FORBIDDEN PLANET(1956) WHAT A SCREENPLAY!!! WHAT A SOUNDTRACK!!! WHAT A MOVIE!!! Freudian Psychology;futuristic music ("electronic tonalities");ray guns;a mad scientist(Walter Pidgeon);his beautiful daughter- sexy 21 year old blonde with a mole (the-rumoured model for Barbie)Anne Francis a flying saucer;a handsome LEADING MAN OF ACTION(a very young Leslie Nielsen);the best sci fi robot ever;a classic love story;a murder mystery- nothing less than the greatest science fiction movie ever made!!! An expedition is sent from Earth to the constellation of Aquilae,17 light years away to discover what became of a colony of settlers on its fourth planet,Altair4.Adams & his crew find that all but two have died.How & why did an alien race of geniuses destroy itself overnight at some point in the distant past,leaving their technology intact? Mad Dr.Morbius & his daughter Altaira somehow survived despite the presence of a hideous monster roaming the planet.Unknown to Adams,Morbius has made a discovery,& has no intention of sharing it (or his daughter!)with anyone:The long-extinct superior race, the Krell,had materialised their thought-processes, only to then become extinct. Forbidden Planet is a damn good story.Shakespeare's "The Tempest" transposed to 2200:Morbius is Prospero, Altaira is Miranda, Robbie the Robot is the sprite Ariel & Caliban a mysterious invisible force. But many fascinating aspects of the plot are writers Irving Block,Alan Adler & Cyril Hume's doing.Morbius' account of the fate of his shipmates,his tale of the Krell,& the realization of the evil force.The last aspect lays bare a subtext that runs throughout Forbidden Planet -its metaphor for the mind.(I learnt my Freudian psychology from Forbidden Planet!)The spacecraft is sense data, the planet surface is the ego, Morbius, Altaira & Robby are the superego,& the Krell complex,with the evil force(s),are of course the id."We're all part-monsters in our subconscious, so we have laws & religion."
A characteristic oddity of space-bound sci-fi of the era was how spaceship crews closely resembled Navy submarine crews.Presumably that was the closest analogy filmmakers had to go on.No odder than the space-truckers of Alien-era sci-fi, but you'll be temporarily distracted by it. There's no attempt to make the ship appear to be moving during interior scenes, basically set in a large room relatively devoid of gadgets compared to the knobs & dials of jet/ NASA-influenced control rooms.Being a traditionalist,I love the "saucer-shaped" spacecraft. These oddities have a charm all their own neither possible nor desirable to try to recreate Forbidden Planet influenced many subsequent films & tv shows- from Star Trek ( effects used when crew exit hyperspace are almost identical to the `beam me up' effect),Lost in Space, to fare like Red Planet.The production & set design of Forbidden Planet are incredible.From Morbius' home & influential planetscape to the breathtaking underground sets in the lair of the Krell;suggestive of design from Metropolis,only in deep,bold colors with more sophisticated effects. The story's great, the acting is great, the costumes & sets are great!!! Check out the trailer!: http://us.imdb.com/Trailers?0049223 The print we have is in CINEMASCOPE,so for the very first time at Splodge! it's out with the anamorphic lens & the extra-long bed-sheet! Prod Co:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Dir:Fred McLeod Wilcox. Wr:Cyril Hume. SPFX:A.Arnold Gillespie.Robot Builder:Robert Kinoshita. Prod Des:Irving Block,Mentor Huebner. Des(Id Monster):Ken Hultgren. Cast:WALTER PIDGEON,ANNE FRANCIS,LESLIE NIELSON,RICHARD ANDERSON,EARL HOLLIMAN,Frankie Carpenter,Frankie Darro(Robby the Robot).Voices:Marvin Miller(Robby),Les Tremayne(Narrator)94 mins. NFVLS.
HARDWARE WARS (1978) "You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll kiss three bucks goodbye!". A Space-Saga of Romance, Rebellion & Household Appliances. Parody of Star Wars,in the form of a movie preview.Young Fluke Starbucker, under the tutelage of the wise old "red-eye knight". Auggie "Ben" Doggie, learns to master the power of the Force, while teaming up with Ham Salad to rescue Princess Anne-Droid & aid her fight against the evil Empire. A gamut of household appliances appear as vehicles & weapons.Fluke Starbucker drives a dune buggy; Ham Salad,the tough rogue pilots an iron–starship; Princess Anne-Droid has round loaves of bread in place of her side braids.There’s 4-Q-2, resembling a cross between the Tin Man from THE WIZARD OF OZ & an accountant, & Chewchilla,the Wookie Monster.Castor-footed Artie-Deco,is played by a vacuum cleaner!Steam-iron spaceships are suspended by visible wires in front of a mocked-up starfield background,The Death Star is a waffle maker & the x-wings are wine bottle openers.Behind that black-mask helmet,Darph Nader’s every ranting utterance is so muffled that Anne-Droid beseeches him"What? I don't understand you." narrated by Wellesian announcer PAUL FREES.A critical & festival favourite since its release just months after Star Wars, this parody shot in a warehouse went on to become THE highest grossing short film of all time!loaded with "special defects", the standouts are: a re-creation of the "cantina" sequence in a swinging singles bar & a light-saber training scene featuring flashlights! [The venerable AUGIE BEN DOGGIE suddenly clasps his head & swoons...] FLUKE STARBUCKER: "What's the matter,Augie Ben Doggie?Did you feel a great disturbance in the force, as if millions of voices cried out in terror & were suddenly silenced?" AUGIE BEN DOGGIE:"Naw,just a little headache." HARDWARE WARS is gleefully cheesy.Voice-overs, bad acting, & cheap sets make it an instant classic. George Lucas:"Hardware Wars is my favorite Star Wars parody." Awards-:Most Popular Short Film of the Year:Chicago Film Festival.Finalist:Academy AwardTM Nominations.Golden Venus: Miami Film Festival.Golden Eagle:CINE Film Festival.1st Prize:Birmingham Film Festival. 1st Prize:Edinburgh Film Festival.2nd Place:Ann Arbor Film Festival.2nd Place:Concord Sci-Fi Festival Judges' Award.San Francisco Ad Club:Award of Merit,Sinking Creek Film Festival.Blue Ribbon:American Film Festival.WAV snippets:Darph Nader: http://www.tetranet.net/users/brycep/sounds/hw.nadar.wav "You'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villiany..." : Wr.& Dir. Ernie Fosselius. Prod. Michael Wiese. Phot. John V. Fante & Michael Wiese. Snd. Des. Walt Kraemer. CAST: Fluke Starbucker: Scott Mathews, Augie "Ben" Doggie: Jeff Hale, Princess Anne-Droid: Cindy Furgatch, Ham Salad: Bob Knickerbocker, 4-Q-2: Frank Robertson, Narr: PAUL FREES. 14 mins.CAC.
LUNA THE LOVELY (1976) Amusing parody of the Buck Rogers serial sets us straight on astrophysics & relativity theory that Hollywood could never quite manage to get right. Series: Universe & I. Prod: KET (Kentucky Educational Television).20 mins CAC. SPACE RACE (196?) Hand-drawn direct-to-film zippy animated cartoon by Vern Sundfors presents Cold-War sky-climbing as a celestial ballet.3 mins.
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