Yesterday TCM ran The Thing From Another World (1951), one of the very best of the 1950s alien invasion flicks. I hadn't seen it in awhile and noticed the following threads for the first time:
- The alien was kind of a cross between a prototypical 'Grey' and Frankenstein. Stockier than a grey but bald, tall, and emotionless with huge creepy eyes and a keen interest in breeding, he was supposedly way smarter than us but spent most of his time staggering around making 'grrrrr' noises whilst looking for blood.
- The snowy, arctic setting was a great visual Cold War metaphor.
- It struck me that when you get megalomaniacal scientist types together with bumbling military types nothing good ever comes of it, and that has not changed in 59 years.
- The tall reporter guy could be Jeff Goldblum's dad. I don't think he is, but he could be.
- That woo woo background music during the scene where everybody pokes at the severed alien hand is classic. I can't get enough of that music. I wish I could make that sound here but you can't really even spell it in a blog so I guess you'll have to watch the flick to hear what I'm talking about. 'Woo woo' is as close as I can come to it.
I think a LOT is going on with ufos and alien abduction reports, but no one ever is the slightest bit interested in my alien perspective on it. I figure I have enough material, thoughts, links, and news items for a blog on specifically that complaint, so here it is.
Stay tuned. If you get bored while wating for the next post, go watch The Thing From Another World.
It's still awesome.
I love all those 50s sci-fi movies. Forbidden Planet, The Blob, War of the Worlds, etc. And some of the worse ones. I love them all.
ReplyDeleteI don't come across them as much as I used to on TV.
Me too! We had this video store in South Bend that had TONS of them--it has since closed, but there are whole categories of them. I'm working on several e=books and on is on 50s ufo/alien movies.
ReplyDeleteI read a book when I was 12 years old called " Flying Saucers Have Landed" and I've been hooked ever since. I'm not as into the old movies as I am the late night documentaries on the History Channel-- but whatever-- I'm looking forward to more on this blog and I'm following so keep up the good work:-)
ReplyDeleteWe are two of a kind on that score! I am really weirdly obsessed with this topic and I love those late night documentaries too. I think I've seen them all at least three times. I love the one with Peter Jennings as the narrator. That one is actually pretty good. Thanks for following!
ReplyDeleteMy friend and I used to go to the reperatory theatre in Toronto and see old movies. One year the Toronto Film Festival showed some of the old sci-fi film. I remember watching Forbidden Planet in the front row :)
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