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Weekend Discussion Thread: A Movie Element that Actually ImpressedAlert emailer “Torgo02” wonders:
My pick would be the sets in “Magic Voyage of Sinbad” especially the Indian scenes. It’s actually pretty impressive. Your choice? 88 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: A Movie Element that Actually Impressed”Commenting at Satellite News
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for some reason the scene where big Stupid is talking to the sheriff about Carrie (she’s so very.) it actually had some emotion in it to me.
second would be ‘the Rebel Set.’ yeah there were a couple of issues but it was actually not a bad movie.
I hope MST3K The Movie counts. Because I would say the special effects in “This Island Earth” were very impressive for the time the movie was made. They are almost (almost) on par with “Forbidden Planet.” The makers of “This Island Earth” obviously were not trying to make a cheap B-movie.
Rick Baker’s effects in “The Incredible Melting Man” jump to mind. Sure, it was early in his career before he would move on and do bigger and (far) better movies, but he managed to make the grotesque somewhat entertaining in this movie.
The dragon from the end of ‘The Magic Sword’ was quite impressive. It must have been a huge part of the film’s budget.
The explanation at the end of Creeping Terror about why the monster was devouring people was pretty clever, especially compared with movies like Deadly Mantis or Giant Spider Invasion, where the monsters are simply chomping on folks for food. Also the downbeat ending, suggesting that mankind is doomed stands out in contrast with the happy endings that were common in sci-fi movies of that era.
First Spaceship On Venus –
First, the look of the space ship is really cool. Second, the little rolling robot pre dated all those little dudes that imitated it like the ’70s Buck Rogers irritating midget-in-a-suit voiced by Mel Blanc (bee dee bee dee bee dee) and, of course, R2D2. Thirdly, The predatory slime lava that tried to get the people scared the winkee out of me when I first watched the movie on our old family black and white Zenith. Not bad for a commie East German production. — Jay
Jack Frost. The whole movie is pretty visually stunning.
I’m always impressed by the resemblance between the actors who played Richard and his “clone-daddy” in Parts: The Clonus Horror. It’s very easy to believe (at least on a purely visual basis) that one is a genetic copy of the other. Or maybe I’m just easily impressed…
I always thought the lighthouse in “Tormented” gave a chilling haunting vibe to the movie. Also Susan Gordon’s acting in the film always blows me away. Man, that girl could act.
The use of genuine science in Project Moon Base (which was likely due to how Robert Heinlein wrote it).
Interesting discussion! What episode is the “twice and a half times sixty” from? I can’t place it this morning, not enough coffee yet.
Let’s see…. impressed…. this is tough. There’s so much that’s UNimpressive. No science is jumping out at me, so I’ll say the performances of Beverly Garland in any MST3K. She always had a quiet, earnest professionalism to her roles, sort of a, “Hey, the script stinks and the director’s an idiot, but by gosh I’m going to do my best.” And she did. By the way, if you’ve never seen the old Twilight Zone episode “The Four of Us Are Dying,” she gives a heartrending performance in it, with only one very short scene.
@ #11: Mole People.
Despite what Kevin Murphy thinks about the hero, it was considered the Big Studio effort in 50’s sci-fi (which was considered “the stuff drive-in teens wanted”), and was Universal’s answer to Forbidden Planet. I remember folks being shocked that they would consider that riffable material, and this was years before Rifftrax.
Otherwise, I can only agree with the posts so far:
Sinbad was considered the Big-Budget Epic of Russian cinema (silly as it was), Tormented had a good ghost-story vibe, and Roger Corman knew what he was doing when he tried to put his own “important themes” into Gunslinger, Teenage Caveman and It Conquered the World–He was allowed to do what he wanted, and his repertory company of regular actors like Garland knew what to deliver.
Several. One in particular, the way the plucky young filmmakers in Time Chasers
used limited reources to actually make effective time travel sequences and
work them into the plot (perhaps best the evocation of the ’50s—including Mrs.
Khruschev sweeping an (American?) sidewalk. :) The 1776ish bit could have been
a bit more effective had they found a few less dumpy reenactors, but then again
Henry Knox was no lightweight, so…
I’m with Sampo. All of the Russian movies look fantastic, but especially Sinbad. I have no idea how they did the bird of happiness. That looked great.
I stick to the idea that quite a few of the movies done on MST3K are actually not that bad and I would be fine watching them on their own. I actually kind of liked Gorgo, for instance. Also I think one of the best movies done on the show is Kitten With a Whip. It kind of falls apart at the end, but the stuff before that is not too bad at all. And although they are pretty silly, I’m guessing many of us actually like the Gamera movies in some way, or at least the giant turtle himself. I did enough to check out the amazing Shusuke Kaneko trilogy from the 90s.
Willis O’Brian’s special effects in The Black Scorpion are quite good, especially in the underground sequence. No surprise there, coming from the man responsible for the effects in King Kong.
The man-bat creature mask from It Lives by Night looks good. It was made Stan Winston of course.
I’ll add to the Russo-Finnish movies having impressive production values. They might range from being dull to really goofy, but the money is on the screen.
The whole underground world of Alien From L.A. is well made, especially for a Golan-Globus movie.
I think there are a lot of impressive elements in some of the films – particularly those that were somewhat controversial choices for the MST treatment, including ‘This Island Earth,’ ‘Gorgo’ and ‘Squirm’ – the last of which has extremely impressive and effective worm-wrangling and gore makeup. If, on the other hand, impressive “detail” refers to some element in an otherwise bad script that is surprisingly smart or clever or just well done, then for me, it’s the love story between Jimmy and Kitty in “I Accuse My Parents.” The dialogue in their scenes together is pretty well-written and very well-delivered by the actors. Actually, it’s a pretty well-acted movie overall – just incredibly hokey and heavy-handed with its cautionary message.
No question about the effects in The Day the Earth Froze, The Magic Voyage of (He’s Not) Sinbad, The Sword and the Dragon, and Jack Frost. They were pretty spectacular with a bad print. Imagine how they would look on a pristine one. How did they make that mountain of men, anyway?
I always thought Helene’s dilemma at the end of The Undead was interesting. Sacrificing your own happiness (Even if it was with Pendragon :shock:) for people you will never know and that you really have no proof will ever really exist would be a difficult decision to have to make. Plus the twist with Quintus at the end was something I thought was rather clever. You’d think, though, that someone as smart as Quintus was should have seen that coming.
As for a movie: I was always impressed with the storyline to “The Phantom Planet”. The hero crash lands on a planet, is held hostage, falls in love, and then has to chose between going home to his people, or remaining with the one he loves. The ending is quite bittersweet.
As for an actor: Bryant Haliday from “Devil Doll”, and “The Projected Man” is simply a terrific actor in bad films. He’s downright creepy in “Devil Doll”.
Fact is, there are many Mst’d movies that really weren’t all THAT bad.
Track of the Moonbeast
the cooking recipes impressed me. chicken, corn, green peppers, chili, onions…
Seriously though, I always liked The Mole People since I was a kid, the lighting always impresses me, very creepy and dank and when the light that burns up the people looks menacing.
In The Touch of Satan I like how when Satan talks to Jodi and Melissa they use Jodi and Melissa’s voice not a scary demonic voice, maybe adding a layer of context that
you are responsible for your sins?
The talking head in The Brain that Wouldn’t Die always gives me the creeps.
Jimmy Bryant’s guitar work in Skydivers. Nuff said.
Ok I might be totally on my own with this one but I have always kind of liked the songs in “The Girl with Gold Boots” and thought they were pretty darn catchy.
I always thought that Diabolik was a excellent movie, certainly the best one featured along with This Island Earth. It’s got beautiful sets, a creative story, a great music score and a genuinely shocking ending for the time period. I think this was probably the first time that the villain got away with everything and effectively won at the end. (If you look closely, you can see Diabolik break out at the end of the film.)
The Starfighters. the acting wasn’t good, but the Air Force planes are the best part of the film. watch it with my dad (he was in the Air Force). he remembered some of the terms they used in the film.
Lupita in SANTA CLAUS. Admittedly, she wasn’t much of an actress but she was so sweet and vulnerable it was impossible not to pull for her.
I liked that Code Name: Diamond Head was actually filmed in Hawaii. It was a great setting and provided that “Hawaii 5-0” feel throughout the story. I also liked the fact the writer used the name of a volcanic cone as Thinnes’ character’s spy name.
I’m sort of ripping off #11, but I have to say that Bruno VeSota’s performance as Dave in ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES is very convincing — I feel sorry for him! (And his performance in DADDY-O is also convincing, on a totally different level.)
On a related note, I am impressed with the actors who bring the right level of earnestness to Bert I. Gordon’s films. Of course, actors get paid to do this kind of thing; nevertheless, one has to be on the case to deliver pure cheese in such an earnest manner. (The hypodermic needle scene in THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, for example.)
And while it’s not from a movie, I often suffer through a Commando Cody episode just so I can watch him fly — it looks cool!
Moon Zero Two – There’s nothing wrong with this movie! It’s a little goofy, but easily the most overall competent film MST3K ever did, imo. A western in space…. years before another western in space would be released……
I always thought the music in Daddy-O was impressive. No surprise that it was John Williams’ first credited role.
Having listened to the DVD commentary, I was amazed how many of the sets were foreground miniatures or other in camera illusions. Mario Bava really knew how to make a great looking movie with little money, and used a fraction of the $3 million budget he was given. Too bad we never got a sequel.
Those Republic Pictures serials had some of the best effects guys in the business. The serials from other studios of the era have FX that aren’t even half as good.
I do agree with this. I always really liked the theme song and the other songs were pretty good too. I dunno about Critter’s love song but that might just be because of all the riffing it got.
The only thing I was impressed with was Mamie Van Doren in Girl’s Town. She was pretty damn hot..
Girl’s Town, The Undead and Swamp Diamonds are all movies I could easily watch on their own. Part of why I like MST3K is because the movies they show are the kind of movies i’m interested in anyway.
But then theres things like the Creeping Terror and, especially, the Wild Wild World of Batwoman (woof..) that are just awful, riffs or no..
Going back to the KTMA days, I thought the SPFX in “Cosmic Princess” were very good. While the “movie” is assembled from episodes of the lesser 2nd season of “Space: 1999”, the visuals maintained the high standards set by earlier Anderson productions. In particular, the crash in the Eagle hangar is very impressive.
Man, Diabolik could have been a awesome film franchise if they played their cards right.
Also, I’ll say that Amazing Colossal Man is a really great 50s Sci-fi in its own right. The acting, especially from Glenn is really good and I’d go so far to say that, for its limited budget, it had pretty good effects.
While Beverly Garland rightly gets credit for her acting in “It Conquered the World”, I think Peter Graves is just as impressive. He plays it straight and does a fine job, a professional who doesn’t just phone it in, even on a Roger Corman flick.
For me, Gorgo is filled with impressive elements. The core idea that the giant monster of the first half is the baby of the much gianter one that trashes the city in the second half is great. The detail about having to run water over Gorgo on the ship to keep him moistened, which leaves behind a phosphorus trail that Mon presumably follows to London, was nice. And there are a bunch of really good special effects. (And, admittedly, a bunch of not-so-good ones as well.)
Girls’ Town, the dynamic duo of Gloria Talbott and Peggy Moffitt.
You thought those two were just kind of a butch pair of tough chicks?
Go watch Gloria Talbott’s amazing performance in I Married A Monster from Outer Space from the prevous year (1958).
And if you’ve never seen this one, sit down, brace yourself, and prepare for a shock: Google Peggy Moffitt.
Absolutely delicious, unbelievable, and if they’d remade this five years later, she would have made more for her rold than Mamie van Doren.
I agree with the posters who mentioned Beverly Garland’s professionalism and Susan Gordon’s serious acting chops.
To add: I really liked the look of The Crawling Hand. The print’s blacks are deep and striking, and it looks utterly gorgeous. Sometimes I watch this episode just to admire it.
In Wild Rebels: I actually enjoyed the Linda character. She seems complicated and interesting, and I wanted to see more of what she was about. The actress did a great job, in my opinion.
Gorgo: The arc where Sam’s partner hated the kid because of his own greed, but by the end of the film, had to carry the kid to safety through a panicked London was pretty effective.
And I wouldn’t by any means call Corman a feminist, but I always found it interesting that so many of the women in his films were prominent characters, strong-willed and fascinating. Maybe I just like Beverly that much. :)
Oh, I almost forgot: The Unearthly has an excellent, terrifying premise. The idea of a psychiatrist that preys on his patients makes me extremely uncomfortable. It would have been incredible in the hands of a better director.
“The Undead” – Roger Corman made quite an entertaining movie using props and sets that he probably got change back from a Benjamin for.
Heck, way back then he probably got change back from a Ulysses.
Regarding Girl In The Gold Boots, it’s an example of use of the more authentic jazz and rock’n’roll in some of these movies. Including known groups. The aforementioned Daddy-o included. Also in Village of the Giants, which, in spite of some cheesy special effects, has better production values than you’d think of for a Bert I. Gordon effort. It has more of the “feel” of a late ’60s Disney comedy (though those had rather obvious background film behind in-car driving scenes, themselves) than a typical ‘B’, even one in color.
And the phone sound effect in Monster a Go-Go is very impressive indeed (just kidding!).
The focusing disintigrator ray effect in Teenagers from Outer Space is pretty impressive, IMO. Also the detail that the dog had tags that weren’t destroyed. It’s a small thing, but it would be easy for a movie to just gloss over any collar/tags just because they want the skeleton visual. I also like the Gargan, goofy as it is. The whole movie really has promise and deserves a remake.
Hercules and the Captive Women looks sumptuous, even in the MST3k version. It’s the only MSTie movie to be shot on 70mm film (and released in that format – at least in Europe).
Can you imagine the gore and semi-sex filled version of “Teenagers” that would come out of Hollywood today? Talk about “Torchah!! But ya know … It might be kinda cool to see a CGI version of their bigger on the inside than the outside space ship. I’m a nut for space ships! — Jay
Diabolik and Jack Frost have both been mentioned. See them with good prints and you will be surprised at how visually cool and fun they are.
Let me just mention Jack Arnold. The three movies of his they riffed are probably his three worst but he was not a bad director–those scripts were just terrible. The original Creature from the Black Lagoon is one of the best B movies of all time.
Agree with #16 :-)
Agreed with #30 about Moon Zero Two not being that bad. Sure, the outfits are absurd, but it is a Hammer movie. If nothing else, you know a movie’s going to at least be visually interesting if Hammer is making it.
I was surprised how Women of the Prehistoric Planet was pretty accurate in depicting the relativistic effects of travelling near light speeds. But as for the rest of the movie…