CONQUEST OF SPACE (1955)
Article #170 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 9-2-2001
Posting date: 1-16-2002

Despite their differences, the son of a space veteran accompanies him on the trip to Mars of which his father is the commander. When a crew member dies en route, the commander becomes a religious fanatic and tries to sabotage the expedition; when his son is forced to kill him, he gains the enmity of Sergeant Mahoney, a long-time friend of the commander.

This outer space epic reminds me of George Pal’s earlier voyage into space, DESTINATION MOON, and it shares some of that movie’s flaws; it’s peopled with cliched characters, and isn’t particularly well acted. It didn’t matter all that much in the earlier movie, as the focus of that one was on the scientific side of the expedition; here, the story is character oriented, and the movie suffers tremendously. The movie was based on a non-fiction science book with illustrations by Chesley Bonestall, and so the makers had to come up with their own story. Three scripts were rejected before this one was chosen, and this one is certainly no gem; it feels to me like a compendium of war-movie cliches. Worst of all, the story hinges on a completely unconvincing change of character on the part of the general in charge of the expedition from a hardened space veteran to a religious fanatic intent on sabotage; neither the script nor the actor (Walter Brooke) were able to make this change of character plausible, and the whole movie suffers for it. This is a shame; I can’t help but feel some affection for a science fiction movie that aspires toward human drama rather than just spectacle or action, but you still need a good convincing story to make it work, and that is just what this film does not have.

On the plus side, it’s nice to see Ross Martin in another movie, but like in THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK, he dies far too early in the proceedings for my taste.

THE CREEPING UNKNOWN (1955)
(a.k.a. THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT)
Article #168 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-31-2001
Posting date: 1-14-2002

When a rocket returning from outer space crashes into the earth, two of the astronauts have vanished while one has contracted a strange illness. Dr. Quatermass tries to solve the mystery.

Though general opinion tends to choose either QUATERMASS 2 or QUATERMASS AND THE PIT as the best in the series, I have to opt for this one, which is partially nostalgia, as it was the only one I saw as a kid. However, it still holds up well, and every time I watch it I find myself totally caught up in the proceedings. There are several reasons; I think the story by Nigel Kneale is tense, exciting and intelligent, for one thing. Then there’s Richard Wordsworth’s performance as the surviving astronaut Victor Caroon, which is powerfully convincing in its depiction of a man going through a painful and truly inhuman transformation. Then there’s the taut direction of Val Guest, especially in the opening sequences when the firemen, police, and onlookers are at the site of the rocket crash; I’m always fascinated at how well this scene moves, and how it sets the atmosphere of tension that permeates the whole film. Then there’s the fine cast of character actors that fill out the film; the only name I recognize right offhand is Lionel Jeffries, but they all do a good job. And finally, there’s Brian Donlevy; from what I hear, Kneale didn’t care for him, and he had a drinking problem, but in this role I can’t take my eyes off of him. His Quatermass is not a likeable character, but he is an imposing presence and a force to be reckoned with, and you can’t help but respect him. He provides the movie with my favorite moment…

SPOILER

…at the very end of the movie, as he leaves the cathedral without saying a word to anyone, until the last person he meets asks him what he’s going to do now, and he reveals he plans to build another rocket, and walks off into the darkness. For me, this is one of the most chillingly powerful moments in science fiction cinema, and as a character, Quatermass is a far cry from the rather bland scientists that permeated much of the American science fiction cinema of the period.

THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK (1958)
Article #166 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-29-2001
Posting date: 1-12-2002

When a noted scientist/humanitarian is hit by a truck and dies, his brain is saved and installed in the casing of a robot, so he can continue his research. However, he begins to lose his sense of humanity when this happens.

This movie has some truly intriguing ideas behind it, and the idea that a humanitarian would lose his sense of attachment to the human race if he resided in a non-human body would make for a great movie if it were handled well. Unfortunately, this movie is really clumsy in handling this idea, and its attempt to be a kiddy movie at the same time seriously undermines the whole affair. The scientists seem overly far-seeing at one moment, and utterly short-sighted the next; they consider the issue that he may lose his humanity, and then treat him without compassion and with some cruelty themselves, thereby making matters worse. They install in him a lever that will destroy him that he can’t reach, and also make him so powerful that he’s capable of massive destruction. Ultimately, this movie has some of the same problems as THE CATMAN OF PARIS; it doesn’t really hang together or make sense when you think about it.

SPOILER

The ending where he goes off to the United Nations and begins killing people, and then asks the little boy to turn him off is just plain unconvincing. This is one of those movies I’d like to see remade, simply to give someone an opportunity to explore the questions involved without fumbling the whole enterprise, as this movie does. Still, as an old fan of “The Wild, Wild West” (the TV show, not the movie), it is nice to see Ross Martin, even if it is only for the first few minutes of the movie.

THE CATMAN OF PARIS (1946)
Article #165 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-28-2001
Posting date: 1-11-2002

A French writer at odds with the government is suffering bizarre blackouts, during which a catlike killer goes on the prowl and kills people.

When boiled down to its essentials, this poverty row flick is a werewolf movie, filtered somewhat through SHE-WOLF OF LONDON and with a title that bears more than a little resemblance to THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON. However, the details with which the story is fleshed out are pretty elaborate; the mythology surrounding the catman is one of the damnedest things I’ve ever heard (it’s somehow concerned with the alignment of Jupiter), and there’s an elaborate subplot involving the author’s book bearing a remarkable resemblance to a real-life criminal case about which the government is up in arms tied in with the proceedings. Unfortunately, it’s not handled all that well; the whole subplot leads nowhere, and despite having a high interest potential, it is a crushing bore (making it most similar to REVOLT OF THE ZOMBIES).

The movie isn’t altogether without interest, though. For one thing, there are some very striking shots of what looks like a giant cat roaming about in the streets of Paris (it’s an illusion revealed in the movie itself, but it does make for an arresting visual moment). The movie also comes from Republic, and when I see the name Republic, I think westerns. This is interesting because there’s a couple of scenes in this movie that look for all the world like they came from a western, specifically, a carriage chase with guns and a fight scene in a restaurant; change the carriage to a stagecoach in the one and the restaurant to a saloon in the other, and you have two scenes that wouldn’t seem out of place in a western (though they do feel a little out of place here). Carl Esmond plays the writer, with familiar faces Lenore Aubert, Douglass Dumbrille, and a young John Dehner also appearing.