L02 - THIS ISLAND EARTH (June 1955; 1954; NR; 87m) a.k.a. THIS ISLAND, EARTH (lobby card) a.k.a. WAR OF THE PLANETS (working) Ad: "Two Mortals Trapped in Outer Space...Challenging the Unearthly Furies of an Outlaw Planet Gone Mad!" Ad: "The Supreme Excitement of Our Time!" Plot: Earth scientists are forced to help save a dying big-foreheaded alien civilization. Prod: William Alland (*801-Revenge of the Creature; 803-The Mole People; 804-The Deadly Mantis; 906-The Space Children; Tarantula) Dir: Joseph Newman (Jungle Patrol; Love Nest; King of the Roaring Twenties; asst dir/Oscar nom/David Copperfield; San Francisco) Dir/Metaluna scenes: Jack Arnold (801/906; Tarantula) Asst Dir: Fred Frank (801; The Bride of Frankenstein) Scr: Franklin Coen (Oscar nom/The Train) Scr: Edward G. O'Callaghan (Flight to Hong Kong) Sto: Raymond F. Jones (from his story The Alien Machine) Cin: Clifford Stine (805-The Thing That Couldn't Die) Ed: Virgil Vogel (Son of Ali Baba; dir/803) SFX: Clifford Stine (sfx cin/803/804; 606-The Creeping Terror) SFX: Charles Baker (The Wolf Man; Airport '77) SFX: Stanley Horsley (Invisible Ray) SFX: Frank Tipper (Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid) SFX: Fred Knoth (804; The Land Unknown) SFX: Bud Westmore (801/803; 802-The Leech Woman) SFX: Eddie Stein (asst dir/The Creeper) SFX: Ed Baldwin; Ralph Howle; Cecil Swartz SFX: Rosewell A. Hoffman (Land Unknown) Cos (Mutant): Bud Westmore; Jack Kevan; Millicent Patrick; Robert Beau Hickman; Chris Mueller; and John Kraus (all/801) Cos (gowns): Rosemary Odell (Creature from the Black Lagoon) M/U: Bud Westmore (801/802/803/804/805; *614-San Francisco International) Hair: Joan St. Oegger (801/803; 309-The Amazing Colossal Man) ADir: Alexander Golitzen (801/802/803/804/805; 615-Kitten With A Whip); won Oscar/1943's Phantom of the Opera) ADir: Richard H. Riedel (Land Unknown; Oscar nom/Pillow Talk) Illustrations: Frans van Lamsweerde (Disney's Peter Pan) Illustrations: Gene Johnson Set: Russell A. Gausman (801/802/803/804/805; 702-Brute Man; Oscar/Phantom of the Opera) Set: Julia Heron (801/805) Sound: Leslie I. Carey (801/802/803/804/805) Sound: Robert Pritchard (Pillow Talk; The Incredible Shrinking Man) MDir: Joseph Gershenson (*615/803/804/805; prod/802) Score: Herman Stein (801/803; It Came From Outer Space) Score: Hans J. Salter (702/803) Score: Henry Mancini* Exeter / Jeff Morrow (The Creature Walks Among Us) Dr. Ruth Adams / Faith Domergue (It Came From Beneath The Sea) Dr. Cal Meecham / Rex Reason* Brack / Lance Fuller (808-The She Creature; Voodoo Woman) Dr. Steve Carlson / Russell Johnson* The Monitor / Douglas Spencer (The Thing From Another World) Joe Wilson / Robert Nichols (The Thing From Another World) Webb / Robert B. Williams (801; The Cry of the Werewolf) Dr. Marie Pritchner / Lizalotta Balisca or Valesca Dr. Hu Ling Tang / Spencer Chan (Flower Drum Song) first reporter / Olan Soule (Queen Bee) reporter / Guy Edward Hearn (The Painted Desert) reporter / Les Spears photographer / Edward Ingram (Gunfight at the O.K. Corral) photographer / Jack Byron (The Outcasts of Poker Flat) deliveryman / Coleman Francis (*609-Skydivers; 619-Red Zone Cuba; 621-Beast of Yucca Flats) spaceship pilot / Richard Deacon (TV's Dick Van Dyke Show) Metalunan / Mark Hamilton (803; Giant; The Man from Del Rio) Metalunan / Fred Snyder stellarscope observer / Jay Brand tube operator / Charlotte Lander The Mutant / Regis Parton (803; Backlash; Alien Nation) The Mutant / Ed Parker (803; *423-Bride of the Monster; 406S-Undersea Kingdom) Classic Line (Looking at photographs of Exeter and Brack): "Notice the peculiar indentations in both their foreheads." Note: The movie THIS ISLAND EARTH was shown in the live show performed during the 1994 Conventio-Con in Minneapolis. This movie also was never used in a regular telecast MST3K experiment, but of course was later used to perfection in M01-MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000: THE MOVIE. Trivia: Born in 1928, handsome leading man REX REASON starred in mostly B-pictures: 1953-Salome; 1954-Yankee Pasha (with Mamie Van Doren and Jeff Chandler); 1955-Lady Godiva; 1956-The Creature Walks Among Us; 1957-Band of Angels; 1960-The Rawhide Trail. He appeared on two TV series: 1958-Man Without a Gun; and 1960-The Roaring Twenties. Rex's look-alike, sound-alike (but not twin) brother, Rhodes Reason, also was in movies (1957's Jungle Heat; 1968's King Kong Escapes) and on television (1958's White Hunter). Although best known as the Professor on TV's Gilligan's Island, RUSSELL JOHNSON made several films earlier in his career including these sci-fi losers: 1958's 906-THE SPACE CHILDREN; 1953-It Came From Outer Space; 1957-Attack of the Crab Monsters. Plus these others: 1952-For Men Only; 1955-Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki; 1957-Rock All Night; 1977-Fatal Chase; and 1982-The Great Skycopter Rescue. Johnson was also on the 1959 TV series Black Saddle (starring Peter Breck), and he did the voice of the Professor for the 1974 animated kiddie show, The New Adventures of Gilligan. Both Johnson and Reason thrilled MSTies when they appeared in person (along with Kim Cattrall) at the 1996 ConventioCon in Minneapolis. The audience howled with laughter, when Johnson tried to explain to Reason what a bong was (as alluded to by the Brains, when Cal and Ruth go in the smoky tubes). Born Enrico Nicola Mancini, HENRY MANCINI (1924-1994) was a piano player in the Glenn Miller orchestra, before joining the music department at Universal Pictures. His big break came when he arranged the score for 1954's The Glenn Miller Story (starring Jimmy Stewart), for which he got his first of many Academy Award nominations. (He would also later receive twenty Grammy Awards). After collaborating with other composers at Universal International on pictures like 801-REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, 803-THE MOLE PEOPLE, 804-THE DEADLY MANTIS, and 805-THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE, Mancini found his greatest success in composing for producer/director Blake Edwards. Mancini's memorable themes for the Edwards-produced TV shows Peter Gunn (1958) and Mr. Lucky (1959) led to a life-long association with many movie scores and songs: 1961's Breakfast at Tiffany's (Oscar-winning song Moon River; starring Audrey Hepburn); 1962's Days of Wine and Roses (Oscar-winning title song; with Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick); 1962's Experiment in Terror (again with Remick); 1964's The Pink Panther (Oscar-nominated score; the first in the series starring Peter Sellers); 1964's A Shot in the Dark; 1965's The Great Race (Oscar-nominated song; with Lemmon and Tony Curtis); 1966's What Did You Do In The War, Daddy? (with James Coburn); 1968's The Party (Sellers again); 1970's Darling Lili (Oscar-nominated song and score; starring Rock Hudson and Edwards' wife Julie Andrews); 1974's Return of the Pink Panther; 1976's The Pink Panther Strikes Again (Oscar-nominated song); 1978's Revenge of the Pink Panther; 1979's 10 (Oscar-nominated score; with Dudley Moore and Bo Derek); 1981's S.O.B. (with a bare-breasted Andrews!); Oscar-winning 1982's Victor, Victoria (again with Andrews); The Trail of the Pink Panther; 1983's The Man Who Loved Women (with Andrews and Burt Reynolds); 1986's That's Life! (Oscar-nominated; Andrews again); A Fine Mess (starring Ted Danson); 1987's Blind Date (with Kim Basinger and Bruce Willis); 1988's Sunset (Willis again); 1989's Skin Deep (with John Ritter); 1991's Switch (starring Ellen Barkin and Jimmy Smits); and 1993's Son of the Pink Panther. For some fun, you might want to check out the website The Interociter Home Page. 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