Oh sweet nostalgia!
Saturday, April 11, 2015
This Island Earth...a classic science fiction film starring Jeff Morrow.
This Island Earth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the novel by Raymond F. Jones, see This Island Earth (novel).
| This Island Earth | |
|---|---|
Original two-sheet promotional poster
| |
| Directed by | Joseph M. Newman |
| Produced by | William Alland |
| Written by | Raymond F. Jones Franklin Coen Edward G. O'Callaghan |
| Starring | Jeff Morrow Faith Domergue Rex Reason Lance Fuller Russell Johnson |
| Music by | Joseph Gershenson (music supervision) Henry Mancini (uncredited) Hans J. Salter (uncredited) Herman Stein (uncredited) |
| Cinematography | Clifford Stine |
| Edited by | Virgil Vogel |
Production
company | |
| Distributed by | Universal-International |
Release dates
|
|
Running time
| 87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $800,000 (estimated)[1] |
| Box office | $1.7 million (US)[2] |
This Island Earth is a 1955 American science fiction film directed by Joseph M. Newman. It is based on the novel of the same name byRaymond F. Jones which was originally published in the magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories as three related novelettes: "The Alien Machine" in the June 1949 issue, "The Shroud of Secrecy" in December 1949, and "The Greater Conflict" in February 1950. The film stars Jeff Morrow, Faith Domergue and Rex Reason. In 1996, This Island Earth was edited down and lampooned in the film Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie. However, upon its initial release, the film was praised by critics, who cited the special effects, well-written script and eye-popping color (prints by Technicolor) as being its major assets.[3][4]
Plot[edit]
Dr. Cal Meacham (Rex Reason), a noted scientist, receives an unusual substitute for electronic condensers that he ordered. Instead, he receives instructions and parts to build a complex communication device called an interocitor. Although neither Meacham nor his assistant Joe Wilson (Robert Nichols) have heard of the device, they immediately begin construction. When finished, a mysterious man named Exeter (Jeff Morrow) appears on the interocitor's screen and tells Meacham he has passed the test. His ability to build the interocitor demonstrates that he is gifted enough to be part of Exeter's special research project.
Intrigued, Meacham is picked up the next day at the airport by an unmanned, computer-controlled Douglas DC-3 aircraft with no windows. Landing in a remote area of Georgia, he finds an international group of top-flight scientists already present – including an old flame, Dr. Ruth Adams (Faith Domergue). Cal is almost immediately suspicious of the odd-looking group of men leading the project.
Cal and Ruth flee with a third scientist, Steve Carlson (Russell Johnson), but their car is attacked and Carlson is killed. When they take off in a Stinson 108 light aircraft, Cal and Ruth watch as the facility and all its inhabitants are incinerated, and their aircraft is drawn by a bright beam into a flying saucer. They learn that Exeter and his group are from the planet Metaluna, having come to Earth seeking uranium deposits as well as scientists to help defend their planet in a war against the Zagons. Exeter informs the Earthlings that he is taking them back to his world. Exeter and the Metalunans are attacked by Zagon star ships, carrying meteors, to be used to destroy them and Metaluna. The Metalunan saucer easily avoids each attack, dodging the oncoming meteors.
They arrive to find the planet under bombardment and falling quickly to the enemy. Metalunan society is breaking down and there is little hope. Their leader, The Monitor (Douglas Spencer), reveals that the Metalunans intend to relocate to Earth and insists that Meacham and Adams be subjected to a Thought Transference Chamber in order to subjugate their free will so they cannot object. Exeter believes this is immoral and misguided since it impedes their ability to help the Metalunans. Before they can enter the brain-reprogramming device, Exeter decides to help Cal and Ruth escape.
Exeter is badly injured by a Mutant while the three escape from Metaluna just before it is destroyed. The Mutant also boards the saucer craft, but dies as a result of pressure differences on the journey back to Earth.
As they enter Earth's atmosphere, Exeter sends Cal and Ruth on their way in their small aircraft, but Exeter himself is dying and the ship's energy is nearly depleted. With no other options, he turns his ship out over the ocean and rapidly accelerates until it is enclosed in a fireball and finally crashes into the water, exploding.
Cast[edit]
|
* Not credited on-screen.
|
Production[edit]
Principal photography for This Island Earth took place from January 30 to March 22, 1954. Location work took place at Mt. Wilson, California.[5]
Most of the sound effects, the ship, the interociter, etc. are simply recordings of radio teletype transmissions picked up on a short wave radio played at various speeds. In a magazinearticle the special effects department admitted that the "mutant" costume originally had legs that matched the upper body but they had so much trouble making the legs look and work properly they were forced by studio deadline to simply have the mutant wear a pair of trousers. Posters of the movie show the mutant as it was supposed to appear.[6]
Reception[edit]
This Island Earth was released in June 1955,[7] and by the end of that year, had accrued US$1,700,000 in distributors' domestic (U.S. and Canada) rentals, making it the year's 74th biggest earner.[8] [N 1]
The New York Times review opined, "The technical effects of This Island Earth, Universal's first science-fiction excursion in color, are so superlatively bizarre and beautiful that some serious shortcomings can be excused, if not overlooked."[3] "Whit" in Variety wrote "Special effects of the most realistic type rival the story and characterizations in capturing the interest in this exciting science-fiction chiller, one of the most imaginative, fantastic and cleverly-conceived entries to date in the outer-space film field. "[4]
Since its original release, the critical response to the film has continued to be mostly positive. Bill Warren has written that the film was "the best and most significant science fiction movie of 1955…[it] remains a decent, competent example of any era's science fiction output.."[7] In Phil Hardy's The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction, the film was described as "a full-blooded space opera complete with interplanetary warfare and bug-eyed monsters ... the film's space operatics are given a dreamlike quality and a moral dimension that makes the dramatic situation far more interesting."[9] Danny Peary felt the film was "colorful, imaginative, gadget-laden sci-fi." [10] On the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a score of 71%, based upon 14 reviews.[11] Greater Milwaukee Today described it as "An appalling film ..." [12]
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie[edit]
Main article: Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie
This Island Earth is the film-within-the-film in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (or MST3K: The Movie). As in the television series, the fictional crew of the spaceship Satellite of Love are forced to watch the film as part of an "experiment"; while watching the film, the crew can be seen in silhouette at the bottom of the screen, mocking the action. The film also includes "host segments" (skits with the crew and Mad Scientists), including two scenes with the characters using an Interocitor.
In order to maintain a 73-minute running time and to accommodate several "host segments", This Island Earth was edited down by about 20 minutes, removing numerous scenes, some important (like a sequence of the Zagon fleet attacking Metaluna). Consequentially, this makes MST3K: The Movie shorter than the original This Island Earth, or even the average, 90-minute "MST3K" episode.
In popular culture[edit]
- A brief homage to This Island Earth is seen in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). E.T. turns the TV on during a showing of the film, at the scene when Cal and Ruth are being abducted by the aliens and Cal says "They're pulling us up!"
- The 1987 album "Happy Together" by the a cappella group "The Nylons" featured a track titled "This Island Earth". [1]
- The 1988 video game Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders contains key references to this movie, such as large-headed aliens disguised as humans, communications through interstellar teleconferencing, and an aircraft pulled into a flying saucer.
- Shock rock metal band GWAR`s 4th album, This Toilet Earth (1994) and its companion short form movie Skulhedface contain numerous references to this movie, including the title, an alien with an oversized brain posing as a human, and communication between aliens using an interstellar teleconference device.
- New Jersey punk band The Misfits included a song tribute entitled This Island Earth on their 1997 album American Psycho.
- The alien Orbitron, the Man from Uranus, from the 1960s toy line "The Outer Space Men", also known as Colorform Aliens, is based on the Mutant.
- Weird Al Yankovic, a fan of This Island Earth, has featured the Interocitor in both his film UHF and the music video for "Dare to be Stupid".
- The Metaluna Mutant is one of the many alien monsters held captive at Area 52 in Looney Tunes: Back in Action. It was later one of the aliens released by Marvin the Martian so that it could stop the main characters from taking the "Queen of Diamonds" card.
- Experimental pop artist Eric Millikin created a large mosaic portrait of the Metaluna Mutant out of Halloween candy and spiders as part of his "Totally Sweet" series in 2013.[13]
References[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ "Rentals" refers to the distributor/studio's share of the box office gross, which, according to Gebert, is roughly half of the money generated by ticket sales.
Citations[edit]
- ^ Internet Movie Database Box office/Business for
- ^ "The Top Box-Office Hits of 1955". Variety Weekly, January 25, 1956.
- ^ a b Thompson, Howard H. "This Island Earth (1955) 'This Island Earth' Explored From Space." The New York Times, June 11, 1955.
- ^ a b Willis 1985, p. 107.
- ^ "Original print Information: This Island Earth (1955)."Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: October 30, 2014.
- ^ Internet Movie Database Trivia
- ^ a b Warren 1982, pp. 228–234; 444.
- ^ Geber 1996.
- ^ Hardy 1995.
- ^ Peary 1986, p. 433.
- ^ "This Island Earth (1955)." Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved: October 30, 2014.
- ^ Snyder, Steven. "This Island Earth Reviews." Greater Milwaukee Today, December 12, 2002. Retrieved: October 30, 2014.
- ^ Millikin, Eric. "Eric Millikin's totally sweet Halloween candy monster portraits." Detroit Free Press, December 9, 2013. Retrieved: October 30, 2014.
Bibliography[edit]
- Gebert, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Movie Awards. New York: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1996. ISBN 0-668-05308-9.
- Hardy, Phil (editor). The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction. London: Aurum Press, 1984. Reprinted as The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction, Overlook Press, 1995, ISBN 0-87951-626-7.
- Peary, Danny. Guide for the Film Fanatic. New York: Fireside Books, 1986. ISBN 0-671-61081-3.
- Warren, Bill. Keep Watching The Skies, Vol. I: 1950–1957. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1982. ISBN 0-89950-032-3.
- Willis, Don. Variety's Complete Science Fiction Reviews. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1985. ISBN 0-8240-6263-9.
This Island Earth movie trailer
When I saw this back in the fifties, I was knocked out by the special effects. A very underrated movie. A ground breaker in many ways.
Trailer for 1955 Universal-International science fiction extravaganza This Island Earth, starring Jeff Morrow (The Giant Claw, Octaman), Faith Domergue (Cult of the Cobra, It Came from Beneath the Sea), Rex Reason (The Creature Walks among Us), Lance Fuller (Voodoo Woman, The Bride and the Beast), Russell "The Professor" Johnson (The Space Children, Hitch Hike to Hell), and Douglas Spencer (The Thing from Another World). Directed by Joseph H. Newman (Death in Small Doses).
Check out the Baker Street Universe!
Check out the stories, videos and images I've posted at my The Baker Street Universe blog! Featuring the devilishly delicious HYDE of Doctor Jekyll and fame.
Click here to amuse and horrorify yourself!
The Rainbow in Her Eyes "A Lovelight Story." John Pirillo
The Rainbow in Her Eyes
"A Lovelight Story."
John Pirillo
I think that of all the wonderful things I've experienced in
my life, that I will never forget the look I got from her before she crossed
over into the Light. I saw a rainbow.
I woke up that morning with the most dismal of feelings in
the pit of my stomach. My favorite teacher, Mrs. Penderson, had terminal
cancer. I had stayed up until three in the morning researching what it was,
hoping to somehow understand it, and make her better. I was still naive enough
to believe that just because I could see angels and dead people crossing into
the Light, that maybe, just maybe I could also heal someone who was called upon
to leave our world for the next. Such is the wonder and naivety of youth.
Thinking it can do anything. That it's immortal.
But all such illusions must shatter, and rightly so, or else
we would never steer our feet upon the path that took us most directly to our
goals in life...finding a career that matched our temperaments, meeting our
life partner, finding friends in the pot of gold we call the workplace, and
learning how to deal with disappointment.
Death comes under the disappointment category.
So that morning as I woke up, I was still weary and a bit
heady from all the coffee I had been drinking. If Mom had known I had used up
all her instant coffee she might have thrown a fit, but then again, what does a
young teen really know about their elder parents. They are mysteries to them so
much of the time. How they know what we do before we do it, and even after,
when no one else could possibly have told them.
I smiled at that, and then began grooming myself for my
visit to the hospital. Saint Louis Vatican Hospital, founded by the local
Jesuits, about a hundred years ago. It was old and ivy overgrown, with huge
gargoyles at the tops of its many roofs, and a very large cross, that shone
golden in the light of day on its church steeple, which overarched a small
chapel where the Sisters and the Brothers would gather to pray for their
patients and those who were about to, or had already crossed over the shining
path we all must journey someday.
My name is Cynthia, but I'm also called Lovelight. My Mom
and best friends all call me that. I let them do it, because it makes them feel
good. I've actually got so used to the thing that I no longer cringe inwardly
at all the attention the mention of that name brings.
I tossed my long gold hair back across my shoulders, and
clipped on a golden button I had won in Mrs. Penderson's class in third grade.
I wanted to show here I still had it. I buttoned up my crisply starched and
ironed blouse, threw on a nice pair of slacks, the dressy churchy kind, and
then went into my bathroom to attend to my eyebrows, eyeliner, and lipstick. It
took me the better part of thirty minutes, but when I was finished, Mom was
already honking the horn out front. She knew I was anxious to see my old
teacher, and she also knew I was a bit slow at times in getting ready.
I actually surprised her when I dashed out the front door,
ran back and locked it, then got into our old car. She revved the engine, slides
the gear into reverse and backed us onto the street, then turned us and headed
towards the hospital, a big smile on her face.
"Why're you smiling?"
She grinned even wider. "I'm just...well...proud of
you."
"For what?"
"Being on time. Caring."
That's when heaven yanked the floor out from underneath me.
I had buried all my fears for Mrs. Penderson under a hush of hurry up and get
ready, ignored all the horrible things I had read, and all the nasty pictures I
had seen about cancer. It hit me like a sledgehammer in my heart. I felt as if
my entire body were being crushed, squashed beneath a burden that no one could
possibly lift.
I felt a hand touch my knee lightly. "Lovelight, she's
going to be all right."
I turned my tear streaked face towards her, wiping angrily
at my smeared makeup and eyeliner. "She's terminal. She's not going to be
all right!" I slammed back at her.
She said nothing more for about ten minutes, just kept
driving. Finally, she slowed down as we neared the hospital. "You're not
afraid because she's dying. You're afraid you won't be able to help her?"
I looked away. She pulled into the parking lot of the
hospital and turned off the engine. She slid sideways to look at me. To give me
that look all parents do when they want their child to listen or else. My Mom
wouldn't hit me, but her words sometimes cut like knives when I didn't want to
hear them like now.
"You know there's no such thing as death."
I turned to her, still wiping at my eyes. "Yes."
"You also know that when it's time, it's time."
"Yes. So?"
She said nothing more. She got out and locked her door. I
got out and she locked mine with her remote key lock. We walked silently into
the very busy lobby of the hospital. A Receptionist looked up from a bank of
phones and smiled. "May I help you?"
"Mrs. Penderson, please." I blurted out, before
Mom could speak.
"Oh that sweet lady on the fourth floor. God bless her.
She has no one else left in this world. I'm so glad someone remembers
her."
That sent me into another spill of tears.
The Receptionist looked shattered. She jumped up, ran for a
box of tissues and handed it to me. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to upset
you."
I took a tissue, blew into it, then another and nodded.
"It's okay. You didn't." I lied.
"She'll be all right. Which room is she?"
"401." The Receptionist replied, still giving me a
worried look.
Mom gave the Receptionist a gentle pat on her right arm.
"Really. She'll be alright."
Mom and I went to the elevators, and got on the first one to
the right. We rode up in silence. We stepped out and went to the Nurse's
Station. "Mrs. Penderson's room?"
A very lovely, older woman with gray hair and silver eyes
smiled at me and said. "What a lovely young thing you are, my dear."
She spoke as if she hadn't even heard my Mom. "Come this way. She's been
waiting for you."
I followed her. Mom held back.
"Mom?"
"You go ahead. I'll come in a little bit."
I nodded and followed the nurse. She opened a door and I
went inside. Mrs. Penderson was hooked up to all kinds of medical equipment and
electronic monitors. The nurse lightly touched Mrs. Penderson on her shoulder.
She had her eyes closed.
She groaned lightly, and then opened her eyes. She didn't
seem able to focus at first, but then her face lit up and she weakly raised an
arm. "Come here and let me touch you."
I moved closer and held out a small gift I had brought with
me.
She touched my cheek lightly. "You were always my
favorite student, Cynthia."
"You remember my name?" I asked in surprise,
temporarily forgetting this dying woman was able to remember anything at all.
"I'm dying, not stupid, sweetheart." Mrs.
Penderson replied in the usual snippy manner she had always used with us kids.
"Now kids, don't think just because I can't see your phones in your laps,
which I can't tell your little fingers are working them overtime." She
used to say, surprising the students with her amazing psychic abilities. Little
did I know.
"What's this?" She asked, looking at what I laid
down beside her.
"You still have my pin!" She exclaimed, her voice
weaker. She smiled, and then touched my face again. "God always loved you
the most."
I began to cry.
She touched my face again. "Aren't you going to open my
gift for me?"
When she said that I wiped at my tears and looked into her eyes.
I swear there were rainbows in them. Bright, beautiful rainbows that shone like
tiny cascading sliding suns into a pool of white light. I looked away hurriedly
and began opening the gift. It was a doll I had made when I was ten. I called
it Comfort, because it had always made me feel safe when I was afraid.
She laughed when she saw it and held it to her chest.
"Why, it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Does it have a
name?"
"Comfort, Mrs. Penderson."
"Perfect name." She said placing it next to her
cheek.
She shut her eyes. "Please don't mind if I just close
my eyes a few moments. I feel so tired."
Her voice trailed off and I stood there, waiting for her to
open her eyes again. The electronic
monitors began screeching.
Mom came running inside, followed by a doctor and several
nurses, then an orderly with an electronic paddle.
We were rushed from the room.
We sat in the outer area, seated next to a water fountain
that kept making sputtering sounds as it coughed up tiny bits of water, then swirled
them down its hungry throat of a drain.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the nurse came out
and waved to me.
"Mom?"
"No, you go honey."
I gave her a pleading look, but she shook her head.
I followed the nurse into the room. I was in shock. There
stood Mrs. Penderson, but no longer old and gray and weak looking. She stood in
a beautiful white garment, her body young and youthful looking. About twenty
five years old. Her eyes sparkled like diamonds.
And on the bed was Mrs. Penderson, the Doctor and nurses
still trying to revive her.
The nurse took my right hand. "Say good bye to your
friend, sweetheart."
I looked at Mrs. Penderson and tears began to run from my
eyes. "You're so beautiful!"
Mrs. Penderson came over and hugged me ever so lightly.
"As are you, Lovelight."
She let go and turned to the nurse. "Will Ronnie be
waiting for me?"
"Yes." She answered, and then took Mrs.
Penderson's hand. A tunnel of white light began to grow at the exit from the
room.
Mrs. Penderson turned back as she went to smile at me.
"We'll meet again. I promise you."
I nodded. She went into the light with the nurse, the same
time as Mom came into the room and took me into her arms.
She held me close and I cried, while at the same time
smiled. I had lost a friend. I had found a friend. The nurse was one of them.
The silent helpers that come to help us leave this world for the next.
The Doctor turned around to face us. "I'm sorry for
your loss." He turned to the head nurse.
"Time of death..."
I didn't hear the rest. All I could hear was the sound of a
beautiful rainbow slipping down from heaven to shine in Mrs. Penderson's eyes.
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