A Quick Look: MONSTER FROM A PREHISTORIC PLANET (1967 - color)

   1967 was a banner year for Japanese giant monsters, producing more such fare than any other year. It was about this time that several other studios tried their hand at the genre that had really solidified Toho through their Godzilla franchise. MONSTER FROM A PREHISTORIC PLANET was an ambitious project which required the construction of numerous miniature sets. In the film, employees of Playmate magazine are scouting a small Pacific island for a planned luxury amusement park/resort. What they find is a prehistoric egg out of which hatches a bird-like dinosaur the natives know as Gappa. Gappa is carted back to Japan to become a media sensation, much to the annoyance of Junior's still-living -and quite gigantic- parents. Mr. and Mrs. Gappa are soon taking in the sights and lowering real estate values across the island nation! The plot itself is a bit of a mixture of KING KONG, MOTHRA, and GORGO. MONSTER FROM A PREHISTORIC PLANET remains a respected entry in the genre, and was for decades a staple on UHF stations and then scored in video rentals. Like many of these films during this period, it was released directly to US television by AIP-TV. A nice scope transfer was finally issued on DVD, though the disk layered a new title sequence over the original one. The actual AIP-TV print is also making the rounds on several discount multi-packs, but those prints tend to be very, very dark. Titles aside, I'll have to go with the scope disk, although it goes under the international title: "Gappa, the Triphibian Monster."

Della pinup

A Quick Look at TV: STINGRAY

   Stingray was one of the famed Gerry Anderson Supermarionation adventure series, and was in fact the first such to be shot in color. Basically, the British Anderson created kids shows with adult bearings, straight-forward science fiction stories told with puppet characters. Stingray is one of my favorite examples, and was relentlessly cool in following the adventures of the crew of the futuristic submarine Stingray. The nautical theme was played to the hilt. Stingray was the flagship of WASP, the World Aquanaut Security Patrol, based in Marineville somewhere along the West coast of the United States. The captain was Troy Tempest. He and his sidekick Phones worked for Commander Shore, himself confined to a hover-chair/desk after being crippled in action. Shore's daughter Atlanta served as Troy's romantic interest, though their relationship could sometimes be strained by the presence of Marina, a mute princess from an undersea kingdom who joined up with WASP after Troy rescued her from the clutches of undersea dictator Titan, ruler of Titanica. Turns out there're dozens of undersea races, some good and some bad. Tempest and his crew were always running across spies, monsters, and natural phenomenon of the seven seas, as they patrolled the oceans to keep peace -and sometimes go on exploration missions. This one had me hooked from the opening, as we fade in on the open sea and hear Commander Shore bellow "Stand by for action!" Then we see a huge explosion erupt out of the surface of the water and the show's pounding theme music begins! Like most of Anderson's puppet shows, it seems to've been done with miniatures only because it would've been impossible to do with real actors and locations. Stingray was my first Anderson series, and thus will always have a special place in my heart. "Marineville, I am calling battle stations! Anything can happen in the next half hour..."

A quick Look at TV: HOGAN'S HEROES

   In the 60's, situation comedies had a sort of "anything goes" mentality. Thus, a slew of oddball shows ranging from I Dream Of Jeannie to My Mother The Car, The Munsters to My Living Doll. It is generally agreed that the single strangest sitcom premise belonged to the popular Hogan's Heroes. Hogan's Heroes took place in a Nazi P.O.W. camp, where the Allied prisoners were secretly running a spy ring which smuggled people out of Germany, relayed information to spies, conducted the occasional sabotage operation, and generally kept an eye on the enemy. Bob Crane was perfectly cast as senior POW Col Robert Hogan, who kept the whole thing together. The show was seemingly* based in part on the 50's drama STALAG 17, from which the character of guard Sgt. Shultz was borrowed and morphed into John Banner's lovable quasi-soldier who frequently ignored Hogan's schemes in order to stay out of trouble with the high command. (*The similarities to the feature film are said to be coincidence, but the film's producers reportedly took legal action against the CBS series. The case was settled out of court.) Werner Klemperer was a talented character actor who will forever be remembered as the big-mouthed Kommandant Col. Wilhelm Klink. He and Hogan were frequent intellectual sparring partners, though any victories on Kilnk's part were imaginary. A top cast was assembled, and really too much can't be said about them. The show had a bit of everything. It was a comedy, a war show, a spy series, and adventure show, etc. It was still wildly popular when the show was yanked in order for the network to appear fresh and hip, a victim of the "rural purge" which still plagues a lot of television to this day. Richard Dawson, who plays slight-of-hand expert Newkirk, would go on to be the heart-throb of afternoon television via his placement on Match Game. After some years, Dawson left that show to host his own game show, Family Feud. Bob Crane, sadly, is likely to be more remembered in the long run for his scandalous death. He made friends with a man who got Crane heavily involved in filming pornography. When Crane decided that he'd had enough and tried to sever ties, the man killed him. It's a sad end for one of the most talented comic actors ever on television.

A Quick Look: TROG (1970 - color)

    The British film TROG has mystified viewers since it's initial release back in 1970. The simple plot has a prehistoric ape creature discovered in a cave. The beast is taken under the care of university scientist Joan Crawford, much to the ire of Michael Gough, who thinks Trog a menace. There's something askew about the film that's hard to define, due largely to it's reserved presentation. After several screenings, I've finally figured the film out. It's a satire. Crawford's character continually brow-beats anyone who disagrees with her, remains smugly sure of her own genius, and conforms the facts to fit her theories rather than let her theories be guided by fact. In the end, Gough's character is proven absolutely right. A trail of death and destruction is squarely the fault of Crawford, who claims not a hint of responsibility. The movie is a parody of academia. The film remains noted for it's use of dinosaur stock footage lifted from the 1956 Irwin Allen documentary THE ANIMAL WORLD, a picture largely unseen since it's original release. For decades, TROG has really been the only way anyone could see the wonderful stop motion efforts of Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhousen's only color collaboration. (Well, there is that glorious Viewmaster set filled with shots of the same models. I wish I still had those...)

A Quick Look: THE CARPETBAGGERS (1964 - color)

   "It is possible for you to live an entire lifetime and not experience everything you see in THE CARPETBAGGERS!" So screamed the previews for this all-star adaptation of the Harold Robbins novel of the same name. Because it was a Robbins property, the film was strictly adults only stuff (when recently re-evaluated for a video release, the rating was adjusted to a mere PG). I saw the film because it boasts one of my all-time favorite main themes, a hard-charging, pulse-pounding epic jazz orchestral piece that sounds like the AIRPORT theme on steroids. Also in the film's favor was a simply amazing cast which included the likes of George Peppard, Bob Cummings, Arthur Franz, Martha Hyer, and on and on and on. Pictured directly below is Carroll Baker, who looks just smashing throughout, who plays an analog to Jean Harlow -a figure Baker would fully play in another biopic. Alan Ladd's last film, in which he plays the aging cowboy-turned-movie star Nevada Smith, the subject of a prequel starring Steve McQueen. Largely, though loosely, based on the life of Howard Hughes, the film tells the saga of tycoon industrialist Jonas Cord Jr., self-destructive genius who more or less conquers the world in a few short years. Stagey, explicit soap opera stuff, but still a pretty interesting picture. Makes for an interesting comparison piece to THE AVIATOR.

Baker

Hyer

A Quick Look: NEVADA SMITH (1966 - color)

   NEVADA SMITH was a spin-off prequel to THE CARPETBAGGERS, although one need not be familiar with one to enjoy the other. Of the two, this one is vastly superior. It tells the saga of a young man who vows to track down the killers of his parents, and then methodically hunts them down one by one. The film's greatest asset is also it's only real problem, that being star Steve McQueen. Although he gives an amazing performance, the constant reference to his character being a youth just doesn't match his face (one might also raise issue with his being a blond, curly-haired halfbreed). Still, that's very minor complaint. Again we're served up an amazing cast that includes the likes of Karl Malden, Martin Landau, Pat Hingle, Brian Keith, and on and on. Reportedly, Alan Ladd was to be involved to some degree, but passed on before filming began. If THE CARPETBAGGERS was a tad stiff, NEVADA SMITH is an excellent motion picture. Worth checking out.

A Quick Look: KING KONG (1933)

   It really is incredible. Over 80 years old, and still one of the single finest movies ever made. It continues to inspire young men to enter the movie business, and has yet to be equaled by the various remakes and sequels (upon a recent re-screening I discovered why, as the original lacks the cynicism of the remakes). Everything about the film is just perfect, so there's no where to go but down. Much like Kong himself, actually. The plot follows he-man movie-maker Carl Denham as he plans to shoot a picture on a lost island where the natives worship some very large creature... We've all seen it, of course, and if you haven't then remedy that right away! The film was such a smash that RKO rushed out a sequel that very same year, SON OF KONG. Kong's effects man Willis O'Brien tried for years to get a third film off the ground, in which Kong would face off against a new Frankenstein monster! This idea eventually morphed into KING KONG VS GODZILLA in 1962 (the Japanese release) and '63 (Universal International's version). Of course, KING KONG has been remade under the same title twice (as well as as an animated picture titled THE MIGHTY KONG), but the original remains king. As noted, this is largely because the original film is pure escapism while the reworkings stained for relevancy. Also of note is that the original Kong is a monster, while both remakes cast Kong as a sympathetic (at least so far as the writers were concerned) beast. One can learn much by comparing the various versions of the story, to see how the first one did right what the later films did wrong. Another telling aspect of this is that the human cast of the original were likeable characters rather than politically-charged morons. Small wonder a supposed relic of an earlier age remains a much more satisfying adventure than the products of lesser hands banking on the memories of what remains one of filmdom's greatest epics.

Swamp Mouse cover!

Colored by Rusty Gilligan

Swamp Mouse in progress work

Della cover art colored by Rusty Gilligan!