuning fork device). Check out the monitor wall. It's been gussied up a bit, but it is the spaceship control panel wall from Catwomen of the Moon and Project Moon Base -- complete with the empty 16mm film reels on the right side. It's fun to see old friends.
B-films often include stock footage of military units, tanks, jets, battleships, etc. to fill things out. Gog is no different, and even commits the common continuity error of showing one type of plane taking off, but a different kind in the air.
What amounts to a small treat amid the usual stock footage of jets, some shots of a rather obscure bit of USAF hardware -- the F-94C Starfire with its straight wings and huge wing tanks. In 1954, the Starfire was one of America's coolest combat jets, yet we hear little about it. The swept-wing F-86 Sabers (which we see taxiing and taking off) were the agile fighter which gained fame over Korea. They're common stock footage stars. The F-94, with its onboard radar (in the nose cone) was deemed too advanced to risk falling into enemy hands. So, it didn't see much action , and therefore little fame. The heavier, yet powerful F-94C (one of the first US jets to have an afterburner) was 1954 America's hottest Interceptor -- designed to stop high flying Soviet bombers. It's blatant cameo appearance in Gog, intercepting the high-flying mystery plane, was a fun little bit of patriotic showing off.
The very name of the movie, Gog, is charged with meaning to American audiences of the mid 50s, though virtually lost on viewers of the 21st century. The names of the two robots, Gog and Magog, come from the Bible. More specifically, from the prophecies of Ezekiel (Chapter 38) and the Book of Revelation (chapter 20). While just who they are (nations? kings?) has been debated for centuries, their role as tools of Satan in the battle of Armageddon is clear. Mainstream American patriotic Christendom had settled on the idea that the Soviet Union was the prophesied "nations from the north" who would join Satan to oppose God. This gives the title of the movie a special Cold War significance. It also puts an interesting spin on the Dr. Zeitman character for having named the two robots in the first place. Since they were tools of the mega-computer NOVAC, what was he saying about NOVAC?
It is interesting that the base's radar could not detect the mystery plane (which was beaming in the 'kill' instructions to NOVAC) because it was made of "fiberglass" which rendered it invisible to radar. Now, fiberglass itself isn't sturdy enough for high-speed jets, and it would take until the 1990s before composite materials advanced to make the dream of a stealth aircraft a reality. Nonetheless, the dream (or nightmare) of stealth aircraft was on-screen in 1954 in Gog.
The super computer, NOVAC, controlled everything on the base. Even though the machines were not really killing scientists on their own, but following human orders from the mystery plane, there was the on-screen depiction of machines having a murderous mind of their own. (all pre-Steven King) In the techno starry-eyed 50s, it was fairly uncommon for the technology itself to be turning on its masters. This idea would gain traction later in the 50s, and especially in the 60s, but in '54, it was unusual.
A cautionary subtext to Gog is the danger of trusting in a supercomputer to manage defenses and a whole base. NOVAC doesn't go bad on its own, as the computer will in The Invisible Boy, Hal in 2001 or Colossus in The Forbin Project. In this movie, it was the nefarious "others" who hacked into NOVAC to make it do the killing, but this just demonstrates the danger. People were getting a little nervous about letting machines take over too much responsibility. We were starting to distrust our creations.
Until Gog, robots were fairly humanoid.
They had two legs, two arms, a torso and a head. Audiences had seen the mechanical Maria in Metropolis ('27), the fedora-wearing metal men in Gene Autrey's Phantom Empire serial ('35). The water-heater-like Republic robot appeared in several rocketman serials. There was the gleaming giant Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51) and the cute left over fedora-dudes in Captain Video ('51). The metal giant in Devil Girl from Mars ('54) was also humaniod, in a chunky way. Gog and Magog were a departure from the stereotype. They were noticeably in-human, which was part of the mood.
Bottom line? Gog seems a bit bland, as far as sci-fi tends to go, but it has a lot in it for fans of 50s sci-fi.
Director Jack Arnold masterfully brought Ray Bradbury's science fiction tale to life in this, Universal's very first 3-D feature film. It was the perfect format for roaring avalanches, hovering helicopters, and zooming space ships, magnifying the effect for mesmerized movie goers.On a beautiful evening in Sand Rock, Arizona amateur astronomer John Putnam and his girlfriend Ellen Fields see a fiery ball fall from the sky into the desert. They investigate and John sees a spacecraft of sorts and is convinced something is inside. A rockfall buries the ship before any one else can see it and now no one will believe him. He becomes the butt of local jokes when the newspapers pick up the story and Sheriff Matt Warren thinks he's mad. When two locals, Frank Daylon and his employee George, begin to act strangely John is convinced that they have been taken over by an alien being.
This collaboration between science fiction giant Ray Bradbury and director Jack Arnold remains one of the most intelligent and revered science fiction films of the last century. After a spaceship crashes near a sleepy desert village, the townsfolk begin to act strangely and a local astronomer (Richard Carlson) and his fiancee (Barbara Rush) investigate. This otherworldly one sheet features the classic "giant eye" imagery associated with the film and attempts to depict the "3-D" effect.
It came... (ICFOS) is one of those lesser known 50s sci fi films which really deserves to be better known. On a surface level, ICFOS has good pacing. Director Jack Arnold (who would direct several other big 50s sci fi films) does a good job of keeping up the intrigue and tension. Even when the movie is over, the overall effect is more thoughtful than most B-films. It helps that the screenplay is an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "The Meteor." All this helps ICFOS rise above the average 50s B movie.
ICFOS was filmed for the 3D, which was all the rage in the early 50s, but works perfectly well in 2D. The overall story is step up too, rising above the typical Cold War cautionary tale. Instead, it's an introspective about mankind, both our strengths and weaknesses when facing the unknown. This is rather cerebral stuff for a B-film.
Plot Synopsis
A meteor crashes in the desert night outside of Sand Rock, Arizona. Astronomer John Putnam (played by Richard Carlson) investigates. In the impact crater, he finds sees the hull of a ship with its hatch open. No one believes him, because a landslide covered the hull. Putnam discovers that various town folk have been "taken over" by the aliens. A couple of the possessed folk tell Putnam that they mean no harm. The sheriff eventually believes him when spouses also report odd behaviors. The aliens capture Putnam's fiancee, Ellen, which provokes the sheriff into raising a posse to confront the aliens. Putnam gets to the crash site first and confronts the aliens in the abandoned mine. They say they mean no harm, but crashed on earth by mistake and just want to repair their ship and leave. Putnam convinces the aliens that only by releasing the real townsfolk will the posse by appeased. They do, and it works. The aliens finish repairs to their ship and fly off in a shower of sparks.
Seeing some familiar faces is fun. Richard Carlson starred in Magnetic Monster is great as the stalwart but misunderstood hero. Barbara Rush who starred in When World's Collide plays Ellen very well. She's no mere cheesecake. Russell Johnson, who will feature in many future sci-fi films, plays George, the first person "possessed" by the aliens. All of the actors do a good job.
Arnold introduced a fun first in ICFOS: the alien point of view -- this was made unmistakable by our looking through faintly reflected moist cycloptic eye and oddly Darth Vadar-like breathing sounds. At other times, we whisk along the telephone wires watching the cars of people about to be confronted by the aliens. (apparently, they can 'transmit' themselves) This is a stroke of genius for the story line. It prevents the audience from forming the usual "us versus them" mindset typical of monster movies, such as in The Thing ('51).
Also fun is the strengthening of the alien-possessed-person plot device. We saw it first in The Man from Planet X ('51) in a similar capacity of people helping the alien work on his ship. Those folks weren't really possessed so much as under mind control. In Invaders from Mars('53), people were also taken over to help the aliens. In ICFOS, the possessed are actually duplicates, not the originals under remote control. This pushes the concept into new ground.
Un-human aliens -- The aliens in ICFOS look a little hokey when you get a good look at them, but that's not important.
This is a B-film, after all. What's notable is that the aliens are very different. They're not humanoid. The Man from Planet X was small, but still a humanoid shape. The Thing (1951) was big, but still a biped with a head, arms, torso, etc.. The martian in Invaders from Mars was less humanoid, being a big head with six little tentacles, but it still had a very human face. ICFOS may have the first radically non-humanoid alien life forms. They were big, potato-like creatures with one large eye and wispy frond-like appendages. This was a significant moment in sci-fi movie history. Aliens could be totally weird and not just people dressed up in hoodies with lighting bolt logos on their chests.
The Message -- ICFOS has a definite moral to the story. Mankind is not all that grown up and sophisticated. The alien tells Putnam, ""Let us stay apart, the people of your world and ours. If we come together, there will only be destruction." This is more true for the aliens as at least two of them die. (fake-Frank and fake-Ellen), but interestingly, no humans are actually harmed. Putnam later says to the sheriff for why the aliens don't show themselves. "They don't trust us...because what we don't understand we want to destroy. That's why they hide." Message: mankind isn't mature enough for the stars. Yet the tone isn't too pessimistic. As the crowd watch the ship fly away in a shower of sparks, Putnam says, ""Well, they've gone. "it wasn't the right time for us to meet....they'll be back."
Starring Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, Than Wyenn, Thomas Browne Henry, Richard Benedict, James Seay, John Close, and Don C. Harvey. Directed by Bert I. Gordon.
This is the sort of film that producer/director Bert I. Gordon would become famous (or infamous) for. B.I.G. liked playing with relative size, making his antagonist(s) larger than life. The Beginning of the End (BotE) is an obvious rehash of Them! ('54) with radiation-induced giant bugs, but substituting grasshoppers for ants. Instead of menacing Los Angeles, these giant bugs go for Chicago. BotE is a cheaper copy in many ways, but still found a ready audience in the mid 50s. Some better-than-B actors helped keep BotE from foundering completely. Peter Graves is the male lead. He saved Killers from Space ('53) and It Conquered The World ('56) from total loser-dom. Peggie Castle was the female lead in Invasion USA. Morris Ankrum, veteran B-sci-fi actor, once again plays the stern military man as he had in Rocketship XM ('50), Invaders From Mars ('53) and others yet to come.
Plot Synopsis
People in rural Illinois are starting to disappear. Then a whole town of 150 is wiped out. Audrey (Castle) is a reporter who pushes for the story. Radiation might be the culprit, but no one has any nuclear material. She interviews Ed, an agricultural scientist (Graves), who has been growing giant tomatoes with the help of radiation. The isotopes are safely locked up, however. They travel to the site of a wiped out warehouse which stored tons of wheat. There, a giant grasshopper eats one of the scientists. Ordinary grasshoppers had munched on the giant tomatoes and so grew giant too. Hundreds of them mass in the woods. A National Guard unit's small arms can't stop them. They march towards Chicago, destroying Peoria and a couple others en route. The army's best tanks can't stop them. Panic ensues. Chicago is evacuated. The giant grasshoppers infest the Chicago area, but go semi-dormant during a cool night. Top brass in Washington plan bomb Chicago with an a-bomb to kill them while they're in one place. Ed and Audrey think they can find a sound that will attract the giants. If they could lure them into Lake Michigan, they'd all drown. They capture a live giant and bring it to the lab for tests. None of the sounds affect it. Time is almost out when they do find a frequency that works. Speakers are set up on one of Chicago's towers, to attract all the outlying bugs to downtown. Then a boat in the lake with a speaker will attract them to their doom. The plan works, though with a protracted fighting scene. In the end, they all drown. Chicago is saved. The End.
The giant bug (or other critter) sub-genre was only just getting started. We had ants in Them! and a spider in Tarantula. There will be many more to come, but this was an early one yet. The first half of the film, with it's mystery, is much better than the latter half. The relentless threat to a major city harkens to HG Wells' War of the Worlds. After that, it gets lame, but Graves and Ankrum don't disappoint.
While mostly an atomic radiation cautionary tale, there is the basic story line of a relentless force moving upon an American city. Panic, evacuation, a-bombs. It's all familiar Cold War material.
Popular Science magazines were bright with the prospect of what radiation-mutated crops might do for mankind. This is exactly what Ed was trying to do. As with all good naive scientists, he failed to see the bigger picture. Pests eat crops. Giant crops can create giant pests. The moral behind the film is that messing around with radiation can go horribly wrong.
Peggie Castle plays an obviously tough and independent reporter. She'd covered the destruction in WWII and Korea, written respected books and never once screamed like a girl. (she did scream when Frank was eaten, but it was more shock and a call for help than silly panic). Towards the end of the movie, she has less to do, and does lean in the chest of hero Ed (Graves), but she's on screen as more of an equal than a date.
A teen couple are necking on Lover's Lane. They get eaten. A pretty woman in only a towel is primping in her hotel room (back to the window). She gets eaten. Such scenes suggest to some viewers that Bert was giving subtle messages that being sexual is dangerous -- avoid it! This seems too flat. Instead, you could see the necking couple and the sexy woman as representing a very personal and vulnerable aspect of mankind. Intimate moments feel very vulnerable. Our outward mask of civilization is off. Like the lady in the hotel room, we're dressed in only a towel (not full battle gear). Attacks at those moments enhance the mood of vulnerability. It's not a subtle "don't neck" message (like anyone would ever listen to such a message anyhow).
One of the most memorable "special effects" of BotE is how regular grasshoppers (albeit big ones) are set loose to walk among or climb on photos of Chicago. As cheap as it is, this works pretty well. Note how they had cutouts of a line of busses from the same photo, set in front of the building plane, so grasshoppers could walk between them. Also note one scene where the set-back of the building is cut separately, so the grasshoppers can hang their legs over the parapet. Cheap as they are, these effects work better than the poorly done superimposition (green screen), which gets overused.
If you're a stock footage fan, you'll find a lot to love in BotE. Tanks on the road, Troops, crowds panicking. In fact, if you watch closely, you'll see one scene lifted from The Day The Earth Stood Still ('51).
The General Hanson character says the Air Force is sending a B-52 (then America's new super plane) with an A-bomb. When they show a clip of footage, it's actually a propeller-powered B-36, the old-tech behemoth the B-52 were designed to replace. Perhaps stock footage of the B-52, America's high-tech nuclear bomber, then operational for only a couple years, was not yet available, or deemed too sensitive to inclusion in B-movies.
One of the things that help a big bug movie work, is that the critter is somewhat fearful even when small. Ants are relentless (fire ants, army ants), many people are afraid of spiders, and later movies' scorpions and a mantis -- which are creepy looking, will have their traits magnified. But grasshoppers? They just don't inspire fear. BotE fights an uphill battle in trying to make them fearsome.
BotE makes good use of off-screen events. We are told the town of Ludlow was wiped out. All we see are stock clips of tornado damage. We only read of Peoria's destruction in a telegram. When anyone is 'eaten' by a giant grasshopper, we only see the giant lunge, the victim cower, then cut away. Good for budgets, but also kinder to audiences.
Despite the poster (in which the grasshoppers have curious teeth and fangs), they do not pick up anyone. In fact, they eat everyone quite fairly. One is implied to have eaten the lady in the towel, however, so there is at least a tiny delivery on what the poster promises.
Bottom line? BotE is another in the big bug sub-genre. If you like that sort, you'll likely gloss over the low budget short cuts. As a story, it's pretty conventional and doesn't break any new ground.
By 1957, producer/director Bert I. Gordon had already tackled giant monsters of all sorts with films like KING DINOSAUR and THE CYCLOPS. BEGINNING OF THE END was Mr. BIG's first nod to giant insects (in this case, giant grasshoppers), a subject he would unleash on us again in THE SPIDER (1958) and EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977). The hero of the film is the perfectly cast Peter Graves in his fourth and final 50s sci-fi thriller (the others were RED PLANET MARS, KILLERS FROM SPACE and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD).
Respected female journalist Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle, BACK FROM THE DEAD) drives to Ludlow, Illinois with reports that some 150 residents are missing. She then visits Doctor Ed Wainright (Graves), a young scientist experimenting with vegetables in the hopes that a busty reporter will do a story on him. Visiting the sight of a recent disaster, the doc and the reporter are confronted with humongous noisy locusts, and a silly deaf/mute character is stampeded to death. Meanwhile, the military is brought in (reinforced with ample stock footage), trying to decide how to destroy the buggers without having to set off an atom bomb on Chicago.
This is basically Mr. BIG's imitation of the bigger-budgeted THEM, and the results are a respectable 73 minutes. Sure, using real grasshoppers against rear-projection effects or crawling on a photograph of a building is not terribly convincing, but it still has a certain nostalgic charm to it. Castle does a fine job as the heroine, and Morris Ankrum (who played a general, doctor or cop in nearly every 50s sci-fi flick) and Thomas Browne Henry (BLOOD OF DRACULA, THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) represent the military. And who doesn't like Peter Graves? He was even likable as the Nazi spy in STALAG 17! The memorable music is by none other than Albert Glasser.
Having already received a DVD release through Rhino's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" series, it was a big surprise when Image Entertainment announced this title. But Image's version puts the previous one to shame and makes it obsolete, going back to the original camera negative for the transfer. BEGINNING TO THE END now looks crisp and clean, and the black and white image has intense detail. It's also Anamorphic and wonderfully letterboxed in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio, thankfully covering previous open matte shots of the insects climbing off the peaks of photographed buildings. The audio is also excellent.
Also included is a full running commentary, moderated by producer/director Bruce Kimmel (THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL) that features Bert's ex-wife Flora (who assisted in the special effects) and daughter Susan (who appeared in some of his films, but not this one). The commentary is an OK listen, and although Kimmel is enthusiastic enough, there is a lack of research in the proceedings (Peggy Castle is discussed as if she's still living but she passed away 30 years ago). Not too much is learned from the two ladies (other then the "I" in Gordon's name stands for "Ira" and that only male grasshoppers were used in the film), but they still have a few nice anecdotes to tell. But one has to wonder why the alive and well Bert I. Gordon can't be coaxed into doing one of these things!
Starring Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt, Nancy Walters, Troy Donahue, and Whit Bissell. Directed by Jack Arnold.
This was Jack Arnold's last horror film for Universal, and the director pulled out all the tricks of his trade for this foray into the teenage drive-in monster genre. Joanna Moore and Arthur Franz star, and Troy Donahue makes an early screen appearance, in this campy campus creature feature.
Universal's B unit produced another sci-fi/horror hybrid in late 1958. It comes as an interesting coincidence, being released around the time of Hideous Sun Demon. Evolution must have been a hot topic then. Both movies feature a Jekyll & Hyde theme with "regressive evolution" as the science part of their fictions. Directed by Jack Arnold (of Black Lagoon fame), Monster on Campus (MoC) has above-average production values for the B market. The acting is pretty solid, with a couple exceptions, and the props are also above-average for what the B market was becoming accustomed to. The overall effect is an entertaining, if somewhat predictable tale.
Plot Synopsis
A university professor receives a ceolacanth (a "prehistoric" fish still found off South Africa). A dog who licks up the melt water from the fish's ice, goes savage. His fangs grow. The professor, Donald, cuts his hand on the fish's teeth and gets more melt water in the cut. He feels woozy, so a nurse drives him home. She is found dead (of fright) and Donald's house ransacked. He remembers nothing. The police suspect him, but fingerprints at the scene are not his. Later, a dragonfly is eating (or drinking) off the fish body. It later returns 2 feet across. Donald kills it, but its blood drips in his pipe. He smokes it, and gets woozie again. He becomes an ape-man. In this state, he kills a policeman assigned to guard him. Donald is sure that the ceolacanth's blood causes reverse evolution. Dog to wolf, dragonfly to a Meganeura, and a man back into an ape-like cave man. Donald's bosses think he's becoming unglued with his talk of giant bugs and ape men, so he's sent up to a mountain cabin for rest. In the cabin, Donald decides to inject himself with ceolacanth plasma, tape record the results and had set up cameras to capture it on film. He does this, but his girlfriend, Madeline, is driving up to see him. She encounters the ape-man on the road, swerves and crashes. Ape-man carries her off. When she screams, a forest ranger investigates. Ape-man kills him with a hatchet. The police arrive too, but Donald has returned to normal. After learning of the killings, Donald decides there is just one thing to do. He says he'll take them all to see the ape-man. He injects himself. When he returns down the hill as the ape-man, the police shoot and kill him. In death, he reverts back to Donald. The End.
The production values are good enough to keep a viewer focused on the story. As yet another evolution-based modernization of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it has some interest. Jack Arnold does a good job keeping the visuals interesting and the pace moving. The musical score uses many familiar themes and tones. One can almost hear the Creature's theme woven in there. It was also fun to see the old familiar trope of the "monster" carrying off the pretty girl in his arms.
There's no Cold War here. There is only a minor element of atomic cautionary tale in that gamma radiation altered the ceolacanth's blood to make it the monster-maker. Radiation makes monsters. Everyone knows that.
Several of the actors and others in MoC are familiar 50s sci-fi names. Jack Arnold directed Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54) and Tarantula ('55). Writer David Duncan wrote for Monster That Challenged the World ('57) and Black Scorpion ('57). Arthur Franz, who plays Donald, also starred in Invaders from Mars ('53) and The Flame Barrier ('57). Whit Bissel plays the skeptical Dr. Cole. He also played in Creature From the Black Lagoon and Target Earth ('54).
Another Jekyll & Hyde -- Like Hideous Sun Demon, MoC reuses the good-doctor and evil-beast device. As in HSD, the transformation was accidental, not deliberate as in Jekyll's case. MoC does return to the chemical agent, and returns to the ape-like imagery of the evil-beast. Common to them all is the good-doctor not remembering what he did while the evil-beast. All three had the faithful girlfriend. He original and HSD had the "other" woman (Ivy and Trudy), but MoC had only a rather chaste echo of that in Molly Riordan. MoC returned to the moral of the original, that every modern man carries his beast within.
The populist form of the theory of evolution is the unmistakable foundation of MoC. The genetic connection to the past was more scientifically clean than the embryology basis used in Hideous Sun Demon. The notion that chromosomes were additive over time was quite a leap, however. The ceolacanth was symbolic of evolution halted. Hence, it's blood (with some gamma ray help) had the power to neutralize those modern added layers. Hence the savage ape man, wolf-dog and giant dragonfly.
Shown in the first couple minutes of the movie, Professor Blake's collection of anthropoid face sculptures is a classic linear progression. A quick-eyed viewer might spot Piltdown Man in the line. This "early human ancestor" was finally confirmed as a hoax in 1953, fabricated from a modern human skull fragment and an orangutan jaw. Scientists might drop bogus facts quickly, but the public tends to hang onto them -- especially if they fit the mental model.
Near the end, Donald gives a little monologue on mankind. "It's the savage in man which science must meet and defeat if humanity is to survive." This was a rather Neitzschian view, that mankind was evolving into a better being, leaving behind his brutal self. Note, too, the science-as-savior angle. Mankind's savage nature (evil) was something chemical which science could cure.
Bottom line? MoC is a notch above the typical B-movie fare of the late 50s. It's production quality is enjoyable. The recast of Jekyll and Hyde is entertaining too. A triple feature of the 1931 Jekyll & Hyde movie, the Hideous Sun Demon and MoC, would be fun.
synopsis - second opinion.
In this sci-fi film, a college professor must deal with the cataclysmic consequences that ensue when a transmogrifying dragonfly bites a prehistoric fish from Madagascar. Soon after the bite, the strange fish becomes gigantic and begins passing on its new ability to morph all it comes in contact with back into their primal forms. When it bites a dog, the dog becomes a wolf. When some fish slime ends up in the professor's pipe, the professor put it to his lips, and he turns into a rampaging Neanderthal with a very large stone-axe that he freely wields around the terrified college campus. Bloody mayhem ensues.
review
Any Jack Arnold movie from the 1950s is worth seeing, but Monster On The Campus is clearly in the bottom half of his output, despite some suspenseful scenes and clever moments. Arthur Franz brings a dour sincerity to his portrayal of Dr. Donald Blake, the researcher who falls victim to contamination from an ancient fossil that causes him (or any other living thing) that comes in contact with it to revert to a pre-historic state. The movie also provides a vehicle for established veteran players such as Helen Westcott and Alexander Lockwood, and newcomer Troy Donahue, which makes it a strange mix on that level; and the presence of ubiquitous horror/sci-fi player Whit Bissell gives the movie resonance with modern cultists (William Schallert must have been busy elsewhere during the three weeks this movie was in production . . .). But Monster On The Campus, just by virtue of its title, has a certain built-in campiness that expresses itself overtly in a few scenes that, undoubtedly, elicited howls, hoots, and mocking gasps from drive-in audiences at the time. In all, it's not as atmospheric -- except in a few stylistically claustrophobic scenes -- or persuasive as Arnold's best work, and even lacks the underlying sincerity that helped drive works such as The Space Children. It's a fun thrill ride within its modest budgetary and production dimensions, but not much more.
College student JIMMY heads to campus with his dog, while in a classroom MADELEINE, the daughter of the UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT, gets a plaster cast made of her face by fiance DR. DONALD BLAKE. They are interrupted as Jimmy shows up with a special delivery - an ancient fish called a coelacanth that Donald has ordered from Madagascar. Donald notes that the coelacanth has a special ability to "resist evolution." The dog drinks some of the coelacanth blood - and soon goes crazy, attacking Madeleine. Jimmy and Donald subdue the dog and stick it in a cage.
Donald takes a sample of the dog's saliva for a rabies test, and notes that the dog has huge teeth. It seems to be an evolutionary throwback to a prehistoric wolf. The UNIVERSITY DOCTOR's assistant MOLLY shows up to get the saliva sample. Donald cuts himself on the coelacanth's teeth as he puts it away, and soon feels woozy. Molly puts him in her car and takes him home. Donald passes out in the car. Molly goes inside to call the Doctor - and a CREATURE comes in and attacks her!
Madeleine and a SECURITY GUARD look for Donald in the lab. He's not there, but the dog is back to being a friendly pet. Madeleine heads to Donald's house. It has been trashed. She finds Donald passed out in the back yard - and Molly dead! Cops soon arrive. At first they suspect Donald because they find his tie clip in Molly's hand, but he is quickly exonerated when the cops find an enormous handprint on a window. Is there a killer on the loose? The cops also note that Molly didn't die of any wounds - she had a heart attack. She died of fright!
Donald lectures to his students about evolution using the coelacanth as an example. Jimmy shows up to check on the dog, and Donald tries to show him the huge teeth - but they are gone. Donald wonders if he is imagining things. Cop STEVENS is sure that someone is personally after Donald, but Donald has no enemies. Stevens gives Donald bodyguard EDDIE.
Donald and Eddie note a small dragonfly land on the coelacanth. Donald also sees "crystallized bacteria" on a slide. He quickly shows the slide to the Doctor, but the bacteria seem totally normal. Did Donald imagine something again? Meanwhile, Jimmy and his girlfriend SYLVIA hear a strange, loud buzzing sound as they hide under some trees to make out. There is a moment of a fake scare, but it turns out to be another couple making out. Jimmy and Sylvia go to the science building - and here they and Donald all see a huge GIANT DRAGONFLY outside the window. Jimmy and Donald trap the giant dragonfly, which Donald recognizes as a prehistoric species.
Donald studies the giant dragonfly. As he does so, blood falls into his pipe, which he then smokes. As the dragonfly shrinks back to its original state, Donald transforms into a PREHUMAN ANTHROPOID! The "anthropoid" smashes up the lab and kills Eddie. The cops come, but find only dead Eddie, a huge footprint, and Donald passed out. Donald recognizes the footprint as coming from a prehistoric subhuman, but Stevens thinks it must have been faked to frame Donald.
Donald investigates, does experiments, and calls a PROFESSOR in Madagascar who investigates how the fish was preserved. Donald finds that the fish was preserved using gamma ray radiation! Donald cancels lots of classes to continue his studies, and Madeleine and her father are afraid he is cracking up. The President comes to Donald to ask him to take a leave of absence. Donald explains what he has learned - the coelacanth blood, treated with radiation, is transforming creatures into evolutionary throwbacks for short periods of time. Just as he explains this, Donald realizes that he was probably the person who transformed into the monster.
Donald heads up to the University President's cabin, where he prepares to experiment on himself. He plans to inject the coelacanth blood into himself and capture the transformation with cameras he has rigged around the room. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Sylvia tell Madeleine about the giant dragonfly. Donald isn't crazy after all! Madeleine heads up to the cabin to see Donald.
Donald injects himself with the coelacanth blood as Madeleine drives. He transforms into the anthropoid, trashes the cabin, and runs out into the road. Madeleine sees the anthropoid, screams, and crashes her car. A FOREST RANGER races to the scene and sees the anthropoid standing over her. He calls the cops and grabs his gun. The anthropoid carries Madeleine away. The cops trail them, and the ranger shoots the anthropoid in the arm. Madeleine wakes up and runs, the creature pursues and knocks her out again, and then kills the ranger. Madeleine recovers and makes it back to the cabin as the anthropoid transforms back into Donald. The cops meet them here. Donald develops the film from the cameras and sees a shot of the creature. He knows now that "the beast within" himself is the killer. He takes the cops outside, claiming to know where the anthropoid is hiding. As the Doctor looks on, he injects himself with the coelacanth blood one last time, telling the doctor to "watch closely and see evolution in reverse." He transforms into the anthropoid, and the cops shoot him before the Doctor can stop them. The Doctor and the cops watch in amazement as the dead anthropoid turns back into mild-mannered Donald.
Starring Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, Than Wyenn, Thomas Browne Henry, Richard Benedict, James Seay, John Close, and Don C. Harvey. Directed by Bert I. Gordon.
This is the sort of film that producer/director Bert I. Gordon would become famous (or infamous) for. B.I.G. liked playing with relative size, making his antagonist(s) larger than life. The Beginning of the End (BotE) is an obvious rehash of Them! ('54) with radiation-induced giant bugs, but substituting grasshoppers for ants. Instead of menacing Los Angeles, these giant bugs go for Chicago. BotE is a cheaper copy in many ways, but still found a ready audience in the mid 50s. Some better-than-B actors helped keep BotE from foundering completely. Peter Graves is the male lead. He saved Killers from Space ('53) and It Conquered The World ('56) from total loser-dom. Peggie Castle was the female lead in Invasion USA. Morris Ankrum, veteran B-sci-fi actor, once again plays the stern military man as he had in Rocketship XM ('50), Invaders From Mars ('53) and others yet to come.
Plot Synopsis
People in rural Illinois are starting to disappear. Then a whole town of 150 is wiped out. Audrey (Castle) is a reporter who pushes for the story. Radiation might be the culprit, but no one has any nuclear material. She interviews Ed, an agricultural scientist (Graves), who has been growing giant tomatoes with the help of radiation. The isotopes are safely locked up, however. They travel to the site of a wiped out warehouse which stored tons of wheat. There, a giant grasshopper eats one of the scientists. Ordinary grasshoppers had munched on the giant tomatoes and so grew giant too. Hundreds of them mass in the woods. A National Guard unit's small arms can't stop them. They march towards Chicago, destroying Peoria and a couple others en route. The army's best tanks can't stop them. Panic ensues. Chicago is evacuated. The giant grasshoppers infest the Chicago area, but go semi-dormant during a cool night. Top brass in Washington plan bomb Chicago with an a-bomb to kill them while they're in one place. Ed and Audrey think they can find a sound that will attract the giants. If they could lure them into Lake Michigan, they'd all drown. They capture a live giant and bring it to the lab for tests. None of the sounds affect it. Time is almost out when they do find a frequency that works. Speakers are set up on one of Chicago's towers, to attract all the outlying bugs to downtown. Then a boat in the lake with a speaker will attract them to their doom. The plan works, though with a protracted fighting scene. In the end, they all drown. Chicago is saved. The End.
The giant bug (or other critter) sub-genre was only just getting started. We had ants in Them! and a spider in Tarantula. There will be many more to come, but this was an early one yet. The first half of the film, with it's mystery, is much better than the latter half. The relentless threat to a major city harkens to HG Wells' War of the Worlds. After that, it gets lame, but Graves and Ankrum don't disappoint.
While mostly an atomic radiation cautionary tale, there is the basic story line of a relentless force moving upon an American city. Panic, evacuation, a-bombs. It's all familiar Cold War material.
Popular Science magazines were bright with the prospect of what radiation-mutated crops might do for mankind. This is exactly what Ed was trying to do. As with all good naive scientists, he failed to see the bigger picture. Pests eat crops. Giant crops can create giant pests. The moral behind the film is that messing around with radiation can go horribly wrong.
Peggie Castle plays an obviously tough and independent reporter. She'd covered the destruction in WWII and Korea, written respected books and never once screamed like a girl. (she did scream when Frank was eaten, but it was more shock and a call for help than silly panic). Towards the end of the movie, she has less to do, and does lean in the chest of hero Ed (Graves), but she's on screen as more of an equal than a date.
A teen couple are necking on Lover's Lane. They get eaten. A pretty woman in only a towel is primping in her hotel room (back to the window). She gets eaten. Such scenes suggest to some viewers that Bert was giving subtle messages that being sexual is dangerous -- avoid it! This seems too flat. Instead, you could see the necking couple and the sexy woman as representing a very personal and vulnerable aspect of mankind. Intimate moments feel very vulnerable. Our outward mask of civilization is off. Like the lady in the hotel room, we're dressed in only a towel (not full battle gear). Attacks at those moments enhance the mood of vulnerability. It's not a subtle "don't neck" message (like anyone would ever listen to such a message anyhow).
One of the most memorable "special effects" of BotE is how regular grasshoppers (albeit big ones) are set loose to walk among or climb on photos of Chicago. As cheap as it is, this works pretty well. Note how they had cutouts of a line of busses from the same photo, set in front of the building plane, so grasshoppers could walk between them. Also note one scene where the set-back of the building is cut separately, so the grasshoppers can hang their legs over the parapet. Cheap as they are, these effects work better than the poorly done superimposition (green screen), which gets overused.
If you're a stock footage fan, you'll find a lot to love in BotE. Tanks on the road, Troops, crowds panicking. In fact, if you watch closely, you'll see one scene lifted from The Day The Earth Stood Still ('51).
The General Hanson character says the Air Force is sending a B-52 (then America's new super plane) with an A-bomb. When they show a clip of footage, it's actually a propeller-powered B-36, the old-tech behemoth the B-52 were designed to replace. Perhaps stock footage of the B-52, America's high-tech nuclear bomber, then operational for only a couple years, was not yet available, or deemed too sensitive to inclusion in B-movies.
One of the things that help a big bug movie work, is that the critter is somewhat fearful even when small. Ants are relentless (fire ants, army ants), many people are afraid of spiders, and later movies' scorpions and a mantis -- which are creepy looking, will have their traits magnified. But grasshoppers? They just don't inspire fear. BotE fights an uphill battle in trying to make them fearsome.
BotE makes good use of off-screen events. We are told the town of Ludlow was wiped out. All we see are stock clips of tornado damage. We only read of Peoria's destruction in a telegram. When anyone is 'eaten' by a giant grasshopper, we only see the giant lunge, the victim cower, then cut away. Good for budgets, but also kinder to audiences.
Despite the poster (in which the grasshoppers have curious teeth and fangs), they do not pick up anyone. In fact, they eat everyone quite fairly. One is implied to have eaten the lady in the towel, however, so there is at least a tiny delivery on what the poster promises.
Bottom line? BotE is another in the big bug sub-genre. If you like that sort, you'll likely gloss over the low budget short cuts. As a story, it's pretty conventional and doesn't break any new ground.
By 1957, producer/director Bert I. Gordon had already tackled giant monsters of all sorts with films like KING DINOSAUR and THE CYCLOPS. BEGINNING OF THE END was Mr. BIG's first nod to giant insects (in this case, giant grasshoppers), a subject he would unleash on us again in THE SPIDER (1958) and EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977). The hero of the film is the perfectly cast Peter Graves in his fourth and final 50s sci-fi thriller (the others were RED PLANET MARS, KILLERS FROM SPACE and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD).
Respected female journalist Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle, BACK FROM THE DEAD) drives to Ludlow, Illinois with reports that some 150 residents are missing. She then visits Doctor Ed Wainright (Graves), a young scientist experimenting with vegetables in the hopes that a busty reporter will do a story on him. Visiting the sight of a recent disaster, the doc and the reporter are confronted with humongous noisy locusts, and a silly deaf/mute character is stampeded to death. Meanwhile, the military is brought in (reinforced with ample stock footage), trying to decide how to destroy the buggers without having to set off an atom bomb on Chicago.
This is basically Mr. BIG's imitation of the bigger-budgeted THEM, and the results are a respectable 73 minutes. Sure, using real grasshoppers against rear-projection effects or crawling on a photograph of a building is not terribly convincing, but it still has a certain nostalgic charm to it. Castle does a fine job as the heroine, and Morris Ankrum (who played a general, doctor or cop in nearly every 50s sci-fi flick) and Thomas Browne Henry (BLOOD OF DRACULA, THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) represent the military. And who doesn't like Peter Graves? He was even likable as the Nazi spy in STALAG 17! The memorable music is by none other than Albert Glasser.
Having already received a DVD release through Rhino's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" series, it was a big surprise when Image Entertainment announced this title. But Image's version puts the previous one to shame and makes it obsolete, going back to the original camera negative for the transfer. BEGINNING TO THE END now looks crisp and clean, and the black and white image has intense detail. It's also Anamorphic and wonderfully letterboxed in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio, thankfully covering previous open matte shots of the insects climbing off the peaks of photographed buildings. The audio is also excellent.
Also included is a full running commentary, moderated by producer/director Bruce Kimmel (THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL) that features Bert's ex-wife Flora (who assisted in the special effects) and daughter Susan (who appeared in some of his films, but not this one). The commentary is an OK listen, and although Kimmel is enthusiastic enough, there is a lack of research in the proceedings (Peggy Castle is discussed as if she's still living but she passed away 30 years ago). Not too much is learned from the two ladies (other then the "I" in Gordon's name stands for "Ira" and that only male grasshoppers were used in the film), but they still have a few nice anecdotes to tell. But one has to wonder why the alive and well Bert I. Gordon can't be coaxed into doing one of these things!
Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, and William Schallert. Directed by Herbert L. Strock.
When two scientists at a top-secret government installation devoted to space research are killed -- in their own test chamber, seemingly by an experiment gone awry -- Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) is sent out from Washington to investigate. Sheppard mixes easily enough with the somewhat eccentric team of scientists, though he always seems in danger of being distracted by the presence of Joanne Merritt (Constance Dowling), who serves as the aide to the project director Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall) but is, in reality, another security agent. Sheppard is as puzzled as anyone else by the seemingly inexplicable series of events overtaking the installation -- properly operating equipment suddenly undergoing lethal malfunctions, and the radar tracking aircraft that aren't there -- until he puts it together with the operations of NOVAC (Nuclear Operated Variable Automatic Computer), the central brain of the complex. But the mystery deepens when he discovers that NOVAC was shut down during one of the "accidents" -- and even the computer's operators can't account fully for the whereabouts of GOG and MAGOG, the two robots under the computer's control.
"...and then without warning, the machine became a frankenstein of steel," says the sensationalist poster text. This is the third story in Ivan Tors' OSI trilogy. His first "Office of Scientific Investigation" story was Magnetic Monster in early 1953. The second was Riders to the Stars in early '54. With Gog the loose trilogy is complete. Unlike the Star Wars trilogy in which the stories build upon each other, each of the three OSI stories are separate tales which have nothing to do with each other. The common thread is the idea of there being a sort of Science FBI agency whose job it is, is to check out the scientifically strange. In that regard, Tors' OSI is a bit like a foreshadowing of the X-Files TV series, but without any of the New Age paranormal focus.
In keeping with the previous two stories, Gog is more of a detective murder mystery movie. Tors was a huge fan of "hard" science, not fanciful fiction fluff, so Gog, like the other two movies, is chock full of reveling in sciencey stuff in an almost geeky way. This reverence for real science keeps things from getting out on shaky limb, as many sci-fi films to. The events are much more plausible, less fantastic.
Synopsis
At a secret underground research facility, far out in the desert, scientists working on preparations for a manned space mission, are getting murdered mysteriously. Two agents from the OSI are dispatched to solve the mystery and keep the super secret space station program on track. The scientists are killed in various ways, mostly through equipment malfunctions. The facility director and the agents suspect sabotage. Small transmitter/receiver boxes are found within equipment in different parts of the facility. They suggest that someone on the outside is transmitting in the "malfunctions" in order to kill off the program's scientists. Occasional alarms indicate some flying high intruder, but nothing is clearly found. One of the base's two robots, named Gog, kills another technician while it's mate, Magog, tries to set up an overload within the base's atomic pile. The OSI agents stop Magog with a flame thrower. Meanwhile, interceptor jets scramble and find the highflying spy jet and destroy it with missiles. Once the trouble is past, the Director announces that they will be launching their prototype space station the next day, despite the sabotage attempts to stop it. The End.
The time spent reveling in techno-geekery has a certain Popular Science charm to it. There's an evident gee-whiz air about space and defense sciences which is fun to see. People were fascinated with things rockety and atomic. For various fun bits, see the Notes section.
Gog oozes Cold War from every frame. First is the base's underground location to make them safe from A-bombs. Next is the mysterious killer trying to stop the space station program. The high-flying mystery plane is "not one of ours." (that leaves: Them, and we all knew who they were.) The space station is to be powered by a solar mirror. Even that benign mirror has sinister possibilities. While demonstrating the mirror, the scientists use it to burn a model of a city. "This could happen...if we're not the first to reach space," says the Director. Space is the next "high ground" to be contested. At the end of the movie, when discussing the launch (despite the sabotage attempt) of the prototype space station, the Director says, "Through it's eye, we'll be able to see everything that goes on upon this tired old earth." The Defense Secretary says, "Nothing will take us by surprise again." An obvious reference to Pearl Harbor.
B-films often re-used props and sets from prior films in order to save on their budgets. Gog, even though shot in Eastman Color, was no exception. Two old prop friends show up in Gog. One is our venerable old friend, the space suits from Destination Moon ('50). Look for the centrifuge scene. The research assistants are dressed in them, and as an added bonus, they wear the all-acrylic fish bowl helmets used in Abbot and Costello Go to Mars ('53). Our second old friend is scene in the radar / security room, (the one with the annoying tuning fork device). Check out the monitor wall. It's been gussied up a bit, but it is the spaceship control panel wall from Catwomen of the Moon and Project Moon Base -- complete with the empty 16mm film reels on the right side. It's fun to see old friends.
B-films often include stock footage of military units, tanks, jets, battleships, etc. to fill things out. Gog is no different, and even commits the common continuity error of showing one type of plane taking off, but a different kind in the air.
What amounts to a small treat amid the usual stock footage of jets, some shots of a rather obscure bit of USAF hardware -- the F-94C Starfire with its straight wings and huge wing tanks. In 1954, the Starfire was one of America's coolest combat jets, yet we hear little about it. The swept-wing F-86 Sabers (which we see taxiing and taking off) were the agile fighter which gained fame over Korea. They're common stock footage stars. The F-94, with its onboard radar (in the nose cone) was deemed too advanced to risk falling into enemy hands. So, it didn't see much action , and therefore little fame. The heavier, yet powerful F-94C (one of the first US jets to have an afterburner) was 1954 America's hottest Interceptor -- designed to stop high flying Soviet bombers. It's blatant cameo appearance in Gog, intercepting the high-flying mystery plane, was a fun little bit of patriotic showing off.
The very name of the movie, Gog, is charged with meaning to American audiences of the mid 50s, though virtually lost on viewers of the 21st century. The names of the two robots, Gog and Magog, come from the Bible. More specifically, from the prophecies of Ezekiel (Chapter 38) and the Book of Revelation (chapter 20). While just who they are (nations? kings?) has been debated for centuries, their role as tools of Satan in the battle of Armageddon is clear. Mainstream American patriotic Christendom had settled on the idea that the Soviet Union was the prophesied "nations from the north" who would join Satan to oppose God. This gives the title of the movie a special Cold War significance. It also puts an interesting spin on the Dr. Zeitman character for having named the two robots in the first place. Since they were tools of the mega-computer NOVAC, what was he saying about NOVAC?
It is interesting that the base's radar could not detect the mystery plane (which was beaming in the 'kill' instructions to NOVAC) because it was made of "fiberglass" which rendered it invisible to radar. Now, fiberglass itself isn't sturdy enough for high-speed jets, and it would take until the 1990s before composite materials advanced to make the dream of a stealth aircraft a reality. Nonetheless, the dream (or nightmare) of stealth aircraft was on-screen in 1954 in Gog.
The super computer, NOVAC, controlled everything on the base. Even though the machines were not really killing scientists on their own, but following human orders from the mystery plane, there was the on-screen depiction of machines having a murderous mind of their own. (all pre-Steven King) In the techno starry-eyed 50s, it was fairly uncommon for the technology itself to be turning on its masters. This idea would gain traction later in the 50s, and especially in the 60s, but in '54, it was unusual.
A cautionary subtext to Gog is the danger of trusting in a supercomputer to manage defenses and a whole base. NOVAC doesn't go bad on its own, as the computer will in The Invisible Boy, Hal in 2001 or Colossus in The Forbin Project. In this movie, it was the nefarious "others" who hacked into NOVAC to make it do the killing, but this just demonstrates the danger. People were getting a little nervous about letting machines take over too much responsibility. We were starting to distrust our creations.
Until Gog, robots were fairly humanoid.
They had two legs, two arms, a torso and a head. Audiences had seen the mechanical Maria in Metropolis ('27), the fedora-wearing metal men in Gene Autrey's Phantom Empire serial ('35). The water-heater-like Republic robot appeared in several rocketman serials. There was the gleaming giant Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51) and the cute left over fedora-dudes in Captain Video ('51). The metal giant in Devil Girl from Mars ('54) was also humaniod, in a chunky way. Gog and Magog were a departure from the stereotype. They were noticeably in-human, which was part of the mood.
Bottom line? Gog seems a bit bland, as far as sci-fi tends to go, but it has a lot in it for fans of 50s sci-fi.
Director Jack Arnold masterfully brought Ray Bradbury's science fiction tale to life in this, Universal's very first 3-D feature film. It was the perfect format for roaring avalanches, hovering helicopters, and zooming space ships, magnifying the effect for mesmerized movie goers.On a beautiful evening in Sand Rock, Arizona amateur astronomer John Putnam and his girlfriend Ellen Fields see a fiery ball fall from the sky into the desert. They investigate and John sees a spacecraft of sorts and is convinced something is inside. A rockfall buries the ship before any one else can see it and now no one will believe him. He becomes the butt of local jokes when the newspapers pick up the story and Sheriff Matt Warren thinks he's mad. When two locals, Frank Daylon and his employee George, begin to act strangely John is convinced that they have been taken over by an alien being.
This collaboration between science fiction giant Ray Bradbury and director Jack Arnold remains one of the most intelligent and revered science fiction films of the last century. After a spaceship crashes near a sleepy desert village, the townsfolk begin to act strangely and a local astronomer (Richard Carlson) and his fiancee (Barbara Rush) investigate. This otherworldly one sheet features the classic "giant eye" imagery associated with the film and attempts to depict the "3-D" effect.
It came... (ICFOS) is one of those lesser known 50s sci fi films which really deserves to be better known. On a surface level, ICFOS has good pacing. Director Jack Arnold (who would direct several other big 50s sci fi films) does a good job of keeping up the intrigue and tension. Even when the movie is over, the overall effect is more thoughtful than most B-films. It helps that the screenplay is an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "The Meteor." All this helps ICFOS rise above the average 50s B movie.
ICFOS was filmed for the 3D, which was all the rage in the early 50s, but works perfectly well in 2D. The overall story is step up too, rising above the typical Cold War cautionary tale. Instead, it's an introspective about mankind, both our strengths and weaknesses when facing the unknown. This is rather cerebral stuff for a B-film.
Plot Synopsis
A meteor crashes in the desert night outside of Sand Rock, Arizona. Astronomer John Putnam (played by Richard Carlson) investigates. In the impact crater, he finds sees the hull of a ship with its hatch open. No one believes him, because a landslide covered the hull. Putnam discovers that various town folk have been "taken over" by the aliens. A couple of the possessed folk tell Putnam that they mean no harm. The sheriff eventually believes him when spouses also report odd behaviors. The aliens capture Putnam's fiancee, Ellen, which provokes the sheriff into raising a posse to confront the aliens. Putnam gets to the crash site first and confronts the aliens in the abandoned mine. They say they mean no harm, but crashed on earth by mistake and just want to repair their ship and leave. Putnam convinces the aliens that only by releasing the real townsfolk will the posse by appeased. They do, and it works. The aliens finish repairs to their ship and fly off in a shower of sparks.
Seeing some familiar faces is fun. Richard Carlson starred in Magnetic Monster is great as the stalwart but misunderstood hero. Barbara Rush who starred in When World's Collide plays Ellen very well. She's no mere cheesecake. Russell Johnson, who will feature in many future sci-fi films, plays George, the first person "possessed" by the aliens. All of the actors do a good job.
Arnold introduced a fun first in ICFOS: the alien point of view -- this was made unmistakable by our looking through faintly reflected moist cycloptic eye and oddly Darth Vadar-like breathing sounds. At other times, we whisk along the telephone wires watching the cars of people about to be confronted by the aliens. (apparently, they can 'transmit' themselves) This is a stroke of genius for the story line. It prevents the audience from forming the usual "us versus them" mindset typical of monster movies, such as in The Thing ('51).
Also fun is the strengthening of the alien-possessed-person plot device. We saw it first in The Man from Planet X ('51) in a similar capacity of people helping the alien work on his ship. Those folks weren't really possessed so much as under mind control. In Invaders from Mars('53), people were also taken over to help the aliens. In ICFOS, the possessed are actually duplicates, not the originals under remote control. This pushes the concept into new ground.
Un-human aliens -- The aliens in ICFOS look a little hokey when you get a good look at them, but that's not important.
This is a B-film, after all. What's notable is that the aliens are very different. They're not humanoid. The Man from Planet X was small, but still a humanoid shape. The Thing (1951) was big, but still a biped with a head, arms, torso, etc.. The martian in Invaders from Mars was less humanoid, being a big head with six little tentacles, but it still had a very human face. ICFOS may have the first radically non-humanoid alien life forms. They were big, potato-like creatures with one large eye and wispy frond-like appendages. This was a significant moment in sci-fi movie history. Aliens could be totally weird and not just people dressed up in hoodies with lighting bolt logos on their chests.
The Message -- ICFOS has a definite moral to the story. Mankind is not all that grown up and sophisticated. The alien tells Putnam, ""Let us stay apart, the people of your world and ours. If we come together, there will only be destruction." This is more true for the aliens as at least two of them die. (fake-Frank and fake-Ellen), but interestingly, no humans are actually harmed. Putnam later says to the sheriff for why the aliens don't show themselves. "They don't trust us...because what we don't understand we want to destroy. That's why they hide." Message: mankind isn't mature enough for the stars. Yet the tone isn't too pessimistic. As the crowd watch the ship fly away in a shower of sparks, Putnam says, ""Well, they've gone. "it wasn't the right time for us to meet....they'll be back."
Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, and William Schallert. Directed by Herbert L. Strock.
When two scientists at a top-secret government installation devoted to space research are killed -- in their own test chamber, seemingly by an experiment gone awry -- Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) is sent out from Washington to investigate. Sheppard mixes easily enough with the somewhat eccentric team of scientists, though he always seems in danger of being distracted by the presence of Joanne Merritt (Constance Dowling), who serves as the aide to the project director Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall) but is, in reality, another security agent. Sheppard is as puzzled as anyone else by the seemingly inexplicable series of events overtaking the installation -- properly operating equipment suddenly undergoing lethal malfunctions, and the radar tracking aircraft that aren't there -- until he puts it together with the operations of NOVAC (Nuclear Operated Variable Automatic Computer), the central brain of the complex. But the mystery deepens when he discovers that NOVAC was shut down during one of the "accidents" -- and even the computer's operators can't account fully for the whereabouts of GOG and MAGOG, the two robots under the computer's control.
"...and then without warning, the machine became a frankenstein of steel," says the sensationalist poster text. This is the third story in Ivan Tors' OSI trilogy. His first "Office of Scientific Investigation" story was Magnetic Monster in early 1953. The second was Riders to the Stars in early '54. With Gog the loose trilogy is complete. Unlike the Star Wars trilogy in which the stories build upon each other, each of the three OSI stories are separate tales which have nothing to do with each other. The common thread is the idea of there being a sort of Science FBI agency whose job it is, is to check out the scientifically strange. In that regard, Tors' OSI is a bit like a foreshadowing of the X-Files TV series, but without any of the New Age paranormal focus.
In keeping with the previous two stories, Gog is more of a detective murder mystery movie. Tors was a huge fan of "hard" science, not fanciful fiction fluff, so Gog, like the other two movies, is chock full of reveling in sciencey stuff in an almost geeky way. This reverence for real science keeps things from getting out on shaky limb, as many sci-fi films to. The events are much more plausible, less fantastic.
Synopsis
At a secret underground research facility, far out in the desert, scientists working on preparations for a manned space mission, are getting murdered mysteriously. Two agents from the OSI are dispatched to solve the mystery and keep the super secret space station program on track. The scientists are killed in various ways, mostly through equipment malfunctions. The facility director and the agents suspect sabotage. Small transmitter/receiver boxes are found within equipment in different parts of the facility. They suggest that someone on the outside is transmitting in the "malfunctions" in order to kill off the program's scientists. Occasional alarms indicate some flying high intruder, but nothing is clearly found. One of the base's two robots, named Gog, kills another technician while it's mate, Magog, tries to set up an overload within the base's atomic pile. The OSI agents stop Magog with a flame thrower. Meanwhile, interceptor jets scramble and find the highflying spy jet and destroy it with missiles. Once the trouble is past, the Director announces that they will be launching their prototype space station the next day, despite the sabotage attempts to stop it. The End.
The time spent reveling in techno-geekery has a certain Popular Science charm to it. There's an evident gee-whiz air about space and defense sciences which is fun to see. People were fascinated with things rockety and atomic. For various fun bits, see the Notes section.
Gog oozes Cold War from every frame. First is the base's underground location to make them safe from A-bombs. Next is the mysterious killer trying to stop the space station program. The high-flying mystery plane is "not one of ours." (that leaves: Them, and we all knew who they were.) The space station is to be powered by a solar mirror. Even that benign mirror has sinister possibilities. While demonstrating the mirror, the scientists use it to burn a model of a city. "This could happen...if we're not the first to reach space," says the Director. Space is the next "high ground" to be contested. At the end of the movie, when discussing the launch (despite the sabotage attempt) of the prototype space station, the Director says, "Through it's eye, we'll be able to see everything that goes on upon this tired old earth." The Defense Secretary says, "Nothing will take us by surprise again." An obvious reference to Pearl Harbor.
B-films often re-used props and sets from prior films in order to save on their budgets. Gog, even though shot in Eastman Color, was no exception. Two old prop friends show up in Gog. One is our venerable old friend, the space suits from Destination Moon ('50). Look for the centrifuge scene. The research assistants are dressed in them, and as an added bonus, they wear the all-acrylic fish bowl helmets used in Abbot and Costello Go to Mars ('53). Our second old friend is scene in the radar / security room, (the one with the annoying tuning fork device). Check out the monitor wall. It's been gussied up a bit, but it is the spaceship control panel wall from Catwomen of the Moon and Project Moon Base -- complete with the empty 16mm film reels on the right side. It's fun to see old friends.
B-films often include stock footage of military units, tanks, jets, battleships, etc. to fill things out. Gog is no different, and even commits the common continuity error of showing one type of plane taking off, but a different kind in the air.
What amounts to a small treat amid the usual stock footage of jets, some shots of a rather obscure bit of USAF hardware -- the F-94C Starfire with its straight wings and huge wing tanks. In 1954, the Starfire was one of America's coolest combat jets, yet we hear little about it. The swept-wing F-86 Sabers (which we see taxiing and taking off) were the agile fighter which gained fame over Korea. They're common stock footage stars. The F-94, with its onboard radar (in the nose cone) was deemed too advanced to risk falling into enemy hands. So, it didn't see much action , and therefore little fame. The heavier, yet powerful F-94C (one of the first US jets to have an afterburner) was 1954 America's hottest Interceptor -- designed to stop high flying Soviet bombers. It's blatant cameo appearance in Gog, intercepting the high-flying mystery plane, was a fun little bit of patriotic showing off.
The very name of the movie, Gog, is charged with meaning to American audiences of the mid 50s, though virtually lost on viewers of the 21st century. The names of the two robots, Gog and Magog, come from the Bible. More specifically, from the prophecies of Ezekiel (Chapter 38) and the Book of Revelation (chapter 20). While just who they are (nations? kings?) has been debated for centuries, their role as tools of Satan in the battle of Armageddon is clear. Mainstream American patriotic Christendom had settled on the idea that the Soviet Union was the prophesied "nations from the north" who would join Satan to oppose God. This gives the title of the movie a special Cold War significance. It also puts an interesting spin on the Dr. Zeitman character for having named the two robots in the first place. Since they were tools of the mega-computer NOVAC, what was he saying about NOVAC?
It is interesting that the base's radar could not detect the mystery plane (which was beaming in the 'kill' instructions to NOVAC) because it was made of "fiberglass" which rendered it invisible to radar. Now, fiberglass itself isn't sturdy enough for high-speed jets, and it would take until the 1990s before composite materials advanced to make the dream of a stealth aircraft a reality. Nonetheless, the dream (or nightmare) of stealth aircraft was on-screen in 1954 in Gog.
The super computer, NOVAC, controlled everything on the base. Even though the machines were not really killing scientists on their own, but following human orders from the mystery plane, there was the on-screen depiction of machines having a murderous mind of their own. (all pre-Steven King) In the techno starry-eyed 50s, it was fairly uncommon for the technology itself to be turning on its masters. This idea would gain traction later in the 50s, and especially in the 60s, but in '54, it was unusual.
A cautionary subtext to Gog is the danger of trusting in a supercomputer to manage defenses and a whole base. NOVAC doesn't go bad on its own, as the computer will in The Invisible Boy, Hal in 2001 or Colossus in The Forbin Project. In this movie, it was the nefarious "others" who hacked into NOVAC to make it do the killing, but this just demonstrates the danger. People were getting a little nervous about letting machines take over too much responsibility. We were starting to distrust our creations.
Until Gog, robots were fairly humanoid.
They had two legs, two arms, a torso and a head. Audiences had seen the mechanical Maria in Metropolis ('27), the fedora-wearing metal men in Gene Autrey's Phantom Empire serial ('35). The water-heater-like Republic robot appeared in several rocketman serials. There was the gleaming giant Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51) and the cute left over fedora-dudes in Captain Video ('51). The metal giant in Devil Girl from Mars ('54) was also humaniod, in a chunky way. Gog and Magog were a departure from the stereotype. They were noticeably in-human, which was part of the mood.
Bottom line? Gog seems a bit bland, as far as sci-fi tends to go, but it has a lot in it for fans of 50s sci-fi.
Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, and William Schallert. Directed by Herbert L. Strock.
When two scientists at a top-secret government installation devoted to space research are killed -- in their own test chamber, seemingly by an experiment gone awry -- Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) is sent out from Washington to investigate. Sheppard mixes easily enough with the somewhat eccentric team of scientists, though he always seems in danger of being distracted by the presence of Joanne Merritt (Constance Dowling), who serves as the aide to the project director Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall) but is, in reality, another security agent. Sheppard is as puzzled as anyone else by the seemingly inexplicable series of events overtaking the installation -- properly operating equipment suddenly undergoing lethal malfunctions, and the radar tracking aircraft that aren't there -- until he puts it together with the operations of NOVAC (Nuclear Operated Variable Automatic Computer), the central brain of the complex. But the mystery deepens when he discovers that NOVAC was shut down during one of the "accidents" -- and even the computer's operators can't account fully for the whereabouts of GOG and MAGOG, the two robots under the computer's control.
"...and then without warning, the machine became a frankenstein of steel," says the sensationalist poster text. This is the third story in Ivan Tors' OSI trilogy. His first "Office of Scientific Investigation" story was Magnetic Monster in early 1953. The second was Riders to the Stars in early '54. With Gog the loose trilogy is complete. Unlike the Star Wars trilogy in which the stories build upon each other, each of the three OSI stories are separate tales which have nothing to do with each other. The common thread is the idea of there being a sort of Science FBI agency whose job it is, is to check out the scientifically strange. In that regard, Tors' OSI is a bit like a foreshadowing of the X-Files TV series, but without any of the New Age paranormal focus.
In keeping with the previous two stories, Gog is more of a detective murder mystery movie. Tors was a huge fan of "hard" science, not fanciful fiction fluff, so Gog, like the other two movies, is chock full of reveling in sciencey stuff in an almost geeky way. This reverence for real science keeps things from getting out on shaky limb, as many sci-fi films to. The events are much more plausible, less fantastic.
Synopsis
At a secret underground research facility, far out in the desert, scientists working on preparations for a manned space mission, are getting murdered mysteriously. Two agents from the OSI are dispatched to solve the mystery and keep the super secret space station program on track. The scientists are killed in various ways, mostly through equipment malfunctions. The facility director and the agents suspect sabotage. Small transmitter/receiver boxes are found within equipment in different parts of the facility. They suggest that someone on the outside is transmitting in the "malfunctions" in order to kill off the program's scientists. Occasional alarms indicate some flying high intruder, but nothing is clearly found. One of the base's two robots, named Gog, kills another technician while it's mate, Magog, tries to set up an overload within the base's atomic pile. The OSI agents stop Magog with a flame thrower. Meanwhile, interceptor jets scramble and find the highflying spy jet and destroy it with missiles. Once the trouble is past, the Director announces that they will be launching their prototype space station the next day, despite the sabotage attempts to stop it. The End.
The time spent reveling in techno-geekery has a certain Popular Science charm to it. There's an evident gee-whiz air about space and defense sciences which is fun to see. People were fascinated with things rockety and atomic. For various fun bits, see the Notes section.
Gog oozes Cold War from every frame. First is the base's underground location to make them safe from A-bombs. Next is the mysterious killer trying to stop the space station program. The high-flying mystery plane is "not one of ours." (that leaves: Them, and we all knew who they were.) The space station is to be powered by a solar mirror. Even that benign mirror has sinister possibilities. While demonstrating the mirror, the scientists use it to burn a model of a city. "This could happen...if we're not the first to reach space," says the Director. Space is the next "high ground" to be contested. At the end of the movie, when discussing the launch (despite the sabotage attempt) of the prototype space station, the Director says, "Through it's eye, we'll be able to see everything that goes on upon this tired old earth." The Defense Secretary says, "Nothing will take us by surprise again." An obvious reference to Pearl Harbor.
B-films often re-used props and sets from prior films in order to save on their budgets. Gog, even though shot in Eastman Color, was no exception. Two old prop friends show up in Gog. One is our venerable old friend, the space suits from Destination Moon ('50). Look for the centrifuge scene. The research assistants are dressed in them, and as an added bonus, they wear the all-acrylic fish bowl helmets used in Abbot and Costello Go to Mars ('53). Our second old friend is scene in the radar / security room, (the one with the annoying tuning fork device). Check out the monitor wall. It's been gussied up a bit, but it is the spaceship control panel wall from Catwomen of the Moon and Project Moon Base -- complete with the empty 16mm film reels on the right side. It's fun to see old friends.
B-films often include stock footage of military units, tanks, jets, battleships, etc. to fill things out. Gog is no different, and even commits the common continuity error of showing one type of plane taking off, but a different kind in the air.
What amounts to a small treat amid the usual stock footage of jets, some shots of a rather obscure bit of USAF hardware -- the F-94C Starfire with its straight wings and huge wing tanks. In 1954, the Starfire was one of America's coolest combat jets, yet we hear little about it. The swept-wing F-86 Sabers (which we see taxiing and taking off) were the agile fighter which gained fame over Korea. They're common stock footage stars. The F-94, with its onboard radar (in the nose cone) was deemed too advanced to risk falling into enemy hands. So, it didn't see much action , and therefore little fame. The heavier, yet powerful F-94C (one of the first US jets to have an afterburner) was 1954 America's hottest Interceptor -- designed to stop high flying Soviet bombers. It's blatant cameo appearance in Gog, intercepting the high-flying mystery plane, was a fun little bit of patriotic showing off.
The very name of the movie, Gog, is charged with meaning to American audiences of the mid 50s, though virtually lost on viewers of the 21st century. The names of the two robots, Gog and Magog, come from the Bible. More specifically, from the prophecies of Ezekiel (Chapter 38) and the Book of Revelation (chapter 20). While just who they are (nations? kings?) has been debated for centuries, their role as tools of Satan in the battle of Armageddon is clear. Mainstream American patriotic Christendom had settled on the idea that the Soviet Union was the prophesied "nations from the north" who would join Satan to oppose God. This gives the title of the movie a special Cold War significance. It also puts an interesting spin on the Dr. Zeitman character for having named the two robots in the first place. Since they were tools of the mega-computer NOVAC, what was he saying about NOVAC?
It is interesting that the base's radar could not detect the mystery plane (which was beaming in the 'kill' instructions to NOVAC) because it was made of "fiberglass" which rendered it invisible to radar. Now, fiberglass itself isn't sturdy enough for high-speed jets, and it would take until the 1990s before composite materials advanced to make the dream of a stealth aircraft a reality. Nonetheless, the dream (or nightmare) of stealth aircraft was on-screen in 1954 in Gog.
The super computer, NOVAC, controlled everything on the base. Even though the machines were not really killing scientists on their own, but following human orders from the mystery plane, there was the on-screen depiction of machines having a murderous mind of their own. (all pre-Steven King) In the techno starry-eyed 50s, it was fairly uncommon for the technology itself to be turning on its masters. This idea would gain traction later in the 50s, and especially in the 60s, but in '54, it was unusual.
A cautionary subtext to Gog is the danger of trusting in a supercomputer to manage defenses and a whole base. NOVAC doesn't go bad on its own, as the computer will in The Invisible Boy, Hal in 2001 or Colossus in The Forbin Project. In this movie, it was the nefarious "others" who hacked into NOVAC to make it do the killing, but this just demonstrates the danger. People were getting a little nervous about letting machines take over too much responsibility. We were starting to distrust our creations.
Until Gog, robots were fairly humanoid.
They had two legs, two arms, a torso and a head. Audiences had seen the mechanical Maria in Metropolis ('27), the fedora-wearing metal men in Gene Autrey's Phantom Empire serial ('35). The water-heater-like Republic robot appeared in several rocketman serials. There was the gleaming giant Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51) and the cute left over fedora-dudes in Captain Video ('51). The metal giant in Devil Girl from Mars ('54) was also humaniod, in a chunky way. Gog and Magog were a departure from the stereotype. They were noticeably in-human, which was part of the mood.
Bottom line? Gog seems a bit bland, as far as sci-fi tends to go, but it has a lot in it for fans of 50s sci-fi.
Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, and William Schallert. Directed by Herbert L. Strock.
When two scientists at a top-secret government installation devoted to space research are killed -- in their own test chamber, seemingly by an experiment gone awry -- Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) is sent out from Washington to investigate. Sheppard mixes easily enough with the somewhat eccentric team of scientists, though he always seems in danger of being distracted by the presence of Joanne Merritt (Constance Dowling), who serves as the aide to the project director Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall) but is, in reality, another security agent. Sheppard is as puzzled as anyone else by the seemingly inexplicable series of events overtaking the installation -- properly operating equipment suddenly undergoing lethal malfunctions, and the radar tracking aircraft that aren't there -- until he puts it together with the operations of NOVAC (Nuclear Operated Variable Automatic Computer), the central brain of the complex. But the mystery deepens when he discovers that NOVAC was shut down during one of the "accidents" -- and even the computer's operators can't account fully for the whereabouts of GOG and MAGOG, the two robots under the computer's control.
"...and then without warning, the machine became a frankenstein of steel," says the sensationalist poster text. This is the third story in Ivan Tors' OSI trilogy. His first "Office of Scientific Investigation" story was Magnetic Monster in early 1953. The second was Riders to the Stars in early '54. With Gog the loose trilogy is complete. Unlike the Star Wars trilogy in which the stories build upon each other, each of the three OSI stories are separate tales which have nothing to do with each other. The common thread is the idea of there being a sort of Science FBI agency whose job it is, is to check out the scientifically strange. In that regard, Tors' OSI is a bit like a foreshadowing of the X-Files TV series, but without any of the New Age paranormal focus.
In keeping with the previous two stories, Gog is more of a detective murder mystery movie. Tors was a huge fan of "hard" science, not fanciful fiction fluff, so Gog, like the other two movies, is chock full of reveling in sciencey stuff in an almost geeky way. This reverence for real science keeps things from getting out on shaky limb, as many sci-fi films to. The events are much more plausible, less fantastic.
Synopsis
At a secret underground research facility, far out in the desert, scientists working on preparations for a manned space mission, are getting murdered mysteriously. Two agents from the OSI are dispatched to solve the mystery and keep the super secret space station program on track. The scientists are killed in various ways, mostly through equipment malfunctions. The facility director and the agents suspect sabotage. Small transmitter/receiver boxes are found within equipment in different parts of the facility. They suggest that someone on the outside is transmitting in the "malfunctions" in order to kill off the program's scientists. Occasional alarms indicate some flying high intruder, but nothing is clearly found. One of the base's two robots, named Gog, kills another technician while it's mate, Magog, tries to set up an overload within the base's atomic pile. The OSI agents stop Magog with a flame thrower. Meanwhile, interceptor jets scramble and find the highflying spy jet and destroy it with missiles. Once the trouble is past, the Director announces that they will be launching their prototype space station the next day, despite the sabotage attempts to stop it. The End.
The time spent reveling in techno-geekery has a certain Popular Science charm to it. There's an evident gee-whiz air about space and defense sciences which is fun to see. People were fascinated with things rockety and atomic. For various fun bits, see the Notes section.
Gog oozes Cold War from every frame. First is the base's underground location to make them safe from A-bombs. Next is the mysterious killer trying to stop the space station program. The high-flying mystery plane is "not one of ours." (that leaves: Them, and we all knew who they were.) The space station is to be powered by a solar mirror. Even that benign mirror has sinister possibilities. While demonstrating the mirror, the scientists use it to burn a model of a city. "This could happen...if we're not the first to reach space," says the Director. Space is the next "high ground" to be contested. At the end of the movie, when discussing the launch (despite the sabotage attempt) of the prototype space station, the Director says, "Through it's eye, we'll be able to see everything that goes on upon this tired old earth." The Defense Secretary says, "Nothing will take us by surprise again." An obvious reference to Pearl Harbor.
B-films often re-used props and sets from prior films in order to save on their budgets. Gog, even though shot in Eastman Color, was no exception. Two old prop friends show up in Gog. One is our venerable old friend, the space suits from Destination Moon ('50). Look for the centrifuge scene. The research assistants are dressed in them, and as an added bonus, they wear the all-acrylic fish bowl helmets used in Abbot and Costello Go to Mars ('53). Our second old friend is scene in the radar / security room, (the one with the annoying tuning fork device). Check out the monitor wall. It's been gussied up a bit, but it is the spaceship control panel wall from Catwomen of the Moon and Project Moon Base -- complete with the empty 16mm film reels on the right side. It's fun to see old friends.
B-films often include stock footage of military units, tanks, jets, battleships, etc. to fill things out. Gog is no different, and even commits the common continuity error of showing one type of plane taking off, but a different kind in the air.
What amounts to a small treat amid the usual stock footage of jets, some shots of a rather obscure bit of USAF hardware -- the F-94C Starfire with its straight wings and huge wing tanks. In 1954, the Starfire was one of America's coolest combat jets, yet we hear little about it. The swept-wing F-86 Sabers (which we see taxiing and taking off) were the agile fighter which gained fame over Korea. They're common stock footage stars. The F-94, with its onboard radar (in the nose cone) was deemed too advanced to risk falling into enemy hands. So, it didn't see much action , and therefore little fame. The heavier, yet powerful F-94C (one of the first US jets to have an afterburner) was 1954 America's hottest Interceptor -- designed to stop high flying Soviet bombers. It's blatant cameo appearance in Gog, intercepting the high-flying mystery plane, was a fun little bit of patriotic showing off.
The very name of the movie, Gog, is charged with meaning to American audiences of the mid 50s, though virtually lost on viewers of the 21st century. The names of the two robots, Gog and Magog, come from the Bible. More specifically, from the prophecies of Ezekiel (Chapter 38) and the Book of Revelation (chapter 20). While just who they are (nations? kings?) has been debated for centuries, their role as tools of Satan in the battle of Armageddon is clear. Mainstream American patriotic Christendom had settled on the idea that the Soviet Union was the prophesied "nations from the north" who would join Satan to oppose God. This gives the title of the movie a special Cold War significance. It also puts an interesting spin on the Dr. Zeitman character for having named the two robots in the first place. Since they were tools of the mega-computer NOVAC, what was he saying about NOVAC?
It is interesting that the base's radar could not detect the mystery plane (which was beaming in the 'kill' instructions to NOVAC) because it was made of "fiberglass" which rendered it invisible to radar. Now, fiberglass itself isn't sturdy enough for high-speed jets, and it would take until the 1990s before composite materials advanced to make the dream of a stealth aircraft a reality. Nonetheless, the dream (or nightmare) of stealth aircraft was on-screen in 1954 in Gog.
The super computer, NOVAC, controlled everything on the base. Even though the machines were not really killing scientists on their own, but following human orders from the mystery plane, there was the on-screen depiction of machines having a murderous mind of their own. (all pre-Steven King) In the techno starry-eyed 50s, it was fairly uncommon for the technology itself to be turning on its masters. This idea would gain traction later in the 50s, and especially in the 60s, but in '54, it was unusual.
A cautionary subtext to Gog is the danger of trusting in a supercomputer to manage defenses and a whole base. NOVAC doesn't go bad on its own, as the computer will in The Invisible Boy, Hal in 2001 or Colossus in The Forbin Project. In this movie, it was the nefarious "others" who hacked into NOVAC to make it do the killing, but this just demonstrates the danger. People were getting a little nervous about letting machines take over too much responsibility. We were starting to distrust our creations.
Until Gog, robots were fairly humanoid.
They had two legs, two arms, a torso and a head. Audiences had seen the mechanical Maria in Metropolis ('27), the fedora-wearing metal men in Gene Autrey's Phantom Empire serial ('35). The water-heater-like Republic robot appeared in several rocketman serials. There was the gleaming giant Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51) and the cute left over fedora-dudes in Captain Video ('51). The metal giant in Devil Girl from Mars ('54) was also humaniod, in a chunky way. Gog and Magog were a departure from the stereotype. They were noticeably in-human, which was part of the mood.
Bottom line? Gog seems a bit bland, as far as sci-fi tends to go, but it has a lot in it for fans of 50s sci-fi.
Window Card (14" X 22")
Director Jack Arnold masterfully brought Ray Bradbury's science fiction tale to life in this, Universal's very first 3-D feature film. It was the perfect format for roaring avalanches, hovering helicopters, and zooming space ships, magnifying the effect for mesmerized movie goers.On a beautiful evening in Sand Rock, Arizona amateur astronomer John Putnam and his girlfriend Ellen Fields see a fiery ball fall from the sky into the desert. They investigate and John sees a spacecraft of sorts and is convinced something is inside. A rockfall buries the ship before any one else can see it and now no one will believe him. He becomes the butt of local jokes when the newspapers pick up the story and Sheriff Matt Warren thinks he's mad. When two locals, Frank Daylon and his employee George, begin to act strangely John is convinced that they have been taken over by an alien being.
This collaboration between science fiction giant Ray Bradbury and director Jack Arnold remains one of the most intelligent and revered science fiction films of the last century. After a spaceship crashes near a sleepy desert village, the townsfolk begin to act strangely and a local astronomer (Richard Carlson) and his fiancee (Barbara Rush) investigate. This otherworldly one sheet features the classic "giant eye" imagery associated with the film and attempts to depict the "3-D" effect.
It came... (ICFOS) is one of those lesser known 50s sci fi films which really deserves to be better known. On a surface level, ICFOS has good pacing. Director Jack Arnold (who would direct several other big 50s sci fi films) does a good job of keeping up the intrigue and tension. Even when the movie is over, the overall effect is more thoughtful than most B-films. It helps that the screenplay is an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "The Meteor." All this helps ICFOS rise above the average 50s B movie.
ICFOS was filmed for the 3D, which was all the rage in the early 50s, but works perfectly well in 2D. The overall story is step up too, rising above the typical Cold War cautionary tale. Instead, it's an introspective about mankind, both our strengths and weaknesses when facing the unknown. This is rather cerebral stuff for a B-film.
Plot Synopsis
A meteor crashes in the desert night outside of Sand Rock, Arizona. Astronomer John Putnam (played by Richard Carlson) investigates. In the impact crater, he finds sees the hull of a ship with its hatch open. No one believes him, because a landslide covered the hull. Putnam discovers that various town folk have been "taken over" by the aliens. A couple of the possessed folk tell Putnam that they mean no harm. The sheriff eventually believes him when spouses also report odd behaviors. The aliens capture Putnam's fiancee, Ellen, which provokes the sheriff into raising a posse to confront the aliens. Putnam gets to the crash site first and confronts the aliens in the abandoned mine. They say they mean no harm, but crashed on earth by mistake and just want to repair their ship and leave. Putnam convinces the aliens that only by releasing the real townsfolk will the posse by appeased. They do, and it works. The aliens finish repairs to their ship and fly off in a shower of sparks.
Seeing some familiar faces is fun. Richard Carlson starred in Magnetic Monster is great as the stalwart but misunderstood hero. Barbara Rush who starred in When World's Collide plays Ellen very well. She's no mere cheesecake. Russell Johnson, who will feature in many future sci-fi films, plays George, the first person "possessed" by the aliens. All of the actors do a good job.
Arnold introduced a fun first in ICFOS: the alien point of view -- this was made unmistakable by our looking through faintly reflected moist cycloptic eye and oddly Darth Vadar-like breathing sounds. At other times, we whisk along the telephone wires watching the cars of people about to be confronted by the aliens. (apparently, they can 'transmit' themselves) This is a stroke of genius for the story line. It prevents the audience from forming the usual "us versus them" mindset typical of monster movies, such as in The Thing ('51).
Also fun is the strengthening of the alien-possessed-person plot device. We saw it first in The Man from Planet X ('51) in a similar capacity of people helping the alien work on his ship. Those folks weren't really possessed so much as under mind control. In Invaders from Mars('53), people were also taken over to help the aliens. In ICFOS, the possessed are actually duplicates, not the originals under remote control. This pushes the concept into new ground.
Un-human aliens -- The aliens in ICFOS look a little hokey when you get a good look at them, but that's not important.
This is a B-film, after all. What's notable is that the aliens are very different. They're not humanoid. The Man from Planet X was small, but still a humanoid shape. The Thing (1951) was big, but still a biped with a head, arms, torso, etc.. The martian in Invaders from Mars was less humanoid, being a big head with six little tentacles, but it still had a very human face. ICFOS may have the first radically non-humanoid alien life forms. They were big, potato-like creatures with one large eye and wispy frond-like appendages. This was a significant moment in sci-fi movie history. Aliens could be totally weird and not just people dressed up in hoodies with lighting bolt logos on their chests.
The Message -- ICFOS has a definite moral to the story. Mankind is not all that grown up and sophisticated. The alien tells Putnam, ""Let us stay apart, the people of your world and ours. If we come together, there will only be destruction." This is more true for the aliens as at least two of them die. (fake-Frank and fake-Ellen), but interestingly, no humans are actually harmed. Putnam later says to the sheriff for why the aliens don't show themselves. "They don't trust us...because what we don't understand we want to destroy. That's why they hide." Message: mankind isn't mature enough for the stars. Yet the tone isn't too pessimistic. As the crowd watch the ship fly away in a shower of sparks, Putnam says, ""Well, they've gone. "it wasn't the right time for us to meet....they'll be back."
Starring Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, Than Wyenn, Thomas Browne Henry, Richard Benedict, James Seay, John Close, and Don C. Harvey. Directed by Bert I. Gordon.
This is the sort of film that producer/director Bert I. Gordon would become famous (or infamous) for. B.I.G. liked playing with relative size, making his antagonist(s) larger than life. The Beginning of the End (BotE) is an obvious rehash of Them! ('54) with radiation-induced giant bugs, but substituting grasshoppers for ants. Instead of menacing Los Angeles, these giant bugs go for Chicago. BotE is a cheaper copy in many ways, but still found a ready audience in the mid 50s. Some better-than-B actors helped keep BotE from foundering completely. Peter Graves is the male lead. He saved Killers from Space ('53) and It Conquered The World ('56) from total loser-dom. Peggie Castle was the female lead in Invasion USA. Morris Ankrum, veteran B-sci-fi actor, once again plays the stern military man as he had in Rocketship XM ('50), Invaders From Mars ('53) and others yet to come.
Plot Synopsis
People in rural Illinois are starting to disappear. Then a whole town of 150 is wiped out. Audrey (Castle) is a reporter who pushes for the story. Radiation might be the culprit, but no one has any nuclear material. She interviews Ed, an agricultural scientist (Graves), who has been growing giant tomatoes with the help of radiation. The isotopes are safely locked up, however. They travel to the site of a wiped out warehouse which stored tons of wheat. There, a giant grasshopper eats one of the scientists. Ordinary grasshoppers had munched on the giant tomatoes and so grew giant too. Hundreds of them mass in the woods. A National Guard unit's small arms can't stop them. They march towards Chicago, destroying Peoria and a couple others en route. The army's best tanks can't stop them. Panic ensues. Chicago is evacuated. The giant grasshoppers infest the Chicago area, but go semi-dormant during a cool night. Top brass in Washington plan bomb Chicago with an a-bomb to kill them while they're in one place. Ed and Audrey think they can find a sound that will attract the giants. If they could lure them into Lake Michigan, they'd all drown. They capture a live giant and bring it to the lab for tests. None of the sounds affect it. Time is almost out when they do find a frequency that works. Speakers are set up on one of Chicago's towers, to attract all the outlying bugs to downtown. Then a boat in the lake with a speaker will attract them to their doom. The plan works, though with a protracted fighting scene. In the end, they all drown. Chicago is saved. The End.
The giant bug (or other critter) sub-genre was only just getting started. We had ants in Them! and a spider in Tarantula. There will be many more to come, but this was an early one yet. The first half of the film, with it's mystery, is much better than the latter half. The relentless threat to a major city harkens to HG Wells' War of the Worlds. After that, it gets lame, but Graves and Ankrum don't disappoint.
While mostly an atomic radiation cautionary tale, there is the basic story line of a relentless force moving upon an American city. Panic, evacuation, a-bombs. It's all familiar Cold War material.
Popular Science magazines were bright with the prospect of what radiation-mutated crops might do for mankind. This is exactly what Ed was trying to do. As with all good naive scientists, he failed to see the bigger picture. Pests eat crops. Giant crops can create giant pests. The moral behind the film is that messing around with radiation can go horribly wrong.
Peggie Castle plays an obviously tough and independent reporter. She'd covered the destruction in WWII and Korea, written respected books and never once screamed like a girl. (she did scream when Frank was eaten, but it was more shock and a call for help than silly panic). Towards the end of the movie, she has less to do, and does lean in the chest of hero Ed (Graves), but she's on screen as more of an equal than a date.
A teen couple are necking on Lover's Lane. They get eaten. A pretty woman in only a towel is primping in her hotel room (back to the window). She gets eaten. Such scenes suggest to some viewers that Bert was giving subtle messages that being sexual is dangerous -- avoid it! This seems too flat. Instead, you could see the necking couple and the sexy woman as representing a very personal and vulnerable aspect of mankind. Intimate moments feel very vulnerable. Our outward mask of civilization is off. Like the lady in the hotel room, we're dressed in only a towel (not full battle gear). Attacks at those moments enhance the mood of vulnerability. It's not a subtle "don't neck" message (like anyone would ever listen to such a message anyhow).
One of the most memorable "special effects" of BotE is how regular grasshoppers (albeit big ones) are set loose to walk among or climb on photos of Chicago. As cheap as it is, this works pretty well. Note how they had cutouts of a line of busses from the same photo, set in front of the building plane, so grasshoppers could walk between them. Also note one scene where the set-back of the building is cut separately, so the grasshoppers can hang their legs over the parapet. Cheap as they are, these effects work better than the poorly done superimposition (green screen), which gets overused.
If you're a stock footage fan, you'll find a lot to love in BotE. Tanks on the road, Troops, crowds panicking. In fact, if you watch closely, you'll see one scene lifted from The Day The Earth Stood Still ('51).
The General Hanson character says the Air Force is sending a B-52 (then America's new super plane) with an A-bomb. When they show a clip of footage, it's actually a propeller-powered B-36, the old-tech behemoth the B-52 were designed to replace. Perhaps stock footage of the B-52, America's high-tech nuclear bomber, then operational for only a couple years, was not yet available, or deemed too sensitive to inclusion in B-movies.
One of the things that help a big bug movie work, is that the critter is somewhat fearful even when small. Ants are relentless (fire ants, army ants), many people are afraid of spiders, and later movies' scorpions and a mantis -- which are creepy looking, will have their traits magnified. But grasshoppers? They just don't inspire fear. BotE fights an uphill battle in trying to make them fearsome.
BotE makes good use of off-screen events. We are told the town of Ludlow was wiped out. All we see are stock clips of tornado damage. We only read of Peoria's destruction in a telegram. When anyone is 'eaten' by a giant grasshopper, we only see the giant lunge, the victim cower, then cut away. Good for budgets, but also kinder to audiences.
Despite the poster (in which the grasshoppers have curious teeth and fangs), they do not pick up anyone. In fact, they eat everyone quite fairly. One is implied to have eaten the lady in the towel, however, so there is at least a tiny delivery on what the poster promises.
Bottom line? BotE is another in the big bug sub-genre. If you like that sort, you'll likely gloss over the low budget short cuts. As a story, it's pretty conventional and doesn't break any new ground.
By 1957, producer/director Bert I. Gordon had already tackled giant monsters of all sorts with films like KING DINOSAUR and THE CYCLOPS. BEGINNING OF THE END was Mr. BIG's first nod to giant insects (in this case, giant grasshoppers), a subject he would unleash on us again in THE SPIDER (1958) and EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977). The hero of the film is the perfectly cast Peter Graves in his fourth and final 50s sci-fi thriller (the others were RED PLANET MARS, KILLERS FROM SPACE and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD).
Respected female journalist Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle, BACK FROM THE DEAD) drives to Ludlow, Illinois with reports that some 150 residents are missing. She then visits Doctor Ed Wainright (Graves), a young scientist experimenting with vegetables in the hopes that a busty reporter will do a story on him. Visiting the sight of a recent disaster, the doc and the reporter are confronted with humongous noisy locusts, and a silly deaf/mute character is stampeded to death. Meanwhile, the military is brought in (reinforced with ample stock footage), trying to decide how to destroy the buggers without having to set off an atom bomb on Chicago.
This is basically Mr. BIG's imitation of the bigger-budgeted THEM, and the results are a respectable 73 minutes. Sure, using real grasshoppers against rear-projection effects or crawling on a photograph of a building is not terribly convincing, but it still has a certain nostalgic charm to it. Castle does a fine job as the heroine, and Morris Ankrum (who played a general, doctor or cop in nearly every 50s sci-fi flick) and Thomas Browne Henry (BLOOD OF DRACULA, THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) represent the military. And who doesn't like Peter Graves? He was even likable as the Nazi spy in STALAG 17! The memorable music is by none other than Albert Glasser.
Having already received a DVD release through Rhino's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" series, it was a big surprise when Image Entertainment announced this title. But Image's version puts the previous one to shame and makes it obsolete, going back to the original camera negative for the transfer. BEGINNING TO THE END now looks crisp and clean, and the black and white image has intense detail. It's also Anamorphic and wonderfully letterboxed in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio, thankfully covering previous open matte shots of the insects climbing off the peaks of photographed buildings. The audio is also excellent.
Also included is a full running commentary, moderated by producer/director Bruce Kimmel (THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL) that features Bert's ex-wife Flora (who assisted in the special effects) and daughter Susan (who appeared in some of his films, but not this one). The commentary is an OK listen, and although Kimmel is enthusiastic enough, there is a lack of research in the proceedings (Peggy Castle is discussed as if she's still living but she passed away 30 years ago). Not too much is learned from the two ladies (other then the "I" in Gordon's name stands for "Ira" and that only male grasshoppers were used in the film), but they still have a few nice anecdotes to tell. But one has to wonder why the alive and well Bert I. Gordon can't be coaxed into doing one of these things!
Starring Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, Than Wyenn, Thomas Browne Henry, Richard Benedict, James Seay, John Close, and Don C. Harvey. Directed by Bert I. Gordon.
This is the sort of film that producer/director Bert I. Gordon would become famous (or infamous) for. B.I.G. liked playing with relative size, making his antagonist(s) larger than life. The Beginning of the End (BotE) is an obvious rehash of Them! ('54) with radiation-induced giant bugs, but substituting grasshoppers for ants. Instead of menacing Los Angeles, these giant bugs go for Chicago. BotE is a cheaper copy in many ways, but still found a ready audience in the mid 50s. Some better-than-B actors helped keep BotE from foundering completely. Peter Graves is the male lead. He saved Killers from Space ('53) and It Conquered The World ('56) from total loser-dom. Peggie Castle was the female lead in Invasion USA. Morris Ankrum, veteran B-sci-fi actor, once again plays the stern military man as he had in Rocketship XM ('50), Invaders From Mars ('53) and others yet to come.
Plot Synopsis
People in rural Illinois are starting to disappear. Then a whole town of 150 is wiped out. Audrey (Castle) is a reporter who pushes for the story. Radiation might be the culprit, but no one has any nuclear material. She interviews Ed, an agricultural scientist (Graves), who has been growing giant tomatoes with the help of radiation. The isotopes are safely locked up, however. They travel to the site of a wiped out warehouse which stored tons of wheat. There, a giant grasshopper eats one of the scientists. Ordinary grasshoppers had munched on the giant tomatoes and so grew giant too. Hundreds of them mass in the woods. A National Guard unit's small arms can't stop them. They march towards Chicago, destroying Peoria and a couple others en route. The army's best tanks can't stop them. Panic ensues. Chicago is evacuated. The giant grasshoppers infest the Chicago area, but go semi-dormant during a cool night. Top brass in Washington plan bomb Chicago with an a-bomb to kill them while they're in one place. Ed and Audrey think they can find a sound that will attract the giants. If they could lure them into Lake Michigan, they'd all drown. They capture a live giant and bring it to the lab for tests. None of the sounds affect it. Time is almost out when they do find a frequency that works. Speakers are set up on one of Chicago's towers, to attract all the outlying bugs to downtown. Then a boat in the lake with a speaker will attract them to their doom. The plan works, though with a protracted fighting scene. In the end, they all drown. Chicago is saved. The End.
The giant bug (or other critter) sub-genre was only just getting started. We had ants in Them! and a spider in Tarantula. There will be many more to come, but this was an early one yet. The first half of the film, with it's mystery, is much better than the latter half. The relentless threat to a major city harkens to HG Wells' War of the Worlds. After that, it gets lame, but Graves and Ankrum don't disappoint.
While mostly an atomic radiation cautionary tale, there is the basic story line of a relentless force moving upon an American city. Panic, evacuation, a-bombs. It's all familiar Cold War material.
Popular Science magazines were bright with the prospect of what radiation-mutated crops might do for mankind. This is exactly what Ed was trying to do. As with all good naive scientists, he failed to see the bigger picture. Pests eat crops. Giant crops can create giant pests. The moral behind the film is that messing around with radiation can go horribly wrong.
Peggie Castle plays an obviously tough and independent reporter. She'd covered the destruction in WWII and Korea, written respected books and never once screamed like a girl. (she did scream when Frank was eaten, but it was more shock and a call for help than silly panic). Towards the end of the movie, she has less to do, and does lean in the chest of hero Ed (Graves), but she's on screen as more of an equal than a date.
A teen couple are necking on Lover's Lane. They get eaten. A pretty woman in only a towel is primping in her hotel room (back to the window). She gets eaten. Such scenes suggest to some viewers that Bert was giving subtle messages that being sexual is dangerous -- avoid it! This seems too flat. Instead, you could see the necking couple and the sexy woman as representing a very personal and vulnerable aspect of mankind. Intimate moments feel very vulnerable. Our outward mask of civilization is off. Like the lady in the hotel room, we're dressed in only a towel (not full battle gear). Attacks at those moments enhance the mood of vulnerability. It's not a subtle "don't neck" message (like anyone would ever listen to such a message anyhow).
One of the most memorable "special effects" of BotE is how regular grasshoppers (albeit big ones) are set loose to walk among or climb on photos of Chicago. As cheap as it is, this works pretty well. Note how they had cutouts of a line of busses from the same photo, set in front of the building plane, so grasshoppers could walk between them. Also note one scene where the set-back of the building is cut separately, so the grasshoppers can hang their legs over the parapet. Cheap as they are, these effects work better than the poorly done superimposition (green screen), which gets overused.
If you're a stock footage fan, you'll find a lot to love in BotE. Tanks on the road, Troops, crowds panicking. In fact, if you watch closely, you'll see one scene lifted from The Day The Earth Stood Still ('51).
The General Hanson character says the Air Force is sending a B-52 (then America's new super plane) with an A-bomb. When they show a clip of footage, it's actually a propeller-powered B-36, the old-tech behemoth the B-52 were designed to replace. Perhaps stock footage of the B-52, America's high-tech nuclear bomber, then operational for only a couple years, was not yet available, or deemed too sensitive to inclusion in B-movies.
One of the things that help a big bug movie work, is that the critter is somewhat fearful even when small. Ants are relentless (fire ants, army ants), many people are afraid of spiders, and later movies' scorpions and a mantis -- which are creepy looking, will have their traits magnified. But grasshoppers? They just don't inspire fear. BotE fights an uphill battle in trying to make them fearsome.
BotE makes good use of off-screen events. We are told the town of Ludlow was wiped out. All we see are stock clips of tornado damage. We only read of Peoria's destruction in a telegram. When anyone is 'eaten' by a giant grasshopper, we only see the giant lunge, the victim cower, then cut away. Good for budgets, but also kinder to audiences.
Despite the poster (in which the grasshoppers have curious teeth and fangs), they do not pick up anyone. In fact, they eat everyone quite fairly. One is implied to have eaten the lady in the towel, however, so there is at least a tiny delivery on what the poster promises.
Bottom line? BotE is another in the big bug sub-genre. If you like that sort, you'll likely gloss over the low budget short cuts. As a story, it's pretty conventional and doesn't break any new ground.
By 1957, producer/director Bert I. Gordon had already tackled giant monsters of all sorts with films like KING DINOSAUR and THE CYCLOPS. BEGINNING OF THE END was Mr. BIG's first nod to giant insects (in this case, giant grasshoppers), a subject he would unleash on us again in THE SPIDER (1958) and EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977). The hero of the film is the perfectly cast Peter Graves in his fourth and final 50s sci-fi thriller (the others were RED PLANET MARS, KILLERS FROM SPACE and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD).
Respected female journalist Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle, BACK FROM THE DEAD) drives to Ludlow, Illinois with reports that some 150 residents are missing. She then visits Doctor Ed Wainright (Graves), a young scientist experimenting with vegetables in the hopes that a busty reporter will do a story on him. Visiting the sight of a recent disaster, the doc and the reporter are confronted with humongous noisy locusts, and a silly deaf/mute character is stampeded to death. Meanwhile, the military is brought in (reinforced with ample stock footage), trying to decide how to destroy the buggers without having to set off an atom bomb on Chicago.
This is basically Mr. BIG's imitation of the bigger-budgeted THEM, and the results are a respectable 73 minutes. Sure, using real grasshoppers against rear-projection effects or crawling on a photograph of a building is not terribly convincing, but it still has a certain nostalgic charm to it. Castle does a fine job as the heroine, and Morris Ankrum (who played a general, doctor or cop in nearly every 50s sci-fi flick) and Thomas Browne Henry (BLOOD OF DRACULA, THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) represent the military. And who doesn't like Peter Graves? He was even likable as the Nazi spy in STALAG 17! The memorable music is by none other than Albert Glasser.
Having already received a DVD release through Rhino's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" series, it was a big surprise when Image Entertainment announced this title. But Image's version puts the previous one to shame and makes it obsolete, going back to the original camera negative for the transfer. BEGINNING TO THE END now looks crisp and clean, and the black and white image has intense detail. It's also Anamorphic and wonderfully letterboxed in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio, thankfully covering previous open matte shots of the insects climbing off the peaks of photographed buildings. The audio is also excellent.
Also included is a full running commentary, moderated by producer/director Bruce Kimmel (THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL) that features Bert's ex-wife Flora (who assisted in the special effects) and daughter Susan (who appeared in some of his films, but not this one). The commentary is an OK listen, and although Kimmel is enthusiastic enough, there is a lack of research in the proceedings (Peggy Castle is discussed as if she's still living but she passed away 30 years ago). Not too much is learned from the two ladies (other then the "I" in Gordon's name stands for "Ira" and that only male grasshoppers were used in the film), but they still have a few nice anecdotes to tell. But one has to wonder why the alive and well Bert I. Gordon can't be coaxed into doing one of these things!
Starring Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, Than Wyenn, Thomas Browne Henry, Richard Benedict, James Seay, John Close, and Don C. Harvey. Directed by Bert I. Gordon.
This is the sort of film that producer/director Bert I. Gordon would become famous (or infamous) for. B.I.G. liked playing with relative size, making his antagonist(s) larger than life. The Beginning of the End (BotE) is an obvious rehash of Them! ('54) with radiation-induced giant bugs, but substituting grasshoppers for ants. Instead of menacing Los Angeles, these giant bugs go for Chicago. BotE is a cheaper copy in many ways, but still found a ready audience in the mid 50s. Some better-than-B actors helped keep BotE from foundering completely. Peter Graves is the male lead. He saved Killers from Space ('53) and It Conquered The World ('56) from total loser-dom. Peggie Castle was the female lead in Invasion USA. Morris Ankrum, veteran B-sci-fi actor, once again plays the stern military man as he had in Rocketship XM ('50), Invaders From Mars ('53) and others yet to come.
Plot Synopsis
People in rural Illinois are starting to disappear. Then a whole town of 150 is wiped out. Audrey (Castle) is a reporter who pushes for the story. Radiation might be the culprit, but no one has any nuclear material. She interviews Ed, an agricultural scientist (Graves), who has been growing giant tomatoes with the help of radiation. The isotopes are safely locked up, however. They travel to the site of a wiped out warehouse which stored tons of wheat. There, a giant grasshopper eats one of the scientists. Ordinary grasshoppers had munched on the giant tomatoes and so grew giant too. Hundreds of them mass in the woods. A National Guard unit's small arms can't stop them. They march towards Chicago, destroying Peoria and a couple others en route. The army's best tanks can't stop them. Panic ensues. Chicago is evacuated. The giant grasshoppers infest the Chicago area, but go semi-dormant during a cool night. Top brass in Washington plan bomb Chicago with an a-bomb to kill them while they're in one place. Ed and Audrey think they can find a sound that will attract the giants. If they could lure them into Lake Michigan, they'd all drown. They capture a live giant and bring it to the lab for tests. None of the sounds affect it. Time is almost out when they do find a frequency that works. Speakers are set up on one of Chicago's towers, to attract all the outlying bugs to downtown. Then a boat in the lake with a speaker will attract them to their doom. The plan works, though with a protracted fighting scene. In the end, they all drown. Chicago is saved. The End.
The giant bug (or other critter) sub-genre was only just getting started. We had ants in Them! and a spider in Tarantula. There will be many more to come, but this was an early one yet. The first half of the film, with it's mystery, is much better than the latter half. The relentless threat to a major city harkens to HG Wells' War of the Worlds. After that, it gets lame, but Graves and Ankrum don't disappoint.
While mostly an atomic radiation cautionary tale, there is the basic story line of a relentless force moving upon an American city. Panic, evacuation, a-bombs. It's all familiar Cold War material.
Popular Science magazines were bright with the prospect of what radiation-mutated crops might do for mankind. This is exactly what Ed was trying to do. As with all good naive scientists, he failed to see the bigger picture. Pests eat crops. Giant crops can create giant pests. The moral behind the film is that messing around with radiation can go horribly wrong.
Peggie Castle plays an obviously tough and independent reporter. She'd covered the destruction in WWII and Korea, written respected books and never once screamed like a girl. (she did scream when Frank was eaten, but it was more shock and a call for help than silly panic). Towards the end of the movie, she has less to do, and does lean in the chest of hero Ed (Graves), but she's on screen as more of an equal than a date.
A teen couple are necking on Lover's Lane. They get eaten. A pretty woman in only a towel is primping in her hotel room (back to the window). She gets eaten. Such scenes suggest to some viewers that Bert was giving subtle messages that being sexual is dangerous -- avoid it! This seems too flat. Instead, you could see the necking couple and the sexy woman as representing a very personal and vulnerable aspect of mankind. Intimate moments feel very vulnerable. Our outward mask of civilization is off. Like the lady in the hotel room, we're dressed in only a towel (not full battle gear). Attacks at those moments enhance the mood of vulnerability. It's not a subtle "don't neck" message (like anyone would ever listen to such a message anyhow).
One of the most memorable "special effects" of BotE is how regular grasshoppers (albeit big ones) are set loose to walk among or climb on photos of Chicago. As cheap as it is, this works pretty well. Note how they had cutouts of a line of busses from the same photo, set in front of the building plane, so grasshoppers could walk between them. Also note one scene where the set-back of the building is cut separately, so the grasshoppers can hang their legs over the parapet. Cheap as they are, these effects work better than the poorly done superimposition (green screen), which gets overused.
If you're a stock footage fan, you'll find a lot to love in BotE. Tanks on the road, Troops, crowds panicking. In fact, if you watch closely, you'll see one scene lifted from The Day The Earth Stood Still ('51).
The General Hanson character says the Air Force is sending a B-52 (then America's new super plane) with an A-bomb. When they show a clip of footage, it's actually a propeller-powered B-36, the old-tech behemoth the B-52 were designed to replace. Perhaps stock footage of the B-52, America's high-tech nuclear bomber, then operational for only a couple years, was not yet available, or deemed too sensitive to inclusion in B-movies.
One of the things that help a big bug movie work, is that the critter is somewhat fearful even when small. Ants are relentless (fire ants, army ants), many people are afraid of spiders, and later movies' scorpions and a mantis -- which are creepy looking, will have their traits magnified. But grasshoppers? They just don't inspire fear. BotE fights an uphill battle in trying to make them fearsome.
BotE makes good use of off-screen events. We are told the town of Ludlow was wiped out. All we see are stock clips of tornado damage. We only read of Peoria's destruction in a telegram. When anyone is 'eaten' by a giant grasshopper, we only see the giant lunge, the victim cower, then cut away. Good for budgets, but also kinder to audiences.
Despite the poster (in which the grasshoppers have curious teeth and fangs), they do not pick up anyone. In fact, they eat everyone quite fairly. One is implied to have eaten the lady in the towel, however, so there is at least a tiny delivery on what the poster promises.
Bottom line? BotE is another in the big bug sub-genre. If you like that sort, you'll likely gloss over the low budget short cuts. As a story, it's pretty conventional and doesn't break any new ground.
By 1957, producer/director Bert I. Gordon had already tackled giant monsters of all sorts with films like KING DINOSAUR and THE CYCLOPS. BEGINNING OF THE END was Mr. BIG's first nod to giant insects (in this case, giant grasshoppers), a subject he would unleash on us again in THE SPIDER (1958) and EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977). The hero of the film is the perfectly cast Peter Graves in his fourth and final 50s sci-fi thriller (the others were RED PLANET MARS, KILLERS FROM SPACE and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD).
Respected female journalist Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle, BACK FROM THE DEAD) drives to Ludlow, Illinois with reports that some 150 residents are missing. She then visits Doctor Ed Wainright (Graves), a young scientist experimenting with vegetables in the hopes that a busty reporter will do a story on him. Visiting the sight of a recent disaster, the doc and the reporter are confronted with humongous noisy locusts, and a silly deaf/mute character is stampeded to death. Meanwhile, the military is brought in (reinforced with ample stock footage), trying to decide how to destroy the buggers without having to set off an atom bomb on Chicago.
This is basically Mr. BIG's imitation of the bigger-budgeted THEM, and the results are a respectable 73 minutes. Sure, using real grasshoppers against rear-projection effects or crawling on a photograph of a building is not terribly convincing, but it still has a certain nostalgic charm to it. Castle does a fine job as the heroine, and Morris Ankrum (who played a general, doctor or cop in nearly every 50s sci-fi flick) and Thomas Browne Henry (BLOOD OF DRACULA, THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) represent the military. And who doesn't like Peter Graves? He was even likable as the Nazi spy in STALAG 17! The memorable music is by none other than Albert Glasser.
Having already received a DVD release through Rhino's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" series, it was a big surprise when Image Entertainment announced this title. But Image's version puts the previous one to shame and makes it obsolete, going back to the original camera negative for the transfer. BEGINNING TO THE END now looks crisp and clean, and the black and white image has intense detail. It's also Anamorphic and wonderfully letterboxed in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio, thankfully covering previous open matte shots of the insects climbing off the peaks of photographed buildings. The audio is also excellent.
Also included is a full running commentary, moderated by producer/director Bruce Kimmel (THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL) that features Bert's ex-wife Flora (who assisted in the special effects) and daughter Susan (who appeared in some of his films, but not this one). The commentary is an OK listen, and although Kimmel is enthusiastic enough, there is a lack of research in the proceedings (Peggy Castle is discussed as if she's still living but she passed away 30 years ago). Not too much is learned from the two ladies (other then the "I" in Gordon's name stands for "Ira" and that only male grasshoppers were used in the film), but they still have a few nice anecdotes to tell. But one has to wonder why the alive and well Bert I. Gordon can't be coaxed into doing one of these things!
Starring Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, Than Wyenn, Thomas Browne Henry, Richard Benedict, James Seay, John Close, and Don C. Harvey. Directed by Bert I. Gordon.
This is the sort of film that producer/director Bert I. Gordon would become famous (or infamous) for. B.I.G. liked playing with relative size, making his antagonist(s) larger than life. The Beginning of the End (BotE) is an obvious rehash of Them! ('54) with radiation-induced giant bugs, but substituting grasshoppers for ants. Instead of menacing Los Angeles, these giant bugs go for Chicago. BotE is a cheaper copy in many ways, but still found a ready audience in the mid 50s. Some better-than-B actors helped keep BotE from foundering completely. Peter Graves is the male lead. He saved Killers from Space ('53) and It Conquered The World ('56) from total loser-dom. Peggie Castle was the female lead in Invasion USA. Morris Ankrum, veteran B-sci-fi actor, once again plays the stern military man as he had in Rocketship XM ('50), Invaders From Mars ('53) and others yet to come.
Plot Synopsis
People in rural Illinois are starting to disappear. Then a whole town of 150 is wiped out. Audrey (Castle) is a reporter who pushes for the story. Radiation might be the culprit, but no one has any nuclear material. She interviews Ed, an agricultural scientist (Graves), who has been growing giant tomatoes with the help of radiation. The isotopes are safely locked up, however. They travel to the site of a wiped out warehouse which stored tons of wheat. There, a giant grasshopper eats one of the scientists. Ordinary grasshoppers had munched on the giant tomatoes and so grew giant too. Hundreds of them mass in the woods. A National Guard unit's small arms can't stop them. They march towards Chicago, destroying Peoria and a couple others en route. The army's best tanks can't stop them. Panic ensues. Chicago is evacuated. The giant grasshoppers infest the Chicago area, but go semi-dormant during a cool night. Top brass in Washington plan bomb Chicago with an a-bomb to kill them while they're in one place. Ed and Audrey think they can find a sound that will attract the giants. If they could lure them into Lake Michigan, they'd all drown. They capture a live giant and bring it to the lab for tests. None of the sounds affect it. Time is almost out when they do find a frequency that works. Speakers are set up on one of Chicago's towers, to attract all the outlying bugs to downtown. Then a boat in the lake with a speaker will attract them to their doom. The plan works, though with a protracted fighting scene. In the end, they all drown. Chicago is saved. The End.
The giant bug (or other critter) sub-genre was only just getting started. We had ants in Them! and a spider in Tarantula. There will be many more to come, but this was an early one yet. The first half of the film, with it's mystery, is much better than the latter half. The relentless threat to a major city harkens to HG Wells' War of the Worlds. After that, it gets lame, but Graves and Ankrum don't disappoint.
While mostly an atomic radiation cautionary tale, there is the basic story line of a relentless force moving upon an American city. Panic, evacuation, a-bombs. It's all familiar Cold War material.
Popular Science magazines were bright with the prospect of what radiation-mutated crops might do for mankind. This is exactly what Ed was trying to do. As with all good naive scientists, he failed to see the bigger picture. Pests eat crops. Giant crops can create giant pests. The moral behind the film is that messing around with radiation can go horribly wrong.
Peggie Castle plays an obviously tough and independent reporter. She'd covered the destruction in WWII and Korea, written respected books and never once screamed like a girl. (she did scream when Frank was eaten, but it was more shock and a call for help than silly panic). Towards the end of the movie, she has less to do, and does lean in the chest of hero Ed (Graves), but she's on screen as more of an equal than a date.
A teen couple are necking on Lover's Lane. They get eaten. A pretty woman in only a towel is primping in her hotel room (back to the window). She gets eaten. Such scenes suggest to some viewers that Bert was giving subtle messages that being sexual is dangerous -- avoid it! This seems too flat. Instead, you could see the necking couple and the sexy woman as representing a very personal and vulnerable aspect of mankind. Intimate moments feel very vulnerable. Our outward mask of civilization is off. Like the lady in the hotel room, we're dressed in only a towel (not full battle gear). Attacks at those moments enhance the mood of vulnerability. It's not a subtle "don't neck" message (like anyone would ever listen to such a message anyhow).
One of the most memorable "special effects" of BotE is how regular grasshoppers (albeit big ones) are set loose to walk among or climb on photos of Chicago. As cheap as it is, this works pretty well. Note how they had cutouts of a line of busses from the same photo, set in front of the building plane, so grasshoppers could walk between them. Also note one scene where the set-back of the building is cut separately, so the grasshoppers can hang their legs over the parapet. Cheap as they are, these effects work better than the poorly done superimposition (green screen), which gets overused.
If you're a stock footage fan, you'll find a lot to love in BotE. Tanks on the road, Troops, crowds panicking. In fact, if you watch closely, you'll see one scene lifted from The Day The Earth Stood Still ('51).
The General Hanson character says the Air Force is sending a B-52 (then America's new super plane) with an A-bomb. When they show a clip of footage, it's actually a propeller-powered B-36, the old-tech behemoth the B-52 were designed to replace. Perhaps stock footage of the B-52, America's high-tech nuclear bomber, then operational for only a couple years, was not yet available, or deemed too sensitive to inclusion in B-movies.
One of the things that help a big bug movie work, is that the critter is somewhat fearful even when small. Ants are relentless (fire ants, army ants), many people are afraid of spiders, and later movies' scorpions and a mantis -- which are creepy looking, will have their traits magnified. But grasshoppers? They just don't inspire fear. BotE fights an uphill battle in trying to make them fearsome.
BotE makes good use of off-screen events. We are told the town of Ludlow was wiped out. All we see are stock clips of tornado damage. We only read of Peoria's destruction in a telegram. When anyone is 'eaten' by a giant grasshopper, we only see the giant lunge, the victim cower, then cut away. Good for budgets, but also kinder to audiences.
Despite the poster (in which the grasshoppers have curious teeth and fangs), they do not pick up anyone. In fact, they eat everyone quite fairly. One is implied to have eaten the lady in the towel, however, so there is at least a tiny delivery on what the poster promises.
Bottom line? BotE is another in the big bug sub-genre. If you like that sort, you'll likely gloss over the low budget short cuts. As a story, it's pretty conventional and doesn't break any new ground.
By 1957, producer/director Bert I. Gordon had already tackled giant monsters of all sorts with films like KING DINOSAUR and THE CYCLOPS. BEGINNING OF THE END was Mr. BIG's first nod to giant insects (in this case, giant grasshoppers), a subject he would unleash on us again in THE SPIDER (1958) and EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977). The hero of the film is the perfectly cast Peter Graves in his fourth and final 50s sci-fi thriller (the others were RED PLANET MARS, KILLERS FROM SPACE and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD).
Respected female journalist Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle, BACK FROM THE DEAD) drives to Ludlow, Illinois with reports that some 150 residents are missing. She then visits Doctor Ed Wainright (Graves), a young scientist experimenting with vegetables in the hopes that a busty reporter will do a story on him. Visiting the sight of a recent disaster, the doc and the reporter are confronted with humongous noisy locusts, and a silly deaf/mute character is stampeded to death. Meanwhile, the military is brought in (reinforced with ample stock footage), trying to decide how to destroy the buggers without having to set off an atom bomb on Chicago.
This is basically Mr. BIG's imitation of the bigger-budgeted THEM, and the results are a respectable 73 minutes. Sure, using real grasshoppers against rear-projection effects or crawling on a photograph of a building is not terribly convincing, but it still has a certain nostalgic charm to it. Castle does a fine job as the heroine, and Morris Ankrum (who played a general, doctor or cop in nearly every 50s sci-fi flick) and Thomas Browne Henry (BLOOD OF DRACULA, THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) represent the military. And who doesn't like Peter Graves? He was even likable as the Nazi spy in STALAG 17! The memorable music is by none other than Albert Glasser.
Having already received a DVD release through Rhino's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" series, it was a big surprise when Image Entertainment announced this title. But Image's version puts the previous one to shame and makes it obsolete, going back to the original camera negative for the transfer. BEGINNING TO THE END now looks crisp and clean, and the black and white image has intense detail. It's also Anamorphic and wonderfully letterboxed in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio, thankfully covering previous open matte shots of the insects climbing off the peaks of photographed buildings. The audio is also excellent.
Also included is a full running commentary, moderated by producer/director Bruce Kimmel (THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL) that features Bert's ex-wife Flora (who assisted in the special effects) and daughter Susan (who appeared in some of his films, but not this one). The commentary is an OK listen, and although Kimmel is enthusiastic enough, there is a lack of research in the proceedings (Peggy Castle is discussed as if she's still living but she passed away 30 years ago). Not too much is learned from the two ladies (other then the "I" in Gordon's name stands for "Ira" and that only male grasshoppers were used in the film), but they still have a few nice anecdotes to tell. But one has to wonder why the alive and well Bert I. Gordon can't be coaxed into doing one of these things!
Starring Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, Than Wyenn, Thomas Browne Henry, Richard Benedict, James Seay, John Close, and Don C. Harvey. Directed by Bert I. Gordon.
This is the sort of film that producer/director Bert I. Gordon would become famous (or infamous) for. B.I.G. liked playing with relative size, making his antagonist(s) larger than life. The Beginning of the End (BotE) is an obvious rehash of Them! ('54) with radiation-induced giant bugs, but substituting grasshoppers for ants. Instead of menacing Los Angeles, these giant bugs go for Chicago. BotE is a cheaper copy in many ways, but still found a ready audience in the mid 50s. Some better-than-B actors helped keep BotE from foundering completely. Peter Graves is the male lead. He saved Killers from Space ('53) and It Conquered The World ('56) from total loser-dom. Peggie Castle was the female lead in Invasion USA. Morris Ankrum, veteran B-sci-fi actor, once again plays the stern military man as he had in Rocketship XM ('50), Invaders From Mars ('53) and others yet to come.
Plot Synopsis
People in rural Illinois are starting to disappear. Then a whole town of 150 is wiped out. Audrey (Castle) is a reporter who pushes for the story. Radiation might be the culprit, but no one has any nuclear material. She interviews Ed, an agricultural scientist (Graves), who has been growing giant tomatoes with the help of radiation. The isotopes are safely locked up, however. They travel to the site of a wiped out warehouse which stored tons of wheat. There, a giant grasshopper eats one of the scientists. Ordinary grasshoppers had munched on the giant tomatoes and so grew giant too. Hundreds of them mass in the woods. A National Guard unit's small arms can't stop them. They march towards Chicago, destroying Peoria and a couple others en route. The army's best tanks can't stop them. Panic ensues. Chicago is evacuated. The giant grasshoppers infest the Chicago area, but go semi-dormant during a cool night. Top brass in Washington plan bomb Chicago with an a-bomb to kill them while they're in one place. Ed and Audrey think they can find a sound that will attract the giants. If they could lure them into Lake Michigan, they'd all drown. They capture a live giant and bring it to the lab for tests. None of the sounds affect it. Time is almost out when they do find a frequency that works. Speakers are set up on one of Chicago's towers, to attract all the outlying bugs to downtown. Then a boat in the lake with a speaker will attract them to their doom. The plan works, though with a protracted fighting scene. In the end, they all drown. Chicago is saved. The End.
The giant bug (or other critter) sub-genre was only just getting started. We had ants in Them! and a spider in Tarantula. There will be many more to come, but this was an early one yet. The first half of the film, with it's mystery, is much better than the latter half. The relentless threat to a major city harkens to HG Wells' War of the Worlds. After that, it gets lame, but Graves and Ankrum don't disappoint.
While mostly an atomic radiation cautionary tale, there is the basic story line of a relentless force moving upon an American city. Panic, evacuation, a-bombs. It's all familiar Cold War material.
Popular Science magazines were bright with the prospect of what radiation-mutated crops might do for mankind. This is exactly what Ed was trying to do. As with all good naive scientists, he failed to see the bigger picture. Pests eat crops. Giant crops can create giant pests. The moral behind the film is that messing around with radiation can go horribly wrong.
Peggie Castle plays an obviously tough and independent reporter. She'd covered the destruction in WWII and Korea, written respected books and never once screamed like a girl. (she did scream when Frank was eaten, but it was more shock and a call for help than silly panic). Towards the end of the movie, she has less to do, and does lean in the chest of hero Ed (Graves), but she's on screen as more of an equal than a date.
A teen couple are necking on Lover's Lane. They get eaten. A pretty woman in only a towel is primping in her hotel room (back to the window). She gets eaten. Such scenes suggest to some viewers that Bert was giving subtle messages that being sexual is dangerous -- avoid it! This seems too flat. Instead, you could see the necking couple and the sexy woman as representing a very personal and vulnerable aspect of mankind. Intimate moments feel very vulnerable. Our outward mask of civilization is off. Like the lady in the hotel room, we're dressed in only a towel (not full battle gear). Attacks at those moments enhance the mood of vulnerability. It's not a subtle "don't neck" message (like anyone would ever listen to such a message anyhow).
One of the most memorable "special effects" of BotE is how regular grasshoppers (albeit big ones) are set loose to walk among or climb on photos of Chicago. As cheap as it is, this works pretty well. Note how they had cutouts of a line of busses from the same photo, set in front of the building plane, so grasshoppers could walk between them. Also note one scene where the set-back of the building is cut separately, so the grasshoppers can hang their legs over the parapet. Cheap as they are, these effects work better than the poorly done superimposition (green screen), which gets overused.
If you're a stock footage fan, you'll find a lot to love in BotE. Tanks on the road, Troops, crowds panicking. In fact, if you watch closely, you'll see one scene lifted from The Day The Earth Stood Still ('51).
The General Hanson character says the Air Force is sending a B-52 (then America's new super plane) with an A-bomb. When they show a clip of footage, it's actually a propeller-powered B-36, the old-tech behemoth the B-52 were designed to replace. Perhaps stock footage of the B-52, America's high-tech nuclear bomber, then operational for only a couple years, was not yet available, or deemed too sensitive to inclusion in B-movies.
One of the things that help a big bug movie work, is that the critter is somewhat fearful even when small. Ants are relentless (fire ants, army ants), many people are afraid of spiders, and later movies' scorpions and a mantis -- which are creepy looking, will have their traits magnified. But grasshoppers? They just don't inspire fear. BotE fights an uphill battle in trying to make them fearsome.
BotE makes good use of off-screen events. We are told the town of Ludlow was wiped out. All we see are stock clips of tornado damage. We only read of Peoria's destruction in a telegram. When anyone is 'eaten' by a giant grasshopper, we only see the giant lunge, the victim cower, then cut away. Good for budgets, but also kinder to audiences.
Despite the poster (in which the grasshoppers have curious teeth and fangs), they do not pick up anyone. In fact, they eat everyone quite fairly. One is implied to have eaten the lady in the towel, however, so there is at least a tiny delivery on what the poster promises.
Bottom line? BotE is another in the big bug sub-genre. If you like that sort, you'll likely gloss over the low budget short cuts. As a story, it's pretty conventional and doesn't break any new ground.
By 1957, producer/director Bert I. Gordon had already tackled giant monsters of all sorts with films like KING DINOSAUR and THE CYCLOPS. BEGINNING OF THE END was Mr. BIG's first nod to giant insects (in this case, giant grasshoppers), a subject he would unleash on us again in THE SPIDER (1958) and EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977). The hero of the film is the perfectly cast Peter Graves in his fourth and final 50s sci-fi thriller (the others were RED PLANET MARS, KILLERS FROM SPACE and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD).
Respected female journalist Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle, BACK FROM THE DEAD) drives to Ludlow, Illinois with reports that some 150 residents are missing. She then visits Doctor Ed Wainright (Graves), a young scientist experimenting with vegetables in the hopes that a busty reporter will do a story on him. Visiting the sight of a recent disaster, the doc and the reporter are confronted with humongous noisy locusts, and a silly deaf/mute character is stampeded to death. Meanwhile, the military is brought in (reinforced with ample stock footage), trying to decide how to destroy the buggers without having to set off an atom bomb on Chicago.
This is basically Mr. BIG's imitation of the bigger-budgeted THEM, and the results are a respectable 73 minutes. Sure, using real grasshoppers against rear-projection effects or crawling on a photograph of a building is not terribly convincing, but it still has a certain nostalgic charm to it. Castle does a fine job as the heroine, and Morris Ankrum (who played a general, doctor or cop in nearly every 50s sci-fi flick) and Thomas Browne Henry (BLOOD OF DRACULA, THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) represent the military. And who doesn't like Peter Graves? He was even likable as the Nazi spy in STALAG 17! The memorable music is by none other than Albert Glasser.
Having already received a DVD release through Rhino's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" series, it was a big surprise when Image Entertainment announced this title. But Image's version puts the previous one to shame and makes it obsolete, going back to the original camera negative for the transfer. BEGINNING TO THE END now looks crisp and clean, and the black and white image has intense detail. It's also Anamorphic and wonderfully letterboxed in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio, thankfully covering previous open matte shots of the insects climbing off the peaks of photographed buildings. The audio is also excellent.
Also included is a full running commentary, moderated by producer/director Bruce Kimmel (THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL) that features Bert's ex-wife Flora (who assisted in the special effects) and daughter Susan (who appeared in some of his films, but not this one). The commentary is an OK listen, and although Kimmel is enthusiastic enough, there is a lack of research in the proceedings (Peggy Castle is discussed as if she's still living but she passed away 30 years ago). Not too much is learned from the two ladies (other then the "I" in Gordon's name stands for "Ira" and that only male grasshoppers were used in the film), but they still have a few nice anecdotes to tell. But one has to wonder why the alive and well Bert I. Gordon can't be coaxed into doing one of these things!
Starring Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, Than Wyenn, Thomas Browne Henry, Richard Benedict, James Seay, John Close, and Don C. Harvey. Directed by Bert I. Gordon.
This is the sort of film that producer/director Bert I. Gordon would become famous (or infamous) for. B.I.G. liked playing with relative size, making his antagonist(s) larger than life. The Beginning of the End (BotE) is an obvious rehash of Them! ('54) with radiation-induced giant bugs, but substituting grasshoppers for ants. Instead of menacing Los Angeles, these giant bugs go for Chicago. BotE is a cheaper copy in many ways, but still found a ready audience in the mid 50s. Some better-than-B actors helped keep BotE from foundering completely. Peter Graves is the male lead. He saved Killers from Space ('53) and It Conquered The World ('56) from total loser-dom. Peggie Castle was the female lead in Invasion USA. Morris Ankrum, veteran B-sci-fi actor, once again plays the stern military man as he had in Rocketship XM ('50), Invaders From Mars ('53) and others yet to come.
Plot Synopsis
People in rural Illinois are starting to disappear. Then a whole town of 150 is wiped out. Audrey (Castle) is a reporter who pushes for the story. Radiation might be the culprit, but no one has any nuclear material. She interviews Ed, an agricultural scientist (Graves), who has been growing giant tomatoes with the help of radiation. The isotopes are safely locked up, however. They travel to the site of a wiped out warehouse which stored tons of wheat. There, a giant grasshopper eats one of the scientists. Ordinary grasshoppers had munched on the giant tomatoes and so grew giant too. Hundreds of them mass in the woods. A National Guard unit's small arms can't stop them. They march towards Chicago, destroying Peoria and a couple others en route. The army's best tanks can't stop them. Panic ensues. Chicago is evacuated. The giant grasshoppers infest the Chicago area, but go semi-dormant during a cool night. Top brass in Washington plan bomb Chicago with an a-bomb to kill them while they're in one place. Ed and Audrey think they can find a sound that will attract the giants. If they could lure them into Lake Michigan, they'd all drown. They capture a live giant and bring it to the lab for tests. None of the sounds affect it. Time is almost out when they do find a frequency that works. Speakers are set up on one of Chicago's towers, to attract all the outlying bugs to downtown. Then a boat in the lake with a speaker will attract them to their doom. The plan works, though with a protracted fighting scene. In the end, they all drown. Chicago is saved. The End.
The giant bug (or other critter) sub-genre was only just getting started. We had ants in Them! and a spider in Tarantula. There will be many more to come, but this was an early one yet. The first half of the film, with it's mystery, is much better than the latter half. The relentless threat to a major city harkens to HG Wells' War of the Worlds. After that, it gets lame, but Graves and Ankrum don't disappoint.
While mostly an atomic radiation cautionary tale, there is the basic story line of a relentless force moving upon an American city. Panic, evacuation, a-bombs. It's all familiar Cold War material.
Popular Science magazines were bright with the prospect of what radiation-mutated crops might do for mankind. This is exactly what Ed was trying to do. As with all good naive scientists, he failed to see the bigger picture. Pests eat crops. Giant crops can create giant pests. The moral behind the film is that messing around with radiation can go horribly wrong.
Peggie Castle plays an obviously tough and independent reporter. She'd covered the destruction in WWII and Korea, written respected books and never once screamed like a girl. (she did scream when Frank was eaten, but it was more shock and a call for help than silly panic). Towards the end of the movie, she has less to do, and does lean in the chest of hero Ed (Graves), but she's on screen as more of an equal than a date.
A teen couple are necking on Lover's Lane. They get eaten. A pretty woman in only a towel is primping in her hotel room (back to the window). She gets eaten. Such scenes suggest to some viewers that Bert was giving subtle messages that being sexual is dangerous -- avoid it! This seems too flat. Instead, you could see the necking couple and the sexy woman as representing a very personal and vulnerable aspect of mankind. Intimate moments feel very vulnerable. Our outward mask of civilization is off. Like the lady in the hotel room, we're dressed in only a towel (not full battle gear). Attacks at those moments enhance the mood of vulnerability. It's not a subtle "don't neck" message (like anyone would ever listen to such a message anyhow).
One of the most memorable "special effects" of BotE is how regular grasshoppers (albeit big ones) are set loose to walk among or climb on photos of Chicago. As cheap as it is, this works pretty well. Note how they had cutouts of a line of busses from the same photo, set in front of the building plane, so grasshoppers could walk between them. Also note one scene where the set-back of the building is cut separately, so the grasshoppers can hang their legs over the parapet. Cheap as they are, these effects work better than the poorly done superimposition (green screen), which gets overused.
If you're a stock footage fan, you'll find a lot to love in BotE. Tanks on the road, Troops, crowds panicking. In fact, if you watch closely, you'll see one scene lifted from The Day The Earth Stood Still ('51).
The General Hanson character says the Air Force is sending a B-52 (then America's new super plane) with an A-bomb. When they show a clip of footage, it's actually a propeller-powered B-36, the old-tech behemoth the B-52 were designed to replace. Perhaps stock footage of the B-52, America's high-tech nuclear bomber, then operational for only a couple years, was not yet available, or deemed too sensitive to inclusion in B-movies.
One of the things that help a big bug movie work, is that the critter is somewhat fearful even when small. Ants are relentless (fire ants, army ants), many people are afraid of spiders, and later movies' scorpions and a mantis -- which are creepy looking, will have their traits magnified. But grasshoppers? They just don't inspire fear. BotE fights an uphill battle in trying to make them fearsome.
BotE makes good use of off-screen events. We are told the town of Ludlow was wiped out. All we see are stock clips of tornado damage. We only read of Peoria's destruction in a telegram. When anyone is 'eaten' by a giant grasshopper, we only see the giant lunge, the victim cower, then cut away. Good for budgets, but also kinder to audiences.
Despite the poster (in which the grasshoppers have curious teeth and fangs), they do not pick up anyone. In fact, they eat everyone quite fairly. One is implied to have eaten the lady in the towel, however, so there is at least a tiny delivery on what the poster promises.
Bottom line? BotE is another in the big bug sub-genre. If you like that sort, you'll likely gloss over the low budget short cuts. As a story, it's pretty conventional and doesn't break any new ground.
By 1957, producer/director Bert I. Gordon had already tackled giant monsters of all sorts with films like KING DINOSAUR and THE CYCLOPS. BEGINNING OF THE END was Mr. BIG's first nod to giant insects (in this case, giant grasshoppers), a subject he would unleash on us again in THE SPIDER (1958) and EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977). The hero of the film is the perfectly cast Peter Graves in his fourth and final 50s sci-fi thriller (the others were RED PLANET MARS, KILLERS FROM SPACE and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD).
Respected female journalist Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle, BACK FROM THE DEAD) drives to Ludlow, Illinois with reports that some 150 residents are missing. She then visits Doctor Ed Wainright (Graves), a young scientist experimenting with vegetables in the hopes that a busty reporter will do a story on him. Visiting the sight of a recent disaster, the doc and the reporter are confronted with humongous noisy locusts, and a silly deaf/mute character is stampeded to death. Meanwhile, the military is brought in (reinforced with ample stock footage), trying to decide how to destroy the buggers without having to set off an atom bomb on Chicago.
This is basically Mr. BIG's imitation of the bigger-budgeted THEM, and the results are a respectable 73 minutes. Sure, using real grasshoppers against rear-projection effects or crawling on a photograph of a building is not terribly convincing, but it still has a certain nostalgic charm to it. Castle does a fine job as the heroine, and Morris Ankrum (who played a general, doctor or cop in nearly every 50s sci-fi flick) and Thomas Browne Henry (BLOOD OF DRACULA, THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) represent the military. And who doesn't like Peter Graves? He was even likable as the Nazi spy in STALAG 17! The memorable music is by none other than Albert Glasser.
Having already received a DVD release through Rhino's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" series, it was a big surprise when Image Entertainment announced this title. But Image's version puts the previous one to shame and makes it obsolete, going back to the original camera negative for the transfer. BEGINNING TO THE END now looks crisp and clean, and the black and white image has intense detail. It's also Anamorphic and wonderfully letterboxed in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio, thankfully covering previous open matte shots of the insects climbing off the peaks of photographed buildings. The audio is also excellent.
Also included is a full running commentary, moderated by producer/director Bruce Kimmel (THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL) that features Bert's ex-wife Flora (who assisted in the special effects) and daughter Susan (who appeared in some of his films, but not this one). The commentary is an OK listen, and although Kimmel is enthusiastic enough, there is a lack of research in the proceedings (Peggy Castle is discussed as if she's still living but she passed away 30 years ago). Not too much is learned from the two ladies (other then the "I" in Gordon's name stands for "Ira" and that only male grasshoppers were used in the film), but they still have a few nice anecdotes to tell. But one has to wonder why the alive and well Bert I. Gordon can't be coaxed into doing one of these things!
Starring Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, Than Wyenn, Thomas Browne Henry, Richard Benedict, James Seay, John Close, and Don C. Harvey. Directed by Bert I. Gordon.
This is the sort of film that producer/director Bert I. Gordon would become famous (or infamous) for. B.I.G. liked playing with relative size, making his antagonist(s) larger than life. The Beginning of the End (BotE) is an obvious rehash of Them! ('54) with radiation-induced giant bugs, but substituting grasshoppers for ants. Instead of menacing Los Angeles, these giant bugs go for Chicago. BotE is a cheaper copy in many ways, but still found a ready audience in the mid 50s. Some better-than-B actors helped keep BotE from foundering completely. Peter Graves is the male lead. He saved Killers from Space ('53) and It Conquered The World ('56) from total loser-dom. Peggie Castle was the female lead in Invasion USA. Morris Ankrum, veteran B-sci-fi actor, once again plays the stern military man as he had in Rocketship XM ('50), Invaders From Mars ('53) and others yet to come.
Plot Synopsis
People in rural Illinois are starting to disappear. Then a whole town of 150 is wiped out. Audrey (Castle) is a reporter who pushes for the story. Radiation might be the culprit, but no one has any nuclear material. She interviews Ed, an agricultural scientist (Graves), who has been growing giant tomatoes with the help of radiation. The isotopes are safely locked up, however. They travel to the site of a wiped out warehouse which stored tons of wheat. There, a giant grasshopper eats one of the scientists. Ordinary grasshoppers had munched on the giant tomatoes and so grew giant too. Hundreds of them mass in the woods. A National Guard unit's small arms can't stop them. They march towards Chicago, destroying Peoria and a couple others en route. The army's best tanks can't stop them. Panic ensues. Chicago is evacuated. The giant grasshoppers infest the Chicago area, but go semi-dormant during a cool night. Top brass in Washington plan bomb Chicago with an a-bomb to kill them while they're in one place. Ed and Audrey think they can find a sound that will attract the giants. If they could lure them into Lake Michigan, they'd all drown. They capture a live giant and bring it to the lab for tests. None of the sounds affect it. Time is almost out when they do find a frequency that works. Speakers are set up on one of Chicago's towers, to attract all the outlying bugs to downtown. Then a boat in the lake with a speaker will attract them to their doom. The plan works, though with a protracted fighting scene. In the end, they all drown. Chicago is saved. The End.
The giant bug (or other critter) sub-genre was only just getting started. We had ants in Them! and a spider in Tarantula. There will be many more to come, but this was an early one yet. The first half of the film, with it's mystery, is much better than the latter half. The relentless threat to a major city harkens to HG Wells' War of the Worlds. After that, it gets lame, but Graves and Ankrum don't disappoint.
While mostly an atomic radiation cautionary tale, there is the basic story line of a relentless force moving upon an American city. Panic, evacuation, a-bombs. It's all familiar Cold War material.
Popular Science magazines were bright with the prospect of what radiation-mutated crops might do for mankind. This is exactly what Ed was trying to do. As with all good naive scientists, he failed to see the bigger picture. Pests eat crops. Giant crops can create giant pests. The moral behind the film is that messing around with radiation can go horribly wrong.
Peggie Castle plays an obviously tough and independent reporter. She'd covered the destruction in WWII and Korea, written respected books and never once screamed like a girl. (she did scream when Frank was eaten, but it was more shock and a call for help than silly panic). Towards the end of the movie, she has less to do, and does lean in the chest of hero Ed (Graves), but she's on screen as more of an equal than a date.
A teen couple are necking on Lover's Lane. They get eaten. A pretty woman in only a towel is primping in her hotel room (back to the window). She gets eaten. Such scenes suggest to some viewers that Bert was giving subtle messages that being sexual is dangerous -- avoid it! This seems too flat. Instead, you could see the necking couple and the sexy woman as representing a very personal and vulnerable aspect of mankind. Intimate moments feel very vulnerable. Our outward mask of civilization is off. Like the lady in the hotel room, we're dressed in only a towel (not full battle gear). Attacks at those moments enhance the mood of vulnerability. It's not a subtle "don't neck" message (like anyone would ever listen to such a message anyhow).
One of the most memorable "special effects" of BotE is how regular grasshoppers (albeit big ones) are set loose to walk among or climb on photos of Chicago. As cheap as it is, this works pretty well. Note how they had cutouts of a line of busses from the same photo, set in front of the building plane, so grasshoppers could walk between them. Also note one scene where the set-back of the building is cut separately, so the grasshoppers can hang their legs over the parapet. Cheap as they are, these effects work better than the poorly done superimposition (green screen), which gets overused.
If you're a stock footage fan, you'll find a lot to love in BotE. Tanks on the road, Troops, crowds panicking. In fact, if you watch closely, you'll see one scene lifted from The Day The Earth Stood Still ('51).
The General Hanson character says the Air Force is sending a B-52 (then America's new super plane) with an A-bomb. When they show a clip of footage, it's actually a propeller-powered B-36, the old-tech behemoth the B-52 were designed to replace. Perhaps stock footage of the B-52, America's high-tech nuclear bomber, then operational for only a couple years, was not yet available, or deemed too sensitive to inclusion in B-movies.
One of the things that help a big bug movie work, is that the critter is somewhat fearful even when small. Ants are relentless (fire ants, army ants), many people are afraid of spiders, and later movies' scorpions and a mantis -- which are creepy looking, will have their traits magnified. But grasshoppers? They just don't inspire fear. BotE fights an uphill battle in trying to make them fearsome.
BotE makes good use of off-screen events. We are told the town of Ludlow was wiped out. All we see are stock clips of tornado damage. We only read of Peoria's destruction in a telegram. When anyone is 'eaten' by a giant grasshopper, we only see the giant lunge, the victim cower, then cut away. Good for budgets, but also kinder to audiences.
Despite the poster (in which the grasshoppers have curious teeth and fangs), they do not pick up anyone. In fact, they eat everyone quite fairly. One is implied to have eaten the lady in the towel, however, so there is at least a tiny delivery on what the poster promises.
Bottom line? BotE is another in the big bug sub-genre. If you like that sort, you'll likely gloss over the low budget short cuts. As a story, it's pretty conventional and doesn't break any new ground.
By 1957, producer/director Bert I. Gordon had already tackled giant monsters of all sorts with films like KING DINOSAUR and THE CYCLOPS. BEGINNING OF THE END was Mr. BIG's first nod to giant insects (in this case, giant grasshoppers), a subject he would unleash on us again in THE SPIDER (1958) and EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977). The hero of the film is the perfectly cast Peter Graves in his fourth and final 50s sci-fi thriller (the others were RED PLANET MARS, KILLERS FROM SPACE and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD).
Respected female journalist Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle, BACK FROM THE DEAD) drives to Ludlow, Illinois with reports that some 150 residents are missing. She then visits Doctor Ed Wainright (Graves), a young scientist experimenting with vegetables in the hopes that a busty reporter will do a story on him. Visiting the sight of a recent disaster, the doc and the reporter are confronted with humongous noisy locusts, and a silly deaf/mute character is stampeded to death. Meanwhile, the military is brought in (reinforced with ample stock footage), trying to decide how to destroy the buggers without having to set off an atom bomb on Chicago.
This is basically Mr. BIG's imitation of the bigger-budgeted THEM, and the results are a respectable 73 minutes. Sure, using real grasshoppers against rear-projection effects or crawling on a photograph of a building is not terribly convincing, but it still has a certain nostalgic charm to it. Castle does a fine job as the heroine, and Morris Ankrum (who played a general, doctor or cop in nearly every 50s sci-fi flick) and Thomas Browne Henry (BLOOD OF DRACULA, THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) represent the military. And who doesn't like Peter Graves? He was even likable as the Nazi spy in STALAG 17! The memorable music is by none other than Albert Glasser.
Having already received a DVD release through Rhino's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" series, it was a big surprise when Image Entertainment announced this title. But Image's version puts the previous one to shame and makes it obsolete, going back to the original camera negative for the transfer. BEGINNING TO THE END now looks crisp and clean, and the black and white image has intense detail. It's also Anamorphic and wonderfully letterboxed in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio, thankfully covering previous open matte shots of the insects climbing off the peaks of photographed buildings. The audio is also excellent.
Also included is a full running commentary, moderated by producer/director Bruce Kimmel (THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL) that features Bert's ex-wife Flora (who assisted in the special effects) and daughter Susan (who appeared in some of his films, but not this one). The commentary is an OK listen, and although Kimmel is enthusiastic enough, there is a lack of research in the proceedings (Peggy Castle is discussed as if she's still living but she passed away 30 years ago). Not too much is learned from the two ladies (other then the "I" in Gordon's name stands for "Ira" and that only male grasshoppers were used in the film), but they still have a few nice anecdotes to tell. But one has to wonder why the alive and well Bert I. Gordon can't be coaxed into doing one of these things!
Director Jack Arnold masterfully brought Ray Bradbury's science fiction tale to life in this, Universal's very first 3-D feature film. It was the perfect format for roaring avalanches, hovering helicopters, and zooming space ships, magnifying the effect for mesmerized movie goers.On a beautiful evening in Sand Rock, Arizona amateur astronomer John Putnam and his girlfriend Ellen Fields see a fiery ball fall from the sky into the desert. They investigate and John sees a spacecraft of sorts and is convinced something is inside. A rockfall buries the ship before any one else can see it and now no one will believe him. He becomes the butt of local jokes when the newspapers pick up the story and Sheriff Matt Warren thinks he's mad. When two locals, Frank Daylon and his employee George, begin to act strangely John is convinced that they have been taken over by an alien being.
This collaboration between science fiction giant Ray Bradbury and director Jack Arnold remains one of the most intelligent and revered science fiction films of the last century. After a spaceship crashes near a sleepy desert village, the townsfolk begin to act strangely and a local astronomer (Richard Carlson) and his fiancee (Barbara Rush) investigate. This otherworldly one sheet features the classic "giant eye" imagery associated with the film and attempts to depict the "3-D" effect.
It came... (ICFOS) is one of those lesser known 50s sci fi films which really deserves to be better known. On a surface level, ICFOS has good pacing. Director Jack Arnold (who would direct several other big 50s sci fi films) does a good job of keeping up the intrigue and tension. Even when the movie is over, the overall effect is more thoughtful than most B-films. It helps that the screenplay is an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "The Meteor." All this helps ICFOS rise above the average 50s B movie.
ICFOS was filmed for the 3D, which was all the rage in the early 50s, but works perfectly well in 2D. The overall story is step up too, rising above the typical Cold War cautionary tale. Instead, it's an introspective about mankind, both our strengths and weaknesses when facing the unknown. This is rather cerebral stuff for a B-film.
Plot Synopsis
A meteor crashes in the desert night outside of Sand Rock, Arizona. Astronomer John Putnam (played by Richard Carlson) investigates. In the impact crater, he finds sees the hull of a ship with its hatch open. No one believes him, because a landslide covered the hull. Putnam discovers that various town folk have been "taken over" by the aliens. A couple of the possessed folk tell Putnam that they mean no harm. The sheriff eventually believes him when spouses also report odd behaviors. The aliens capture Putnam's fiancee, Ellen, which provokes the sheriff into raising a posse to confront the aliens. Putnam gets to the crash site first and confronts the aliens in the abandoned mine. They say they mean no harm, but crashed on earth by mistake and just want to repair their ship and leave. Putnam convinces the aliens that only by releasing the real townsfolk will the posse by appeased. They do, and it works. The aliens finish repairs to their ship and fly off in a shower of sparks.
Seeing some familiar faces is fun. Richard Carlson starred in Magnetic Monster is great as the stalwart but misunderstood hero. Barbara Rush who starred in When World's Collide plays Ellen very well. She's no mere cheesecake. Russell Johnson, who will feature in many future sci-fi films, plays George, the first person "possessed" by the aliens. All of the actors do a good job.
Arnold introduced a fun first in ICFOS: the alien point of view -- this was made unmistakable by our looking through faintly reflected moist cycloptic eye and oddly Darth Vadar-like breathing sounds. At other times, we whisk along the telephone wires watching the cars of people about to be confronted by the aliens. (apparently, they can 'transmit' themselves) This is a stroke of genius for the story line. It prevents the audience from forming the usual "us versus them" mindset typical of monster movies, such as in The Thing ('51).
Also fun is the strengthening of the alien-possessed-person plot device. We saw it first in The Man from Planet X ('51) in a similar capacity of people helping the alien work on his ship. Those folks weren't really possessed so much as under mind control. In Invaders from Mars('53), people were also taken over to help the aliens. In ICFOS, the possessed are actually duplicates, not the originals under remote control. This pushes the concept into new ground.
Un-human aliens -- The aliens in ICFOS look a little hokey when you get a good look at them, but that's not important.
This is a B-film, after all. What's notable is that the aliens are very different. They're not humanoid. The Man from Planet X was small, but still a humanoid shape. The Thing (1951) was big, but still a biped with a head, arms, torso, etc.. The martian in Invaders from Mars was less humanoid, being a big head with six little tentacles, but it still had a very human face. ICFOS may have the first radically non-humanoid alien life forms. They were big, potato-like creatures with one large eye and wispy frond-like appendages. This was a significant moment in sci-fi movie history. Aliens could be totally weird and not just people dressed up in hoodies with lighting bolt logos on their chests.
The Message -- ICFOS has a definite moral to the story. Mankind is not all that grown up and sophisticated. The alien tells Putnam, ""Let us stay apart, the people of your world and ours. If we come together, there will only be destruction." This is more true for the aliens as at least two of them die. (fake-Frank and fake-Ellen), but interestingly, no humans are actually harmed. Putnam later says to the sheriff for why the aliens don't show themselves. "They don't trust us...because what we don't understand we want to destroy. That's why they hide." Message: mankind isn't mature enough for the stars. Yet the tone isn't too pessimistic. As the crowd watch the ship fly away in a shower of sparks, Putnam says, ""Well, they've gone. "it wasn't the right time for us to meet....they'll be back."
Starring Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt, Nancy Walters, Troy Donahue, and Whit Bissell. Directed by Jack Arnold.
This was Jack Arnold's last horror film for Universal, and the director pulled out all the tricks of his trade for this foray into the teenage drive-in monster genre. Joanna Moore and Arthur Franz star, and Troy Donahue makes an early screen appearance, in this campy campus creature feature.
Universal's B unit produced another sci-fi/horror hybrid in late 1958. It comes as an interesting coincidence, being released around the time of Hideous Sun Demon. Evolution must have been a hot topic then. Both movies feature a Jekyll & Hyde theme with "regressive evolution" as the science part of their fictions. Directed by Jack Arnold (of Black Lagoon fame), Monster on Campus (MoC) has above-average production values for the B market. The acting is pretty solid, with a couple exceptions, and the props are also above-average for what the B market was becoming accustomed to. The overall effect is an entertaining, if somewhat predictable tale.
Plot Synopsis
A university professor receives a ceolacanth (a "prehistoric" fish still found off South Africa). A dog who licks up the melt water from the fish's ice, goes savage. His fangs grow. The professor, Donald, cuts his hand on the fish's teeth and gets more melt water in the cut. He feels woozy, so a nurse drives him home. She is found dead (of fright) and Donald's house ransacked. He remembers nothing. The police suspect him, but fingerprints at the scene are not his. Later, a dragonfly is eating (or drinking) off the fish body. It later returns 2 feet across. Donald kills it, but its blood drips in his pipe. He smokes it, and gets woozie again. He becomes an ape-man. In this state, he kills a policeman assigned to guard him. Donald is sure that the ceolacanth's blood causes reverse evolution. Dog to wolf, dragonfly to a Meganeura, and a man back into an ape-like cave man. Donald's bosses think he's becoming unglued with his talk of giant bugs and ape men, so he's sent up to a mountain cabin for rest. In the cabin, Donald decides to inject himself with ceolacanth plasma, tape record the results and had set up cameras to capture it on film. He does this, but his girlfriend, Madeline, is driving up to see him. She encounters the ape-man on the road, swerves and crashes. Ape-man carries her off. When she screams, a forest ranger investigates. Ape-man kills him with a hatchet. The police arrive too, but Donald has returned to normal. After learning of the killings, Donald decides there is just one thing to do. He says he'll take them all to see the ape-man. He injects himself. When he returns down the hill as the ape-man, the police shoot and kill him. In death, he reverts back to Donald. The End.
The production values are good enough to keep a viewer focused on the story. As yet another evolution-based modernization of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it has some interest. Jack Arnold does a good job keeping the visuals interesting and the pace moving. The musical score uses many familiar themes and tones. One can almost hear the Creature's theme woven in there. It was also fun to see the old familiar trope of the "monster" carrying off the pretty girl in his arms.
There's no Cold War here. There is only a minor element of atomic cautionary tale in that gamma radiation altered the ceolacanth's blood to make it the monster-maker. Radiation makes monsters. Everyone knows that.
Several of the actors and others in MoC are familiar 50s sci-fi names. Jack Arnold directed Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54) and Tarantula ('55). Writer David Duncan wrote for Monster That Challenged the World ('57) and Black Scorpion ('57). Arthur Franz, who plays Donald, also starred in Invaders from Mars ('53) and The Flame Barrier ('57). Whit Bissel plays the skeptical Dr. Cole. He also played in Creature From the Black Lagoon and Target Earth ('54).
Another Jekyll & Hyde -- Like Hideous Sun Demon, MoC reuses the good-doctor and evil-beast device. As in HSD, the transformation was accidental, not deliberate as in Jekyll's case. MoC does return to the chemical agent, and returns to the ape-like imagery of the evil-beast. Common to them all is the good-doctor not remembering what he did while the evil-beast. All three had the faithful girlfriend. He original and HSD had the "other" woman (Ivy and Trudy), but MoC had only a rather chaste echo of that in Molly Riordan. MoC returned to the moral of the original, that every modern man carries his beast within.
The populist form of the theory of evolution is the unmistakable foundation of MoC. The genetic connection to the past was more scientifically clean than the embryology basis used in Hideous Sun Demon. The notion that chromosomes were additive over time was quite a leap, however. The ceolacanth was symbolic of evolution halted. Hence, it's blood (with some gamma ray help) had the power to neutralize those modern added layers. Hence the savage ape man, wolf-dog and giant dragonfly.
Shown in the first couple minutes of the movie, Professor Blake's collection of anthropoid face sculptures is a classic linear progression. A quick-eyed viewer might spot Piltdown Man in the line. This "early human ancestor" was finally confirmed as a hoax in 1953, fabricated from a modern human skull fragment and an orangutan jaw. Scientists might drop bogus facts quickly, but the public tends to hang onto them -- especially if they fit the mental model.
Near the end, Donald gives a little monologue on mankind. "It's the savage in man which science must meet and defeat if humanity is to survive." This was a rather Neitzschian view, that mankind was evolving into a better being, leaving behind his brutal self. Note, too, the science-as-savior angle. Mankind's savage nature (evil) was something chemical which science could cure.
Bottom line? MoC is a notch above the typical B-movie fare of the late 50s. It's production quality is enjoyable. The recast of Jekyll and Hyde is entertaining too. A triple feature of the 1931 Jekyll & Hyde movie, the Hideous Sun Demon and MoC, would be fun.
synopsis - second opinion.
In this sci-fi film, a college professor must deal with the cataclysmic consequences that ensue when a transmogrifying dragonfly bites a prehistoric fish from Madagascar. Soon after the bite, the strange fish becomes gigantic and begins passing on its new ability to morph all it comes in contact with back into their primal forms. When it bites a dog, the dog becomes a wolf. When some fish slime ends up in the professor's pipe, the professor put it to his lips, and he turns into a rampaging Neanderthal with a very large stone-axe that he freely wields around the terrified college campus. Bloody mayhem ensues.
review
Any Jack Arnold movie from the 1950s is worth seeing, but Monster On The Campus is clearly in the bottom half of his output, despite some suspenseful scenes and clever moments. Arthur Franz brings a dour sincerity to his portrayal of Dr. Donald Blake, the researcher who falls victim to contamination from an ancient fossil that causes him (or any other living thing) that comes in contact with it to revert to a pre-historic state. The movie also provides a vehicle for established veteran players such as Helen Westcott and Alexander Lockwood, and newcomer Troy Donahue, which makes it a strange mix on that level; and the presence of ubiquitous horror/sci-fi player Whit Bissell gives the movie resonance with modern cultists (William Schallert must have been busy elsewhere during the three weeks this movie was in production . . .). But Monster On The Campus, just by virtue of its title, has a certain built-in campiness that expresses itself overtly in a few scenes that, undoubtedly, elicited howls, hoots, and mocking gasps from drive-in audiences at the time. In all, it's not as atmospheric -- except in a few stylistically claustrophobic scenes -- or persuasive as Arnold's best work, and even lacks the underlying sincerity that helped drive works such as The Space Children. It's a fun thrill ride within its modest budgetary and production dimensions, but not much more.
College student JIMMY heads to campus with his dog, while in a classroom MADELEINE, the daughter of the UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT, gets a plaster cast made of her face by fiance DR. DONALD BLAKE. They are interrupted as Jimmy shows up with a special delivery - an ancient fish called a coelacanth that Donald has ordered from Madagascar. Donald notes that the coelacanth has a special ability to "resist evolution." The dog drinks some of the coelacanth blood - and soon goes crazy, attacking Madeleine. Jimmy and Donald subdue the dog and stick it in a cage.
Donald takes a sample of the dog's saliva for a rabies test, and notes that the dog has huge teeth. It seems to be an evolutionary throwback to a prehistoric wolf. The UNIVERSITY DOCTOR's assistant MOLLY shows up to get the saliva sample. Donald cuts himself on the coelacanth's teeth as he puts it away, and soon feels woozy. Molly puts him in her car and takes him home. Donald passes out in the car. Molly goes inside to call the Doctor - and a CREATURE comes in and attacks her!
Madeleine and a SECURITY GUARD look for Donald in the lab. He's not there, but the dog is back to being a friendly pet. Madeleine heads to Donald's house. It has been trashed. She finds Donald passed out in the back yard - and Molly dead! Cops soon arrive. At first they suspect Donald because they find his tie clip in Molly's hand, but he is quickly exonerated when the cops find an enormous handprint on a window. Is there a killer on the loose? The cops also note that Molly didn't die of any wounds - she had a heart attack. She died of fright!
Donald lectures to his students about evolution using the coelacanth as an example. Jimmy shows up to check on the dog, and Donald tries to show him the huge teeth - but they are gone. Donald wonders if he is imagining things. Cop STEVENS is sure that someone is personally after Donald, but Donald has no enemies. Stevens gives Donald bodyguard EDDIE.
Donald and Eddie note a small dragonfly land on the coelacanth. Donald also sees "crystallized bacteria" on a slide. He quickly shows the slide to the Doctor, but the bacteria seem totally normal. Did Donald imagine something again? Meanwhile, Jimmy and his girlfriend SYLVIA hear a strange, loud buzzing sound as they hide under some trees to make out. There is a moment of a fake scare, but it turns out to be another couple making out. Jimmy and Sylvia go to the science building - and here they and Donald all see a huge GIANT DRAGONFLY outside the window. Jimmy and Donald trap the giant dragonfly, which Donald recognizes as a prehistoric species.
Donald studies the giant dragonfly. As he does so, blood falls into his pipe, which he then smokes. As the dragonfly shrinks back to its original state, Donald transforms into a PREHUMAN ANTHROPOID! The "anthropoid" smashes up the lab and kills Eddie. The cops come, but find only dead Eddie, a huge footprint, and Donald passed out. Donald recognizes the footprint as coming from a prehistoric subhuman, but Stevens thinks it must have been faked to frame Donald.
Donald investigates, does experiments, and calls a PROFESSOR in Madagascar who investigates how the fish was preserved. Donald finds that the fish was preserved using gamma ray radiation! Donald cancels lots of classes to continue his studies, and Madeleine and her father are afraid he is cracking up. The President comes to Donald to ask him to take a leave of absence. Donald explains what he has learned - the coelacanth blood, treated with radiation, is transforming creatures into evolutionary throwbacks for short periods of time. Just as he explains this, Donald realizes that he was probably the person who transformed into the monster.
Donald heads up to the University President's cabin, where he prepares to experiment on himself. He plans to inject the coelacanth blood into himself and capture the transformation with cameras he has rigged around the room. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Sylvia tell Madeleine about the giant dragonfly. Donald isn't crazy after all! Madeleine heads up to the cabin to see Donald.
Donald injects himself with the coelacanth blood as Madeleine drives. He transforms into the anthropoid, trashes the cabin, and runs out into the road. Madeleine sees the anthropoid, screams, and crashes her car. A FOREST RANGER races to the scene and sees the anthropoid standing over her. He calls the cops and grabs his gun. The anthropoid carries Madeleine away. The cops trail them, and the ranger shoots the anthropoid in the arm. Madeleine wakes up and runs, the creature pursues and knocks her out again, and then kills the ranger. Madeleine recovers and makes it back to the cabin as the anthropoid transforms back into Donald. The cops meet them here. Donald develops the film from the cameras and sees a shot of the creature. He knows now that "the beast within" himself is the killer. He takes the cops outside, claiming to know where the anthropoid is hiding. As the Doctor looks on, he injects himself with the coelacanth blood one last time, telling the doctor to "watch closely and see evolution in reverse." He transforms into the anthropoid, and the cops shoot him before the Doctor can stop them. The Doctor and the cops watch in amazement as the dead anthropoid turns back into mild-mannered Donald.
Starring Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, Than Wyenn, Thomas Browne Henry, Richard Benedict, James Seay, John Close, and Don C. Harvey. Directed by Bert I. Gordon.
This is the sort of film that producer/director Bert I. Gordon would become famous (or infamous) for. B.I.G. liked playing with relative size, making his antagonist(s) larger than life. The Beginning of the End (BotE) is an obvious rehash of Them! ('54) with radiation-induced giant bugs, but substituting grasshoppers for ants. Instead of menacing Los Angeles, these giant bugs go for Chicago. BotE is a cheaper copy in many ways, but still found a ready audience in the mid 50s. Some better-than-B actors helped keep BotE from foundering completely. Peter Graves is the male lead. He saved Killers from Space ('53) and It Conquered The World ('56) from total loser-dom. Peggie Castle was the female lead in Invasion USA. Morris Ankrum, veteran B-sci-fi actor, once again plays the stern military man as he had in Rocketship XM ('50), Invaders From Mars ('53) and others yet to come.
Plot Synopsis
People in rural Illinois are starting to disappear. Then a whole town of 150 is wiped out. Audrey (Castle) is a reporter who pushes for the story. Radiation might be the culprit, but no one has any nuclear material. She interviews Ed, an agricultural scientist (Graves), who has been growing giant tomatoes with the help of radiation. The isotopes are safely locked up, however. They travel to the site of a wiped out warehouse which stored tons of wheat. There, a giant grasshopper eats one of the scientists. Ordinary grasshoppers had munched on the giant tomatoes and so grew giant too. Hundreds of them mass in the woods. A National Guard unit's small arms can't stop them. They march towards Chicago, destroying Peoria and a couple others en route. The army's best tanks can't stop them. Panic ensues. Chicago is evacuated. The giant grasshoppers infest the Chicago area, but go semi-dormant during a cool night. Top brass in Washington plan bomb Chicago with an a-bomb to kill them while they're in one place. Ed and Audrey think they can find a sound that will attract the giants. If they could lure them into Lake Michigan, they'd all drown. They capture a live giant and bring it to the lab for tests. None of the sounds affect it. Time is almost out when they do find a frequency that works. Speakers are set up on one of Chicago's towers, to attract all the outlying bugs to downtown. Then a boat in the lake with a speaker will attract them to their doom. The plan works, though with a protracted fighting scene. In the end, they all drown. Chicago is saved. The End.
The giant bug (or other critter) sub-genre was only just getting started. We had ants in Them! and a spider in Tarantula. There will be many more to come, but this was an early one yet. The first half of the film, with it's mystery, is much better than the latter half. The relentless threat to a major city harkens to HG Wells' War of the Worlds. After that, it gets lame, but Graves and Ankrum don't disappoint.
While mostly an atomic radiation cautionary tale, there is the basic story line of a relentless force moving upon an American city. Panic, evacuation, a-bombs. It's all familiar Cold War material.
Popular Science magazines were bright with the prospect of what radiation-mutated crops might do for mankind. This is exactly what Ed was trying to do. As with all good naive scientists, he failed to see the bigger picture. Pests eat crops. Giant crops can create giant pests. The moral behind the film is that messing around with radiation can go horribly wrong.
Peggie Castle plays an obviously tough and independent reporter. She'd covered the destruction in WWII and Korea, written respected books and never once screamed like a girl. (she did scream when Frank was eaten, but it was more shock and a call for help than silly panic). Towards the end of the movie, she has less to do, and does lean in the chest of hero Ed (Graves), but she's on screen as more of an equal than a date.
A teen couple are necking on Lover's Lane. They get eaten. A pretty woman in only a towel is primping in her hotel room (back to the window). She gets eaten. Such scenes suggest to some viewers that Bert was giving subtle messages that being sexual is dangerous -- avoid it! This seems too flat. Instead, you could see the necking couple and the sexy woman as representing a very personal and vulnerable aspect of mankind. Intimate moments feel very vulnerable. Our outward mask of civilization is off. Like the lady in the hotel room, we're dressed in only a towel (not full battle gear). Attacks at those moments enhance the mood of vulnerability. It's not a subtle "don't neck" message (like anyone would ever listen to such a message anyhow).
One of the most memorable "special effects" of BotE is how regular grasshoppers (albeit big ones) are set loose to walk among or climb on photos of Chicago. As cheap as it is, this works pretty well. Note how they had cutouts of a line of busses from the same photo, set in front of the building plane, so grasshoppers could walk between them. Also note one scene where the set-back of the building is cut separately, so the grasshoppers can hang their legs over the parapet. Cheap as they are, these effects work better than the poorly done superimposition (green screen), which gets overused.
If you're a stock footage fan, you'll find a lot to love in BotE. Tanks on the road, Troops, crowds panicking. In fact, if you watch closely, you'll see one scene lifted from The Day The Earth Stood Still ('51).
The General Hanson character says the Air Force is sending a B-52 (then America's new super plane) with an A-bomb. When they show a clip of footage, it's actually a propeller-powered B-36, the old-tech behemoth the B-52 were designed to replace. Perhaps stock footage of the B-52, America's high-tech nuclear bomber, then operational for only a couple years, was not yet available, or deemed too sensitive to inclusion in B-movies.
One of the things that help a big bug movie work, is that the critter is somewhat fearful even when small. Ants are relentless (fire ants, army ants), many people are afraid of spiders, and later movies' scorpions and a mantis -- which are creepy looking, will have their traits magnified. But grasshoppers? They just don't inspire fear. BotE fights an uphill battle in trying to make them fearsome.
BotE makes good use of off-screen events. We are told the town of Ludlow was wiped out. All we see are stock clips of tornado damage. We only read of Peoria's destruction in a telegram. When anyone is 'eaten' by a giant grasshopper, we only see the giant lunge, the victim cower, then cut away. Good for budgets, but also kinder to audiences.
Despite the poster (in which the grasshoppers have curious teeth and fangs), they do not pick up anyone. In fact, they eat everyone quite fairly. One is implied to have eaten the lady in the towel, however, so there is at least a tiny delivery on what the poster promises.
Bottom line? BotE is another in the big bug sub-genre. If you like that sort, you'll likely gloss over the low budget short cuts. As a story, it's pretty conventional and doesn't break any new ground.
By 1957, producer/director Bert I. Gordon had already tackled giant monsters of all sorts with films like KING DINOSAUR and THE CYCLOPS. BEGINNING OF THE END was Mr. BIG's first nod to giant insects (in this case, giant grasshoppers), a subject he would unleash on us again in THE SPIDER (1958) and EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977). The hero of the film is the perfectly cast Peter Graves in his fourth and final 50s sci-fi thriller (the others were RED PLANET MARS, KILLERS FROM SPACE and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD).
Respected female journalist Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle, BACK FROM THE DEAD) drives to Ludlow, Illinois with reports that some 150 residents are missing. She then visits Doctor Ed Wainright (Graves), a young scientist experimenting with vegetables in the hopes that a busty reporter will do a story on him. Visiting the sight of a recent disaster, the doc and the reporter are confronted with humongous noisy locusts, and a silly deaf/mute character is stampeded to death. Meanwhile, the military is brought in (reinforced with ample stock footage), trying to decide how to destroy the buggers without having to set off an atom bomb on Chicago.
This is basically Mr. BIG's imitation of the bigger-budgeted THEM, and the results are a respectable 73 minutes. Sure, using real grasshoppers against rear-projection effects or crawling on a photograph of a building is not terribly convincing, but it still has a certain nostalgic charm to it. Castle does a fine job as the heroine, and Morris Ankrum (who played a general, doctor or cop in nearly every 50s sci-fi flick) and Thomas Browne Henry (BLOOD OF DRACULA, THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) represent the military. And who doesn't like Peter Graves? He was even likable as the Nazi spy in STALAG 17! The memorable music is by none other than Albert Glasser.
Having already received a DVD release through Rhino's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" series, it was a big surprise when Image Entertainment announced this title. But Image's version puts the previous one to shame and makes it obsolete, going back to the original camera negative for the transfer. BEGINNING TO THE END now looks crisp and clean, and the black and white image has intense detail. It's also Anamorphic and wonderfully letterboxed in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio, thankfully covering previous open matte shots of the insects climbing off the peaks of photographed buildings. The audio is also excellent.
Also included is a full running commentary, moderated by producer/director Bruce Kimmel (THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL) that features Bert's ex-wife Flora (who assisted in the special effects) and daughter Susan (who appeared in some of his films, but not this one). The commentary is an OK listen, and although Kimmel is enthusiastic enough, there is a lack of research in the proceedings (Peggy Castle is discussed as if she's still living but she passed away 30 years ago). Not too much is learned from the two ladies (other then the "I" in Gordon's name stands for "Ira" and that only male grasshoppers were used in the film), but they still have a few nice anecdotes to tell. But one has to wonder why the alive and well Bert I. Gordon can't be coaxed into doing one of these things!
Starring Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt, Nancy Walters, Troy Donahue, and Whit Bissell. Directed by Jack Arnold.
This was Jack Arnold's last horror film for Universal, and the director pulled out all the tricks of his trade for this foray into the teenage drive-in monster genre. Joanna Moore and Arthur Franz star, and Troy Donahue makes an early screen appearance, in this campy campus creature feature.
Universal's B unit produced another sci-fi/horror hybrid in late 1958. It comes as an interesting coincidence, being released around the time of Hideous Sun Demon. Evolution must have been a hot topic then. Both movies feature a Jekyll & Hyde theme with "regressive evolution" as the science part of their fictions. Directed by Jack Arnold (of Black Lagoon fame), Monster on Campus (MoC) has above-average production values for the B market. The acting is pretty solid, with a couple exceptions, and the props are also above-average for what the B market was becoming accustomed to. The overall effect is an entertaining, if somewhat predictable tale.
Plot Synopsis
A university professor receives a ceolacanth (a "prehistoric" fish still found off South Africa). A dog who licks up the melt water from the fish's ice, goes savage. His fangs grow. The professor, Donald, cuts his hand on the fish's teeth and gets more melt water in the cut. He feels woozy, so a nurse drives him home. She is found dead (of fright) and Donald's house ransacked. He remembers nothing. The police suspect him, but fingerprints at the scene are not his. Later, a dragonfly is eating (or drinking) off the fish body. It later returns 2 feet across. Donald kills it, but its blood drips in his pipe. He smokes it, and gets woozie again. He becomes an ape-man. In this state, he kills a policeman assigned to guard him. Donald is sure that the ceolacanth's blood causes reverse evolution. Dog to wolf, dragonfly to a Meganeura, and a man back into an ape-like cave man. Donald's bosses think he's becoming unglued with his talk of giant bugs and ape men, so he's sent up to a mountain cabin for rest. In the cabin, Donald decides to inject himself with ceolacanth plasma, tape record the results and had set up cameras to capture it on film. He does this, but his girlfriend, Madeline, is driving up to see him. She encounters the ape-man on the road, swerves and crashes. Ape-man carries her off. When she screams, a forest ranger investigates. Ape-man kills him with a hatchet. The police arrive too, but Donald has returned to normal. After learning of the killings, Donald decides there is just one thing to do. He says he'll take them all to see the ape-man. He injects himself. When he returns down the hill as the ape-man, the police shoot and kill him. In death, he reverts back to Donald. The End.
The production values are good enough to keep a viewer focused on the story. As yet another evolution-based modernization of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it has some interest. Jack Arnold does a good job keeping the visuals interesting and the pace moving. The musical score uses many familiar themes and tones. One can almost hear the Creature's theme woven in there. It was also fun to see the old familiar trope of the "monster" carrying off the pretty girl in his arms.
There's no Cold War here. There is only a minor element of atomic cautionary tale in that gamma radiation altered the ceolacanth's blood to make it the monster-maker. Radiation makes monsters. Everyone knows that.
Several of the actors and others in MoC are familiar 50s sci-fi names. Jack Arnold directed Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54) and Tarantula ('55). Writer David Duncan wrote for Monster That Challenged the World ('57) and Black Scorpion ('57). Arthur Franz, who plays Donald, also starred in Invaders from Mars ('53) and The Flame Barrier ('57). Whit Bissel plays the skeptical Dr. Cole. He also played in Creature From the Black Lagoon and Target Earth ('54).
Another Jekyll & Hyde -- Like Hideous Sun Demon, MoC reuses the good-doctor and evil-beast device. As in HSD, the transformation was accidental, not deliberate as in Jekyll's case. MoC does return to the chemical agent, and returns to the ape-like imagery of the evil-beast. Common to them all is the good-doctor not remembering what he did while the evil-beast. All three had the faithful girlfriend. He original and HSD had the "other" woman (Ivy and Trudy), but MoC had only a rather chaste echo of that in Molly Riordan. MoC returned to the moral of the original, that every modern man carries his beast within.
The populist form of the theory of evolution is the unmistakable foundation of MoC. The genetic connection to the past was more scientifically clean than the embryology basis used in Hideous Sun Demon. The notion that chromosomes were additive over time was quite a leap, however. The ceolacanth was symbolic of evolution halted. Hence, it's blood (with some gamma ray help) had the power to neutralize those modern added layers. Hence the savage ape man, wolf-dog and giant dragonfly.
Shown in the first couple minutes of the movie, Professor Blake's collection of anthropoid face sculptures is a classic linear progression. A quick-eyed viewer might spot Piltdown Man in the line. This "early human ancestor" was finally confirmed as a hoax in 1953, fabricated from a modern human skull fragment and an orangutan jaw. Scientists might drop bogus facts quickly, but the public tends to hang onto them -- especially if they fit the mental model.
Near the end, Donald gives a little monologue on mankind. "It's the savage in man which science must meet and defeat if humanity is to survive." This was a rather Neitzschian view, that mankind was evolving into a better being, leaving behind his brutal self. Note, too, the science-as-savior angle. Mankind's savage nature (evil) was something chemical which science could cure.
Bottom line? MoC is a notch above the typical B-movie fare of the late 50s. It's production quality is enjoyable. The recast of Jekyll and Hyde is entertaining too. A triple feature of the 1931 Jekyll & Hyde movie, the Hideous Sun Demon and MoC, would be fun.
synopsis - second opinion.
In this sci-fi film, a college professor must deal with the cataclysmic consequences that ensue when a transmogrifying dragonfly bites a prehistoric fish from Madagascar. Soon after the bite, the strange fish becomes gigantic and begins passing on its new ability to morph all it comes in contact with back into their primal forms. When it bites a dog, the dog becomes a wolf. When some fish slime ends up in the professor's pipe, the professor put it to his lips, and he turns into a rampaging Neanderthal with a very large stone-axe that he freely wields around the terrified college campus. Bloody mayhem ensues.
review
Any Jack Arnold movie from the 1950s is worth seeing, but Monster On The Campus is clearly in the bottom half of his output, despite some suspenseful scenes and clever moments. Arthur Franz brings a dour sincerity to his portrayal of Dr. Donald Blake, the researcher who falls victim to contamination from an ancient fossil that causes him (or any other living thing) that comes in contact with it to revert to a pre-historic state. The movie also provides a vehicle for established veteran players such as Helen Westcott and Alexander Lockwood, and newcomer Troy Donahue, which makes it a strange mix on that level; and the presence of ubiquitous horror/sci-fi player Whit Bissell gives the movie resonance with modern cultists (William Schallert must have been busy elsewhere during the three weeks this movie was in production . . .). But Monster On The Campus, just by virtue of its title, has a certain built-in campiness that expresses itself overtly in a few scenes that, undoubtedly, elicited howls, hoots, and mocking gasps from drive-in audiences at the time. In all, it's not as atmospheric -- except in a few stylistically claustrophobic scenes -- or persuasive as Arnold's best work, and even lacks the underlying sincerity that helped drive works such as The Space Children. It's a fun thrill ride within its modest budgetary and production dimensions, but not much more.
College student JIMMY heads to campus with his dog, while in a classroom MADELEINE, the daughter of the UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT, gets a plaster cast made of her face by fiance DR. DONALD BLAKE. They are interrupted as Jimmy shows up with a special delivery - an ancient fish called a coelacanth that Donald has ordered from Madagascar. Donald notes that the coelacanth has a special ability to "resist evolution." The dog drinks some of the coelacanth blood - and soon goes crazy, attacking Madeleine. Jimmy and Donald subdue the dog and stick it in a cage.
Donald takes a sample of the dog's saliva for a rabies test, and notes that the dog has huge teeth. It seems to be an evolutionary throwback to a prehistoric wolf. The UNIVERSITY DOCTOR's assistant MOLLY shows up to get the saliva sample. Donald cuts himself on the coelacanth's teeth as he puts it away, and soon feels woozy. Molly puts him in her car and takes him home. Donald passes out in the car. Molly goes inside to call the Doctor - and a CREATURE comes in and attacks her!
Madeleine and a SECURITY GUARD look for Donald in the lab. He's not there, but the dog is back to being a friendly pet. Madeleine heads to Donald's house. It has been trashed. She finds Donald passed out in the back yard - and Molly dead! Cops soon arrive. At first they suspect Donald because they find his tie clip in Molly's hand, but he is quickly exonerated when the cops find an enormous handprint on a window. Is there a killer on the loose? The cops also note that Molly didn't die of any wounds - she had a heart attack. She died of fright!
Donald lectures to his students about evolution using the coelacanth as an example. Jimmy shows up to check on the dog, and Donald tries to show him the huge teeth - but they are gone. Donald wonders if he is imagining things. Cop STEVENS is sure that someone is personally after Donald, but Donald has no enemies. Stevens gives Donald bodyguard EDDIE.
Donald and Eddie note a small dragonfly land on the coelacanth. Donald also sees "crystallized bacteria" on a slide. He quickly shows the slide to the Doctor, but the bacteria seem totally normal. Did Donald imagine something again? Meanwhile, Jimmy and his girlfriend SYLVIA hear a strange, loud buzzing sound as they hide under some trees to make out. There is a moment of a fake scare, but it turns out to be another couple making out. Jimmy and Sylvia go to the science building - and here they and Donald all see a huge GIANT DRAGONFLY outside the window. Jimmy and Donald trap the giant dragonfly, which Donald recognizes as a prehistoric species.
Donald studies the giant dragonfly. As he does so, blood falls into his pipe, which he then smokes. As the dragonfly shrinks back to its original state, Donald transforms into a PREHUMAN ANTHROPOID! The "anthropoid" smashes up the lab and kills Eddie. The cops come, but find only dead Eddie, a huge footprint, and Donald passed out. Donald recognizes the footprint as coming from a prehistoric subhuman, but Stevens thinks it must have been faked to frame Donald.
Donald investigates, does experiments, and calls a PROFESSOR in Madagascar who investigates how the fish was preserved. Donald finds that the fish was preserved using gamma ray radiation! Donald cancels lots of classes to continue his studies, and Madeleine and her father are afraid he is cracking up. The President comes to Donald to ask him to take a leave of absence. Donald explains what he has learned - the coelacanth blood, treated with radiation, is transforming creatures into evolutionary throwbacks for short periods of time. Just as he explains this, Donald realizes that he was probably the person who transformed into the monster.
Donald heads up to the University President's cabin, where he prepares to experiment on himself. He plans to inject the coelacanth blood into himself and capture the transformation with cameras he has rigged around the room. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Sylvia tell Madeleine about the giant dragonfly. Donald isn't crazy after all! Madeleine heads up to the cabin to see Donald.
Donald injects himself with the coelacanth blood as Madeleine drives. He transforms into the anthropoid, trashes the cabin, and runs out into the road. Madeleine sees the anthropoid, screams, and crashes her car. A FOREST RANGER races to the scene and sees the anthropoid standing over her. He calls the cops and grabs his gun. The anthropoid carries Madeleine away. The cops trail them, and the ranger shoots the anthropoid in the arm. Madeleine wakes up and runs, the creature pursues and knocks her out again, and then kills the ranger. Madeleine recovers and makes it back to the cabin as the anthropoid transforms back into Donald. The cops meet them here. Donald develops the film from the cameras and sees a shot of the creature. He knows now that "the beast within" himself is the killer. He takes the cops outside, claiming to know where the anthropoid is hiding. As the Doctor looks on, he injects himself with the coelacanth blood one last time, telling the doctor to "watch closely and see evolution in reverse." He transforms into the anthropoid, and the cops shoot him before the Doctor can stop them. The Doctor and the cops watch in amazement as the dead anthropoid turns back into mild-mannered Donald.
Starring Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, Than Wyenn, Thomas Browne Henry, Richard Benedict, James Seay, John Close, and Don C. Harvey. Directed by Bert I. Gordon.
This is the sort of film that producer/director Bert I. Gordon would become famous (or infamous) for. B.I.G. liked playing with relative size, making his antagonist(s) larger than life. The Beginning of the End (BotE) is an obvious rehash of Them! ('54) with radiation-induced giant bugs, but substituting grasshoppers for ants. Instead of menacing Los Angeles, these giant bugs go for Chicago. BotE is a cheaper copy in many ways, but still found a ready audience in the mid 50s. Some better-than-B actors helped keep BotE from foundering completely. Peter Graves is the male lead. He saved Killers from Space ('53) and It Conquered The World ('56) from total loser-dom. Peggie Castle was the female lead in Invasion USA. Morris Ankrum, veteran B-sci-fi actor, once again plays the stern military man as he had in Rocketship XM ('50), Invaders From Mars ('53) and others yet to come.
Plot Synopsis
People in rural Illinois are starting to disappear. Then a whole town of 150 is wiped out. Audrey (Castle) is a reporter who pushes for the story. Radiation might be the culprit, but no one has any nuclear material. She interviews Ed, an agricultural scientist (Graves), who has been growing giant tomatoes with the help of radiation. The isotopes are safely locked up, however. They travel to the site of a wiped out warehouse which stored tons of wheat. There, a giant grasshopper eats one of the scientists. Ordinary grasshoppers had munched on the giant tomatoes and so grew giant too. Hundreds of them mass in the woods. A National Guard unit's small arms can't stop them. They march towards Chicago, destroying Peoria and a couple others en route. The army's best tanks can't stop them. Panic ensues. Chicago is evacuated. The giant grasshoppers infest the Chicago area, but go semi-dormant during a cool night. Top brass in Washington plan bomb Chicago with an a-bomb to kill them while they're in one place. Ed and Audrey think they can find a sound that will attract the giants. If they could lure them into Lake Michigan, they'd all drown. They capture a live giant and bring it to the lab for tests. None of the sounds affect it. Time is almost out when they do find a frequency that works. Speakers are set up on one of Chicago's towers, to attract all the outlying bugs to downtown. Then a boat in the lake with a speaker will attract them to their doom. The plan works, though with a protracted fighting scene. In the end, they all drown. Chicago is saved. The End.
The giant bug (or other critter) sub-genre was only just getting started. We had ants in Them! and a spider in Tarantula. There will be many more to come, but this was an early one yet. The first half of the film, with it's mystery, is much better than the latter half. The relentless threat to a major city harkens to HG Wells' War of the Worlds. After that, it gets lame, but Graves and Ankrum don't disappoint.
While mostly an atomic radiation cautionary tale, there is the basic story line of a relentless force moving upon an American city. Panic, evacuation, a-bombs. It's all familiar Cold War material.
Popular Science magazines were bright with the prospect of what radiation-mutated crops might do for mankind. This is exactly what Ed was trying to do. As with all good naive scientists, he failed to see the bigger picture. Pests eat crops. Giant crops can create giant pests. The moral behind the film is that messing around with radiation can go horribly wrong.
Peggie Castle plays an obviously tough and independent reporter. She'd covered the destruction in WWII and Korea, written respected books and never once screamed like a girl. (she did scream when Frank was eaten, but it was more shock and a call for help than silly panic). Towards the end of the movie, she has less to do, and does lean in the chest of hero Ed (Graves), but she's on screen as more of an equal than a date.
A teen couple are necking on Lover's Lane. They get eaten. A pretty woman in only a towel is primping in her hotel room (back to the window). She gets eaten. Such scenes suggest to some viewers that Bert was giving subtle messages that being sexual is dangerous -- avoid it! This seems too flat. Instead, you could see the necking couple and the sexy woman as representing a very personal and vulnerable aspect of mankind. Intimate moments feel very vulnerable. Our outward mask of civilization is off. Like the lady in the hotel room, we're dressed in only a towel (not full battle gear). Attacks at those moments enhance the mood of vulnerability. It's not a subtle "don't neck" message (like anyone would ever listen to such a message anyhow).
One of the most memorable "special effects" of BotE is how regular grasshoppers (albeit big ones) are set loose to walk among or climb on photos of Chicago. As cheap as it is, this works pretty well. Note how they had cutouts of a line of busses from the same photo, set in front of the building plane, so grasshoppers could walk between them. Also note one scene where the set-back of the building is cut separately, so the grasshoppers can hang their legs over the parapet. Cheap as they are, these effects work better than the poorly done superimposition (green screen), which gets overused.
If you're a stock footage fan, you'll find a lot to love in BotE. Tanks on the road, Troops, crowds panicking. In fact, if you watch closely, you'll see one scene lifted from The Day The Earth Stood Still ('51).
The General Hanson character says the Air Force is sending a B-52 (then America's new super plane) with an A-bomb. When they show a clip of footage, it's actually a propeller-powered B-36, the old-tech behemoth the B-52 were designed to replace. Perhaps stock footage of the B-52, America's high-tech nuclear bomber, then operational for only a couple years, was not yet available, or deemed too sensitive to inclusion in B-movies.
One of the things that help a big bug movie work, is that the critter is somewhat fearful even when small. Ants are relentless (fire ants, army ants), many people are afraid of spiders, and later movies' scorpions and a mantis -- which are creepy looking, will have their traits magnified. But grasshoppers? They just don't inspire fear. BotE fights an uphill battle in trying to make them fearsome.
BotE makes good use of off-screen events. We are told the town of Ludlow was wiped out. All we see are stock clips of tornado damage. We only read of Peoria's destruction in a telegram. When anyone is 'eaten' by a giant grasshopper, we only see the giant lunge, the victim cower, then cut away. Good for budgets, but also kinder to audiences.
Despite the poster (in which the grasshoppers have curious teeth and fangs), they do not pick up anyone. In fact, they eat everyone quite fairly. One is implied to have eaten the lady in the towel, however, so there is at least a tiny delivery on what the poster promises.
Bottom line? BotE is another in the big bug sub-genre. If you like that sort, you'll likely gloss over the low budget short cuts. As a story, it's pretty conventional and doesn't break any new ground.
By 1957, producer/director Bert I. Gordon had already tackled giant monsters of all sorts with films like KING DINOSAUR and THE CYCLOPS. BEGINNING OF THE END was Mr. BIG's first nod to giant insects (in this case, giant grasshoppers), a subject he would unleash on us again in THE SPIDER (1958) and EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977). The hero of the film is the perfectly cast Peter Graves in his fourth and final 50s sci-fi thriller (the others were RED PLANET MARS, KILLERS FROM SPACE and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD).
Respected female journalist Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle, BACK FROM THE DEAD) drives to Ludlow, Illinois with reports that some 150 residents are missing. She then visits Doctor Ed Wainright (Graves), a young scientist experimenting with vegetables in the hopes that a busty reporter will do a story on him. Visiting the sight of a recent disaster, the doc and the reporter are confronted with humongous noisy locusts, and a silly deaf/mute character is stampeded to death. Meanwhile, the military is brought in (reinforced with ample stock footage), trying to decide how to destroy the buggers without having to set off an atom bomb on Chicago.
This is basically Mr. BIG's imitation of the bigger-budgeted THEM, and the results are a respectable 73 minutes. Sure, using real grasshoppers against rear-projection effects or crawling on a photograph of a building is not terribly convincing, but it still has a certain nostalgic charm to it. Castle does a fine job as the heroine, and Morris Ankrum (who played a general, doctor or cop in nearly every 50s sci-fi flick) and Thomas Browne Henry (BLOOD OF DRACULA, THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) represent the military. And who doesn't like Peter Graves? He was even likable as the Nazi spy in STALAG 17! The memorable music is by none other than Albert Glasser.
Having already received a DVD release through Rhino's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" series, it was a big surprise when Image Entertainment announced this title. But Image's version puts the previous one to shame and makes it obsolete, going back to the original camera negative for the transfer. BEGINNING TO THE END now looks crisp and clean, and the black and white image has intense detail. It's also Anamorphic and wonderfully letterboxed in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio, thankfully covering previous open matte shots of the insects climbing off the peaks of photographed buildings. The audio is also excellent.
Also included is a full running commentary, moderated by producer/director Bruce Kimmel (THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL) that features Bert's ex-wife Flora (who assisted in the special effects) and daughter Susan (who appeared in some of his films, but not this one). The commentary is an OK listen, and although Kimmel is enthusiastic enough, there is a lack of research in the proceedings (Peggy Castle is discussed as if she's still living but she passed away 30 years ago). Not too much is learned from the two ladies (other then the "I" in Gordon's name stands for "Ira" and that only male grasshoppers were used in the film), but they still have a few nice anecdotes to tell. But one has to wonder why the alive and well Bert I. Gordon can't be coaxed into doing one of these things!
Starring Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, Than Wyenn, Thomas Browne Henry, Richard Benedict, James Seay, John Close, and Don C. Harvey. Directed by Bert I. Gordon.
This is the sort of film that producer/director Bert I. Gordon would become famous (or infamous) for. B.I.G. liked playing with relative size, making his antagonist(s) larger than life. The Beginning of the End (BotE) is an obvious rehash of Them! ('54) with radiation-induced giant bugs, but substituting grasshoppers for ants. Instead of menacing Los Angeles, these giant bugs go for Chicago. BotE is a cheaper copy in many ways, but still found a ready audience in the mid 50s. Some better-than-B actors helped keep BotE from foundering completely. Peter Graves is the male lead. He saved Killers from Space ('53) and It Conquered The World ('56) from total loser-dom. Peggie Castle was the female lead in Invasion USA. Morris Ankrum, veteran B-sci-fi actor, once again plays the stern military man as he had in Rocketship XM ('50), Invaders From Mars ('53) and others yet to come.
Plot Synopsis
People in rural Illinois are starting to disappear. Then a whole town of 150 is wiped out. Audrey (Castle) is a reporter who pushes for the story. Radiation might be the culprit, but no one has any nuclear material. She interviews Ed, an agricultural scientist (Graves), who has been growing giant tomatoes with the help of radiation. The isotopes are safely locked up, however. They travel to the site of a wiped out warehouse which stored tons of wheat. There, a giant grasshopper eats one of the scientists. Ordinary grasshoppers had munched on the giant tomatoes and so grew giant too. Hundreds of them mass in the woods. A National Guard unit's small arms can't stop them. They march towards Chicago, destroying Peoria and a couple others en route. The army's best tanks can't stop them. Panic ensues. Chicago is evacuated. The giant grasshoppers infest the Chicago area, but go semi-dormant during a cool night. Top brass in Washington plan bomb Chicago with an a-bomb to kill them while they're in one place. Ed and Audrey think they can find a sound that will attract the giants. If they could lure them into Lake Michigan, they'd all drown. They capture a live giant and bring it to the lab for tests. None of the sounds affect it. Time is almost out when they do find a frequency that works. Speakers are set up on one of Chicago's towers, to attract all the outlying bugs to downtown. Then a boat in the lake with a speaker will attract them to their doom. The plan works, though with a protracted fighting scene. In the end, they all drown. Chicago is saved. The End.
The giant bug (or other critter) sub-genre was only just getting started. We had ants in Them! and a spider in Tarantula. There will be many more to come, but this was an early one yet. The first half of the film, with it's mystery, is much better than the latter half. The relentless threat to a major city harkens to HG Wells' War of the Worlds. After that, it gets lame, but Graves and Ankrum don't disappoint.
While mostly an atomic radiation cautionary tale, there is the basic story line of a relentless force moving upon an American city. Panic, evacuation, a-bombs. It's all familiar Cold War material.
Popular Science magazines were bright with the prospect of what radiation-mutated crops might do for mankind. This is exactly what Ed was trying to do. As with all good naive scientists, he failed to see the bigger picture. Pests eat crops. Giant crops can create giant pests. The moral behind the film is that messing around with radiation can go horribly wrong.
Peggie Castle plays an obviously tough and independent reporter. She'd covered the destruction in WWII and Korea, written respected books and never once screamed like a girl. (she did scream when Frank was eaten, but it was more shock and a call for help than silly panic). Towards the end of the movie, she has less to do, and does lean in the chest of hero Ed (Graves), but she's on screen as more of an equal than a date.
A teen couple are necking on Lover's Lane. They get eaten. A pretty woman in only a towel is primping in her hotel room (back to the window). She gets eaten. Such scenes suggest to some viewers that Bert was giving subtle messages that being sexual is dangerous -- avoid it! This seems too flat. Instead, you could see the necking couple and the sexy woman as representing a very personal and vulnerable aspect of mankind. Intimate moments feel very vulnerable. Our outward mask of civilization is off. Like the lady in the hotel room, we're dressed in only a towel (not full battle gear). Attacks at those moments enhance the mood of vulnerability. It's not a subtle "don't neck" message (like anyone would ever listen to such a message anyhow).
One of the most memorable "special effects" of BotE is how regular grasshoppers (albeit big ones) are set loose to walk among or climb on photos of Chicago. As cheap as it is, this works pretty well. Note how they had cutouts of a line of busses from the same photo, set in front of the building plane, so grasshoppers could walk between them. Also note one scene where the set-back of the building is cut separately, so the grasshoppers can hang their legs over the parapet. Cheap as they are, these effects work better than the poorly done superimposition (green screen), which gets overused.
If you're a stock footage fan, you'll find a lot to love in BotE. Tanks on the road, Troops, crowds panicking. In fact, if you watch closely, you'll see one scene lifted from The Day The Earth Stood Still ('51).
The General Hanson character says the Air Force is sending a B-52 (then America's new super plane) with an A-bomb. When they show a clip of footage, it's actually a propeller-powered B-36, the old-tech behemoth the B-52 were designed to replace. Perhaps stock footage of the B-52, America's high-tech nuclear bomber, then operational for only a couple years, was not yet available, or deemed too sensitive to inclusion in B-movies.
One of the things that help a big bug movie work, is that the critter is somewhat fearful even when small. Ants are relentless (fire ants, army ants), many people are afraid of spiders, and later movies' scorpions and a mantis -- which are creepy looking, will have their traits magnified. But grasshoppers? They just don't inspire fear. BotE fights an uphill battle in trying to make them fearsome.
BotE makes good use of off-screen events. We are told the town of Ludlow was wiped out. All we see are stock clips of tornado damage. We only read of Peoria's destruction in a telegram. When anyone is 'eaten' by a giant grasshopper, we only see the giant lunge, the victim cower, then cut away. Good for budgets, but also kinder to audiences.
Despite the poster (in which the grasshoppers have curious teeth and fangs), they do not pick up anyone. In fact, they eat everyone quite fairly. One is implied to have eaten the lady in the towel, however, so there is at least a tiny delivery on what the poster promises.
Bottom line? BotE is another in the big bug sub-genre. If you like that sort, you'll likely gloss over the low budget short cuts. As a story, it's pretty conventional and doesn't break any new ground.
By 1957, producer/director Bert I. Gordon had already tackled giant monsters of all sorts with films like KING DINOSAUR and THE CYCLOPS. BEGINNING OF THE END was Mr. BIG's first nod to giant insects (in this case, giant grasshoppers), a subject he would unleash on us again in THE SPIDER (1958) and EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977). The hero of the film is the perfectly cast Peter Graves in his fourth and final 50s sci-fi thriller (the others were RED PLANET MARS, KILLERS FROM SPACE and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD).
Respected female journalist Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle, BACK FROM THE DEAD) drives to Ludlow, Illinois with reports that some 150 residents are missing. She then visits Doctor Ed Wainright (Graves), a young scientist experimenting with vegetables in the hopes that a busty reporter will do a story on him. Visiting the sight of a recent disaster, the doc and the reporter are confronted with humongous noisy locusts, and a silly deaf/mute character is stampeded to death. Meanwhile, the military is brought in (reinforced with ample stock footage), trying to decide how to destroy the buggers without having to set off an atom bomb on Chicago.
This is basically Mr. BIG's imitation of the bigger-budgeted THEM, and the results are a respectable 73 minutes. Sure, using real grasshoppers against rear-projection effects or crawling on a photograph of a building is not terribly convincing, but it still has a certain nostalgic charm to it. Castle does a fine job as the heroine, and Morris Ankrum (who played a general, doctor or cop in nearly every 50s sci-fi flick) and Thomas Browne Henry (BLOOD OF DRACULA, THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) represent the military. And who doesn't like Peter Graves? He was even likable as the Nazi spy in STALAG 17! The memorable music is by none other than Albert Glasser.
Having already received a DVD release through Rhino's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" series, it was a big surprise when Image Entertainment announced this title. But Image's version puts the previous one to shame and makes it obsolete, going back to the original camera negative for the transfer. BEGINNING TO THE END now looks crisp and clean, and the black and white image has intense detail. It's also Anamorphic and wonderfully letterboxed in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio, thankfully covering previous open matte shots of the insects climbing off the peaks of photographed buildings. The audio is also excellent.
Also included is a full running commentary, moderated by producer/director Bruce Kimmel (THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL) that features Bert's ex-wife Flora (who assisted in the special effects) and daughter Susan (who appeared in some of his films, but not this one). The commentary is an OK listen, and although Kimmel is enthusiastic enough, there is a lack of research in the proceedings (Peggy Castle is discussed as if she's still living but she passed away 30 years ago). Not too much is learned from the two ladies (other then the "I" in Gordon's name stands for "Ira" and that only male grasshoppers were used in the film), but they still have a few nice anecdotes to tell. But one has to wonder why the alive and well Bert I. Gordon can't be coaxed into doing one of these things!
Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, and William Schallert. Directed by Herbert L. Strock.
When two scientists at a top-secret government installation devoted to space research are killed -- in their own test chamber, seemingly by an experiment gone awry -- Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) is sent out from Washington to investigate. Sheppard mixes easily enough with the somewhat eccentric team of scientists, though he always seems in danger of being distracted by the presence of Joanne Merritt (Constance Dowling), who serves as the aide to the project director Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall) but is, in reality, another security agent. Sheppard is as puzzled as anyone else by the seemingly inexplicable series of events overtaking the installation -- properly operating equipment suddenly undergoing lethal malfunctions, and the radar tracking aircraft that aren't there -- until he puts it together with the operations of NOVAC (Nuclear Operated Variable Automatic Computer), the central brain of the complex. But the mystery deepens when he discovers that NOVAC was shut down during one of the "accidents" -- and even the computer's operators can't account fully for the whereabouts of GOG and MAGOG, the two robots under the computer's control.
"...and then without warning, the machine became a frankenstein of steel," says the sensationalist poster text. This is the third story in Ivan Tors' OSI trilogy. His first "Office of Scientific Investigation" story was Magnetic Monster in early 1953. The second was Riders to the Stars in early '54. With Gog the loose trilogy is complete. Unlike the Star Wars trilogy in which the stories build upon each other, each of the three OSI stories are separate tales which have nothing to do with each other. The common thread is the idea of there being a sort of Science FBI agency whose job it is, is to check out the scientifically strange. In that regard, Tors' OSI is a bit like a foreshadowing of the X-Files TV series, but without any of the New Age paranormal focus.
In keeping with the previous two stories, Gog is more of a detective murder mystery movie. Tors was a huge fan of "hard" science, not fanciful fiction fluff, so Gog, like the other two movies, is chock full of reveling in sciencey stuff in an almost geeky way. This reverence for real science keeps things from getting out on shaky limb, as many sci-fi films to. The events are much more plausible, less fantastic.
Synopsis
At a secret underground research facility, far out in the desert, scientists working on preparations for a manned space mission, are getting murdered mysteriously. Two agents from the OSI are dispatched to solve the mystery and keep the super secret space station program on track. The scientists are killed in various ways, mostly through equipment malfunctions. The facility director and the agents suspect sabotage. Small transmitter/receiver boxes are found within equipment in different parts of the facility. They suggest that someone on the outside is transmitting in the "malfunctions" in order to kill off the program's scientists. Occasional alarms indicate some flying high intruder, but nothing is clearly found. One of the base's two robots, named Gog, kills another technician while it's mate, Magog, tries to set up an overload within the base's atomic pile. The OSI agents stop Magog with a flame thrower. Meanwhile, interceptor jets scramble and find the highflying spy jet and destroy it with missiles. Once the trouble is past, the Director announces that they will be launching their prototype space station the next day, despite the sabotage attempts to stop it. The End.
The time spent reveling in techno-geekery has a certain Popular Science charm to it. There's an evident gee-whiz air about space and defense sciences which is fun to see. People were fascinated with things rockety and atomic. For various fun bits, see the Notes section.
Gog oozes Cold War from every frame. First is the base's underground location to make them safe from A-bombs. Next is the mysterious killer trying to stop the space station program. The high-flying mystery plane is "not one of ours." (that leaves: Them, and we all knew who they were.) The space station is to be powered by a solar mirror. Even that benign mirror has sinister possibilities. While demonstrating the mirror, the scientists use it to burn a model of a city. "This could happen...if we're not the first to reach space," says the Director. Space is the next "high ground" to be contested. At the end of the movie, when discussing the launch (despite the sabotage attempt) of the prototype space station, the Director says, "Through it's eye, we'll be able to see everything that goes on upon this tired old earth." The Defense Secretary says, "Nothing will take us by surprise again." An obvious reference to Pearl Harbor.
B-films often re-used props and sets from prior films in order to save on their budgets. Gog, even though shot in Eastman Color, was no exception. Two old prop friends show up in Gog. One is our venerable old friend, the space suits from Destination Moon ('50). Look for the centrifuge scene. The research assistants are dressed in them, and as an added bonus, they wear the all-acrylic fish bowl helmets used in Abbot and Costello Go to Mars ('53). Our second old friend is scene in the radar / security room, (the one with the annoying tuning fork device). Check out the monitor wall. It's been gussied up a bit, but it is the spaceship control panel wall from Catwomen of the Moon and Project Moon Base -- complete with the empty 16mm film reels on the right side. It's fun to see old friends.
B-films often include stock footage of military units, tanks, jets, battleships, etc. to fill things out. Gog is no different, and even commits the common continuity error of showing one type of plane taking off, but a different kind in the air.
What amounts to a small treat amid the usual stock footage of jets, some shots of a rather obscure bit of USAF hardware -- the F-94C Starfire with its straight wings and huge wing tanks. In 1954, the Starfire was one of America's coolest combat jets, yet we hear little about it. The swept-wing F-86 Sabers (which we see taxiing and taking off) were the agile fighter which gained fame over Korea. They're common stock footage stars. The F-94, with its onboard radar (in the nose cone) was deemed too advanced to risk falling into enemy hands. So, it didn't see much action , and therefore little fame. The heavier, yet powerful F-94C (one of the first US jets to have an afterburner) was 1954 America's hottest Interceptor -- designed to stop high flying Soviet bombers. It's blatant cameo appearance in Gog, intercepting the high-flying mystery plane, was a fun little bit of patriotic showing off.
The very name of the movie, Gog, is charged with meaning to American audiences of the mid 50s, though virtually lost on viewers of the 21st century. The names of the two robots, Gog and Magog, come from the Bible. More specifically, from the prophecies of Ezekiel (Chapter 38) and the Book of Revelation (chapter 20). While just who they are (nations? kings?) has been debated for centuries, their role as tools of Satan in the battle of Armageddon is clear. Mainstream American patriotic Christendom had settled on the idea that the Soviet Union was the prophesied "nations from the north" who would join Satan to oppose God. This gives the title of the movie a special Cold War significance. It also puts an interesting spin on the Dr. Zeitman character for having named the two robots in the first place. Since they were tools of the mega-computer NOVAC, what was he saying about NOVAC?
It is interesting that the base's radar could not detect the mystery plane (which was beaming in the 'kill' instructions to NOVAC) because it was made of "fiberglass" which rendered it invisible to radar. Now, fiberglass itself isn't sturdy enough for high-speed jets, and it would take until the 1990s before composite materials advanced to make the dream of a stealth aircraft a reality. Nonetheless, the dream (or nightmare) of stealth aircraft was on-screen in 1954 in Gog.
The super computer, NOVAC, controlled everything on the base. Even though the machines were not really killing scientists on their own, but following human orders from the mystery plane, there was the on-screen depiction of machines having a murderous mind of their own. (all pre-Steven King) In the techno starry-eyed 50s, it was fairly uncommon for the technology itself to be turning on its masters. This idea would gain traction later in the 50s, and especially in the 60s, but in '54, it was unusual.
A cautionary subtext to Gog is the danger of trusting in a supercomputer to manage defenses and a whole base. NOVAC doesn't go bad on its own, as the computer will in The Invisible Boy, Hal in 2001 or Colossus in The Forbin Project. In this movie, it was the nefarious "others" who hacked into NOVAC to make it do the killing, but this just demonstrates the danger. People were getting a little nervous about letting machines take over too much responsibility. We were starting to distrust our creations.
Until Gog, robots were fairly humanoid.
They had two legs, two arms, a torso and a head. Audiences had seen the mechanical Maria in Metropolis ('27), the fedora-wearing metal men in Gene Autrey's Phantom Empire serial ('35). The water-heater-like Republic robot appeared in several rocketman serials. There was the gleaming giant Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51) and the cute left over fedora-dudes in Captain Video ('51). The metal giant in Devil Girl from Mars ('54) was also humaniod, in a chunky way. Gog and Magog were a departure from the stereotype. They were noticeably in-human, which was part of the mood.
Bottom line? Gog seems a bit bland, as far as sci-fi tends to go, but it has a lot in it for fans of 50s sci-fi.
Starring Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt, Nancy Walters, Troy Donahue, and Whit Bissell. Directed by Jack Arnold.
This was Jack Arnold's last horror film for Universal, and the director pulled out all the tricks of his trade for this foray into the teenage drive-in monster genre. Joanna Moore and Arthur Franz star, and Troy Donahue makes an early screen appearance, in this campy campus creature feature.
Universal's B unit produced another sci-fi/horror hybrid in late 1958. It comes as an interesting coincidence, being released around the time of Hideous Sun Demon. Evolution must have been a hot topic then. Both movies feature a Jekyll & Hyde theme with "regressive evolution" as the science part of their fictions. Directed by Jack Arnold (of Black Lagoon fame), Monster on Campus (MoC) has above-average production values for the B market. The acting is pretty solid, with a couple exceptions, and the props are also above-average for what the B market was becoming accustomed to. The overall effect is an entertaining, if somewhat predictable tale.
Plot Synopsis
A university professor receives a ceolacanth (a "prehistoric" fish still found off South Africa). A dog who licks up the melt water from the fish's ice, goes savage. His fangs grow. The professor, Donald, cuts his hand on the fish's teeth and gets more melt water in the cut. He feels woozy, so a nurse drives him home. She is found dead (of fright) and Donald's house ransacked. He remembers nothing. The police suspect him, but fingerprints at the scene are not his. Later, a dragonfly is eating (or drinking) off the fish body. It later returns 2 feet across. Donald kills it, but its blood drips in his pipe. He smokes it, and gets woozie again. He becomes an ape-man. In this state, he kills a policeman assigned to guard him. Donald is sure that the ceolacanth's blood causes reverse evolution. Dog to wolf, dragonfly to a Meganeura, and a man back into an ape-like cave man. Donald's bosses think he's becoming unglued with his talk of giant bugs and ape men, so he's sent up to a mountain cabin for rest. In the cabin, Donald decides to inject himself with ceolacanth plasma, tape record the results and had set up cameras to capture it on film. He does this, but his girlfriend, Madeline, is driving up to see him. She encounters the ape-man on the road, swerves and crashes. Ape-man carries her off. When she screams, a forest ranger investigates. Ape-man kills him with a hatchet. The police arrive too, but Donald has returned to normal. After learning of the killings, Donald decides there is just one thing to do. He says he'll take them all to see the ape-man. He injects himself. When he returns down the hill as the ape-man, the police shoot and kill him. In death, he reverts back to Donald. The End.
The production values are good enough to keep a viewer focused on the story. As yet another evolution-based modernization of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it has some interest. Jack Arnold does a good job keeping the visuals interesting and the pace moving. The musical score uses many familiar themes and tones. One can almost hear the Creature's theme woven in there. It was also fun to see the old familiar trope of the "monster" carrying off the pretty girl in his arms.
There's no Cold War here. There is only a minor element of atomic cautionary tale in that gamma radiation altered the ceolacanth's blood to make it the monster-maker. Radiation makes monsters. Everyone knows that.
Several of the actors and others in MoC are familiar 50s sci-fi names. Jack Arnold directed Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54) and Tarantula ('55). Writer David Duncan wrote for Monster That Challenged the World ('57) and Black Scorpion ('57). Arthur Franz, who plays Donald, also starred in Invaders from Mars ('53) and The Flame Barrier ('57). Whit Bissel plays the skeptical Dr. Cole. He also played in Creature From the Black Lagoon and Target Earth ('54).
Another Jekyll & Hyde -- Like Hideous Sun Demon, MoC reuses the good-doctor and evil-beast device. As in HSD, the transformation was accidental, not deliberate as in Jekyll's case. MoC does return to the chemical agent, and returns to the ape-like imagery of the evil-beast. Common to them all is the good-doctor not remembering what he did while the evil-beast. All three had the faithful girlfriend. He original and HSD had the "other" woman (Ivy and Trudy), but MoC had only a rather chaste echo of that in Molly Riordan. MoC returned to the moral of the original, that every modern man carries his beast within.
The populist form of the theory of evolution is the unmistakable foundation of MoC. The genetic connection to the past was more scientifically clean than the embryology basis used in Hideous Sun Demon. The notion that chromosomes were additive over time was quite a leap, however. The ceolacanth was symbolic of evolution halted. Hence, it's blood (with some gamma ray help) had the power to neutralize those modern added layers. Hence the savage ape man, wolf-dog and giant dragonfly.
Shown in the first couple minutes of the movie, Professor Blake's collection of anthropoid face sculptures is a classic linear progression. A quick-eyed viewer might spot Piltdown Man in the line. This "early human ancestor" was finally confirmed as a hoax in 1953, fabricated from a modern human skull fragment and an orangutan jaw. Scientists might drop bogus facts quickly, but the public tends to hang onto them -- especially if they fit the mental model.
Near the end, Donald gives a little monologue on mankind. "It's the savage in man which science must meet and defeat if humanity is to survive." This was a rather Neitzschian view, that mankind was evolving into a better being, leaving behind his brutal self. Note, too, the science-as-savior angle. Mankind's savage nature (evil) was something chemical which science could cure.
Bottom line? MoC is a notch above the typical B-movie fare of the late 50s. It's production quality is enjoyable. The recast of Jekyll and Hyde is entertaining too. A triple feature of the 1931 Jekyll & Hyde movie, the Hideous Sun Demon and MoC, would be fun.
synopsis - second opinion.
In this sci-fi film, a college professor must deal with the cataclysmic consequences that ensue when a transmogrifying dragonfly bites a prehistoric fish from Madagascar. Soon after the bite, the strange fish becomes gigantic and begins passing on its new ability to morph all it comes in contact with back into their primal forms. When it bites a dog, the dog becomes a wolf. When some fish slime ends up in the professor's pipe, the professor put it to his lips, and he turns into a rampaging Neanderthal with a very large stone-axe that he freely wields around the terrified college campus. Bloody mayhem ensues.
review
Any Jack Arnold movie from the 1950s is worth seeing, but Monster On The Campus is clearly in the bottom half of his output, despite some suspenseful scenes and clever moments. Arthur Franz brings a dour sincerity to his portrayal of Dr. Donald Blake, the researcher who falls victim to contamination from an ancient fossil that causes him (or any other living thing) that comes in contact with it to revert to a pre-historic state. The movie also provides a vehicle for established veteran players such as Helen Westcott and Alexander Lockwood, and newcomer Troy Donahue, which makes it a strange mix on that level; and the presence of ubiquitous horror/sci-fi player Whit Bissell gives the movie resonance with modern cultists (William Schallert must have been busy elsewhere during the three weeks this movie was in production . . .). But Monster On The Campus, just by virtue of its title, has a certain built-in campiness that expresses itself overtly in a few scenes that, undoubtedly, elicited howls, hoots, and mocking gasps from drive-in audiences at the time. In all, it's not as atmospheric -- except in a few stylistically claustrophobic scenes -- or persuasive as Arnold's best work, and even lacks the underlying sincerity that helped drive works such as The Space Children. It's a fun thrill ride within its modest budgetary and production dimensions, but not much more.
College student JIMMY heads to campus with his dog, while in a classroom MADELEINE, the daughter of the UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT, gets a plaster cast made of her face by fiance DR. DONALD BLAKE. They are interrupted as Jimmy shows up with a special delivery - an ancient fish called a coelacanth that Donald has ordered from Madagascar. Donald notes that the coelacanth has a special ability to "resist evolution." The dog drinks some of the coelacanth blood - and soon goes crazy, attacking Madeleine. Jimmy and Donald subdue the dog and stick it in a cage.
Donald takes a sample of the dog's saliva for a rabies test, and notes that the dog has huge teeth. It seems to be an evolutionary throwback to a prehistoric wolf. The UNIVERSITY DOCTOR's assistant MOLLY shows up to get the saliva sample. Donald cuts himself on the coelacanth's teeth as he puts it away, and soon feels woozy. Molly puts him in her car and takes him home. Donald passes out in the car. Molly goes inside to call the Doctor - and a CREATURE comes in and attacks her!
Madeleine and a SECURITY GUARD look for Donald in the lab. He's not there, but the dog is back to being a friendly pet. Madeleine heads to Donald's house. It has been trashed. She finds Donald passed out in the back yard - and Molly dead! Cops soon arrive. At first they suspect Donald because they find his tie clip in Molly's hand, but he is quickly exonerated when the cops find an enormous handprint on a window. Is there a killer on the loose? The cops also note that Molly didn't die of any wounds - she had a heart attack. She died of fright!
Donald lectures to his students about evolution using the coelacanth as an example. Jimmy shows up to check on the dog, and Donald tries to show him the huge teeth - but they are gone. Donald wonders if he is imagining things. Cop STEVENS is sure that someone is personally after Donald, but Donald has no enemies. Stevens gives Donald bodyguard EDDIE.
Donald and Eddie note a small dragonfly land on the coelacanth. Donald also sees "crystallized bacteria" on a slide. He quickly shows the slide to the Doctor, but the bacteria seem totally normal. Did Donald imagine something again? Meanwhile, Jimmy and his girlfriend SYLVIA hear a strange, loud buzzing sound as they hide under some trees to make out. There is a moment of a fake scare, but it turns out to be another couple making out. Jimmy and Sylvia go to the science building - and here they and Donald all see a huge GIANT DRAGONFLY outside the window. Jimmy and Donald trap the giant dragonfly, which Donald recognizes as a prehistoric species.
Donald studies the giant dragonfly. As he does so, blood falls into his pipe, which he then smokes. As the dragonfly shrinks back to its original state, Donald transforms into a PREHUMAN ANTHROPOID! The "anthropoid" smashes up the lab and kills Eddie. The cops come, but find only dead Eddie, a huge footprint, and Donald passed out. Donald recognizes the footprint as coming from a prehistoric subhuman, but Stevens thinks it must have been faked to frame Donald.
Donald investigates, does experiments, and calls a PROFESSOR in Madagascar who investigates how the fish was preserved. Donald finds that the fish was preserved using gamma ray radiation! Donald cancels lots of classes to continue his studies, and Madeleine and her father are afraid he is cracking up. The President comes to Donald to ask him to take a leave of absence. Donald explains what he has learned - the coelacanth blood, treated with radiation, is transforming creatures into evolutionary throwbacks for short periods of time. Just as he explains this, Donald realizes that he was probably the person who transformed into the monster.
Donald heads up to the University President's cabin, where he prepares to experiment on himself. He plans to inject the coelacanth blood into himself and capture the transformation with cameras he has rigged around the room. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Sylvia tell Madeleine about the giant dragonfly. Donald isn't crazy after all! Madeleine heads up to the cabin to see Donald.
Donald injects himself with the coelacanth blood as Madeleine drives. He transforms into the anthropoid, trashes the cabin, and runs out into the road. Madeleine sees the anthropoid, screams, and crashes her car. A FOREST RANGER races to the scene and sees the anthropoid standing over her. He calls the cops and grabs his gun. The anthropoid carries Madeleine away. The cops trail them, and the ranger shoots the anthropoid in the arm. Madeleine wakes up and runs, the creature pursues and knocks her out again, and then kills the ranger. Madeleine recovers and makes it back to the cabin as the anthropoid transforms back into Donald. The cops meet them here. Donald develops the film from the cameras and sees a shot of the creature. He knows now that "the beast within" himself is the killer. He takes the cops outside, claiming to know where the anthropoid is hiding. As the Doctor looks on, he injects himself with the coelacanth blood one last time, telling the doctor to "watch closely and see evolution in reverse." He transforms into the anthropoid, and the cops shoot him before the Doctor can stop them. The Doctor and the cops watch in amazement as the dead anthropoid turns back into mild-mannered Donald.
Starring Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt, Nancy Walters, Troy Donahue, and Whit Bissell. Directed by Jack Arnold.
This was Jack Arnold's last horror film for Universal, and the director pulled out all the tricks of his trade for this foray into the teenage drive-in monster genre. Joanna Moore and Arthur Franz star, and Troy Donahue makes an early screen appearance, in this campy campus creature feature.
Universal's B unit produced another sci-fi/horror hybrid in late 1958. It comes as an interesting coincidence, being released around the time of Hideous Sun Demon. Evolution must have been a hot topic then. Both movies feature a Jekyll & Hyde theme with "regressive evolution" as the science part of their fictions. Directed by Jack Arnold (of Black Lagoon fame), Monster on Campus (MoC) has above-average production values for the B market. The acting is pretty solid, with a couple exceptions, and the props are also above-average for what the B market was becoming accustomed to. The overall effect is an entertaining, if somewhat predictable tale.
Plot Synopsis
A university professor receives a ceolacanth (a "prehistoric" fish still found off South Africa). A dog who licks up the melt water from the fish's ice, goes savage. His fangs grow. The professor, Donald, cuts his hand on the fish's teeth and gets more melt water in the cut. He feels woozy, so a nurse drives him home. She is found dead (of fright) and Donald's house ransacked. He remembers nothing. The police suspect him, but fingerprints at the scene are not his. Later, a dragonfly is eating (or drinking) off the fish body. It later returns 2 feet across. Donald kills it, but its blood drips in his pipe. He smokes it, and gets woozie again. He becomes an ape-man. In this state, he kills a policeman assigned to guard him. Donald is sure that the ceolacanth's blood causes reverse evolution. Dog to wolf, dragonfly to a Meganeura, and a man back into an ape-like cave man. Donald's bosses think he's becoming unglued with his talk of giant bugs and ape men, so he's sent up to a mountain cabin for rest. In the cabin, Donald decides to inject himself with ceolacanth plasma, tape record the results and had set up cameras to capture it on film. He does this, but his girlfriend, Madeline, is driving up to see him. She encounters the ape-man on the road, swerves and crashes. Ape-man carries her off. When she screams, a forest ranger investigates. Ape-man kills him with a hatchet. The police arrive too, but Donald has returned to normal. After learning of the killings, Donald decides there is just one thing to do. He says he'll take them all to see the ape-man. He injects himself. When he returns down the hill as the ape-man, the police shoot and kill him. In death, he reverts back to Donald. The End.
The production values are good enough to keep a viewer focused on the story. As yet another evolution-based modernization of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it has some interest. Jack Arnold does a good job keeping the visuals interesting and the pace moving. The musical score uses many familiar themes and tones. One can almost hear the Creature's theme woven in there. It was also fun to see the old familiar trope of the "monster" carrying off the pretty girl in his arms.
There's no Cold War here. There is only a minor element of atomic cautionary tale in that gamma radiation altered the ceolacanth's blood to make it the monster-maker. Radiation makes monsters. Everyone knows that.
Several of the actors and others in MoC are familiar 50s sci-fi names. Jack Arnold directed Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54) and Tarantula ('55). Writer David Duncan wrote for Monster That Challenged the World ('57) and Black Scorpion ('57). Arthur Franz, who plays Donald, also starred in Invaders from Mars ('53) and The Flame Barrier ('57). Whit Bissel plays the skeptical Dr. Cole. He also played in Creature From the Black Lagoon and Target Earth ('54).
Another Jekyll & Hyde -- Like Hideous Sun Demon, MoC reuses the good-doctor and evil-beast device. As in HSD, the transformation was accidental, not deliberate as in Jekyll's case. MoC does return to the chemical agent, and returns to the ape-like imagery of the evil-beast. Common to them all is the good-doctor not remembering what he did while the evil-beast. All three had the faithful girlfriend. He original and HSD had the "other" woman (Ivy and Trudy), but MoC had only a rather chaste echo of that in Molly Riordan. MoC returned to the moral of the original, that every modern man carries his beast within.
The populist form of the theory of evolution is the unmistakable foundation of MoC. The genetic connection to the past was more scientifically clean than the embryology basis used in Hideous Sun Demon. The notion that chromosomes were additive over time was quite a leap, however. The ceolacanth was symbolic of evolution halted. Hence, it's blood (with some gamma ray help) had the power to neutralize those modern added layers. Hence the savage ape man, wolf-dog and giant dragonfly.
Shown in the first couple minutes of the movie, Professor Blake's collection of anthropoid face sculptures is a classic linear progression. A quick-eyed viewer might spot Piltdown Man in the line. This "early human ancestor" was finally confirmed as a hoax in 1953, fabricated from a modern human skull fragment and an orangutan jaw. Scientists might drop bogus facts quickly, but the public tends to hang onto them -- especially if they fit the mental model.
Near the end, Donald gives a little monologue on mankind. "It's the savage in man which science must meet and defeat if humanity is to survive." This was a rather Neitzschian view, that mankind was evolving into a better being, leaving behind his brutal self. Note, too, the science-as-savior angle. Mankind's savage nature (evil) was something chemical which science could cure.
Bottom line? MoC is a notch above the typical B-movie fare of the late 50s. It's production quality is enjoyable. The recast of Jekyll and Hyde is entertaining too. A triple feature of the 1931 Jekyll & Hyde movie, the Hideous Sun Demon and MoC, would be fun.
synopsis - second opinion.
In this sci-fi film, a college professor must deal with the cataclysmic consequences that ensue when a transmogrifying dragonfly bites a prehistoric fish from Madagascar. Soon after the bite, the strange fish becomes gigantic and begins passing on its new ability to morph all it comes in contact with back into their primal forms. When it bites a dog, the dog becomes a wolf. When some fish slime ends up in the professor's pipe, the professor put it to his lips, and he turns into a rampaging Neanderthal with a very large stone-axe that he freely wields around the terrified college campus. Bloody mayhem ensues.
review
Any Jack Arnold movie from the 1950s is worth seeing, but Monster On The Campus is clearly in the bottom half of his output, despite some suspenseful scenes and clever moments. Arthur Franz brings a dour sincerity to his portrayal of Dr. Donald Blake, the researcher who falls victim to contamination from an ancient fossil that causes him (or any other living thing) that comes in contact with it to revert to a pre-historic state. The movie also provides a vehicle for established veteran players such as Helen Westcott and Alexander Lockwood, and newcomer Troy Donahue, which makes it a strange mix on that level; and the presence of ubiquitous horror/sci-fi player Whit Bissell gives the movie resonance with modern cultists (William Schallert must have been busy elsewhere during the three weeks this movie was in production . . .). But Monster On The Campus, just by virtue of its title, has a certain built-in campiness that expresses itself overtly in a few scenes that, undoubtedly, elicited howls, hoots, and mocking gasps from drive-in audiences at the time. In all, it's not as atmospheric -- except in a few stylistically claustrophobic scenes -- or persuasive as Arnold's best work, and even lacks the underlying sincerity that helped drive works such as The Space Children. It's a fun thrill ride within its modest budgetary and production dimensions, but not much more.
College student JIMMY heads to campus with his dog, while in a classroom MADELEINE, the daughter of the UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT, gets a plaster cast made of her face by fiance DR. DONALD BLAKE. They are interrupted as Jimmy shows up with a special delivery - an ancient fish called a coelacanth that Donald has ordered from Madagascar. Donald notes that the coelacanth has a special ability to "resist evolution." The dog drinks some of the coelacanth blood - and soon goes crazy, attacking Madeleine. Jimmy and Donald subdue the dog and stick it in a cage.
Donald takes a sample of the dog's saliva for a rabies test, and notes that the dog has huge teeth. It seems to be an evolutionary throwback to a prehistoric wolf. The UNIVERSITY DOCTOR's assistant MOLLY shows up to get the saliva sample. Donald cuts himself on the coelacanth's teeth as he puts it away, and soon feels woozy. Molly puts him in her car and takes him home. Donald passes out in the car. Molly goes inside to call the Doctor - and a CREATURE comes in and attacks her!
Madeleine and a SECURITY GUARD look for Donald in the lab. He's not there, but the dog is back to being a friendly pet. Madeleine heads to Donald's house. It has been trashed. She finds Donald passed out in the back yard - and Molly dead! Cops soon arrive. At first they suspect Donald because they find his tie clip in Molly's hand, but he is quickly exonerated when the cops find an enormous handprint on a window. Is there a killer on the loose? The cops also note that Molly didn't die of any wounds - she had a heart attack. She died of fright!
Donald lectures to his students about evolution using the coelacanth as an example. Jimmy shows up to check on the dog, and Donald tries to show him the huge teeth - but they are gone. Donald wonders if he is imagining things. Cop STEVENS is sure that someone is personally after Donald, but Donald has no enemies. Stevens gives Donald bodyguard EDDIE.
Donald and Eddie note a small dragonfly land on the coelacanth. Donald also sees "crystallized bacteria" on a slide. He quickly shows the slide to the Doctor, but the bacteria seem totally normal. Did Donald imagine something again? Meanwhile, Jimmy and his girlfriend SYLVIA hear a strange, loud buzzing sound as they hide under some trees to make out. There is a moment of a fake scare, but it turns out to be another couple making out. Jimmy and Sylvia go to the science building - and here they and Donald all see a huge GIANT DRAGONFLY outside the window. Jimmy and Donald trap the giant dragonfly, which Donald recognizes as a prehistoric species.
Donald studies the giant dragonfly. As he does so, blood falls into his pipe, which he then smokes. As the dragonfly shrinks back to its original state, Donald transforms into a PREHUMAN ANTHROPOID! The "anthropoid" smashes up the lab and kills Eddie. The cops come, but find only dead Eddie, a huge footprint, and Donald passed out. Donald recognizes the footprint as coming from a prehistoric subhuman, but Stevens thinks it must have been faked to frame Donald.
Donald investigates, does experiments, and calls a PROFESSOR in Madagascar who investigates how the fish was preserved. Donald finds that the fish was preserved using gamma ray radiation! Donald cancels lots of classes to continue his studies, and Madeleine and her father are afraid he is cracking up. The President comes to Donald to ask him to take a leave of absence. Donald explains what he has learned - the coelacanth blood, treated with radiation, is transforming creatures into evolutionary throwbacks for short periods of time. Just as he explains this, Donald realizes that he was probably the person who transformed into the monster.
Donald heads up to the University President's cabin, where he prepares to experiment on himself. He plans to inject the coelacanth blood into himself and capture the transformation with cameras he has rigged around the room. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Sylvia tell Madeleine about the giant dragonfly. Donald isn't crazy after all! Madeleine heads up to the cabin to see Donald.
Donald injects himself with the coelacanth blood as Madeleine drives. He transforms into the anthropoid, trashes the cabin, and runs out into the road. Madeleine sees the anthropoid, screams, and crashes her car. A FOREST RANGER races to the scene and sees the anthropoid standing over her. He calls the cops and grabs his gun. The anthropoid carries Madeleine away. The cops trail them, and the ranger shoots the anthropoid in the arm. Madeleine wakes up and runs, the creature pursues and knocks her out again, and then kills the ranger. Madeleine recovers and makes it back to the cabin as the anthropoid transforms back into Donald. The cops meet them here. Donald develops the film from the cameras and sees a shot of the creature. He knows now that "the beast within" himself is the killer. He takes the cops outside, claiming to know where the anthropoid is hiding. As the Doctor looks on, he injects himself with the coelacanth blood one last time, telling the doctor to "watch closely and see evolution in reverse." He transforms into the anthropoid, and the cops shoot him before the Doctor can stop them. The Doctor and the cops watch in amazement as the dead anthropoid turns back into mild-mannered Donald.
Starring Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, Than Wyenn, Thomas Browne Henry, Richard Benedict, James Seay, John Close, and Don C. Harvey. Directed by Bert I. Gordon.
This is the sort of film that producer/director Bert I. Gordon would become famous (or infamous) for. B.I.G. liked playing with relative size, making his antagonist(s) larger than life. The Beginning of the End (BotE) is an obvious rehash of Them! ('54) with radiation-induced giant bugs, but substituting grasshoppers for ants. Instead of menacing Los Angeles, these giant bugs go for Chicago. BotE is a cheaper copy in many ways, but still found a ready audience in the mid 50s. Some better-than-B actors helped keep BotE from foundering completely. Peter Graves is the male lead. He saved Killers from Space ('53) and It Conquered The World ('56) from total loser-dom. Peggie Castle was the female lead in Invasion USA. Morris Ankrum, veteran B-sci-fi actor, once again plays the stern military man as he had in Rocketship XM ('50), Invaders From Mars ('53) and others yet to come.
Plot Synopsis
People in rural Illinois are starting to disappear. Then a whole town of 150 is wiped out. Audrey (Castle) is a reporter who pushes for the story. Radiation might be the culprit, but no one has any nuclear material. She interviews Ed, an agricultural scientist (Graves), who has been growing giant tomatoes with the help of radiation. The isotopes are safely locked up, however. They travel to the site of a wiped out warehouse which stored tons of wheat. There, a giant grasshopper eats one of the scientists. Ordinary grasshoppers had munched on the giant tomatoes and so grew giant too. Hundreds of them mass in the woods. A National Guard unit's small arms can't stop them. They march towards Chicago, destroying Peoria and a couple others en route. The army's best tanks can't stop them. Panic ensues. Chicago is evacuated. The giant grasshoppers infest the Chicago area, but go semi-dormant during a cool night. Top brass in Washington plan bomb Chicago with an a-bomb to kill them while they're in one place. Ed and Audrey think they can find a sound that will attract the giants. If they could lure them into Lake Michigan, they'd all drown. They capture a live giant and bring it to the lab for tests. None of the sounds affect it. Time is almost out when they do find a frequency that works. Speakers are set up on one of Chicago's towers, to attract all the outlying bugs to downtown. Then a boat in the lake with a speaker will attract them to their doom. The plan works, though with a protracted fighting scene. In the end, they all drown. Chicago is saved. The End.
The giant bug (or other critter) sub-genre was only just getting started. We had ants in Them! and a spider in Tarantula. There will be many more to come, but this was an early one yet. The first half of the film, with it's mystery, is much better than the latter half. The relentless threat to a major city harkens to HG Wells' War of the Worlds. After that, it gets lame, but Graves and Ankrum don't disappoint.
While mostly an atomic radiation cautionary tale, there is the basic story line of a relentless force moving upon an American city. Panic, evacuation, a-bombs. It's all familiar Cold War material.
Popular Science magazines were bright with the prospect of what radiation-mutated crops might do for mankind. This is exactly what Ed was trying to do. As with all good naive scientists, he failed to see the bigger picture. Pests eat crops. Giant crops can create giant pests. The moral behind the film is that messing around with radiation can go horribly wrong.
Peggie Castle plays an obviously tough and independent reporter. She'd covered the destruction in WWII and Korea, written respected books and never once screamed like a girl. (she did scream when Frank was eaten, but it was more shock and a call for help than silly panic). Towards the end of the movie, she has less to do, and does lean in the chest of hero Ed (Graves), but she's on screen as more of an equal than a date.
A teen couple are necking on Lover's Lane. They get eaten. A pretty woman in only a towel is primping in her hotel room (back to the window). She gets eaten. Such scenes suggest to some viewers that Bert was giving subtle messages that being sexual is dangerous -- avoid it! This seems too flat. Instead, you could see the necking couple and the sexy woman as representing a very personal and vulnerable aspect of mankind. Intimate moments feel very vulnerable. Our outward mask of civilization is off. Like the lady in the hotel room, we're dressed in only a towel (not full battle gear). Attacks at those moments enhance the mood of vulnerability. It's not a subtle "don't neck" message (like anyone would ever listen to such a message anyhow).
One of the most memorable "special effects" of BotE is how regular grasshoppers (albeit big ones) are set loose to walk among or climb on photos of Chicago. As cheap as it is, this works pretty well. Note how they had cutouts of a line of busses from the same photo, set in front of the building plane, so grasshoppers could walk between them. Also note one scene where the set-back of the building is cut separately, so the grasshoppers can hang their legs over the parapet. Cheap as they are, these effects work better than the poorly done superimposition (green screen), which gets overused.
If you're a stock footage fan, you'll find a lot to love in BotE. Tanks on the road, Troops, crowds panicking. In fact, if you watch closely, you'll see one scene lifted from The Day The Earth Stood Still ('51).
The General Hanson character says the Air Force is sending a B-52 (then America's new super plane) with an A-bomb. When they show a clip of footage, it's actually a propeller-powered B-36, the old-tech behemoth the B-52 were designed to replace. Perhaps stock footage of the B-52, America's high-tech nuclear bomber, then operational for only a couple years, was not yet available, or deemed too sensitive to inclusion in B-movies.
One of the things that help a big bug movie work, is that the critter is somewhat fearful even when small. Ants are relentless (fire ants, army ants), many people are afraid of spiders, and later movies' scorpions and a mantis -- which are creepy looking, will have their traits magnified. But grasshoppers? They just don't inspire fear. BotE fights an uphill battle in trying to make them fearsome.
BotE makes good use of off-screen events. We are told the town of Ludlow was wiped out. All we see are stock clips of tornado damage. We only read of Peoria's destruction in a telegram. When anyone is 'eaten' by a giant grasshopper, we only see the giant lunge, the victim cower, then cut away. Good for budgets, but also kinder to audiences.
Despite the poster (in which the grasshoppers have curious teeth and fangs), they do not pick up anyone. In fact, they eat everyone quite fairly. One is implied to have eaten the lady in the towel, however, so there is at least a tiny delivery on what the poster promises.
Bottom line? BotE is another in the big bug sub-genre. If you like that sort, you'll likely gloss over the low budget short cuts. As a story, it's pretty conventional and doesn't break any new ground.
By 1957, producer/director Bert I. Gordon had already tackled giant monsters of all sorts with films like KING DINOSAUR and THE CYCLOPS. BEGINNING OF THE END was Mr. BIG's first nod to giant insects (in this case, giant grasshoppers), a subject he would unleash on us again in THE SPIDER (1958) and EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977). The hero of the film is the perfectly cast Peter Graves in his fourth and final 50s sci-fi thriller (the others were RED PLANET MARS, KILLERS FROM SPACE and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD).
Respected female journalist Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle, BACK FROM THE DEAD) drives to Ludlow, Illinois with reports that some 150 residents are missing. She then visits Doctor Ed Wainright (Graves), a young scientist experimenting with vegetables in the hopes that a busty reporter will do a story on him. Visiting the sight of a recent disaster, the doc and the reporter are confronted with humongous noisy locusts, and a silly deaf/mute character is stampeded to death. Meanwhile, the military is brought in (reinforced with ample stock footage), trying to decide how to destroy the buggers without having to set off an atom bomb on Chicago.
This is basically Mr. BIG's imitation of the bigger-budgeted THEM, and the results are a respectable 73 minutes. Sure, using real grasshoppers against rear-projection effects or crawling on a photograph of a building is not terribly convincing, but it still has a certain nostalgic charm to it. Castle does a fine job as the heroine, and Morris Ankrum (who played a general, doctor or cop in nearly every 50s sci-fi flick) and Thomas Browne Henry (BLOOD OF DRACULA, THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) represent the military. And who doesn't like Peter Graves? He was even likable as the Nazi spy in STALAG 17! The memorable music is by none other than Albert Glasser.
Having already received a DVD release through Rhino's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" series, it was a big surprise when Image Entertainment announced this title. But Image's version puts the previous one to shame and makes it obsolete, going back to the original camera negative for the transfer. BEGINNING TO THE END now looks crisp and clean, and the black and white image has intense detail. It's also Anamorphic and wonderfully letterboxed in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio, thankfully covering previous open matte shots of the insects climbing off the peaks of photographed buildings. The audio is also excellent.
Also included is a full running commentary, moderated by producer/director Bruce Kimmel (THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL) that features Bert's ex-wife Flora (who assisted in the special effects) and daughter Susan (who appeared in some of his films, but not this one). The commentary is an OK listen, and although Kimmel is enthusiastic enough, there is a lack of research in the proceedings (Peggy Castle is discussed as if she's still living but she passed away 30 years ago). Not too much is learned from the two ladies (other then the "I" in Gordon's name stands for "Ira" and that only male grasshoppers were used in the film), but they still have a few nice anecdotes to tell. But one has to wonder why the alive and well Bert I. Gordon can't be coaxed into doing one of these things!
Starring Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt, Nancy Walters, Troy Donahue, and Whit Bissell. Directed by Jack Arnold.
This was Jack Arnold's last horror film for Universal, and the director pulled out all the tricks of his trade for this foray into the teenage drive-in monster genre. Joanna Moore and Arthur Franz star, and Troy Donahue makes an early screen appearance, in this campy campus creature feature.
Universal's B unit produced another sci-fi/horror hybrid in late 1958. It comes as an interesting coincidence, being released around the time of Hideous Sun Demon. Evolution must have been a hot topic then. Both movies feature a Jekyll & Hyde theme with "regressive evolution" as the science part of their fictions. Directed by Jack Arnold (of Black Lagoon fame), Monster on Campus (MoC) has above-average production values for the B market. The acting is pretty solid, with a couple exceptions, and the props are also above-average for what the B market was becoming accustomed to. The overall effect is an entertaining, if somewhat predictable tale.
Plot Synopsis
A university professor receives a ceolacanth (a "prehistoric" fish still found off South Africa). A dog who licks up the melt water from the fish's ice, goes savage. His fangs grow. The professor, Donald, cuts his hand on the fish's teeth and gets more melt water in the cut. He feels woozy, so a nurse drives him home. She is found dead (of fright) and Donald's house ransacked. He remembers nothing. The police suspect him, but fingerprints at the scene are not his. Later, a dragonfly is eating (or drinking) off the fish body. It later returns 2 feet across. Donald kills it, but its blood drips in his pipe. He smokes it, and gets woozie again. He becomes an ape-man. In this state, he kills a policeman assigned to guard him. Donald is sure that the ceolacanth's blood causes reverse evolution. Dog to wolf, dragonfly to a Meganeura, and a man back into an ape-like cave man. Donald's bosses think he's becoming unglued with his talk of giant bugs and ape men, so he's sent up to a mountain cabin for rest. In the cabin, Donald decides to inject himself with ceolacanth plasma, tape record the results and had set up cameras to capture it on film. He does this, but his girlfriend, Madeline, is driving up to see him. She encounters the ape-man on the road, swerves and crashes. Ape-man carries her off. When she screams, a forest ranger investigates. Ape-man kills him with a hatchet. The police arrive too, but Donald has returned to normal. After learning of the killings, Donald decides there is just one thing to do. He says he'll take them all to see the ape-man. He injects himself. When he returns down the hill as the ape-man, the police shoot and kill him. In death, he reverts back to Donald. The End.
The production values are good enough to keep a viewer focused on the story. As yet another evolution-based modernization of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it has some interest. Jack Arnold does a good job keeping the visuals interesting and the pace moving. The musical score uses many familiar themes and tones. One can almost hear the Creature's theme woven in there. It was also fun to see the old familiar trope of the "monster" carrying off the pretty girl in his arms.
There's no Cold War here. There is only a minor element of atomic cautionary tale in that gamma radiation altered the ceolacanth's blood to make it the monster-maker. Radiation makes monsters. Everyone knows that.
Several of the actors and others in MoC are familiar 50s sci-fi names. Jack Arnold directed Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54) and Tarantula ('55). Writer David Duncan wrote for Monster That Challenged the World ('57) and Black Scorpion ('57). Arthur Franz, who plays Donald, also starred in Invaders from Mars ('53) and The Flame Barrier ('57). Whit Bissel plays the skeptical Dr. Cole. He also played in Creature From the Black Lagoon and Target Earth ('54).
Another Jekyll & Hyde -- Like Hideous Sun Demon, MoC reuses the good-doctor and evil-beast device. As in HSD, the transformation was accidental, not deliberate as in Jekyll's case. MoC does return to the chemical agent, and returns to the ape-like imagery of the evil-beast. Common to them all is the good-doctor not remembering what he did while the evil-beast. All three had the faithful girlfriend. He original and HSD had the "other" woman (Ivy and Trudy), but MoC had only a rather chaste echo of that in Molly Riordan. MoC returned to the moral of the original, that every modern man carries his beast within.
The populist form of the theory of evolution is the unmistakable foundation of MoC. The genetic connection to the past was more scientifically clean than the embryology basis used in Hideous Sun Demon. The notion that chromosomes were additive over time was quite a leap, however. The ceolacanth was symbolic of evolution halted. Hence, it's blood (with some gamma ray help) had the power to neutralize those modern added layers. Hence the savage ape man, wolf-dog and giant dragonfly.
Shown in the first couple minutes of the movie, Professor Blake's collection of anthropoid face sculptures is a classic linear progression. A quick-eyed viewer might spot Piltdown Man in the line. This "early human ancestor" was finally confirmed as a hoax in 1953, fabricated from a modern human skull fragment and an orangutan jaw. Scientists might drop bogus facts quickly, but the public tends to hang onto them -- especially if they fit the mental model.
Near the end, Donald gives a little monologue on mankind. "It's the savage in man which science must meet and defeat if humanity is to survive." This was a rather Neitzschian view, that mankind was evolving into a better being, leaving behind his brutal self. Note, too, the science-as-savior angle. Mankind's savage nature (evil) was something chemical which science could cure.
Bottom line? MoC is a notch above the typical B-movie fare of the late 50s. It's production quality is enjoyable. The recast of Jekyll and Hyde is entertaining too. A triple feature of the 1931 Jekyll & Hyde movie, the Hideous Sun Demon and MoC, would be fun.
synopsis - second opinion.
In this sci-fi film, a college professor must deal with the cataclysmic consequences that ensue when a transmogrifying dragonfly bites a prehistoric fish from Madagascar. Soon after the bite, the strange fish becomes gigantic and begins passing on its new ability to morph all it comes in contact with back into their primal forms. When it bites a dog, the dog becomes a wolf. When some fish slime ends up in the professor's pipe, the professor put it to his lips, and he turns into a rampaging Neanderthal with a very large stone-axe that he freely wields around the terrified college campus. Bloody mayhem ensues.
review
Any Jack Arnold movie from the 1950s is worth seeing, but Monster On The Campus is clearly in the bottom half of his output, despite some suspenseful scenes and clever moments. Arthur Franz brings a dour sincerity to his portrayal of Dr. Donald Blake, the researcher who falls victim to contamination from an ancient fossil that causes him (or any other living thing) that comes in contact with it to revert to a pre-historic state. The movie also provides a vehicle for established veteran players such as Helen Westcott and Alexander Lockwood, and newcomer Troy Donahue, which makes it a strange mix on that level; and the presence of ubiquitous horror/sci-fi player Whit Bissell gives the movie resonance with modern cultists (William Schallert must have been busy elsewhere during the three weeks this movie was in production . . .). But Monster On The Campus, just by virtue of its title, has a certain built-in campiness that expresses itself overtly in a few scenes that, undoubtedly, elicited howls, hoots, and mocking gasps from drive-in audiences at the time. In all, it's not as atmospheric -- except in a few stylistically claustrophobic scenes -- or persuasive as Arnold's best work, and even lacks the underlying sincerity that helped drive works such as The Space Children. It's a fun thrill ride within its modest budgetary and production dimensions, but not much more.
College student JIMMY heads to campus with his dog, while in a classroom MADELEINE, the daughter of the UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT, gets a plaster cast made of her face by fiance DR. DONALD BLAKE. They are interrupted as Jimmy shows up with a special delivery - an ancient fish called a coelacanth that Donald has ordered from Madagascar. Donald notes that the coelacanth has a special ability to "resist evolution." The dog drinks some of the coelacanth blood - and soon goes crazy, attacking Madeleine. Jimmy and Donald subdue the dog and stick it in a cage.
Donald takes a sample of the dog's saliva for a rabies test, and notes that the dog has huge teeth. It seems to be an evolutionary throwback to a prehistoric wolf. The UNIVERSITY DOCTOR's assistant MOLLY shows up to get the saliva sample. Donald cuts himself on the coelacanth's teeth as he puts it away, and soon feels woozy. Molly puts him in her car and takes him home. Donald passes out in the car. Molly goes inside to call the Doctor - and a CREATURE comes in and attacks her!
Madeleine and a SECURITY GUARD look for Donald in the lab. He's not there, but the dog is back to being a friendly pet. Madeleine heads to Donald's house. It has been trashed. She finds Donald passed out in the back yard - and Molly dead! Cops soon arrive. At first they suspect Donald because they find his tie clip in Molly's hand, but he is quickly exonerated when the cops find an enormous handprint on a window. Is there a killer on the loose? The cops also note that Molly didn't die of any wounds - she had a heart attack. She died of fright!
Donald lectures to his students about evolution using the coelacanth as an example. Jimmy shows up to check on the dog, and Donald tries to show him the huge teeth - but they are gone. Donald wonders if he is imagining things. Cop STEVENS is sure that someone is personally after Donald, but Donald has no enemies. Stevens gives Donald bodyguard EDDIE.
Donald and Eddie note a small dragonfly land on the coelacanth. Donald also sees "crystallized bacteria" on a slide. He quickly shows the slide to the Doctor, but the bacteria seem totally normal. Did Donald imagine something again? Meanwhile, Jimmy and his girlfriend SYLVIA hear a strange, loud buzzing sound as they hide under some trees to make out. There is a moment of a fake scare, but it turns out to be another couple making out. Jimmy and Sylvia go to the science building - and here they and Donald all see a huge GIANT DRAGONFLY outside the window. Jimmy and Donald trap the giant dragonfly, which Donald recognizes as a prehistoric species.
Donald studies the giant dragonfly. As he does so, blood falls into his pipe, which he then smokes. As the dragonfly shrinks back to its original state, Donald transforms into a PREHUMAN ANTHROPOID! The "anthropoid" smashes up the lab and kills Eddie. The cops come, but find only dead Eddie, a huge footprint, and Donald passed out. Donald recognizes the footprint as coming from a prehistoric subhuman, but Stevens thinks it must have been faked to frame Donald.
Donald investigates, does experiments, and calls a PROFESSOR in Madagascar who investigates how the fish was preserved. Donald finds that the fish was preserved using gamma ray radiation! Donald cancels lots of classes to continue his studies, and Madeleine and her father are afraid he is cracking up. The President comes to Donald to ask him to take a leave of absence. Donald explains what he has learned - the coelacanth blood, treated with radiation, is transforming creatures into evolutionary throwbacks for short periods of time. Just as he explains this, Donald realizes that he was probably the person who transformed into the monster.
Donald heads up to the University President's cabin, where he prepares to experiment on himself. He plans to inject the coelacanth blood into himself and capture the transformation with cameras he has rigged around the room. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Sylvia tell Madeleine about the giant dragonfly. Donald isn't crazy after all! Madeleine heads up to the cabin to see Donald.
Donald injects himself with the coelacanth blood as Madeleine drives. He transforms into the anthropoid, trashes the cabin, and runs out into the road. Madeleine sees the anthropoid, screams, and crashes her car. A FOREST RANGER races to the scene and sees the anthropoid standing over her. He calls the cops and grabs his gun. The anthropoid carries Madeleine away. The cops trail them, and the ranger shoots the anthropoid in the arm. Madeleine wakes up and runs, the creature pursues and knocks her out again, and then kills the ranger. Madeleine recovers and makes it back to the cabin as the anthropoid transforms back into Donald. The cops meet them here. Donald develops the film from the cameras and sees a shot of the creature. He knows now that "the beast within" himself is the killer. He takes the cops outside, claiming to know where the anthropoid is hiding. As the Doctor looks on, he injects himself with the coelacanth blood one last time, telling the doctor to "watch closely and see evolution in reverse." He transforms into the anthropoid, and the cops shoot him before the Doctor can stop them. The Doctor and the cops watch in amazement as the dead anthropoid turns back into mild-mannered Donald.
One Sheet (27" X 41") 3-D-Style.
This collaboration between science fiction giant Ray Bradbury and director Jack Arnold remains one of the most intelligent and revered science fiction films of the last century. After a spaceship crashes near a sleepy desert village, the townsfolk begin to act strangely and a local astronomer (Richard Carlson) and his fiancee (Barbara Rush) investigate. This otherworldly one sheet features the classic "giant eye" imagery associated with the film and attempts to depict the "3-D" effect.
Director Jack Arnold masterfully brought Ray Bradbury's science fiction tale to life in this, Universal's very first 3-D feature film. It was the perfect format for roaring avalanches, hovering helicopters, and zooming space ships, magnifying the effect for mesmerized movie goers.On a beautiful evening in Sand Rock, Arizona amateur astronomer John Putnam and his girlfriend Ellen Fields see a fiery ball fall from the sky into the desert. They investigate and John sees a spacecraft of sorts and is convinced something is inside. A rockfall buries the ship before any one else can see it and now no one will believe him. He becomes the butt of local jokes when the newspapers pick up the story and Sheriff Matt Warren thinks he's mad. When two locals, Frank Daylon and his employee George, begin to act strangely John is convinced that they have been taken over by an alien being.
This collaboration between science fiction giant Ray Bradbury and director Jack Arnold remains one of the most intelligent and revered science fiction films of the last century. After a spaceship crashes near a sleepy desert village, the townsfolk begin to act strangely and a local astronomer (Richard Carlson) and his fiancee (Barbara Rush) investigate. This otherworldly one sheet features the classic "giant eye" imagery associated with the film and attempts to depict the "3-D" effect.
It came... (ICFOS) is one of those lesser known 50s sci fi films which really deserves to be better known. On a surface level, ICFOS has good pacing. Director Jack Arnold (who would direct several other big 50s sci fi films) does a good job of keeping up the intrigue and tension. Even when the movie is over, the overall effect is more thoughtful than most B-films. It helps that the screenplay is an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "The Meteor." All this helps ICFOS rise above the average 50s B movie.
ICFOS was filmed for the 3D, which was all the rage in the early 50s, but works perfectly well in 2D. The overall story is step up too, rising above the typical Cold War cautionary tale. Instead, it's an introspective about mankind, both our strengths and weaknesses when facing the unknown. This is rather cerebral stuff for a B-film.
Plot Synopsis
A meteor crashes in the desert night outside of Sand Rock, Arizona. Astronomer John Putnam (played by Richard Carlson) investigates. In the impact crater, he finds sees the hull of a ship with its hatch open. No one believes him, because a landslide covered the hull. Putnam discovers that various town folk have been "taken over" by the aliens. A couple of the possessed folk tell Putnam that they mean no harm. The sheriff eventually believes him when spouses also report odd behaviors. The aliens capture Putnam's fiancee, Ellen, which provokes the sheriff into raising a posse to confront the aliens. Putnam gets to the crash site first and confronts the aliens in the abandoned mine. They say they mean no harm, but crashed on earth by mistake and just want to repair their ship and leave. Putnam convinces the aliens that only by releasing the real townsfolk will the posse by appeased. They do, and it works. The aliens finish repairs to their ship and fly off in a shower of sparks.
Seeing some familiar faces is fun. Richard Carlson starred in Magnetic Monster is great as the stalwart but misunderstood hero. Barbara Rush who starred in When World's Collide plays Ellen very well. She's no mere cheesecake. Russell Johnson, who will feature in many future sci-fi films, plays George, the first person "possessed" by the aliens. All of the actors do a good job.
Arnold introduced a fun first in ICFOS: the alien point of view -- this was made unmistakable by our looking through faintly reflected moist cycloptic eye and oddly Darth Vadar-like breathing sounds. At other times, we whisk along the telephone wires watching the cars of people about to be confronted by the aliens. (apparently, they can 'transmit' themselves) This is a stroke of genius for the story line. It prevents the audience from forming the usual "us versus them" mindset typical of monster movies, such as in The Thing ('51).
Also fun is the strengthening of the alien-possessed-person plot device. We saw it first in The Man from Planet X ('51) in a similar capacity of people helping the alien work on his ship. Those folks weren't really possessed so much as under mind control. In Invaders from Mars('53), people were also taken over to help the aliens. In ICFOS, the possessed are actually duplicates, not the originals under remote control. This pushes the concept into new ground.
Un-human aliens -- The aliens in ICFOS look a little hokey when you get a good look at them, but that's not important.
This is a B-film, after all. What's notable is that the aliens are very different. They're not humanoid. The Man from Planet X was small, but still a humanoid shape. The Thing (1951) was big, but still a biped with a head, arms, torso, etc.. The martian in Invaders from Mars was less humanoid, being a big head with six little tentacles, but it still had a very human face. ICFOS may have the first radically non-humanoid alien life forms. They were big, potato-like creatures with one large eye and wispy frond-like appendages. This was a significant moment in sci-fi movie history. Aliens could be totally weird and not just people dressed up in hoodies with lighting bolt logos on their chests.
The Message -- ICFOS has a definite moral to the story. Mankind is not all that grown up and sophisticated. The alien tells Putnam, ""Let us stay apart, the people of your world and ours. If we come together, there will only be destruction." This is more true for the aliens as at least two of them die. (fake-Frank and fake-Ellen), but interestingly, no humans are actually harmed. Putnam later says to the sheriff for why the aliens don't show themselves. "They don't trust us...because what we don't understand we want to destroy. That's why they hide." Message: mankind isn't mature enough for the stars. Yet the tone isn't too pessimistic. As the crowd watch the ship fly away in a shower of sparks, Putnam says, ""Well, they've gone. "it wasn't the right time for us to meet....they'll be back."
Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, and William Schallert. Directed by Herbert L. Strock.
When two scientists at a top-secret government installation devoted to space research are killed -- in their own test chamber, seemingly by an experiment gone awry -- Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) is sent out from Washington to investigate. Sheppard mixes easily enough with the somewhat eccentric team of scientists, though he always seems in danger of being distracted by the presence of Joanne Merritt (Constance Dowling), who serves as the aide to the project director Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall) but is, in reality, another security agent. Sheppard is as puzzled as anyone else by the seemingly inexplicable series of events overtaking the installation -- properly operating equipment suddenly undergoing lethal malfunctions, and the radar tracking aircraft that aren't there -- until he puts it together with the operations of NOVAC (Nuclear Operated Variable Automatic Computer), the central brain of the complex. But the mystery deepens when he discovers that NOVAC was shut down during one of the "accidents" -- and even the computer's operators can't account fully for the whereabouts of GOG and MAGOG, the two robots under the computer's control.
"...and then without warning, the machine became a frankenstein of steel," says the sensationalist poster text. This is the third story in Ivan Tors' OSI trilogy. His first "Office of Scientific Investigation" story was Magnetic Monster in early 1953. The second was Riders to the Stars in early '54. With Gog the loose trilogy is complete. Unlike the Star Wars trilogy in which the stories build upon each other, each of the three OSI stories are separate tales which have nothing to do with each other. The common thread is the idea of there being a sort of Science FBI agency whose job it is, is to check out the scientifically strange. In that regard, Tors' OSI is a bit like a foreshadowing of the X-Files TV series, but without any of the New Age paranormal focus.
In keeping with the previous two stories, Gog is more of a detective murder mystery movie. Tors was a huge fan of "hard" science, not fanciful fiction fluff, so Gog, like the other two movies, is chock full of reveling in sciencey stuff in an almost geeky way. This reverence for real science keeps things from getting out on shaky limb, as many sci-fi films to. The events are much more plausible, less fantastic.
Synopsis
At a secret underground research facility, far out in the desert, scientists working on preparations for a manned space mission, are getting murdered mysteriously. Two agents from the OSI are dispatched to solve the mystery and keep the super secret space station program on track. The scientists are killed in various ways, mostly through equipment malfunctions. The facility director and the agents suspect sabotage. Small transmitter/receiver boxes are found within equipment in different parts of the facility. They suggest that someone on the outside is transmitting in the "malfunctions" in order to kill off the program's scientists. Occasional alarms indicate some flying high intruder, but nothing is clearly found. One of the base's two robots, named Gog, kills another technician while it's mate, Magog, tries to set up an overload within the base's atomic pile. The OSI agents stop Magog with a flame thrower. Meanwhile, interceptor jets scramble and find the highflying spy jet and destroy it with missiles. Once the trouble is past, the Director announces that they will be launching their prototype space station the next day, despite the sabotage attempts to stop it. The End.
The time spent reveling in techno-geekery has a certain Popular Science charm to it. There's an evident gee-whiz air about space and defense sciences which is fun to see. People were fascinated with things rockety and atomic. For various fun bits, see the Notes section.
Gog oozes Cold War from every frame. First is the base's underground location to make them safe from A-bombs. Next is the mysterious killer trying to stop the space station program. The high-flying mystery plane is "not one of ours." (that leaves: Them, and we all knew who they were.) The space station is to be powered by a solar mirror. Even that benign mirror has sinister possibilities. While demonstrating the mirror, the scientists use it to burn a model of a city. "This could happen...if we're not the first to reach space," says the Director. Space is the next "high ground" to be contested. At the end of the movie, when discussing the launch (despite the sabotage attempt) of the prototype space station, the Director says, "Through it's eye, we'll be able to see everything that goes on upon this tired old earth." The Defense Secretary says, "Nothing will take us by surprise again." An obvious reference to Pearl Harbor.
B-films often re-used props and sets from prior films in order to save on their budgets. Gog, even though shot in Eastman Color, was no exception. Two old prop friends show up in Gog. One is our venerable old friend, the space suits from Destination Moon ('50). Look for the centrifuge scene. The research assistants are dressed in them, and as an added bonus, they wear the all-acrylic fish bowl helmets used in Abbot and Costello Go to Mars ('53). Our second old friend is scene in the radar / security room, (the one with the annoying tuning fork device). Check out the monitor wall. It's been gussied up a bit, but it is the spaceship control panel wall from Catwomen of the Moon and Project Moon Base -- complete with the empty 16mm film reels on the right side. It's fun to see old friends.
B-films often include stock footage of military units, tanks, jets, battleships, etc. to fill things out. Gog is no different, and even commits the common continuity error of showing one type of plane taking off, but a different kind in the air.
What amounts to a small treat amid the usual stock footage of jets, some shots of a rather obscure bit of USAF hardware -- the F-94C Starfire with its straight wings and huge wing tanks. In 1954, the Starfire was one of America's coolest combat jets, yet we hear little about it. The swept-wing F-86 Sabers (which we see taxiing and taking off) were the agile fighter which gained fame over Korea. They're common stock footage stars. The F-94, with its onboard radar (in the nose cone) was deemed too advanced to risk falling into enemy hands. So, it didn't see much action , and therefore little fame. The heavier, yet powerful F-94C (one of the first US jets to have an afterburner) was 1954 America's hottest Interceptor -- designed to stop high flying Soviet bombers. It's blatant cameo appearance in Gog, intercepting the high-flying mystery plane, was a fun little bit of patriotic showing off.
The very name of the movie, Gog, is charged with meaning to American audiences of the mid 50s, though virtually lost on viewers of the 21st century. The names of the two robots, Gog and Magog, come from the Bible. More specifically, from the prophecies of Ezekiel (Chapter 38) and the Book of Revelation (chapter 20). While just who they are (nations? kings?) has been debated for centuries, their role as tools of Satan in the battle of Armageddon is clear. Mainstream American patriotic Christendom had settled on the idea that the Soviet Union was the prophesied "nations from the north" who would join Satan to oppose God. This gives the title of the movie a special Cold War significance. It also puts an interesting spin on the Dr. Zeitman character for having named the two robots in the first place. Since they were tools of the mega-computer NOVAC, what was he saying about NOVAC?
It is interesting that the base's radar could not detect the mystery plane (which was beaming in the 'kill' instructions to NOVAC) because it was made of "fiberglass" which rendered it invisible to radar. Now, fiberglass itself isn't sturdy enough for high-speed jets, and it would take until the 1990s before composite materials advanced to make the dream of a stealth aircraft a reality. Nonetheless, the dream (or nightmare) of stealth aircraft was on-screen in 1954 in Gog.
The super computer, NOVAC, controlled everything on the base. Even though the machines were not really killing scientists on their own, but following human orders from the mystery plane, there was the on-screen depiction of machines having a murderous mind of their own. (all pre-Steven King) In the techno starry-eyed 50s, it was fairly uncommon for the technology itself to be turning on its masters. This idea would gain traction later in the 50s, and especially in the 60s, but in '54, it was unusual.
A cautionary subtext to Gog is the danger of trusting in a supercomputer to manage defenses and a whole base. NOVAC doesn't go bad on its own, as the computer will in The Invisible Boy, Hal in 2001 or Colossus in The Forbin Project. In this movie, it was the nefarious "others" who hacked into NOVAC to make it do the killing, but this just demonstrates the danger. People were getting a little nervous about letting machines take over too much responsibility. We were starting to distrust our creations.
Until Gog, robots were fairly humanoid.
They had two legs, two arms, a torso and a head. Audiences had seen the mechanical Maria in Metropolis ('27), the fedora-wearing metal men in Gene Autrey's Phantom Empire serial ('35). The water-heater-like Republic robot appeared in several rocketman serials. There was the gleaming giant Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51) and the cute left over fedora-dudes in Captain Video ('51). The metal giant in Devil Girl from Mars ('54) was also humaniod, in a chunky way. Gog and Magog were a departure from the stereotype. They were noticeably in-human, which was part of the mood.
Bottom line? Gog seems a bit bland, as far as sci-fi tends to go, but it has a lot in it for fans of 50s sci-fi.
Starring Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt, Nancy Walters, Troy Donahue, and Whit Bissell. Directed by Jack Arnold.
This was Jack Arnold's last horror film for Universal, and the director pulled out all the tricks of his trade for this foray into the teenage drive-in monster genre. Joanna Moore and Arthur Franz star, and Troy Donahue makes an early screen appearance, in this campy campus creature feature.
Universal's B unit produced another sci-fi/horror hybrid in late 1958. It comes as an interesting coincidence, being released around the time of Hideous Sun Demon. Evolution must have been a hot topic then. Both movies feature a Jekyll & Hyde theme with "regressive evolution" as the science part of their fictions. Directed by Jack Arnold (of Black Lagoon fame), Monster on Campus (MoC) has above-average production values for the B market. The acting is pretty solid, with a couple exceptions, and the props are also above-average for what the B market was becoming accustomed to. The overall effect is an entertaining, if somewhat predictable tale.
Plot Synopsis
A university professor receives a ceolacanth (a "prehistoric" fish still found off South Africa). A dog who licks up the melt water from the fish's ice, goes savage. His fangs grow. The professor, Donald, cuts his hand on the fish's teeth and gets more melt water in the cut. He feels woozy, so a nurse drives him home. She is found dead (of fright) and Donald's house ransacked. He remembers nothing. The police suspect him, but fingerprints at the scene are not his. Later, a dragonfly is eating (or drinking) off the fish body. It later returns 2 feet across. Donald kills it, but its blood drips in his pipe. He smokes it, and gets woozie again. He becomes an ape-man. In this state, he kills a policeman assigned to guard him. Donald is sure that the ceolacanth's blood causes reverse evolution. Dog to wolf, dragonfly to a Meganeura, and a man back into an ape-like cave man. Donald's bosses think he's becoming unglued with his talk of giant bugs and ape men, so he's sent up to a mountain cabin for rest. In the cabin, Donald decides to inject himself with ceolacanth plasma, tape record the results and had set up cameras to capture it on film. He does this, but his girlfriend, Madeline, is driving up to see him. She encounters the ape-man on the road, swerves and crashes. Ape-man carries her off. When she screams, a forest ranger investigates. Ape-man kills him with a hatchet. The police arrive too, but Donald has returned to normal. After learning of the killings, Donald decides there is just one thing to do. He says he'll take them all to see the ape-man. He injects himself. When he returns down the hill as the ape-man, the police shoot and kill him. In death, he reverts back to Donald. The End.
The production values are good enough to keep a viewer focused on the story. As yet another evolution-based modernization of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it has some interest. Jack Arnold does a good job keeping the visuals interesting and the pace moving. The musical score uses many familiar themes and tones. One can almost hear the Creature's theme woven in there. It was also fun to see the old familiar trope of the "monster" carrying off the pretty girl in his arms.
There's no Cold War here. There is only a minor element of atomic cautionary tale in that gamma radiation altered the ceolacanth's blood to make it the monster-maker. Radiation makes monsters. Everyone knows that.
Several of the actors and others in MoC are familiar 50s sci-fi names. Jack Arnold directed Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54) and Tarantula ('55). Writer David Duncan wrote for Monster That Challenged the World ('57) and Black Scorpion ('57). Arthur Franz, who plays Donald, also starred in Invaders from Mars ('53) and The Flame Barrier ('57). Whit Bissel plays the skeptical Dr. Cole. He also played in Creature From the Black Lagoon and Target Earth ('54).
Another Jekyll & Hyde -- Like Hideous Sun Demon, MoC reuses the good-doctor and evil-beast device. As in HSD, the transformation was accidental, not deliberate as in Jekyll's case. MoC does return to the chemical agent, and returns to the ape-like imagery of the evil-beast. Common to them all is the good-doctor not remembering what he did while the evil-beast. All three had the faithful girlfriend. He original and HSD had the "other" woman (Ivy and Trudy), but MoC had only a rather chaste echo of that in Molly Riordan. MoC returned to the moral of the original, that every modern man carries his beast within.
The populist form of the theory of evolution is the unmistakable foundation of MoC. The genetic connection to the past was more scientifically clean than the embryology basis used in Hideous Sun Demon. The notion that chromosomes were additive over time was quite a leap, however. The ceolacanth was symbolic of evolution halted. Hence, it's blood (with some gamma ray help) had the power to neutralize those modern added layers. Hence the savage ape man, wolf-dog and giant dragonfly.
Shown in the first couple minutes of the movie, Professor Blake's collection of anthropoid face sculptures is a classic linear progression. A quick-eyed viewer might spot Piltdown Man in the line. This "early human ancestor" was finally confirmed as a hoax in 1953, fabricated from a modern human skull fragment and an orangutan jaw. Scientists might drop bogus facts quickly, but the public tends to hang onto them -- especially if they fit the mental model.
Near the end, Donald gives a little monologue on mankind. "It's the savage in man which science must meet and defeat if humanity is to survive." This was a rather Neitzschian view, that mankind was evolving into a better being, leaving behind his brutal self. Note, too, the science-as-savior angle. Mankind's savage nature (evil) was something chemical which science could cure.
Bottom line? MoC is a notch above the typical B-movie fare of the late 50s. It's production quality is enjoyable. The recast of Jekyll and Hyde is entertaining too. A triple feature of the 1931 Jekyll & Hyde movie, the Hideous Sun Demon and MoC, would be fun.
synopsis - second opinion.
In this sci-fi film, a college professor must deal with the cataclysmic consequences that ensue when a transmogrifying dragonfly bites a prehistoric fish from Madagascar. Soon after the bite, the strange fish becomes gigantic and begins passing on its new ability to morph all it comes in contact with back into their primal forms. When it bites a dog, the dog becomes a wolf. When some fish slime ends up in the professor's pipe, the professor put it to his lips, and he turns into a rampaging Neanderthal with a very large stone-axe that he freely wields around the terrified college campus. Bloody mayhem ensues.
review
Any Jack Arnold movie from the 1950s is worth seeing, but Monster On The Campus is clearly in the bottom half of his output, despite some suspenseful scenes and clever moments. Arthur Franz brings a dour sincerity to his portrayal of Dr. Donald Blake, the researcher who falls victim to contamination from an ancient fossil that causes him (or any other living thing) that comes in contact with it to revert to a pre-historic state. The movie also provides a vehicle for established veteran players such as Helen Westcott and Alexander Lockwood, and newcomer Troy Donahue, which makes it a strange mix on that level; and the presence of ubiquitous horror/sci-fi player Whit Bissell gives the movie resonance with modern cultists (William Schallert must have been busy elsewhere during the three weeks this movie was in production . . .). But Monster On The Campus, just by virtue of its title, has a certain built-in campiness that expresses itself overtly in a few scenes that, undoubtedly, elicited howls, hoots, and mocking gasps from drive-in audiences at the time. In all, it's not as atmospheric -- except in a few stylistically claustrophobic scenes -- or persuasive as Arnold's best work, and even lacks the underlying sincerity that helped drive works such as The Space Children. It's a fun thrill ride within its modest budgetary and production dimensions, but not much more.
College student JIMMY heads to campus with his dog, while in a classroom MADELEINE, the daughter of the UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT, gets a plaster cast made of her face by fiance DR. DONALD BLAKE. They are interrupted as Jimmy shows up with a special delivery - an ancient fish called a coelacanth that Donald has ordered from Madagascar. Donald notes that the coelacanth has a special ability to "resist evolution." The dog drinks some of the coelacanth blood - and soon goes crazy, attacking Madeleine. Jimmy and Donald subdue the dog and stick it in a cage.
Donald takes a sample of the dog's saliva for a rabies test, and notes that the dog has huge teeth. It seems to be an evolutionary throwback to a prehistoric wolf. The UNIVERSITY DOCTOR's assistant MOLLY shows up to get the saliva sample. Donald cuts himself on the coelacanth's teeth as he puts it away, and soon feels woozy. Molly puts him in her car and takes him home. Donald passes out in the car. Molly goes inside to call the Doctor - and a CREATURE comes in and attacks her!
Madeleine and a SECURITY GUARD look for Donald in the lab. He's not there, but the dog is back to being a friendly pet. Madeleine heads to Donald's house. It has been trashed. She finds Donald passed out in the back yard - and Molly dead! Cops soon arrive. At first they suspect Donald because they find his tie clip in Molly's hand, but he is quickly exonerated when the cops find an enormous handprint on a window. Is there a killer on the loose? The cops also note that Molly didn't die of any wounds - she had a heart attack. She died of fright!
Donald lectures to his students about evolution using the coelacanth as an example. Jimmy shows up to check on the dog, and Donald tries to show him the huge teeth - but they are gone. Donald wonders if he is imagining things. Cop STEVENS is sure that someone is personally after Donald, but Donald has no enemies. Stevens gives Donald bodyguard EDDIE.
Donald and Eddie note a small dragonfly land on the coelacanth. Donald also sees "crystallized bacteria" on a slide. He quickly shows the slide to the Doctor, but the bacteria seem totally normal. Did Donald imagine something again? Meanwhile, Jimmy and his girlfriend SYLVIA hear a strange, loud buzzing sound as they hide under some trees to make out. There is a moment of a fake scare, but it turns out to be another couple making out. Jimmy and Sylvia go to the science building - and here they and Donald all see a huge GIANT DRAGONFLY outside the window. Jimmy and Donald trap the giant dragonfly, which Donald recognizes as a prehistoric species.
Donald studies the giant dragonfly. As he does so, blood falls into his pipe, which he then smokes. As the dragonfly shrinks back to its original state, Donald transforms into a PREHUMAN ANTHROPOID! The "anthropoid" smashes up the lab and kills Eddie. The cops come, but find only dead Eddie, a huge footprint, and Donald passed out. Donald recognizes the footprint as coming from a prehistoric subhuman, but Stevens thinks it must have been faked to frame Donald.
Donald investigates, does experiments, and calls a PROFESSOR in Madagascar who investigates how the fish was preserved. Donald finds that the fish was preserved using gamma ray radiation! Donald cancels lots of classes to continue his studies, and Madeleine and her father are afraid he is cracking up. The President comes to Donald to ask him to take a leave of absence. Donald explains what he has learned - the coelacanth blood, treated with radiation, is transforming creatures into evolutionary throwbacks for short periods of time. Just as he explains this, Donald realizes that he was probably the person who transformed into the monster.
Donald heads up to the University President's cabin, where he prepares to experiment on himself. He plans to inject the coelacanth blood into himself and capture the transformation with cameras he has rigged around the room. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Sylvia tell Madeleine about the giant dragonfly. Donald isn't crazy after all! Madeleine heads up to the cabin to see Donald.
Donald injects himself with the coelacanth blood as Madeleine drives. He transforms into the anthropoid, trashes the cabin, and runs out into the road. Madeleine sees the anthropoid, screams, and crashes her car. A FOREST RANGER races to the scene and sees the anthropoid standing over her. He calls the cops and grabs his gun. The anthropoid carries Madeleine away. The cops trail them, and the ranger shoots the anthropoid in the arm. Madeleine wakes up and runs, the creature pursues and knocks her out again, and then kills the ranger. Madeleine recovers and makes it back to the cabin as the anthropoid transforms back into Donald. The cops meet them here. Donald develops the film from the cameras and sees a shot of the creature. He knows now that "the beast within" himself is the killer. He takes the cops outside, claiming to know where the anthropoid is hiding. As the Doctor looks on, he injects himself with the coelacanth blood one last time, telling the doctor to "watch closely and see evolution in reverse." He transforms into the anthropoid, and the cops shoot him before the Doctor can stop them. The Doctor and the cops watch in amazement as the dead anthropoid turns back into mild-mannered Donald.
Starring Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt, Nancy Walters, Troy Donahue, and Whit Bissell. Directed by Jack Arnold.
This was Jack Arnold's last horror film for Universal, and the director pulled out all the tricks of his trade for this foray into the teenage drive-in monster genre. Joanna Moore and Arthur Franz star, and Troy Donahue makes an early screen appearance, in this campy campus creature feature.
Universal's B unit produced another sci-fi/horror hybrid in late 1958. It comes as an interesting coincidence, being released around the time of Hideous Sun Demon. Evolution must have been a hot topic then. Both movies feature a Jekyll & Hyde theme with "regressive evolution" as the science part of their fictions. Directed by Jack Arnold (of Black Lagoon fame), Monster on Campus (MoC) has above-average production values for the B market. The acting is pretty solid, with a couple exceptions, and the props are also above-average for what the B market was becoming accustomed to. The overall effect is an entertaining, if somewhat predictable tale.
Plot Synopsis
A university professor receives a ceolacanth (a "prehistoric" fish still found off South Africa). A dog who licks up the melt water from the fish's ice, goes savage. His fangs grow. The professor, Donald, cuts his hand on the fish's teeth and gets more melt water in the cut. He feels woozy, so a nurse drives him home. She is found dead (of fright) and Donald's house ransacked. He remembers nothing. The police suspect him, but fingerprints at the scene are not his. Later, a dragonfly is eating (or drinking) off the fish body. It later returns 2 feet across. Donald kills it, but its blood drips in his pipe. He smokes it, and gets woozie again. He becomes an ape-man. In this state, he kills a policeman assigned to guard him. Donald is sure that the ceolacanth's blood causes reverse evolution. Dog to wolf, dragonfly to a Meganeura, and a man back into an ape-like cave man. Donald's bosses think he's becoming unglued with his talk of giant bugs and ape men, so he's sent up to a mountain cabin for rest. In the cabin, Donald decides to inject himself with ceolacanth plasma, tape record the results and had set up cameras to capture it on film. He does this, but his girlfriend, Madeline, is driving up to see him. She encounters the ape-man on the road, swerves and crashes. Ape-man carries her off. When she screams, a forest ranger investigates. Ape-man kills him with a hatchet. The police arrive too, but Donald has returned to normal. After learning of the killings, Donald decides there is just one thing to do. He says he'll take them all to see the ape-man. He injects himself. When he returns down the hill as the ape-man, the police shoot and kill him. In death, he reverts back to Donald. The End.
The production values are good enough to keep a viewer focused on the story. As yet another evolution-based modernization of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it has some interest. Jack Arnold does a good job keeping the visuals interesting and the pace moving. The musical score uses many familiar themes and tones. One can almost hear the Creature's theme woven in there. It was also fun to see the old familiar trope of the "monster" carrying off the pretty girl in his arms.
There's no Cold War here. There is only a minor element of atomic cautionary tale in that gamma radiation altered the ceolacanth's blood to make it the monster-maker. Radiation makes monsters. Everyone knows that.
Several of the actors and others in MoC are familiar 50s sci-fi names. Jack Arnold directed Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54) and Tarantula ('55). Writer David Duncan wrote for Monster That Challenged the World ('57) and Black Scorpion ('57). Arthur Franz, who plays Donald, also starred in Invaders from Mars ('53) and The Flame Barrier ('57). Whit Bissel plays the skeptical Dr. Cole. He also played in Creature From the Black Lagoon and Target Earth ('54).
Another Jekyll & Hyde -- Like Hideous Sun Demon, MoC reuses the good-doctor and evil-beast device. As in HSD, the transformation was accidental, not deliberate as in Jekyll's case. MoC does return to the chemical agent, and returns to the ape-like imagery of the evil-beast. Common to them all is the good-doctor not remembering what he did while the evil-beast. All three had the faithful girlfriend. He original and HSD had the "other" woman (Ivy and Trudy), but MoC had only a rather chaste echo of that in Molly Riordan. MoC returned to the moral of the original, that every modern man carries his beast within.
The populist form of the theory of evolution is the unmistakable foundation of MoC. The genetic connection to the past was more scientifically clean than the embryology basis used in Hideous Sun Demon. The notion that chromosomes were additive over time was quite a leap, however. The ceolacanth was symbolic of evolution halted. Hence, it's blood (with some gamma ray help) had the power to neutralize those modern added layers. Hence the savage ape man, wolf-dog and giant dragonfly.
Shown in the first couple minutes of the movie, Professor Blake's collection of anthropoid face sculptures is a classic linear progression. A quick-eyed viewer might spot Piltdown Man in the line. This "early human ancestor" was finally confirmed as a hoax in 1953, fabricated from a modern human skull fragment and an orangutan jaw. Scientists might drop bogus facts quickly, but the public tends to hang onto them -- especially if they fit the mental model.
Near the end, Donald gives a little monologue on mankind. "It's the savage in man which science must meet and defeat if humanity is to survive." This was a rather Neitzschian view, that mankind was evolving into a better being, leaving behind his brutal self. Note, too, the science-as-savior angle. Mankind's savage nature (evil) was something chemical which science could cure.
Bottom line? MoC is a notch above the typical B-movie fare of the late 50s. It's production quality is enjoyable. The recast of Jekyll and Hyde is entertaining too. A triple feature of the 1931 Jekyll & Hyde movie, the Hideous Sun Demon and MoC, would be fun.
synopsis - second opinion.
In this sci-fi film, a college professor must deal with the cataclysmic consequences that ensue when a transmogrifying dragonfly bites a prehistoric fish from Madagascar. Soon after the bite, the strange fish becomes gigantic and begins passing on its new ability to morph all it comes in contact with back into their primal forms. When it bites a dog, the dog becomes a wolf. When some fish slime ends up in the professor's pipe, the professor put it to his lips, and he turns into a rampaging Neanderthal with a very large stone-axe that he freely wields around the terrified college campus. Bloody mayhem ensues.
review
Any Jack Arnold movie from the 1950s is worth seeing, but Monster On The Campus is clearly in the bottom half of his output, despite some suspenseful scenes and clever moments. Arthur Franz brings a dour sincerity to his portrayal of Dr. Donald Blake, the researcher who falls victim to contamination from an ancient fossil that causes him (or any other living thing) that comes in contact with it to revert to a pre-historic state. The movie also provides a vehicle for established veteran players such as Helen Westcott and Alexander Lockwood, and newcomer Troy Donahue, which makes it a strange mix on that level; and the presence of ubiquitous horror/sci-fi player Whit Bissell gives the movie resonance with modern cultists (William Schallert must have been busy elsewhere during the three weeks this movie was in production . . .). But Monster On The Campus, just by virtue of its title, has a certain built-in campiness that expresses itself overtly in a few scenes that, undoubtedly, elicited howls, hoots, and mocking gasps from drive-in audiences at the time. In all, it's not as atmospheric -- except in a few stylistically claustrophobic scenes -- or persuasive as Arnold's best work, and even lacks the underlying sincerity that helped drive works such as The Space Children. It's a fun thrill ride within its modest budgetary and production dimensions, but not much more.
College student JIMMY heads to campus with his dog, while in a classroom MADELEINE, the daughter of the UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT, gets a plaster cast made of her face by fiance DR. DONALD BLAKE. They are interrupted as Jimmy shows up with a special delivery - an ancient fish called a coelacanth that Donald has ordered from Madagascar. Donald notes that the coelacanth has a special ability to "resist evolution." The dog drinks some of the coelacanth blood - and soon goes crazy, attacking Madeleine. Jimmy and Donald subdue the dog and stick it in a cage.
Donald takes a sample of the dog's saliva for a rabies test, and notes that the dog has huge teeth. It seems to be an evolutionary throwback to a prehistoric wolf. The UNIVERSITY DOCTOR's assistant MOLLY shows up to get the saliva sample. Donald cuts himself on the coelacanth's teeth as he puts it away, and soon feels woozy. Molly puts him in her car and takes him home. Donald passes out in the car. Molly goes inside to call the Doctor - and a CREATURE comes in and attacks her!
Madeleine and a SECURITY GUARD look for Donald in the lab. He's not there, but the dog is back to being a friendly pet. Madeleine heads to Donald's house. It has been trashed. She finds Donald passed out in the back yard - and Molly dead! Cops soon arrive. At first they suspect Donald because they find his tie clip in Molly's hand, but he is quickly exonerated when the cops find an enormous handprint on a window. Is there a killer on the loose? The cops also note that Molly didn't die of any wounds - she had a heart attack. She died of fright!
Donald lectures to his students about evolution using the coelacanth as an example. Jimmy shows up to check on the dog, and Donald tries to show him the huge teeth - but they are gone. Donald wonders if he is imagining things. Cop STEVENS is sure that someone is personally after Donald, but Donald has no enemies. Stevens gives Donald bodyguard EDDIE.
Donald and Eddie note a small dragonfly land on the coelacanth. Donald also sees "crystallized bacteria" on a slide. He quickly shows the slide to the Doctor, but the bacteria seem totally normal. Did Donald imagine something again? Meanwhile, Jimmy and his girlfriend SYLVIA hear a strange, loud buzzing sound as they hide under some trees to make out. There is a moment of a fake scare, but it turns out to be another couple making out. Jimmy and Sylvia go to the science building - and here they and Donald all see a huge GIANT DRAGONFLY outside the window. Jimmy and Donald trap the giant dragonfly, which Donald recognizes as a prehistoric species.
Donald studies the giant dragonfly. As he does so, blood falls into his pipe, which he then smokes. As the dragonfly shrinks back to its original state, Donald transforms into a PREHUMAN ANTHROPOID! The "anthropoid" smashes up the lab and kills Eddie. The cops come, but find only dead Eddie, a huge footprint, and Donald passed out. Donald recognizes the footprint as coming from a prehistoric subhuman, but Stevens thinks it must have been faked to frame Donald.
Donald investigates, does experiments, and calls a PROFESSOR in Madagascar who investigates how the fish was preserved. Donald finds that the fish was preserved using gamma ray radiation! Donald cancels lots of classes to continue his studies, and Madeleine and her father are afraid he is cracking up. The President comes to Donald to ask him to take a leave of absence. Donald explains what he has learned - the coelacanth blood, treated with radiation, is transforming creatures into evolutionary throwbacks for short periods of time. Just as he explains this, Donald realizes that he was probably the person who transformed into the monster.
Donald heads up to the University President's cabin, where he prepares to experiment on himself. He plans to inject the coelacanth blood into himself and capture the transformation with cameras he has rigged around the room. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Sylvia tell Madeleine about the giant dragonfly. Donald isn't crazy after all! Madeleine heads up to the cabin to see Donald.
Donald injects himself with the coelacanth blood as Madeleine drives. He transforms into the anthropoid, trashes the cabin, and runs out into the road. Madeleine sees the anthropoid, screams, and crashes her car. A FOREST RANGER races to the scene and sees the anthropoid standing over her. He calls the cops and grabs his gun. The anthropoid carries Madeleine away. The cops trail them, and the ranger shoots the anthropoid in the arm. Madeleine wakes up and runs, the creature pursues and knocks her out again, and then kills the ranger. Madeleine recovers and makes it back to the cabin as the anthropoid transforms back into Donald. The cops meet them here. Donald develops the film from the cameras and sees a shot of the creature. He knows now that "the beast within" himself is the killer. He takes the cops outside, claiming to know where the anthropoid is hiding. As the Doctor looks on, he injects himself with the coelacanth blood one last time, telling the doctor to "watch closely and see evolution in reverse." He transforms into the anthropoid, and the cops shoot him before the Doctor can stop them. The Doctor and the cops watch in amazement as the dead anthropoid turns back into mild-mannered Donald.