50's Science Fiction

[bobover3 (imported)]

The Blob, with Steve McQueen. An SF classic.

[Riverwind (imported)]

I own both versions of "Little Shop of Horrors," the one with Jack Nickolson and the more recent one with Steve Martin. Both have their value, albeit, that value is very low.

I would love to have the musical one with Steve Martin, it was great.

FEED ME,

River

[DeaconBlues (imported)]

I would love to have the musical one with Steve Martin, it was great.

FEED ME,

River

Seriously, I was at Safeway last night, and saw the DVD on sale there, I think it was $9.99.

Amazon has it for $6.99:

http://www.amazon.com/Little-Shop-Horro ... 143&sr=8-1

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

There was another blob-type movie though I think it came out in the 60's that was called "Caltiki, the Immortal Monster." It was made in Mexico but fun to watch as I recall.

I just checked with Google, it came out in 1959

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sc ... lms:_1950s

Here's a link to EVERY sci-fi from the 50's.

I never knew there were so many.

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

I'm trying to recall one old Sci-fi from the 50's or later.

The plot: Parts of Los Angeles are surrounded by a thick fog where these slime creatures hang out. The only way to hurt them is with a blunt spear.

Ring any bells out there?

Found it. Attack of the Slime People 1963. This one is a must see for River - lol

[moi621 (imported)]

Remember,

WE did not need to see the blood,

there was an art to it all.

An art I would rather see re invented then any more CGI

Camera angle, music score, direction.

all so unnoticed as to make a compete and satisfying experience.

Moi

I knew, Curt Siodmak, Frank Finger, Lee Marvin, Eddie Alert,

They were all just people who happened to be neighbors.

Never ever acted like

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

Remember,

WE did not need to see the blood,

there was an art to it all.

An art I would rather see re invented then any more CGI

Camera angle, music score, direction.

all so unnoticed as to make a compete and satisfying experience.

Moi

I knew, Curt Siodmak, Frank Finger, Lee Marvin, Eddie Alert,

They were all just people who happened to be neighbors.

Never ever acted like

I knew two authors as friends, Theodore "Ted" Sturgeon and J. Michael Reeves.

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

Two more favorites movie of mine: one was a production made in the UK called, "Day of the Triffids" and the other was a low budget thriller called "The KIller Shrews."

The Shrews may have been laughable but it thrilled me 20 years ago.

[DeaconBlues (imported)]

OH MY GAWD!!

You guys are never gonna believe what I just found! Or WHERE I found it!

I just bought the 1943 version of "Batman." (2 DVD set for $9.99, at Safeway)

Now, that is not really all that remarkable, and I know already, 1943 is NOT "50's Sci-Fi" but seriously, you should watch this stuff if you are able to get it.

The reason I was so excited about this antiquated "Batman" stuff, is that right there in the very first episode, you can see an absolutely excellent example of sick racist phobias gone wild! Most of us here are not fans of sick racist phobias I know, but I seriously want the true and accurate history to be preserved for all, if for no other reason than for us all to remember the mistakes of the past so we don't repeat them.

By the way, the bit that has me so excited is the narration at the beginning of episode one, explaining about the "Little Tokyo" section of Gotham city, "is now deserted and empty, because a wise government had rounded up all persons of Japanese ancestory...." OH MY GOD! Did we ever really think this way?! Sad truth of it is, yes, yes we did, at one time we all (well most of us) were phobic and paranoid about "them." Also, the lame attempt at Japanese accents and poor make up jobs of the time are hilarious to watch.

Don't get me wrong here, I am not for a second suggesting that this paranoia and phobia was a good thing, on the contrary, I think it is only "good" for us all to remember just how wrong headed we can get when we let phobia take over out thinking.

Now, this had made me want to ask a few questions of the "50's Sci-Fi" afficianados:

First question: The "Batman 1943" Sci-Fi was clearly geared to a war-time fright filled audience catering to their phobias about the "evil Japanese genius," so, what or who were the 50's Sci-Fi phobias that were catered to? At first, I would have thought the big bad USSR, Stalin, and the communist threat, but the 50's Sci-Fi villains were NOT typically Soviet soldiers smashing in our front doors... they were zombies, ghoulish monsters, frogmen and aliens... did the aliens resemble or supposedly represent the communists?

Second question: Today's Sci-Fi villains.... who or what do they really symbolize or represent? Muslim terrorists? Corrupt Wall-Street figures? What is it that we today are paranoid about?