ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Great artwork and a magnificent example of alliteration on the top-left blurb!

This is director Jack Arnold's least worthy 1950s sci-fi offering — a fact which Arnold was well aware of. The plot contains some blatantly illogical elements.

Arthur Franz ("Invaders from Mars") plays a college professor who obtains a rare prehistoric fish. A dragonfly stings the fish (or feeds on it, not sure which) and becomes twelve inches long. Arthur Franz dog is somehow affected by the fish and turned into a killer wolf.

Sounds fishy, I know — but it gets better.

Franz manages to get some of the fish into his pipe, smokes it, and turns into a Neanderthal man.

The makeup is actually worn by Eddie Parker, the man in the Mutant suit of "This Island Earth". Troy Donahue appears as one of the college students. Also starring Whit Bissell ("Invasion of the Body Snatchers", "The Time Machine"), Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt, and Nancy Walters.

Get this cinematic gem and nine more on the Universal Sci-Fi box set, a bargain at just over $40 from Amazon.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[scotpens]

[Bud Brewster]

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A top-notch trailer for this Universal sci-fi classic, narrated by the great Paul Frees.

Enjoy!
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__________________ Monster on the Campus


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

I read somewhere that Universal Studios in its quest to keep costs down recycled the Mr. Hyde mask from Abbott & Costello Meet Dr.Jekyll & Mr.Hyde for the prehistoric man in this picture.

[Bud Brewster]

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They certainly look like the same mask at first glance, don't they?

However, I do see a few difference. The foreheads don't seem to match.

Plus, the lower lip on the Monster on the Campus mask seems fuller, and the teeth are different. The "Monster's" longest teeth are uppers, but "Hyde's" longest teeth are lowers.

And note the pronounced ape-like "muzzle" in the "Monster's" lower face, from the bridge of his nose all the way down to his chin. His nostrils are consistent with the ape-like muzzle.

The Mr. Hide mask doesn't seem to have the protruding muzzle. The nose is more human-like, with nostrils with a pig-nose shape.







If they were really trying to save money, it doesn't seem likely they would make extensive changes in a mask they already had. Admittedly, however, that would have been cheaper than starting from scratch.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Keep Watching the Skies! Bill Warren

This variation on the Jekyll-Hyde theme is the least interesting of Jack Arnold's science fiction films. It had a short shooting schedule and a weak script. David Duncan's script is more-than-usually preposterous, with weak motivation in several scenes. The hero is a fairly standard professional type, not really different from heroes in other SF and monster movies of the time.

The other main props are the coelacanth corpse and the giant dragonfly; neither is anymore convincing than the ape-man himself. The dead fish doesn't particularly resemble a coelacanth.

Arthur Franz is surprisingly good as Dr. Donald Blake. Joanna Moore is beautiful, and little else is required of her.

The trouble with the film is that it's routine, unimaginative and foolish. A decent performance by Arthur Franz and a few good nighttime scenes don't save this from being Jack Arnold's worst science fiction film.

Sidebar: Dr. Donald Blake is also the secret identity name for Marvel Comics superhero Thor, whose first appearance was in Journey Into Mystery, Vol. 1 #83 (August 1962).

[Bud Brewster]