In the realm of obscure movies, Coleman Francis claims an interesting
place. A (good) character actor who decided to become a (bad) director,
Francis helmed a total of three miserable pictures. THE BEAST OF YUCCA
FLATS was the first, and it defies description. Story-wise, it's the
tale of Joseph Javorsky, defecting Russian scientist. Minutes after
touching down in the States, enemy agents surround his security detail
and open fire at a deserted airport outside the Yucca Flats
testing grounds. Javorsky manages to escape into the desert, but an
atomic bomb goes off and fries him. Being a shockingly resilient sort,
Javorsky doesn't die! He only mutates into a rambling murderer who
strangles anyone he can get his hands on while lumbering about the
badlands. Filmed in 1959 and released in 1962, the film was notable
mostly for the fact that wrestler-turned-actor Tor Johnson was cast as
the atomic caveman. In an effort to keep production costs down, the film
was shot silent -and in such a way that looped in dialog wouldn't have
to be synchronized! We're constantly watching characters listen to other
characters speak, and the camera immediately cuts back to the other
person as they begin listening to the reply! (The foley work, however,
is flawless... whatever you feel that distinction is worth.) In addition
to the cheapjack production techniques, the film is also nearly
plotless. After Javorsky's mutation, he strangles some people. A couple
of cops think the killer is in the badlands and search for him
aimlessly. A family drives through the area and the kids wander off. The
parents look for them. The cops mistake the father for the killer and
try to shoot him down. The kids run across Javorsky. They get away. They
run across him again. The cops look for the kids. And so on, none of it
nearly as exciting or interesting as it sounds. The only distraction
from this lack of cinematic action is some of the most baffling
narration ever committed to film. Supposedly there to explain things and
comment on the situation, it's as incoherent as anything Ed Wood ever
scribbled. "Push a button, things happen. A man becomes a monster." is a
typical -if more lucid- example. Though it clocks in at under an hour,
THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS remains something of an endurance test! Oh, I
guess I should mention the other little thing the film is noted for,
which is an unexpected nude scene in the beginning. A young girl gets
out of the shower, is strangled, and we never see her again. On top of
that, the scene in question nowhere fits into the film's narrative!
Although this paste-together still might not be the most convincing
image, the fact remains that GRIZZLY is a great drive-in movie. Though
basically, and rather bluntly, JAWS set in a National park, the film
manages to be far better than one might expect. A huge killer bear
begins slaughtering the patrons of a tourist park, prompting action from
ranger Christopher George. Though he has the support of naturalist
Richard Jaeckel and helicopter pilot Andrew Prine, Joe Dorsey's Murray
Hamilton-like commissioner stymies any serious attempt to kill the bear
until it's too late. Director Bill Girdler had been toiling on cheapo
knock-offs of bigger movies, and GRIZZLY was his first real shot at the
majors -though it, too, was a knock-off of a hit film. Oddly, it may be
GRIZZLY's similarities to JAWS that make it stronger than most blatant
rip-offs of Speilberg's epic. Girdler even cast Susan Backlinie (Crissy
Watkins of JAWS) to play one of the bear's first victims! Backlinie
would play a much larger part in Girdler's follow-up effort, SOMETHING
IS OUT THERE/DAY OF THE ANIMALS. A huge success, the film was one of the
biggest independent hits of the decade, holding a record until
HALLOWEEN came along a couple years later. A handsome movie, it got a
lot of play on television in the following decades. Seems like TBS used
to run it periodically in my younger days. Interestingly, the film was a
bit of a reunion for it's three male leads, as they all acted in CHISUM
if I recall correctly. Girdler would make a handful of movies after
GRIZZLY, but was tragically killed in a helicopter crash while scouting
locations. He was only 30 years old, and had only been married about
half a year. A gorgeous DVD release was issued in a boxed set with
Girdler's DAY OF THE ANIMALS and the TV movie DEVIL DOG: HOUND OF HELL. I
highly recommend this release. The transfer for GRIZZLY even has a
faint (only noticeable if you know your film) flicker that makes the
film look as if it's being screened at the drive-in!
What can one say about The Twilight Zone that hasn't already been said?
Rod Serling's imaginative anthology series remains one of the best of
it's breed, continuing to captivate and win fans through continued
television re-broadcasts decades after it's original run. Sharp,
well-written, limitless, the subjects of episodes ranged from shock to
moody scares to broad comedy and everything in between. Dozens of
episodes jockey for position of "Best" like the gripping tale of a passenger
jet lost in time (The Odyssey of Flight 33), the desperate search for a
little girl trapped between dimensions (Little Girl Lost), the
terrifying and thought-provoking story of a monster in the form of a
small boy with unlimited powers (It's A Good Life), the story of a lost
traveler discovering the terrifying secret of a group of secluded holy
men (The Howling Man), the complacency of humanity in the face of
friendly other-world visitation (To Serve Man), the terror of a
frightened woman menaced by tiny space travelers (The Invaders), or the
panic that ensues when the unexplainable happens in an all-American
suburb (The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street) are all in the running.
Basically, discussing The Twilight Zone comes down to asking what your
favorite episode is. Were I to select a single one, it might be The
Shelter, a reality-based tale of impending enemy attack and the suburban
panic to enter the street's single fallout shelter. Other favorites of
mine include The 7th Is Made Up Of Phantoms, 100 Years Over The Rim, and
the classic The Obsolete Man. What's your favorite? The series was a
smash from the beginning, though Serling reportedly didn't get along
well with the network. In the fourth season, the station felt the show
should be an hour series. Serling complied, but this experiment failed.
The packed fifth season returned to the half-hour format, but it was too
late. There have been scattered attempts at reviving the show, but
without Serling's smarts each have fallen by the way side. Faring a
little better was a big budget movie, TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE, in the early 80's.
There was also a TV movie reportedly base on a couple of unused scripts
Serling had written for the original run. I don't think I even finished
it. Though Serling intended to do other things with it, many saw his
70's series The Night Gallery to be an attempt to re-create the older
series. This was largely what the network wanted The Night Gallery to
be, but it was a different animal. Every spooker anthology series that
has followed owes to The Twilight Zone to some extent. There were a few
such programs before The Twilight Zone, of course, but Serling crafted
the perfect blend of elements. "There is a fifth dimension...."
Not sure what I can say about FRANKENSTEIN that hasn't already been
said. The film really kicked off the monster cycle in Hollywood, and
continues to be copied to this day (and even more copies copy the
copies, anymore). FRANKENSTEIN told the story of the obsessed Dr.
Frankenstein, and his experiments to create life from dead tissue.
Frankenstein pieces together a man from the parts of dead bodies and
then revives the creature by lightning shocks. The real trouble is that
Frankenstein's assistant Fritz (Igor was
actually a character introduced much later in the series) didn't get
the brain Frankenstein wanted, so his monster has the brain of a
lunatic. There's some interesting stuff here in terms of contemporary
scientific discoveries and experimentation. A team of scientists would
later (reportedly) revive a puppy from the dead, that the subject of the
film LIFE RETURNS. The brain, in particular, was still being studied
when FRANKENSTEIN emerged as a massive hit at the box office. Of course,
the story had been filmed earlier (by Thomas Edison, in fact), but
Universal's version was the one to really take it's place as King of
thrillers. Following his success in DRACULA, Universal intended the film
to star Bela Lugosi as the monster. Bela thought the part all wrong for
him, since it would be done minus his brooding voice, and Boris Karloff
got the part instead. The two actors would reign as the joint monarchs
of horror for the next two decades. FRANKENSTEIN was such a hit that
Universal demanded a sequel. THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is considered by
many to be the single finest horror movie of the era.
