MovieChat Forums > Teenagers from Outer Space (1959) Discussion > I paid 25 cents for this DVD

I paid 25 cents for this DVD

posted 17 years ago by notmrjohn
76 replies | jump to latest

Got it at the 99 cent store as a 2 fer and the disc also had "Battle of the Worlds" with Claude Raines listed as a cast member, ( I am struggling to watch that) so that was four movies for a buck, other disc, Last Man on Earth, Devil's Messenger. TFOS is one great cheap movie, but anything with Branson Canyon (sp) has got to be great. I thot I had seen it at the local art deco/ victorian decorated theatre, which also woulda cost a quarterct!, but now I realise I never seen this movie! And me a bad movie addict. I liked the labelled skeleton, the human voiced dog at the beginning, the dime store ray guns, and Gramps whose delivery said to me that he was a trained narrator instead of an actor ( the only thing that would have made the evil aliens eviler would be if they vaporised a poor lil innocent orphan kitten.) And I really wanted the alien to live and make it with betty 'stead of dieing and becoming an inspiration.

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

Quite a bargain. "Teenagers from Outer Space" is loads o' fun and glad that you appreciate it.

"Last Man on Earth"? Vincent Price? What a find! I always liked that version.

I've not heard of "Battle of the Worlds".

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Okay, escalera, you got me on this board, and this is my third post in six minutes!

The best version of TFOS is the one from Image ("The Wade Williams Collection"). It's the priciest, but by far the best print of what is, after all, a p.d. movie. It uses "original film elements", which always sounds so painstakingly archeological. And by "priciest", today, that means $5.99 from Amazon (other sites are a bit higher).

LAST MAN (1964) is probably the best (most atmospheric) of the now three versions of Matheson's story (THE OMEGA MAN and I AM LEGEND the others, of course), albeit by far the cheapest, and trying to pass off Italy as the United States just doesn't work. Even the dog barks in Italian. Not to mention the ethnic slur conveyed by Vincent's liberal use of garlic, although it's true he was an accomplished chef. MGM/UA recently brought that out in a solo edition, but they'd released it earlier on a still available double-film Midnight Movies DVD with AIP's terrific PANIC IN YEAR ZERO!, starring and directed by the great Ray Milland.

THE DEVIL'S MESSENGER (1962) was a Devil's mess from Sweden, a compilation of three epsiodes from an unsold TV series. I haven't seen it since I was a kid but thought it was lousy even then; my main memory of it is the end where Chaney, as Satan, announces to the camera that he's sending mankind a new gift -- "A Hundred-Megaton Bomb!", with which man, presumably, accomplishes Lon's goal of overcrowding Hell with fresh, albeit mostly unwilling, recruits.

BATTLE OF THE WORLDS (1960) was an Italian movie that they somehow lassoed poor Claude Rains into starring in -- I hope he had a big pay day. He discovers a rogue planet he names "The Outsider" approaching Earth, the Italian Space Bureau launches a rocket to land on and try to divert it (don't ask), of course there's some sort of civilization on it, etc., etc. Claude learns The Truth and calls all his fellow Earthlings "Fools -- they'll never know!" before...well, gee, don't want to spoil it. There's even a sort of song -- ethereal, celestial voices softly singing "The Outsider" amidst some other gibberish -- kind of spookily intriguing, as a matter of fact. Actually, I sort of like it, but it is tough going: poor dubbing, lurid color, weird plotting and acting, scenes that are supposed to be taking place at midnight while the sun's out, whatever. And slow, like most third-rate Euro-sci-fi. The director was a guy called Antonio Margheriti, who usually went by the name "Anthony Dawson" in the English versions of his films. That always gave me a laugh, because there was an English actor named Anthony Dawson who was familiar to American audiences -- he played the man hired to kill Grace Kelly in DIAL M FOR MURDER, and was the crooked geologist working for the evil DR. NO, whom James Bond shoots, rather brutally, in cold blood in his (Dawson's) secretary's bedroom. I'm sure some people thought it was he who helmed BATTLE. And I'm sure that undeserved reputation did him no good!

Of the four, TFOS is the most fun, if not the "best". None of the others has a skeleton dog or an old guy with nine fingers or four 35-year-old teenagers climbing out of an oversized wok to conquer the Earth with lobster mattes. (Or anybody pushing a car into a shot to simulate its being driven!)

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

Priceless overviews.

I liked "Last Man on Earth" because it was so unearthly, because Italy was standing in for the U.S.of A. It had a sticky feel to it. Vincent's character seemed so out of place.

"Omega Man" had its merits as did the very well done -- seen it once and thats enough -- "I am Legend".

I had submitted a TRIVIA entry with IMDb regarding "Teenagers..." but for whatever reason it was not included. It was a minor observation that the dome on the "wok" was the plastic blister from a WWII bomber painted silver. In certain shots of the flying saucer you can make out the slots for the machine guns. You can also see a crack here and there.

It was a clever design for a spaceship, too.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Wow! I'll have to check out the wok's WWII turrets soon. Thanks! Another thing about that ship was its tiny size in the close-ups -- it clearly could hold about one guy, prone, yet when we see the interior it's pretty roomy, or should I say spacy. Tons of room for several teens and a good day's catch of lobsters. But talk about cheap: how about that finale -- with the approaching ships being lured to their crashing doom by Derek's perfidy while his dad hammers on the turret yelling, No, Derek, no! -- and NONE of this seen in the film, just Harvey and the kids staring blankly around Bronson Canyon and DESCRIBING what's going on?! How chintzy is that? When they ran this movie on MST3K the 'bots sat around cracking things like, "Oh my God, that's quite a sight, too bad we can't show you any of it!" and so on.

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

When I was a boy and first saw this picure I thought the flying saucer was a bit cramped. It was only until I saw it recently that I realized that the drillbit part of it went underground and that part was where the cargo and crew lounged around.

Not as effective as the glowing dome bursting through the ground as we'd seen in Cameron Menzies' "Invaders from Mars", but effective nonetheless.

War surplus stores used to carry alot of great stuff for some years and, I suspect, that was the case with "Teenagers...". The flight helmet and mask worn by the dog-zapping alien certainly came from the Supply Sergeant.

I must admit that describing "the humanity!" of the space armada's destruction by King Beard-o at the end was humorous. It hearkened back to Orson Welles' radio version of "The War of the Worlds". You know -- "theater of the mind"!

Nothing like a little audience participation to liven up the crowd.

(You know those robots in Mystery Science Theater were no great shakes either!)

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Not to mention the close, with the trio sadly walking off while back in the sky the ghostly image of the heroic but nonetheless permanently dead Derek fades in and says -- what? -- something about how "I shall live on the Earth with you forever!"...the rays of the setting sun framing his noble countenance, in stark counterpoint to the rays of the zapping gun that had framed poor puppies and swimsuit sluts. O, the humanity!

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

Intergalactic corn, that's for sure.

I was waiting for somebody to start singing "Danny Boy".

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Singing, hmm?

What rhymes with "Derek"? All I can think of is Capt. Kirk's amnesiac Indian name in that episode of "Star Trek" -- Kurok. Well, it sort of rhymes.

"Oh, my darling Derek,
I would take you over Kurok,
Or even Bernard Kerrick,
Throw myself off the highest derrick."

Voila. The "Love Song from 'Teeneagers from Outer Space'." No. 12 on the solar system's hit parade.

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

You're a great writer, hobnob, but no Bob Dylan. Cute. Very cute.

I found "Teenagers..." in a double feature with "Battle of the Worlds" just today at the Sprawl Mart for one buck. Claude Raines in his greatest role! A Science-Fiction classic! For a BUCK!

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

No Bob Dylan? I'm not even as good as Don Sullivan, who wrote the songs for the same year's epic giant gila monster flick, obscurely titled THE GIANT GILA MONSTER, in which he also starred. Now I bet that guy could find a rhyme for Derek! Have you seen that one?

A buck is a bargain, but I'll hazard a guess that the quality of the prints is poor. I don't have BATTLE in my collection but do have the aforementioned Image DVD of TFOS, which is of very high picture and sound quality, and only $6-$7. But I'll be interested in your take on BOTW. Forget THE INVISIBLE MAN!! CASABLANCA!! NOTORIOUS!! LAWRENCE OF ARABIA!! BATTLE OF THE WORLDS is the quintessential Claude Rains opus!

"The Ousiderrrrrrrr....." Remember? Another toe-tapper. You have my warning.

Addendum: By the way -- I just went to the BOTW site to double-check...its original title is IL PIANETA DEGLI UOMINI SPENTI, basically, "Planet of the Lifeless Men". No comment. (Oh, it was originally released in 1961, not 1960; not in the US till '63. It did not improve either with travel or age. But sorta fun.)

[–] Darthfrodo58 12 years ago

Spocks father was named Sarek, rhymes with Derek.

It's not a tumor

[–] hobnob53 12 years ago

Not quite. If it was "Serek" it'd rhyme with "Derek". The only rhyme for the latter is the uninterestingly similar "derrick".

[–] UnderPressure 17 years ago

I crack up when I watch the end because that "describing" what's going on is very similar to Spielberg's "looking" shot ... except we never get to see what the hell they're looking at. Oh well :)

"I can bring them all back."
www.attentionsoldier.com www.tomgraeff.org

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Yeah!:)

[–] turtletommy 17 years ago

25 c? You overpaid. Even watching it on Mystery Science Theater didn't help. Bad is bad even when it's good-bad to some. (<;

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Maybe; but think how boring the world would be if everything were Shakespeare.

[–] turtletommy 17 years ago

,,,or TFOS for that matter, yikes!

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Exactly! Variety!

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

The "Battle of the Worlds" DVD copy reads: "Four-time Oscar Nominee Claude Rains stars in the sci-fi classic of a mysterious alien planet on a collision course with Earth!" and "...memorable tale of science fiction..."

Hoot mon! How can anyone pass this up?

I have yet to see this opus or this version (Digiview Entertainment) of "Teenagers..." Ah, but it is raining on the streets of Gettysburg today, my work is almost done. "Return with us now to the thrilling days of yesteryear..."

"The Giant Gila Monster"? Hot rods, hot babes, hot dog! A fun movie with one of filmdom's great fiery endings!

I haven't seen it in many moons, but I must say, it brings a smile to my face to even think of it again. Somehow, I can't recall Mr. Sullivan's song...

[–] obit1 17 years ago

"I paid 25 cents for this DVD"

Funny....I thought that's how much the movie cost to make...

I LOVED The Giant Gila Monster, though....anybody willing to shoot ALL of the monster shots on an HO scaled train table top set is all right in my book!!! And notice how at no time do we ever see any people compsosited with the beaded lizard...just toys.

Remember, these are the same people that made KILLER SHREWS (the titular characters in that movie were german shepards with "shrew wigs"....and the occasional hand puppet.)

But back to Teenagers from Outer Space....um....the scene where.....uh....the part that was pretty interesting was....well at least they....AT LEAST IT WASN'T AS BAD AS "THE CREEPING TERROR"!!!!!!

There, at least I said something.

http://www.woodywelch.com

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Hey, you think quarters were easy to come by in '59???

Yeah, THE KILLER SHREWS...thank you for your production know-how, Ken "Festus" Curtis. A two-fer: dogs with hair pieces or gila monsters crawling over toy trains and model cars. The horror!

Either one was, however, infinitely superior to the matted-out lobster or crayfish or whatever crustacean was unwillingly pressed into servitude as the terrifying Gargon in TEENAGERS. Although, one assumes cast and crew were gratified afterward when Tom Graeff produced a big tub of melted butter and graciously invited one and all to dig in. Couldn't do that with a gila monster, although in deference to multiculturalism, I pass comment on the suitability of shrew-dogs as table fare.

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

OBIT -- I wanted to make certain that you would get the message regarding the CBS TV comedy program "The Big Bang Theory" for Monday April 28, 2008. You had recently made mention of Bob Burns and his collection of props from George Pal's production of "The Time Machine". The machine itself will be utilized on the above program.

By the way, I look forward to the time when I can browse through your web-site.
It looks like it will be a real treat!

[–] obit1 17 years ago

Thanks, escalera-2, you are much too kind!

http://www.woodywelch.com

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

I took in a quick look at your web-site and saw you pictured with Bob Burns and the titular "The Time Machine" prop. Pretty slick.

You are quite the artist! I especially liked the "High Flight" composite photograph of the P-40 and the painting of Faith Domergue and the Metaluna Mutant from "This Island Earth".

I'll go back for another look when I have more time to do so. Hey -- where's that little ole time machine?

[–] obit1 17 years ago

Hey, thanks again for the compliments as to my artistic abilities, escalera-2, I appreciate it.

As to your inquiry, I'm guessing you are referring to the little time machine prop that was used in the film as an example by Rod Taylor to the rest of his "collegues". I believe that was burned up in a fire that ravaged George Pal's home in November of 1961.

Very sad, because that fire destroyed everything save but the few artifacts that happened to be in other people's possesions (I think the Bill Brace matte paintings might've been down at Project Unlimited and that is how Baar got them after the place folded in the late 60's).

Many special effects guys over the years have reconstructed the little time machine and Bob Burns has several of these, the most accurate seemingly the one made by Tom Sherman.

One thing I DO know is that Pal kept all those lovely illustrations by Reynold Brown that were used in the Time Machine posters and lobby cards and all of that art burned up in that infamous conflagration.

Take care!

http://www.woodywelch.com

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

Forrest Ackerman is getting on in years. Do you have any idea what he plans for his Famous collection?

Best
Collection
EVER!

I suspect you've made your way up to the Ackermansion. I lived in Los Angeles most of my life but never once thought of going for a visit. "Cancel that Cancer Stick! Only you can prevent Forrest fires!" You gotta smile when you think of his wit.

[–] obit1 17 years ago

Yeah, the last 2 times I saw Forry he was in really bad shape. Thin....frail...

I saw him a few years ago at Comic-Con in San Diego (I always used to go down and sell my art in the art show) and Ackerman was in a wheelchair being pushed around. I last saw him at Dark Delicacies bookstore when Harryhausen had the big signing.

Ackerman now lives in a much much smaller abode than the 2 houses he had...the first house was wall to wall stuff and the second house he got, all his collection was in the basement so that the upper floors looked more like a home.

Most of his artifacts are gone, save for a few specialties like the lifesize Robotrix ( a recreation) from Metropolis and of course his prize possessions which are his extensive library of fantasy and science fiction books dating back for years and years!

Actually, now, Bob Burns has the best collection of MOVIE memorabilia...for instance, Bob now had the head of the Beast with a Million eyes (Paul Blaisdell's first monster) Forry had it before, and left it by a window where it melted a bit (it was a wax "stand-in" positive...the rubber puppet has long since decayed) Forry placed the head in one of his refrigerators so as to keep it from melting further. Bob now has it...UNDER GLASS lol, in his museum.

Forry has a handful of "people" that hang around him, like vultures. I'm sure they will get what's left.

Bob Burns has all the Paul Blaisdell stuff, all the Project Unlimited stuff (and that includes all the props and effects from the Pal films) and all the Alien/Aliens stuff, as well as....whew! Too numerous to mention. But while Bob has all those wonderful movie artifacts (including the stop motion skeltons of Kong and Joe Young), Forry had that wonderful library of all those thousands of pulp magazine and paperbacks with their amazing covers.

And of course, if it wasn't for that very first issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland, I probably would have become a boring illustrator painting pictures of cars and stoves....instead of the pretty girls, monsters and dinosaurs that I do!

:)

http://www.woodywelch.com

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

Speaking of "The Time Machine" I recall reading an early issue of Starlog telling how the original stuff was consumed in a fire and how someone carefully recreated the oversized prop. He invited George Pal over for an inspection and Pal was delgithed to see it. There was a photo of Pal smiling broadly manipulating the controls as he sat on it. He said he had, for some reason, never sat on the original!

Those are interesting observations concerning Ackerman's museum. I remember photos of him with the False Maria. Didn't Bill Malone make that one for him?

Famous Monsters of Filmland. The first issue that mesmerized me was the one with a terrific painting of Bela Lugosi as Dracula. I used to wonder where Comic Book Guy on "The Simpsons" got his catch-phrase "Worst Episode Ever!"
then one day I remembers that the "Famous Monsters of Filmland Yearbook every year would be tagged "BEST ISSUE EVER!"

I know that Steven Spielberg was abig fan, as was Marvel's Roy Thomas. Now, you're one more. Forry inspired many minds!

Well, it certainly impressed you and that's a pretty neat turn.

[–] obit1 17 years ago

Bob Burns knew George Pal ever since he(Bob) visited the set of Destination Moon as a young fellow. The actual big Time Machine was kept at MGM until, in the 70's, it was part of the big backlot auction at Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Burns scraped together $1000.00 but was overbid and the machine went to somebody for four grand.

It was later sold to a traveling show for about $9000.00 and in '75, someone informed Bob that it was in an antique shop....in very bad condition. No chair, the sled rotting, etc.

Bob managed to buy the heap and with the help of Dennis Muren, Tom Sherman, D.C. Fontana, and Mike Minor, rebuilt it to its former glory.

Bob always used to do these great Halloween shows on his property and when the Time Machine prop was finished he designed a Time Machine Show. They asked George Pal to come and see the show. He did, and they asked him to sit in it for a picture. Pal smilingly informed everybody that ...he had NEVER sat in the seat of the Machine before. LOL. I guess he was too busy producing and directing the picture!

In Bob's own printed words from one of his books, IT CAME FROM BOB'S BASEMENT....

"Today, one of my favorite photos is the one we took that night of George Pal seated in his brainchild, pulling the lever and smiling a huge smile!"

Yes, I believe Bill Malone DID make the robotrix for Forry.

I know that David Allen and Tom Sherman with Jim Danforth and Dennis Muren were working on the script and special effects designs for a project called RAIDERS OF THE STONE RING (this has now become THE PRIMEVALS and is only about 2/3 finished) Forry used to print the progress of these guys in his magazine. The film of course was never made but Spielberg made, years later, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.....I guess Steve knew a catchy title when he read it.

LOL

-WW
http://www.woodywelch.com

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

OBIT -- would you ever submit this stuff to the IMDb under Trivia for the 1960 version of "The Time Machine"? It is good stuff and will be lost in this thread. The 2002 re-make brought out new interest and new fans for the George Pal production and this information would be a real benefit to them and other fans who come along.

Thanks for that and the other. I will dig around for a copy of Bob Burn's book. That sounds like fun, too.

[–] obit1 17 years ago

Well as far as trivia about the Time Machine, that comes directly from the pages of Bob's books....He first put out IT CAME FROM BOB'S BASEMENT and then a bit later, MONSTER KID MEMORIES, which is more in depth. So anybody could submit the anecdotes that had the books as reference. I don't know if Bob is selling them through his website, but that's a start.

Both books I would highly reccomend....they are full of lots of pictures and Bob writes in a wonderful "Gee-Whiz, Gosh, Golly" style that is evocative of all of us when we were discovering things about movies for the first time.

http://www.woodywelch.com

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

Frederick Clarke's "Cinefantastique" used to call it "The Sense of Wonder".
Maybe that is why we are drawn to these old titles and enjoying hearing and telling about those moments.

Whatever the source, the information is still good. I hope you might submit it for fans of this and other movies that Mr. Burns writes about. It's not like he made it up himself, he was, of course, just recording history.

I'll see about his web-site and what he may offer there.

Thanks, again.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

obit,

The photo of George Pal at the controls of the Time Machine is I assume the one that has famously graced things such as the DVD (and earlier VHS) cover, and if I recall it's in the film as well, of THE FANTASY FILM WORLDS OF GEORGE PAL? I loved that documentary, especially the much-expanded DVD version. DESTINATION MOON is among my top three favorite films of any kind, and the huge amount of footage, including the kinescope of the extensive live TV interview done on-set in late 1949, is terrific.

Sorry to intrude, you and escalera have had a great exchnage going here.

Although I'm sure you're sadly right that "the vultures" will move in and strip Forry's collection once he's gone, at least he assembled it, took care of it, and the objects will (we hope) continue to be preserved somewhere, even if not by Bob Burns. You and I have discussed this, and you're lucky to have known him and visited the place before the great clearing-out.

hob

[–] obit1 17 years ago

hobnob, you never intrude.

Never ever!

LOL

Currently I'm going through all the crazy nickle and dime stuff I loved as a kid....Colonel Bleep, Space Explorers, Diver Dan....and...AND (God Bless Youtube!!) I have seen, for the first time...after forty years, FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT!!!

I have this mental image of Mighty Mouse surfing out of the sky on a tube of IPANA toothpaste....so many images, so little time....lol

http://www.woodywelch.com

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT???!!! Daughter, bride, son, these I know. Cat?? Do provide the breathless details.

Somewhere or other I recently had a conversation concerning Diver Dan -- was it with you, escalera? One loses track, especially on a thread with 64 posts and counting, all mixed up in time and space...much like the plot of TEENAGERS....

Lest we forget, we forget.

Ipana! Indeed. And how about Stripe? Even Billy Wilder referenced that in ONE, TWO, THREE.

[–] obit1 17 years ago

Frankenstein's Cat was one of the earliest Mighty Mouse cartoons!!!!

The bucolic countryside was a paradise until a baby bird was blown by a harsh wind all the way to Frankenstein's castle where it narrowly escaped the clutches of ...

FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT!

Chasing the baby bird out of the castle, the feline Frankenstein monster lays waste to the country side (compared to the mice and birds, he's ENORMOUS!) Until.......

Mighty Mouse comes in and kicks his butt!!!!!

Frankenstein's cat walked upright, had mechanical arms and legs, a squared off head, a body like a metal cyclinder , and an organic cat-like face. Intead of meowing, it moaned and groaned and growled like the monster Frankenstein made for the movies and when attacked by the birds, it swatted at them like Kong batting the biplanes.

I'm sure they still have it on youtube.

It was my all time favorite Mighty Mouse cartoon........

....obviously.

lol

p.s. I think there is something in England called Frankenstein's Cat but that has nothing to do with this great cartoon from over a half a century ago!

http://www.woodywelch.com

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

I am filled with pride and humility at the degree to which we three (obit, escalera et moi) have, on this single thread, raised the cultural threshold of America, if not indeed the entire planet, through our posts.

I think I shall call it The Second Enlightenment.

Or was that what Derek was planning when he crashed the invading lobster fleet?

Oh, darn. Another unannounced spoiler.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

GILA is another p.d. opus also released by Image as part of the so-called Wade Williams Collection, and once again it's by far the best version available -- great print, and...widescreen! Gulp! Lets you see the entire lizard! (Sullivan had I think three songs, all lousy, ranging from malt-shoppe rock 'n' roll to early hootenany praise-the-Lord stuff. Pardon me while I step outside to be eaten by the gila.)

At least BATTLE OF THE WORLDS had a four-time Oscar nominee to embarrass, and to elevate its public standing. But: "Academy-Award-winner Tom Graeff"? Nah.

Actually, Bill Warren, the author of that book I wrote about earlier ("Keep Watching the Skies"), gives TEENAGERS a fairly decent review, stating among other things that Graeff showed some talent in framing his scenes, camera movement and blocking his actors, and like you escalera he also admired the design of the spaceship. He hardly rates it a good movie but said that, as a teenager himself he howled with resentment at this movie when he saw it in 1959, but that seeing it again two decades later he reversed his derisive opinion about it and saw some things of merit...enough to wonder why Graeff never made anything else. Interesting.

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

Funny -- I was thinking of "The Killer Shrews" when I read the reference to "The Giant Gila Monster". I guess I saw them both about the same time.

Now, I haven't seen "Teenagers..." in a while, was it a lobster or a crawfish playing the part of the Gargon?

"Teenagers..." was well shot and well edited for the most part. I liked the music, too.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

I think it was a lobster, some gourmands insist it was a crayfish (which is the same as a crawfish). Either way, only its dark, unmatted shadow was seen. Ultra-cheap! Although, at that, it was better than the alien invasion fleet, NOTHING of which was ever seen (though Betty and company gave us that breathless, thrilling play-by-play of all the action transpiring that the camera couldn't turn around and show us!).

Yes, I guess on a technical level much of TFOS was a bit above average for a movie that probably cost 25 cents to produce. Too bad the script, story and acting were so awful. But then, it wouldn't be so awfully fun.

[–] obit1 17 years ago

I believe...I am just saying....i seem to remember that Giant Crawfish/Crawdads etc. menaced the players in PANTHER GIRL OF THE CONGO. (I could google this, but then hobnob would lose all respect for me...)

It seemed that the big thing in the "trap" in the beginning of Teenagers from Outer Space was a nice lobster...I suppose the one that was matted into the shot at the end there next to the pole was too, but I haven't seen the film in 12 years.

And hey!

While we're talking about movies cheaply made that have actors relating the action in dialogue (saving the time and money to actually show things) never let us forget that the CATWOMEN OF THE MOON ending where a breathless Sonny Tufts (or one of them) runs in and poses in front of a bad painted backdrop and says..."The Catwomen are all dead!"

It takes BALLS to do this even in the early fifties.

I guess the antithesis of this would be THE CREEPING TERROR, where every action is narrated. We see Bob (or whomever) sit down on the couch and begin to talk to a girl. There is no sound but the narrator saying...."Bob sat down on the couch, and began to tell Tina the events of the day....saying that....."

You get the idea....supposedly a great deal of the soundtrack was lost or stolen or somebody wiped their fanny with it while defecating in a bush...I dunno.

As the kids say...."it's....SURREAL!"

http://www.woodywelch.com

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Oh, my goodness, obit, how ever could you think I could lose respect for you? I humble myself before you, always!

Yeah, you know, they did have a big lobster trap or something that they let the Gargon loose out of...whatever. I half expected the Marine Patrol to come along and give them a summons for swiping somebody's lobster pots.

But odd you mention CAT-WOMEN because I was reading something about that just the other day. Great film. I think it was Sonny Himself who did yell, "The Cat-Women are dead, and Helen's all right!" Bang, zoom! Everything resolved in a flash, just slap your hands clean and stroll off. Obviously the production manager had his stopwatch out and realized they'd shot 62 of its 64 minutes and had to make sure they had enough film left for the grand finale aboard the Tuftshuttle. My God, even the really terrible (= wonderful) remake -- remake! Of CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON?! -- 1958's MISSILE TO THE MOON, ran 78 minutes. My favorite part: Sonny borrowing a cigarette from Marie Windsor to show what would happen to them if they strayed over the divider onto the bright side of the moon. Apart from the cigarette catching fire and burning up -- in a vacuum -- what the hell was Helen doing carrying a pack of butts around in her spacesuit anyway? Can't you see all that smoke swirling about that goldfish bowl she wore for a helmet...assuming she found a way to get the Chesterfield into her mouth in the first place? Even for a movie of that sort, you'd expect some idiot to figure that that just didn't make any sense, even by their low standards.

Yep, you're right as usual, that ending is even more ballsy than TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE. At least in TEENs we saw some shots of the protagonist space guys, just no action. In CWOTM, not even any final shots of the Cat-Women, nor any hint of how they all died instantaneously. "Suddenly, everybody was run over by a truck." (Know that one?)

Oh, as lost-soundtrack narrations go, I prefer THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS, for its surreal inscrutability and irrationality, to the monster shag carpet and banal off-screen descriptions in THE CREEPING TERROR. But then the artistry of Tor Johnson and Coleman Francis defies even the term "unique".

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

"Missile to the Moon"! -- what a great film! Stay in the shadows! Watch out for Rock Men! Eeeee-ha! And dig that crazy spider!

I believe the correct spelling of Mr. Tuft's name was SONNY TUFTS!

Crawfish/Lobster... the controversy continues. I suppose it reveals something about the viewer's personality.

"Someday this war's going to end."

Ginger or Maryann?

PS
hobnob -- I am not familiar with the "truck" reference. Do tell.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Hi esc (are we familiar enough now that I may so address you?),

Bowen Charlton Tufts III (1911-1970): a.k.a., Sonny. But the possessive of his last name is, properly -- Tufts's. Tough -s-s-s-s to say. He was a member of the family whose antecedents founded Tufts University in his native Boston. A long way from there to the dark side of the moon! Booze and showgirls: the path to the downfall of many an old-line Wasp.

Yes, the Rock-Men on the surface of that bright, blue-sky, sunshiny moon! They were actually pretty realistic, in contrast to everything else in MTTM. Poor Cathy Downs certainly had come down from her early Fox years, in THE DARK CORNER and MY DARLING CLEMENTINE. MISSILE TO THE MOON was her last film; she died, impoverished, of cancer, I believe, in 1976, although old friends from her film days had stepped in to help her out financially. Richard Travis was another failed star, promoted into oblivion by Warner Bros. even after his starring roles opposite Bette Davis and Eleanor Parker.

Have you seen CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON (1953)? MTTM's direct ancestor. Not a bad cast, but not as goofy as MTTM. Great double feature, though. Same spider, by the way. But CW is, I think, the more atmospheric, if you'll pardon the expression.

Oh, the "truck" line. In 1972, The National Lampoon ran an article entitled, "Michael O'Donoghue's Learn to Write Good". In it, he gave a number of invaluable writing tips for the beginner, one of which concerned how to conclude a novel. Sometimes, he wrote, a writer finds his story has run its course and has nowhere to go, but is at a loss as to how to properly resolve the various story lines. A technique I use, he went on, is to insert the following sentence: "Suddenly, everybody was run over by a truck." The article went on for a while, before O'Donoghue concluded, "There are many other tips I could offer you, but suddenly I am run over by a truck." As a coda, a couple of months later, the new issue had an article called "Spoilers", in which they gave away the endings to many films, books, plays, etc. (Their means of describing the endings of some sci-fi movies was pretty good; for example -- "Them" -- Flamethrowers. "The Thing" -- Electrocution. They had a mistake with "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms", saying, An "oxygen-destroyer" -- which, of course, was how they killed Godzilla.) Anyway, one of the movies whose ending they gave away was Kirk Douglas's modern-day western, LONELY ARE THE BRAVE (a very good film, if you've not seen it). Lampoon's spoiler read: "Kirk Douglas's horse freaks out on a highway, and he is run over by a truck. (No kidding!)" I loved that -- as you can tell, since I remember it 36 years later!

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

That's great (the truck line).

I am sure I have seen "Cat Women on the Moon" but I can't say for sure as I do not remember much about it. "Queen of Outer Space" "Fire Maidens..." "Phantom Planet" "Missle..." they all sort of morph. They all start running in my head looking like "Amazon Women on the Moon".

In Los Angeles the long defunct newspaper The Herald-Examiner would distribute the TV Weekly with the Sunday edition. Every time -- I do mean, every time -- any movie that even only featured Mr. Tufts would be listed like this example below:

Blaze of Noon (1947) Anne Baxter, Lucille Stewart, William Holden,
Colin McDonald, Roland McDonald, William Bendix and Sonny Tufts!

His name always had an exclamation point. I never found out why.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Sonny Tufts had, by the late 50s, become a standing joke with stand-up comics. Lots of them would merely mention his name and it brought down the house in gales of laughter. Hard to explain exactly why -- it did have to do with his well-established (and -deserved) reputation by then as a man of limited talents somehow promoted to movie star for a time, then gradually spiraling downward. More than that, though, by then he had been involved in various scrapes with the law, and once was sued by a stripper whom he had bitten on the thigh. He found work hard to come by and as he sank deeper into alcohol and public hijinks he simply became an object of public ridicule. His name probably added to that sense of derision. He made a big thing of campaigning for the role of Jim Bowie in John Wayne's THE ALAMO, and didn't get it, of course. He wound up his sad career in something called COTTONPICKIN' CHICKENPICKERS. Don't ask. That was 1967, and he died of pneumonia three years later at 58, broke, long divorced and an alcoholic. So this is undoubtedly what the Herald-Examiner meant by its use of an ! after poor Sonny's name. (By the way, he became a star at Paramount for a while in the 40s because he was 4F during WWII and was one of those guys signed by the studios as replacements for major actors away at war. He lasted for a time after the war, but gradually his lack of talent and changing public tastes doomed him to things like CAT-WOMEN...which, nevertheless, must certainly have seemed like GONE WITH THE WIND compared with COTTONPICKIN' CHICKENPICKERS.)

I had not seen CAT-WOMEN for many years, and only after re-viewing it some years ago did I realize that the character in AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON played by Robert Colbert -- the astronaut who wanted to make money off of lunar real estate -- was an exact rip-off of the character played by Douglas Fowley in CW, who was always looking for schemes by which to profit from his trip into space...a predilection which leads to his moon doom all too soon!

I have all those titles you mention, but for me they never morph...each just stands alone, occupying its own plateau, separate, distinct, and throughly enjoyable -- on some weird level! But again, if you like MISSILE TO THE MOON, then CAT-WOMEN is a must. Its stars, besides the inestimable Sonny!, are Marie Windsor, Victor Jory, Mr. Fowley and Bill Phipps -- who among other roles was one of the first three guys zapped by Martians near the start of the same year's THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. (The young guy who says they should tell the invaders, "Welcome to California." He's still around, at 86 I believe.)

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

And now that you mention it, I do not think I even knew that "Missile to the Moon" was a color production. I've only ever seen it on Black and White TV.

I have some catching up to do.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

NO! NO! NO! MISSILE TO THE MOON is NOT -- repeat, NOT -- a color production!

It was filmed in perfect and magnificent black and white. Last year some money-grubbing, anti-artistic, film-defacing, no-talent hack decided to colorize it, to absolutely no purpose whatsoever, except to squeeze some fast bucks from the undiscerning colorization crowd. I haven't seen it, and have had fights with colorizers about that despicable practice on several other boards, but despite claims by some enthusiasts that colorization today looks "fantastic" and other tripe-like adjectives, the stuff I have seen still looks abysmally fake and awful (aside from its inescapable artificiality and inexactitude). It's a safe assumption that the colorized MTTM is as poor as all other colorization.

But you can get the original (from Image), in its pristine b&w format, at a very low price, from several sites. Amazon has both it and Image's CAT-WOMEN on its site and they make a great duo, very cheap as well (under $20 combined). The Image CW is becoming harder to find and may disappear before long, so if you care to you might want to get it now. It's already unavailable from other sites. Oddly, MTTM, despite the colorized version's presence, is still readily available. But definitely get the Image discs of both -- that's all the catching-up you need, my good friend!

Whew! Please excuse the outburst. Obviously I'm rather outspoken on the subject of colorization. (Don't you see? I had to stop you from getting it -- at all costs!!) Anyway, on a b&w or color TV, you saw MTTM right -- and please keep it that way!

An excitable (but preservation-minded!) hob

[–] obit1 17 years ago

I love it....the colorization with my buddy hobnob is getting like that old vaudeville routine, Niagra Falls...

Hey Hob...did you get the colorized BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES? I hear it's really..

"COLORIZATION?!?!?!

SLOOOOOOOWY I TURNED....

INCH BY INCH.....

STEP BY STEP....

I....

GRABBED THOSE GUYS BY THEIR LAPELS AND MADE THEM EAT THEIR FLOPPY DISC COLORIZATION PROGRAM WHILE THEIR FAMILIES WATCHED IN HORROR!!!!"

And of course, I'm right with hobnob on that subject.

Oh and while I'm here, the spider in CATWOMEN was a prop made by Wah Chang for the film MESA OF LOST WOMEN....another beauty. The prop was really cool (it didn't do anything but dangle) For CATWOMEN he added a little horn on its head (after all it's a "moon" spider and they should look a little different....the fact that it's big as a couch I guess wasn't good enough.

Anywho....

I know this because I was a working slave to Tim Baar in the early seventies (I was mister odd job special effects geek) when I came to California...Baar, and Gene Warren and Wah Chang formed an effects company called CENTAUR PRODUCTIONS which changed their company's name to PROJECT UNLIMITED when they began an association with George Pal begining with the stop motion scenes in TOM THUMB.

I don't want to come off as a know-it-all or be arrogant or anything, but Baar used to show me all these pictures of Project Unlimited behind the scenes and stuff and tell me stories about how this was made and how that was shot. Then I'd go out and mow his lawn and do the shrubbery cutting.

Like I said....slave labor.

So....the irony of all of this is that MESA OF LOST WOMEN was originally called TARANTULA but they couldn't use the title because Universal had it for one of their movies.

I'M GETTIN' TO THE SPIDER...I'M GETTIN' TO THE SPIDER!!!!!

ahem

At any rate...Tim Baar used to work at Universal in the prop shop in the late thirties and he knew guys from the lot that had worked there up into the fifties and sixties ( and he was able to get me on the lot for EARTHQUAKE where I stole some stuff.

I mean, where I was given some stuff....

Anyway they had a big prop spider made for Universal's tarantula movie in 55, but it was soooooo dopey looking that they just used it for publicity (seems kind of counter productive, doesn't it) The spider in Tarantula (except for the neat mandible close ups), was a real spider

And here is my point...I think

Richard Cunha (the proud director of MISSLE TO THE MOON and its co hit, FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER) said that he had a friend that helped him steal (see...I'm not the only one that does it.) a ratty looking prop spider from Universal's storage bin. I think that the same technician that made the Rock Men "fixed up" the spider head by adding a new face over the old armature.

This has lead me to surmise that the Universal advertising prop was the one eventually used in MISSLE TO THE MOON....The shape of the head is the same even though the eyes are different and the mandibles go snicker snack.

I don't know...could Chang have sold his spider to Universal and THEY put a new head on it and then Cunha's guy put a new head on it for the MISSLE movie?

I'm starting to get dizzy.

Maybe it's because I am remembering MESA OF LOST WOMEN........

The horror....the horror

Oh and to jump back on this thread....It's been SOOOOOOOOOO long since I have seen TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE, but isn't there a really cool painting or optical composite at the end with Derek(from the planet Jeter)...like his face in the clouds or something and his voice-over that was like..."the earth is my home and I shall never never leave.....it" or something.

Am I dreaming or did they have this at the end of the film?

http://www.woodywelch.com

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

obit, I'm getting the colorized BEST YEARS right after the colorized KANE. I can hardly wait to see what color the little plastic cabin the in snow globe really was. Damn your black-and-white, Orson!!!

As my friend escalera alludes to in his next post, I did my "Sloooooooooowly I turned" bit for him only to, as he puts it, throw myself in front of the colorization bullet for his sake. Both you guys came up with very apt analogies: bullets, burlesque routines, not bad.

Oh, you're quite right as usual, you remember the ending of TFOS perfectly, Derek in the sky, sadly not with diamonds but with another Stones hit, satisfaction, having downed dad's entire invasion fleet, off-camera of course. Very phophetic, really. No doubt a cult of Derek sprang up and he now commands a religious movement greater than Scientology and with enough donations annually to buy Mel Gibson's father's church. Derekology? Church of the Resurrected Gargon? Weekly teen dances and de-programming!

Well I remember Projects Unlimited (was it not "Projects", plural -- I may be mistaken). They did all the stuff for "The Outer Limits", great, great show (usually!), which is where I first saw their name. I also best remember Wah Chang, Gene Warren and Tim Baar for their sfx for one of my faves from AIP, MASTER OF THE WORLD. Limited fx, to be sure, but for some reason their credits really stand out in memory on that one.

Did you know that not only was the spider from MESS -- excuse me, MESA OF LOST WOMEN recycled -- again and again and again; I believe he does children's birthday parties now -- but so was the moody, atmospheric, and altogether forgettable guitar score? Ed Wood copped the soundtrack from MESA to lay over his least remembered classic, JAIL BAIT, because he couldn't afford more conventional music. An urban noir about cops, gangsters, jewel heists, plastic surgery, a woman's revenge: what better than a South American guitar solo as accompaniment? Ed's gal pal Dolores Fuller was in MESA, so maybe she recommended the tracks to him?

Speaking of colorization, though -- remember that someone actually colorized PLAN 9? Now THAT is desecration. Oh, RIP Vampira by the way, 1921-2008. I know we're on a thread alien to her career (what isn't?), but still, she should have been used to being treated as one of the film colony's displaced persons.

obit, it's your experience and expertise that keeps these threads going, so never apologize or worry about coming across as a "know-it-all or arrogant or anything." None of the above -- not even "anything" (in the bad sense!). Your knowledge is invaluable and fun.

TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE DVD? 25 cents. obit1's input? Priceless.

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

Thanks for throwing yourself in front of the colorized bullet meant for me, hobnob. I would not have known.

After reading your brief on Sonny Tufts yesterday, I looked into his page on the IMDb and rea dhis biography. It implied that he had become the town drunk and an object of derision and so figured that maybe the Her-Ex jumped on the bandwagon. Your details on Mr. Tufts pretty much sealed it for me. Pretty sad.

With regards to the colorization, I was given a copy of "The Thing from Another World!" in color. It was interesting to see how it was done.

Now, the reason all of the Moon movies have congealed is because I have not seen them in a long time.

I recently saw "Teenagers from Outer Space" (my son had given me a boxed set of "Sci-Fi Classics") and it was a collective hoot. Before that, I had not seen the film since the early 60's. I'm glad I saw it again.

I also like "The Phantom from Space". Slow, a little silly, but atmospheric.

"The Amazing Transperant Man" was also a joy. I'm not sure I had ever seen tha tone.

I know there are many people who make postings who do not like B/W movies, but there is something moody about them. Not all such movies are worth the time, but some are.

I appreciate the wonderful comments from obit and hobnob and some others like them. I don't like stuff like "that's &$#)!!*". Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I like to know the reasoning behind the comments.

Anyway, it sure beats reading the front page.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

escalera, as I wrote in reply to obit's previous post -- and he knows my attitudes toward colorization all too well! -- you guys came up with great analogies for my heated response -- in your case, throwing myself in front of the colorization bullet for you! Better that than the real thing!

Your post on that subject, however, impelled me to hie it over to the MTTM site, where there was only one thread, amazingly enough. So naturally, I started another, anti-colorized-version one. Just stirring up more trouble.

Now, the colorized THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD you got must have been a tape, right, because I'm sure there's never been a colorized DVD of it put out. I saw that colorized version like 20 years ago and it was dreadful, as you'd expect, but its poor quality and vast inaccuracies aside, colorization destroys the mood of the films involved, especially moody (to borrow your apt word), atmospheric, dark things such as, well, THE THING. Besides, they NEVER got the shiny red of Kenneth Tobey's hair right.

I probably know the boxed set of sci-fi classics your son gave you -- 50 films, right? All public domain stuff, of course. I imagine the prints were of often poor quality; some of these get rescued and put out in high standard prints, others never do. But I think BATTLE OF THE WORLDS is in one of those box sets. Anyway, I also like PHANTOM FROM SPACE (but love W. Lee Wilder's next picture, KILLERS FROM SPACE, even more -- I think it's in that set too). But THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN never did anything for me, despite its being directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, the overlooked hero behind so many bottom-budget opuses (opi?).

W. Lee Wilder was the brother of -- Billy Wilder! While Billy was making SUNSET BOULEVARD and ACE IN THE HOLE and STALAG 17, brother W. was churning out PHANTOM FROM SPACE, KILLERS FROM SPACE and THE SNOW CREATURE...he even went so far as to steal the villain from STALAG, Peter Graves, for KILLERS, and to expropriate the name of the STALAG character Lt. Dunbar for a character in SNOW CREATURE! Those family get-togethers must have been something.

Edgar Ulmer, however, was the director of one of my very favorite sci-fi films, THE MAN FROM PLANET X (1951). Very low-budget, but extremely well-made and atmospheric, with an unusual storyline...and the first film about an alien invading Earth (it beat both THE THING and THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL into theaters by several months). Plus a much more complex depiciton of the alien than in those or other pictures. Out of print on DVD now, but definitely worth seeing if you can find it.

I've never read IMDb's page on Sonny Tufts, and must do so. To share another low, on that last film of his, COTTONPICKIN' CHICKENPICKERS, there's supposed to be several songs, the title of the one of which I recall is "Dirty Ol' Egg-Suckin' Dog". Can't vouch for it, as I've never seen the film, and doubt many others have, but assuming it's reliable information, well, that movie IS a come-down.

Thank you for your compliments as to my and obit's posts, and ditto for you, many times over. I have had occasional scrapes of the &$#)!!* type from time to time around these boards, and there are a few very angry jerks (to be blunt) out and about, to be sure, but our preferred bag is to enlighten and entertain. Modern-day minstrels, wandering about the cyber-landscape of IMDb!

And we shall make the Earth our home, forever......

Oh -- I almost signed off -- I have one for you. According to Bill Warren in his book, the ray gun used in TEENAGERS was a toy Buck Rogers gun lots of kids had in that era -- including Warren himself! He claims that on 35mm prints of the film you can actually see the words "Buck Rogers" in some shots of the "Teenagers" holding the gun. Wow. Now, THAT, I'll have to check out. But thought you'd appreciate this tidbit!

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

Thanks for that. It is lots o' fun to read your posts and obit (is that from The Outer Limits I wonder?) and that's what movies should be about -- some fun.

I'll launch myself to the "Missile to the Moon" listing and see what going on there.

Now, "Dirty Old Egg Suckin' Dog" was -- if it is the same song (could there be more than one?!)-- covered by none other than the Man in Black himself -- J --Johnny Cash as preserved on "Live at Folsom Prison".

Ok now, maybe W. Lee Wilder churned out some movies that are bad or worthless (to some) or laughable and yes, plenty of yoks to go around and Brother Billy gets the slaps on the back and the star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but I think the former was a much more daring filmmaker. He'd go out withthat 25 cent budget and some far out story idea, and produced it by the seat of the pants. I like this guy. He had moxie. If he had had more time and money...

No point in playing "What if?" but I think he had some ideas brewing and I admire the guy very much for running with them. I liked "The Snow Creature", too.

Yes, indeed, 50 Sci-Fi Classics including "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" and "Eegah!"

Yes, the gun used in "Teenagers from Outer Space", which was pretty neat I recognized as a cap pistol made by Hubley. They can be found on e-Bay from time to time and go for big bucks. Pretty clever use of a dime store item.

And, finally, I also liked "The Man from Planet X". Weird, weird stuff.
I hated when he was getting blasted, the Man himself hopping around terrified.
"Devil Girl from Mars" is similar.

I want to read these posts and gain something beneficial from them as well and so I am grateful to you and obit and others like you both who add to the long and wunnerful conversation.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Hard catching up with this trio's posts in any kind of order, but that's part of the IMDb fun...isn't it?

escalera, I congratulate you on so quickly figuring the origin of obit1's IMDb nom-de-movie-board...on which I commented in my reply to his post. We're all in this together!

Cash sang "Dirty Ol' Egg-Suckin' Dog"? Now why didn't they include THAT one in WALK THE LINE?

I think the main thing W. Lee risked was Billy's wrath. He was jealous of his younger brother's Hollywood success (and lifestyle), and so sold his highly successful ladies hand bag business in NYC, moved west, altered his name (it was Willy Wilder...see a problem?) to what he thought sounded a more sophisticated one, brought his son into the business, and I guess made a small fortune turning out his 16 or so movies between 1944 and 1960. I don't know if I admire him so much, since a lot of marginal producers did the same thing, but I suppose having a brother at the opposite (i.e., upper) end of the Hollywood social stratum did make his moves, if not his movies, gutsier.

Billy's real name was Samuel, but his mother, who had lived for a time in America before returning to Austria-Hungary, where the boys were born, always admired things American and nicknamed her youngest after Buffalo Bill. When he arrived in the US Billy found that the German spelling he'd grown up with, Billi, was a girl's name in English, and so changed it accordingly. Willi -- Wilhelm, then Willy in the US -- came here in 1924, a decade before Billy, but his change to W. Lee is rumored to have been not so much voluntary as under pressure from Billy, who didn't want the two confused. Tragically, although their mother constantly talked about America and was pleased her sons had migrated there and done well, Billy's efforts to get her to leave Austria after the Anschluss were unavailing. He was able to visit her briefly after Hitler annexed the country, but she and her second husband (Billy's father had died in 1928), and Billy's sister, all refused to leave, stubbornly insisting everything would be okay. It wasn't; after the war Billy got attached to the US Army and went to Berlin, where he found his mother, sister and step-father all listed among the murdered at Auschwitz. If you watch his films closely, you can see his vehement anti-German feelings in movie after movie -- sometimes necessarily blatant (A FOREIGN AFFAIR, STALAG 17, ONE, TWO, THREE), but other times subtle, giving absurd or nasty characters German names or inserting some slight anti-German line someplace. Who could blame him? And his scorn for his fellow Austrians was even worse. As he once said, the Austrians are the most brilliant people in the world -- they've convinced everyone that Beethoven was Austrian and Hitler German!

So you don't have your Buck Rogers/Derek ray gun? What do those things go for on ebay anyway? Enough for a proper remake of TFOS?

On the subject of, here we are, talking about these movies half a century later...the late Robert Clarke, star of THE MAN FROM PLANET X and other, less good low-budgeters like THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON, CAPTIVE WOMEN and THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD, wrote a fun autobiography in 1995 entitled "To B or Not to B", about his life and career. He remarked at how surprised he and other stars of these minor sci-fi flicks of the fifties were by the overwhelming devotion of their fans, of how so many remember these movies while many big studio productions have sort of lapsed into obscurity. And it's true. Peter Graves said, back in a 1998 segment on his own life on the old A&E show "Biography" that he hosted, that, of all the movies and TV shows he'd done in his career -- STALAG 17, AIRPLANE!, "Fury", "Mission: Impossible", all of it -- the one he still got the most mail about, that more people came up to him and asked him about, after over four decades, was...KILLERS FROM SPACE! At least he was able to laugh about it. But he too said, who could have imagined this, 45 years ago?

And here we are. Sad part is, those who come after us will never know the exquisite pleasure we drew (and draw) from this stuff. We are lucky, are we not?

Well, it sounds better than "demented".

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

Quick note: Two Hubley Atomic Disintegrator Guns are presently on the auction block on e-Bay. One, with a starting bid of $9.00 is up to about 122.00 and the other, in a little better shape, started at 9.99 and is up to $225.00 with 11 bids.

These guys were not the first to use toys as props or the last.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

No, but to revert, sort of, to the thread topic, if they'd held on to those props they'd probably be able to recoup the costs of the film on eBay -- even with 49 years' worth of inflation!

You just never know what kind of stuff is going to appreciate in value, do you? Or what kind of thing we'd appreciate today!?

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

Certainly the time many spend discussing such films even as you described in an earlier post bears out what you have said.

As a child I was a bit of a genre snob. Being the youngest in the family I was the mayvinn of Sci-Fi and Horror. Oh, the wonder and the beauty of a "Forbidden Planet", the awe and the spectacle of "This Island Earth", the weird beauty and mystery of "The Angry Red Planet".

Then, quite unexpectedly, one Saturday morning when I was about to go out to play, "Teenagers from Outer Space" demands my attention and I reluctantly submit. But I planned on being harsh. I think I bought into the movie and it would have had me back then in those black and white days until the Gargon made it's appearence and I had them, The EXPERT spoke.

I quickly dismissed it.

But I was just a fool, too young to know....

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

It really should have been "The Angry Pink Planet". But then I suppose the producer, Sid Pink, would have been all full of himself. I guess he didn't want to be responsible for anything that mars the picture.

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

"TARP" was one of my favorites for along time. The amoeba with the whirrling eyeball was freaky. There's another one I should like to see again as well (still haven't viewed "Caltitki").

"...mars the picture..."
Oh, my...

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

...and I don't mean to nag, hobnob, but I really would like the first volume of your series of books out soon. I believe many others would enjoy them as well.

I won't mention it again. Just know that I'll be waiting to see the press release.

[–] obit1 17 years ago

"Thanks for that. It is lots o' fun to read your posts and obit (is that from The Outer Limits I wonder?) and that's what movies should be about -- some fun. "

When I got online for the first time (YEARS ago!!!) I had to come up with a "tag" and I thought of the Outer Limits episode, O.B.I.T.

"Are you watching it...or is it watching you?"

I loved the idea that if I turned my computer off, someone or something, could be watching from the other side.

So, escalera-2, you have hit the nail right on the head!!! Your year's supply of Turtle Wax is in the mail (Hopefully you have a turtle)

The correct title to the special effects house in question was PROJECT, singular, but everybody, including some title houses out here, would get it wrong at times. It's natural to confuse that, because you'd think that they worked on many "projects" but according to Baar, Warren's idea for the title was to show that no matter what project they worked on, there was no limit to what they could do.

Tim got me into CASCADE PICTURES where I worked for a split second animating on sets with Dave Allen and Jim Danforth, so I am very appreciative of that. Baar died in the mid 1970's of a brain tumor.

Tim Baar had ALL of Bill Brace's glass paintings from the Time Machine and when he(Tim) died, his daughter was calling up everybody who had worked with him, wanting to know if they would buy the stuff. The paintings now reside in the BOB BURNS collection....with the real Time Machine too. Just where they should be.

Good Lord! The Time Machine! Boy am I WAAAAAAAY off course on this thread. :)

http://www.woodywelch.com

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

Well, I would have thought it WAS "Projects", smart guy that I am. That's interesting background.

Dave Allen was a nice guy. I met him when he ws directing his segment for Charlie Band's "Dungeon Master".

Until tonight, I did not know that Paul Blaisdell was involved in "Teenagers from Outer Space" (my attempt to bring us back to the title in question, although I have enjoyed the sidetracking!) as I was about to mention that I thought the Special Effects were superior for a low budget movie. I was going to compare the efforts to the homegrown efforts of Mr. Blausdell and checking the IMDb Main Details -- right ther was his name ("uncredited"). I'll be.

One of the things that I like about movies like this are the flashes of ingenuity like putting a tiny mirror on the end of a cap pistol for effect.I think Paul Blaisdell was a genius. He took a bunch of foam rubber and plastic tubing and turned out some great monsters. His wife, Jackie, was a gem.

Now, we've joked about the budget for this and other such movies being 25 cents and OK they had a few dollars more but it was still a shoestring budget and look here, all these years later we still have fun discussing the film. Sure, it only ran 86 minutes, but it still entertains.

(The great thing about The Outer Limits and OBIT was that it did make the viewer look again or to see everyday things a different way)

I await my Turtle Wax! A major prize!

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

You know, I'd occasionally pondered whither you'd gotten that moniker, obit, and at some point the OL episode "O.B.I.T." crossed my mind, but I never really thought that might be it. Congratulations to escalera on hitting it right away!

(Okay, but how come "obit1"? Was obit0 taken? Hey, now there's a coolly mysterious, inscrutably intergalactic B-movie space name...Obit Zero. Feel free!)

And in between my doubting inquiry and reading your response I checked and discovered it was indeed Project Unlimited, singular. They did some cool stuff for OL, the Zanti misfits, that fish man from "Tourist Attraction", all those alien make-ups. Daystar Productions. Also, I infinitely preferred that dramatic, doom-epochal music from the first season, by Dominic Frontiere, to the sickly-eerie sound of season two's theme. My favorite episode, however, was the monster-less two-parter from season two, "The Inheritors", with Robert Duvall and the great, too-soon-departed and honestly lamented Steve Ihnat. Call me a sucker for a sweet and sentimental (and somewhat sad) story, but I really liked that episode. I always thought it would have been a natural for a big screen version by Spielberg. It's the sort of story I think he'd find appealing.

I'm always gratified when props and other things from a film are reunited into one collection, like you say obit, where they belong, as long as it's with someone who truly treasures the stuff, not simply some "investor". So good for Bob Burns holding so much from THE TIME MACHINE. It still astounds me, how the studios not just threw away but actively destroyed so much of their valuable, painstakingly made props and other film assets. A case in point is our friend Paramount's destruction of all three Martian war machines from our pal Pal's THE WAR OF THE WORLDS! They were among the greatest props ever constructed -- they shot real rays (sort of) and stuff! Sleek and exquisite craftsmanship. And Paramount melted every one of them down for the copper! Can you imagine what one of them would be worth today? Even if all three still existed? Pity George didn't grab them and sneak them out the front gate after wrapping. Criminal waste!

Now, how much am I bid for this leftover lobster from TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE? Comes complete with bib sewn from Derek's space uniform! (Yes, not just any old uniform -- a SPACE uniform. Wooooooo......)

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Oh, my friend, one day the nagging may produce something. Or you and I and obit might collaborate. Why not publish our IMDb posts for starters?

But you're really very kind, and I thank you. And, well, we shall see....

[–] obit1 17 years ago

"Okay, but how come "obit1"? Was obit0 taken? Hey, now there's a coolly mysterious, inscrutably intergalactic B-movie space name...Obit Zero. Feel free!)"

Someone did have obit...ME! LOL

When I moved from the Alto Nido apartments to my high rise in Hancock Park I got reset up, but the new provider said that "obit" wouldn't work for me (as "somebody" already had that and it wasn't showing up as a usable i.d.) and that I had to have it changed....I decided. "obit1" and it's been that way for the last 5 years I think.

Of course that somebody must've been me cause I had obit for about 8 years before. Oh well. Nobody said that me OR Comcast were geniuses...Now I have Time/Warner. Big deal.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Blaisdell working on the little gun.

I am a BIG Paul Blaisdell fan....

http://www.woodywelch.com

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

IT CONQUERED THE WORLD -- maybe P.B.'s best!

THE BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES...THE SHE-CREATURE...DAY THE WORLD ENDED...NOT OF THIS EARTH...IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE...all with beings designed by Paul Blaisdell, and sometimes acted by him. INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN? The giant hypodermic needle in THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN? Okay, we'll overlook those. But the design of FROM HELL IT CAME?? Hmmm...Paul, Paul, Paul. The curse of the Tabanga looms large!

Come to think of it, Paul would have done a better job creating some sort of monster for TEENAGERS than the silly shadow-lobster. Maybe lots of smaller Gargons scuttling over the Earth? But then the herds might have been harder to control. I keep forgetting critical plot points like that.

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

You're right again, hob, it is getting a mite difficult to follow the thread. Besides we've worn out the original Poster's comment and gone far afield. A great field, but way off the subject.

Perhaps we can take the party elsewhere.

hobnob, obit -- any suggestions?

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Yes. I'd say we've gotten our nickel's worth on this two-bit thread. What, is this like page 19 or something? I'm open to alternate sites, and will try to think of one, but have to be off now. (As if this thread weren't sufficient proof of how "off" I am already.) Let's pick on somebody else our own size, just notify via this poor old thread!

hob

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

Agreed.

By the way, since Bob Burns and George Pal's production of H.G. Wells "The Time Machine" was mentioned in this conversation, it is of some interest that the Machine itself will be featured in the next episode of a TV sit-com called ... Well, now, I don't know what it is called. Something about some "nerds" who live across the hall from a beautiful young woman.

It will be on -- whenever it comes on -- the week of the 27th. It is a CBS presentation.

Stay in touch, hob and OBIT and anyone else interested in this, (as hobnob has described) our "demented" dialogue.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Did I say "demented"? Oy. Okay, agreed, but I did go back to my last post just above to add another adjective to describe the thread, in the first sentence, that occurred to me later on and I couldn't pass up. Maybe one more fitting than demented!

See you guys around and about soon!

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

[–] turtletommy 17 years ago

You guys done yet? LOL. I still think he paid too much! Yeah I know, can't appreciate good bad flicks when he sees 'em....phhhhht

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

25 cents, Not much can be bought for a quarter that can bring along as much fun, eh? Sure, a newspaper has sports, crossword puzzles, and the funnies -- if you can still find one for a quarter!

See you around the IMDb, tt.

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

"The Big Bang Theory". Bob Burns' "The Time Machine" (George Pal)will be used on this CBS comedy program Monday April 28th, 2008.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Damn! Saw your post too late and missed it! Did they put a bent cigar in it before sending it on its way?

[–] escalera-2 17 years ago

Circumstances beyond my control left me giving the show a miss as well. I did not see it either.

Heh -- I forgot about the Time Travelin' Swisher.