Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: The Fly (1958)

Poster for The Fly (1958)The Fly (1958) by #KurtNeumann
w/
#DavidHedison #PatriciaOwens #VincentPrice

When a scientist tests his matter transporter on himself, things go horribly wrong.

“Once it was human… even as you and I!”

“If she looked upon the horror her husband had become… she would scream for the rest of her life!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

I did not see The Fly (1958) when I was a kid. It was not featured on Not Quite Classic Theatre (at least not to my knowledge). I do remember seeing pictures from it in magazines and books. And I also remember it being aired on TV one night… a night that I could not watch it. I’m not sure where I was, or what I was doing, but I was not at home. Later, when I got back, my dad told me that he and my brother had watched it (which was a bit unusual, as my dad was not in the habit of watching horror films). They both loved it, of course, and told me that I had really missed out. They also told me quite a few details about the story – perhaps even some spoilers, years before anyone had ever used the word spoliers. It sounded great, and I couldn’t believe that my dad and my brother has seen it and I hadn’t. I was angry and bitter and jealous – and there was no way for me to see the film retroactively, as VCRs were still a ways off. When you missed a TV broadcast in those days, you really missed it. Continue reading

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: 4D Man (1959)

Poster for 4D Man (1959)4D Man (1959) by #IrvinSYeaworthJr
w/#RobertLansing #LeeMeriwether #JamesCongdon #PattyDuke

A scientist discovers a formula enabling him to pass through solid surfaces, but he also rapidly ages, which forces him to kill humans in order to reverse the aging process.

“He Walks Through Walls Of Solid Steel And Stone… Into The 4th Dimension!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

I was not at all familiar with 4D Man (1959) before I watched it last week. It turns out that it was made by the people who did The Blob (1958) just one year before. The Blob was one of my childhood favourites. I watched it several times on TV back then. I actually haven’t seen it in a long time, but you can bet I’ll be revisiting it very soon. Continue reading

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: The Amazing Transparent Man (1960)

Poster for The Amazing Transparent Man (1960)The Amazing Transparent Man (1960) by #EdgarGUlmer
w/
#MargueriteChapman #DouglasKennedy

A madman makes an escaped convict invisible so that he may execute his evil plans.

“What you can’t see will kill you!”

“The Most Amazing Picture Of The Year! He’s Invisible! He’s Deadly!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

I’ve talked a bit about the gimmicks that William Castle used to use to promote his movies, such as “Emergo” the giant skeleton that would appear during screenings of House on Haunted Hill (1959). He was probably most famous for putting vibrating buzzers under some seats at screenings of The Tingler (1959).  The Amazing Transparent Man (1960) is not a William Castle movie, but it made use of a very clever William Castle style gimmick – at least I think I it did, judging from what it says on the poster:

“WARNING! Joey Faust, escaped convict, THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN, has vowed to “appear” invisibly IN PERSON at every performance of this picture!” Continue reading

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: The Werewolf (1956)

The Werewolf (1956) by #FredFSears
w/#DonMegowan #JoyceHolden

When a stranger with amnesia appears, a small town Sheriff comes to believe he is dealing with a werewolf.

“Scientists turn men into beasts!”
“It happens before your horrified eyes!”

“The horror of all mankind terrifies the screen!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

The Werewolf (1956) is a historically significant horror film because it is the first to feature a werewolf that is non-supernatural. The beast in this movie is pure science fiction, having been created by a couple of doctors conducting experiments. Continue reading

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: Beyond the Time Barrier (1960)

Beyond the Time Barrier (1960) by #EdgarGUlmer
w/
#RobertClarke #DarleneTompkins

A military test pilot lands in a post-apocalyptic future.

“Trapped! … in the incredible cosmic world that moves 100 years beyond time!”
”A Spectacle of the World of Tomorrow! Fantastic Sights to Stagger the Imagination”

#SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

Beyond the Time Barrier (1960) Is another entertaining low budget science fiction movie by Edgar G. Ulmer. It’s probably not quite as good as The Man from Planet X (1951), but it’s a cut above many other movies in the genre.  Continue reading

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: The Man from Planet X (1951)

The Man from Planet X (1951) by #EdgarGUlmer
w/
#RobertClarke #MargaretField

An alien from a mysterious planet uses hypnotic powers to enslave a Scottish island.

“The WEIRDEST Visitor the Earth has ever seen!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

The Man from Planet X (1951) is a fairly serious minded SciFi movie – not unlike The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). The fact that they were both released in 1951 is interesting to me. The Day the Earth Stood Still Is by far the better movie, but The Man from Planet X is solidly above average. It’s said that Steven Spielberg took the idea of an alien communicating through music from this movie and used it in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). If that’s true, it’s an impressive legacy of influence for Edgar G. Ulmer’s low budget B-movie.  Continue reading

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: War of the Satellites (1958)

Poster for War of the Satellites (1958)War of the Satellites (1958) by #RogerCorman

w/#DickMiller #SusanCabot #RichardDevon

An `unknown force’ declares war on Earth when the UN ignores warnings to stop attempting to send a satellite into deep space.

”We’re up against a race of beings whose intelligence is as ours to ants and bacteria.”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

War of the Satellites (1958) was apparently made in response to the media frenzy that was created by the launch of the U.S.S.R.’s Sputnik satellite – which was, in fact, the first satellite sent into outer space. The movie was made very quickly. It reportedly only took eight weeks to go from first thinking up the idea to screening the finished movie in theatres. This seems a little hard to believe, until you remember that War of the Satellites was produced and directed by Roger Corman. Not only did the man make great movies, he made them cheap and fast.  Continue reading

Friday night at the home drive-in: The Leech Woman (1960)

Poster for The Leech Woman (1960)The Leech Woman (1960) by #EdwardDein w/#ColeenGray #GrantWilliams #EstelleHemsley

An endocrinologist in a dysfunctional marriage with an aging, alcoholic wife journeys to Africa seeking a drug that will restore youth.

“In the Savage Heart of the Jungle She Found the Forbidden Secret of Eternal Youth!”

“She drained men of their loves and lives”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

DVD cover for The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection.As I’ve mentioned a few times, I fondly remember watching a TV show called Not Quite Classic Theatre when I was young. This is how I was introduced to many horror and sci-fi movies from the 1950s. I happily discovered that some of the movies I can remember from the show have been included in a DVD set from Universal called The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection. This led me to believe that the 10 movies in this set were likely part of a package that Universal licensed to Not Quite Classic Theatre for broadcast all those years ago. Re-watching them all now, many years later, has been an exciting trip down memory lane.

The Leech Woman (1960) is the final movie in the set. The fact that it came out in 1960 may be an indication that the glory days of 1950s monster movies were coming to an end. I don’t remember seeing The Leech Woman on Not Quite Classic Theatre back in the day, but I may well have. As I’ve said before, many of those films are lost in time to me now. They may come back to me if I see them again someday, but I wouldn’t want to count on that. Not Quite Classic Theatre used to show three movies starting at 10:00 PM. By the time the third one came on, my attention may have been somewhat less than perfect. Continue reading

Friday night at the home drive-in: Not of This Earth (1957)

Not of This Earth (1957) by #RogerCorman

w/#PaulBirch #BeverlyGarland

A doctor and a nurse encounter an alien who needs human blood to save his dying race.

“Somewhere in this world stalks a thing that is…”

“Davanna must endure.”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

I saw Not of This Earth (1988) long before I ever saw the original Not of This Earth (1957), which makes it clear that Not of This Earth (1957) was NOT one of the movies I saw on Not Quite Classic Theatre back in the day. As I recall it, Not of This Earth (1988) featured a lot of nudity, care of recently retired porn star Traci Lords. Some might say it was a minor sleaze masterpiece – which raises the question: How could this in any way relate to the original Not of This Earth (1957)?  Continue reading

Friday night at the home drive-in: The Giant Claw (1957)

Poster for The Giant Claw (1957)The Giant Claw (1957) by #FredFSears w/#JeffMorrow #MaraCorday

produced by #SamKatzman

A UFO turns out to be a giant prehistoric bird with an appetite for airplanes.

“Winged Monster from 17,000,000 B.C.! Big as a Battleship! Flies 4 Times the Speed of Sound! Atomic Weapons Can’t Hurt It!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

The first thing that I noticed when I watched The Giant Claw (1957), is that it’s a lot like The Deadly Mantis (1957) – at least at first. So much so, that I found myself thinking “Didn’t I just write about this a few months back?”

Both movies sort of begin in Canada, at the DEW Line – or Distant Early Warning Line. This was a system of radar stations in the arctic that would be able to detect nuclear missiles (or any other attack) coming from the U.S.S.R. and heading for the U.S.A.. In both movies, the DEW Line seems to be manned by U.S. military people. In reality, I think it was a mix of U.S. and Canadian personnel, but I don’t really know a lot about it. Continue reading