Trip to the Moon (1902)

Finally, I got to see the prototypical science fiction film. I was interested in seeing the full movie at last.

The basic ‘story’ has a scientist proposing to travel to the moon. Despite the Academy’s reservations, the voyager hires a bunch of leggy engineers and travels to the moon. There the crew has an uncomfortable evening in the snow. Then they meet a horde of aggressive aliens who attack them. Fortunately, the voyagers discover that they can pop the aliens by jabbing them with umbrellas and whatnot. They land in the water on Earth and there is a celebratory parade.

It was disappointing. I think if you’ve seen any clips, you’ve seen the best part. You know, the rocket into the moon bit.

Other people feel differently:

From Three Movie Buffs: “By today’s standards this movie looks like drawings on a cave wall. Historically though it represents a huge leap in the art of the motion picture. Everyone should see it at least once.”

From Filmsite.org: “It has all the elements that characterize the science-fiction genre: adventurous scientists, a futuristic space voyage, special effects such as superimpositions, and strange aliens in a far-off place.”

From Scifilm.org: “Unfortunately, Melies never quite mastered cinematic story-telling techniques, so it can be quite difficult to tell what is going on at times.”

This is the problem I had with it too. It seems to be all spectacle and special effects and not enough plot to sustain it. Still, it’s a classic piece and short enough to make it easy enough to watch.

The THING from Another Planet (1951)

Image by ubberdave via Flickr

Tagline: WHAT IS IT?

U. S. soldiers stationed in the Arctic are summoned by a camp of scientists and one journalist to investigate a possible meteor.  Only, it’s not.

There is some controversy whether the credited director Christian Nyby or Howard Hawks deserves the credit for this film.

Whoever was ultimately responsible, the movie is excellent.

The fast paced, overlapping dialogue ups the tension and sense of realism.  The story sets up the situation and establishes the characters efficiently.  The characters make more-or-less reasonable decisions.

It feels more like reading science fiction than watching it.  I mean that the point of the tale is how to achieve the goal with the tools at hand rather than a bunch of razzle dazzle.

The fire fight scene was especially tense – I remarked at the time that they were obviously new to fire work.  According to IMDB, it was the first time a stunt with full body on fire had ever been done.  It’s worth watching just for that scene.

Also, it has the famous “watch the skies” line.  I didn’t realize this movie was where that came from, so I was thrilled to hear it.

I wish they made SF movies like this today.

Review from feoamante.com

Movies I watched in October 2009

Cover of Carnival Of Souls (1962 Film)

I watched a lot of documentaries about horror movies to not disturb my housemates.  It was a satisfying experiment, I think.  I might try it again next year.  I was most pleased by Heroes of Horror which was on Peter Lorre and Vincent Price.  I plan to get the first volume in the series.  I also enjoyed Fantastic Flesh which was on film makeup in various movies.  Dark Dreamers was poorly constructed and dull.

The spooky movies I watched were Trick r Treat, Kakurenbo, and Carnival of Souls.  Kakurenbo looked beautiful but the story was too thin for me.  I could only watch Trick r Treat in short bursts and while I liked it, I want to watch it again in one piece next time.  Carnival was surprisingly entertaining though it fell apart at the very end.  Beautiful location shot of carnival/spa and lovely black and white photography.

I’m watching a number of TV series:  No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is pure pleasure.  Cadfael was not to my taste.  Castle is enjoyable fluff.  I enjoyed MST3K’s version of Touch of Satan but Zombie Nightmare was less enjoyable.

Laura’s Star and Kakurenbo were well-animated.  Laura’s Star was especially beautiful, and worth seeing for the visuals alone.  Both movies had rather thin stories.

Finally saw Trip to the Moon in its entirety.

1. No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency 1:1
2. Laura’s Star (2004)
3. Help! (1965)
4. Haunted History of Halloween (1997)
5. Kakurenbo: Hide and Seek (2005)
6. Cadfael: One Corpse too Many (1994)
7. Dark Dreamers 1:1
8. Trip to the Moon (1902)
9. Heroes of Horror 2
10. Twitches (2005)
11. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency 1:2
12. Trick r Treat (2009)
13. Harryhausen Chronicles (1998)
14. Bride of Monster Mania (2000)
15. Bloodsucking Cinema (2007)
16. MST3K: Touch of Satan (1971)
17. Fantastic Flesh (2008)
18. Carnival of Souls (1962)
    
19. Labyrinth (1986)
    
20. Monster Mania (1997)
    
21. MST3K: Zombie Nightmare (1986)

Books I read in October 2009

Cover of Kaleidoscope

1 graphic novel.  I enjoyed Werewolf of Fever Swamp and Scarecrow Walks at Midnight was eerie.  The artwork for The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena didn’t appeal to me as it seemed overly busy.

2 picture books.  Soma’s Ladybug Girl was very perky and fun but Zin! Zin! Zin! didn’t strike me as remarkable.

5 nonfiction books.  Weird Kentucky was enormous fun from beginning to end.  The other four had useful information.

2 biographical books.  Harris’ Klimt is a coffee table book and it is charming to look at.  Clapp’s biography of Elizabeth Blackwell was very readable and makes me curious to learn more.  Blackwell was remarkable to say the least.

1 children’s fiction.  I had long wanted to read Nesbit’s Wet Magic and while it doesn’t replace Enchanted Castle in my heart.

2 adult fiction.  Kaleidoscope, the sequel to The Clairvoyant Countess, was published 15 years later and has a much grimmer tone.  Definitely Dead was kind of depressing but took care of some dangling plot threads.

1. Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
2. Weird Kentucky by Jeffrey Scott Holland
3. Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin! by Lloyd Moss
4. Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy by David Soma
5. Greatest Gift Guide Ever by Judith King
6. Damn! Why Didn’t I Write That? by Marc McCutcheon
7. Wet Magic by E. Nesbit
8. FamilyFun’s Parties edited by Deanna F. Cook
9. Great Theme Parties for Children by Irene N. Watts
10. Kaleidoscope by Dorothy Gilman
11. Creepy Creatures by R. L. Stine (Gabriel Hernandez artist for “The Werewolf of Fever Swamp,” Greg Ruth artist for “The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight,” Scott Morse artist for “The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena.”)
12. The Life and Works of Gustav Klimt by Nathaniel Harris
13. Dr. Elizabeth: A Biography of the First Woman Doctor by Patricia Clapp

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• Books I read in September 2009 (moonlitgarden.wordpress.com)

The final days of Edgar Allan Poe

Image via Wikipedia

Here’s an interesting theory as to Poe’s final days.  It is depressing but fascinating.