WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Phase IV 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:14.880 My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:19.239 is Rob Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And today we 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:23.640 are discussing We're not only discussing an ANT movie, which 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:26.239 of course is a subset of Killer Bug movies in general. 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:31.040 We're discussing what might be the ANT movie, the most 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:34.840 ambitious AUNT movie, um in many ways, the most perplexing 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:38.319 and thought provoking AUNT movie. I'm super excited to talk 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:40.959 about it. Actually just had as a as a pre 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:44.320 recording snack a couple of ants on a log I 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.879 got out there, the salary and butter and the raisins. 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:50.519 It just felt appropriate, you know. I feel like that 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:54.000 reflects our higher AUNT consciousness now, because the important thing 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:56.840 to understand about ants is they don't even mind if 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:59.080 you eat a few of them. You know. But that's 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:02.360 sort of like the It's like the skin cells that 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:05.199 you would scrape off of somebody's hand while hugging them, 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:08.160 you know, it just like doesn't bother the colony as 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:10.960 a whole. And I would say that's actually reflective of 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:14.480 the movie we're talking about today overall. Uh, the movie 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:19.480 is the nineteen seventies sci fi ant flick Phase Four, 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:22.959 which we alluded to possibly doing an episode on in 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:26.880 our In our in our Core episode about ants building traps, 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.679 we talked about some biology papers about about aunt behaviors, 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:33.839 whether and whether these structures ants build should be understood 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:37.080 as traps or not. But this movie came up because 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:39.120 we were talking about ant movies and I said, you know, 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:41.640 there's this aunt movie I've been looking at in the 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.920 video store for years, just based on the DVD cover. 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.400 It's called Phase four. The cover is like this kind 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:50.720 of cool design, but it's got ants crawling out of 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:53.680 a hole in somebody's hand. Never seen it, and we 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.840 went in just based on the DVD cover and I'd 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:59.640 say this was a hit. Yeah, yeah. After we had 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:02.360 we had, I decided this is the one. UM. I 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:04.560 actually received word from someone on the stuff to blow 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:06.880 your mind discord emails if you want to invite to 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:09.799 that who They were like, yeah, this is this one's good. 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:12.600 You're gonna want to cover this one for a weird house. UM. 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:14.960 I also have, of course looked it up when we 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.520 were talking about I looked up in Michael Weldon Psychotronic 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:21.560 Encyclopedia film in which he called it quote a great 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:26.080 science fiction thriller starring countless real ants. So that that 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:28.960 was a solid endorsement, but it still wasn't able to 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.840 prepare me for all that was to come. Well, So 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:34.080 when I look at the other side of the critical 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:37.560 response to this movie, uh, I think some people have 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:41.360 been kind of critical of it lacking in human depth. 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:43.680 And I'll say, okay, I'm with them there. I mean 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.480 that this is not really a humans movie, and the 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:49.640 human characters there are few of them, and the ones 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:51.880 that are there, we don't learn much about them, and 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:55.000 they're not super dimensional. But I think that's okay, because 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:57.760 this is a movie that encourages you to also see 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:01.240 humans as sort of just a sells on the whole 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:05.680 body of the human species. Yeah. Yeah, and in very 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:09.680 delightful ways. It is a It is a movie almost 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:12.360 by ants, four ants. It is a movie that is 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:18.320 fresh on aunt Rotten Tomatoes. It is um it it is. 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:21.360 It is such an interesting film in so many ways, 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:25.079 like um, just it's it's gonna be fun to discuss everything. 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:29.280 Um I'm almost not sure where to start here. You know, 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:32.080 the funny thing about Aunt Rotten Tomatoes. Is there are 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:35.000 no in between scores. It's either a dent or zero 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:38.560 percent every time they're unified. Well, maybe we should talk 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:41.440 about ant movies more generally, because this is, of course 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.600 not the only one. In fact, I had a very 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:48.640 uh powerful, vivid memory that came rushing back to me 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:51.720 just the other day when when I started trying to 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:54.440 recual if I'd seen other AUNT movies before, and it 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.720 was a memory of being about twelve years old and 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:02.560 watching this terrible for TV killer ant movie that I 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:05.360 think was on the Fox Network or one of those 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.120 you know, um, it was one of those made for 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:11.080 TV movies that they used to advertise in the weeks 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:13.240 leading up to it. So they have a commercial with 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:16.479 you know, Don la Fontaine or somebody on there saying 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.640 this Sunday at eight nine Central, you will learn the 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:23.359 true meaning of terror ants and you get a music 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:25.640 sting and and man that I don't know if they 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:28.279 focus group tested that or whatever, but that worked on 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:30.880 my twelve year old brain I had That was like 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:34.200 I had to make an appointment to watch a movie 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:35.800 that that I went back and looked up and I 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:40.160 found out it is called Marabunta Colon Legion of Fire, 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:44.080 and I rewatched the trailer and oh, this looks stinky. 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:46.839 It looks like it is no good. It has some 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:52.440 absolutely atrocious c g I ants stripping a moose clean 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:56.039 down to the bone like piranhas on Land. Uh does 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:59.840 have Mitch Peleggie from the X Files and Shocker. And 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.080 it also has something that's common to some of these 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:05.640 ant movies where there are scenes of columns of army 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:08.919 ants that are treated like rivers of molten lava and 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:11.080 a volcano movie. So you get, I don't know, a 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:13.200 kid stranded up on top of a crate and then 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.600 on all sides of them, the ants are just flowing 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:17.200 and they've got to jump over them to get to 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:21.360 safety or something. What is it with Shocker connections, We're 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:23.800 gonna have another one of those coming up, that's right. 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:26.800 Uh So, I guess when I think of of ant 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:28.839 movies that I saw as a kid, I I my 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:32.360 mind probably goes to nineteen fifty four is them because 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:34.719 this one was in I think it was in pretty 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:39.400 pretty um tight rotation on like the Turner stations back 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:41.040 in the day, Like there's a pretty good chance you're 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:44.240 gonna catch part of them, uh, you know, especially on 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:48.440 like a Sunday afternoon. But but other notable AUNT movies 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:52.600 include nineteen seventy seven's Empire of the Ants. Uh. There's 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:57.360 also nineteen seventy seven's TV movie Ants with an exclamation point, 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:05.159 starring everyone's favorite Brooke, Robert Foxworth of um of what 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:07.320 was it? I can't remember the name of that movie 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:10.800 death Moon or some Moon, Death Moon Faint, but that 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:15.839 one also starred Suzanne Summers, Brian Dennah he uh, Anita Gillette. 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:18.279 This is the actor who played Liz Lemon's mom on 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:21.640 Dirty Rock, and also Bernie Casey. So does Foxworth play 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:24.800 another work beast in this movie? Um? I don't, and 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:26.880 I don't know. I'm guessing, like, yeah, maybe a laid 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:29.080 back work beast that has to go up against in 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:31.919 this case ants. I haven't seen it, but okay, it 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:37.400 sounds good. Um. Question about them though? Them is a 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:40.720 movie not with regular ants but with big ants. Right. 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:44.440 It's like an atomic age mutation movie. Correct? Correct? And 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:47.080 I think that that leads into our next major distinction 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:49.800 to make here. When we're talking about ant movies, you're 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:53.400 gonna either deal with giant ant movies or you're gonna 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:55.479 deal with normal sized ants. So it's either gonna be 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.640 a giant bug feature or it's gonna be a swarm feature. 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:01.599 And what's interesting about that is when you have the 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:05.320 giant ant um, it's going to be more about individual ants. 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:08.760 That's the spectacle of it, right. Uh this generally you're 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.520 doing a lot to get one giant ant on the screen, 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:17.120 But when you're dealing with the swarm, of course, you 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:20.200 have this more accurate reflection of what ants are. They 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:22.600 are not the individual, they are the group. Yeah, I 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:26.520 think that's right, and I would say broadly, I think 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:29.080 i'd break ant movies into three categories. So you've got 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:31.680 your giant ant movies, in which case the ant is 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:34.240 not really important. It's not important that it's an ant. 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:36.360 It's just a giant bug, and it could be any bug. 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:39.000 Could be a giant praying manness, giant spider is just 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:41.800 a giant bug that attacks. So I think that's probably 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:44.760 gonna be my least favorite kind overall, because that you 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:49.080 lose the essential anti nous, you know, the formic the 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:52.480 formic aromas of the premise is just like any giant 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.000 bugle do because they're just big and they'll tear you apart. 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:58.760 Might as well go with a more interesting solitary um 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:01.560 a bug, you know, in like arachnet, like a scorpion 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:05.679 for example. Sure, giant scorpion would be great. Giant spider obviously, okay, 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:07.640 but then when you break it down, you keep the 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:10.280 ants small. I think they're basically two ways you can go. 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:16.240 One is the um just ants as ants, like you know, 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:19.840 they're kind of an environmental threat almost that this comes 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:22.040 back to the like they're like rivers of molten lava 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:23.920 and a volcano movie. You know, they're just like as 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:26.920 the floor is lava, accept instead of lava, it's ants. 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:29.320 But then the other way to go is to think 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:33.400 about ants as a sort of organization principle and and 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:36.920 have the horror lie there. And that's actually where Phase 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:39.160 four goes, which I think is interesting to think about 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:42.480 ants not just as something that turns the floor into lava, 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:48.400 but something that has has organized behaviors that can surprise 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.640 you and make you afraid. Yeah. Yeah, that And that's 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:54.280 definitely the the realm that we're going to be venturing 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:57.560 into with Phase four. Here. I guess the real distinction 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:00.400 there is that like it does the danger of the 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:04.560 ants lie in their in their numbers alone or in 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:09.480 their youth sociality. And phase four it's in their youth sociality. Yeah, 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:12.040 and this is what we have to drive home. This 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:15.000 is definitely one of the more, if not the most 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:19.679 ambitious ANT movies and intelligent AUNT movies like there. They 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:23.200 really went for it with this particular film, trying to 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:28.880 to to use ants to their their full potential cinematically. So, uh, 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:31.560 it's it's a rare beast. I think it's a work 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:33.560 beast in many ways, because I would say this is 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:37.000 also a highly technical film as as we've already said, 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:40.040 you know, it may be lacking in some human depth, 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:43.840 but as a sort of visual art project, I'd say 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:45.880 this movie is is a home run. I mean it 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:50.960 is a a beautiful, weird celebration of geometry of like 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:55.720 colors and lines and angles and close up photography of ants, 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:58.120 and I would say very good special effects. There are 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:02.720 parts where the puppetry is so good. I sometimes couldn't 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:05.520 tell if I was looking at uh, you know, micro 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:08.120 photography of real ants or if it was one of 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:10.960 the puppets. Yeah, it was very difficult to tell. And 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:13.160 and I should also throw in that not only are 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:15.960 the visuals great, but the sound design and music is 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:18.840 also really noteworthy, and we'll we'll touch on that as 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:22.240 we go. Yeah. Now, Phase four was something of a 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:24.680 flop at the time. Apparently maybe he was ahead of 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:28.720 its time. Um, but over the years it's been particularly 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:34.000 influential on various visionary filmmakers. Apparently, um, I know it's 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:37.960 Michael Weldon liked it. I've read that um uh, Penas 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:41.760 Cosmontos was a fan of it. Apparently inspired Beyond the 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:43.920 Black Rainbow. Yeah, yeah, which is a film I have 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:48.240 a lot of admiration for. Um and and certainly having 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:50.720 seen Phase four now I can I can definitely see 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:56.520 where those inspiration points are. Um. Apparently apparently as well. Uh, 0:10:56.559 --> 0:10:58.840 this was also a film that was riffed in the 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:04.040 kt m A like like basically proto uh season of 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:07.240 Mystery Science Theater three thousand and uh. And that's an 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:09.920 episode you can actually find places, you know, uploaded on 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:12.880 video servers and all. I've never watched it because the 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.360 kt M A episodes are, um, you know, it's a 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:17.640 different beast. It was the first season. It's it's not 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:20.880 quite like watching a full blown MST. Three K episode. Yeah, 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:23.720 I would say in general, they're not as engaging, not 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:25.960 as good. And the weird thing about it is, I 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:27.760 recall some of the movie, so this is like when 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:30.920 they were a public access show in Minnesota or wherever 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:35.120 it was before they got syndicated became a national show. 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:37.440 But the weird thing about that early season is I 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:38.960 haven't seen a lot of them, but I know they 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:42.440 do some movies that are kind of seems like higher 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:46.600 budget maybe better movies than they do in the later seasons. Actually, 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:48.840 like I think they end up doing The Green Slime, 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:50.680 which is a movie we may come back to on 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.640 Weird House Cinema someday, especially because it's got its own 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:56.679 really groovy rock theme song. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think 0:11:56.679 --> 0:12:00.640 they'd quite calibrated what was an in st three K 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:04.480 film at that point. Um So at any right, if 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:06.959 if if our discussion here perks your interest and you're 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:09.960 not quite ready to watch it without some sort of 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:12.280 riffing structure in place, then you know, I guess you 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:14.760 could check out that Katie and A episode. But for 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:16.080 the most part, I think this is a film that 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:18.920 stands on its own and is richly enjoyable on its 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:21.800 own and more to the point, in high visual quality 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:24.560 that you're not going to get with the rip of 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:28.400 an old public access television broadcast. Now, while we're talking 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:31.400 about looking up this movie, I gotta say, also, as 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:34.760 a bizarre coincidence, as weird of a name as Phase 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:38.720 four with the Roman numeral for ivy is for a movie, 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:42.480 there is actually a totally unrelated other movie called Phase 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:44.800 four that came out in the early two thousands. It 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:51.040 looks like some kind of Dean Cane conspiracy action thriller. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:53.880 So word of warning, Uh, I don't get in too 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:55.920 much for a hurry when you're buying and renting this 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:57.800 when you don't want to wind up with the Brian 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:02.320 boss Worth film. If you watch Brian Bobsworth film, you 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:06.360 want to watch Stone Cold from So I've never seen 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:08.120 that one, but while we were chatting about this, uh, 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:10.160 you got me to look up stills from it and 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:15.520 Brian Buzzworth and Stone Cold is fresh. I mean, like, God, 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:19.240 look at his hair at the sunglasses. Yeah, it's ridiculous. Uh, 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:21.880 that was and I remember being a fun action B 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:24.720 movie because you have Lance Hendrickson's in it. William Forsythes 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:28.160 is in it. So it's a yeah, it's ridiculous. It's 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:33.040 like a biker fighting movie or something. Okay, okay, give 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:35.400 me the elevator pitch on phase four before we hit 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:39.280 the trailer audio. Okay, So, um, what if there was 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:43.439 some sort of a solar conjunction and it caused all 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.800 ants to suddenly declare a peace treaty and turn their 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:50.440 attention on other species on the rest of the world. 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:53.679 So basically a nature strikes back, but this time it 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:58.160 strikes smart and with you social precision. Great premise. Let's 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:08.360 hear some audio in the next few moments. We will 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:10.560 try to give you an impression of a new kind 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:15.560 of film experience. If your curiosity is aroused, you are 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:21.440 ready for phase four. How do you fight a horse 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:25.280 that knows what your next move will be before you 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:41.600 think of it? All right, that's a solid trailer right there. 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:44.200 I agree. And now one of the things we've already 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:46.080 talked about is that you know, I've had my theory 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.640 that really the star of this movie. If it is 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:50.880 not ants, you could say it's ants. But if it's 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.800 not ants, it's still not humans. It is visual geometry. 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:59.600 It's colors and lines and shapes and design. And I 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:02.280 think that totally makes sense once you realize who the 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:05.240 director of this film was, because I think the director, 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:07.960 Saul Bass, this was his only movie. Am I right 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.680 about that? This was his only feature length film. Yeah, 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:14.600 he did some other short films and experimental films and 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:18.560 some you know, sort of documentary style shorts, but this 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:21.360 is the the only full length film he did. And 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:24.800 it seems to me very much a graphic designers or 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:29.160 art director's kind of film. It's it's not really an 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:32.840 actor's film. It's not really very script driven. It's a 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:36.480 movie about showing you pictures, and the style of those 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:39.440 pictures reads very much to me. Is that that that 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:42.280 mid century modern design style, the kind of thing that 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.240 you see a lot on on mad Men or whatever. 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:47.880 And I think that makes sense because I've read that 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:51.280 mad Men was in many ways trying to copy the 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:55.400 style of the director of this film, Saul Bass. Yeah, 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:59.080 because Sall Bass is something of a legend um and 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:02.720 certainly in the graphic design field here. Uh. He lived 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:07.080 nineteen twenty through nineteen six and he was for Starters, 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:10.520 the title sequence title design guy of the day. He 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:14.200 crafted title sequences from for major films from the mid 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:17.640 nineteen fifties all the way through the mid nineties. We're 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:22.840 talking about the likes of the Seven Year Itch, Vertico, Psycho, Spartacus, 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:27.880 West Side, Story, Seconds, Broadcast News, Big Good Fellows, Cape, Fear, 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:31.080 and Casino. UM. I should also note note that in 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:33.760 addition to directing Phase four, he of course did the 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:36.560 title design. You're not gonna You're not if you're Seal Bad, 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:38.360 You're not gonna trust that to anybody else. This is 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:41.000 your baby. You're doing the titles, and the title design 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:46.640 is great. It is um. Like you said, The The 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.560 Madman is often credited as kind of an homage to 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:52.440 his work and some of the visual elements there. He 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.640 did logos as well for a number of big name 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:57.280 companies throughout the sixties, seventies, and eighties, and I was 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:00.320 reading something to about the longevity of his design lines 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:04.160 on that front. He also did some pretty famous movie posters, 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:08.359 including uh, the aforementioned films, but also Stanley Kubrick's The 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:12.000 Shining Oh that's interesting. Did did Saul Bass do the 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:16.920 credit sequence for Doctor No? The first James Bond movie? Uh? 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:19.600 That's I think he had some connection with the Bond film. 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:22.600 I didn't put it in my notes, but that sounds right, 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:25.280 if not dr No one of the Bond films he 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:27.680 has connections to. It seems to kind of fit into 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:30.600 his design clade that I was looking at some of 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:33.680 the rejected poster designs that he did for the Shining 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:36.399 uh stuff, Like he he had one that that heavily 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:41.359 featured the the Hedge Labyrinth, the Hedge Maze, and Kubrick 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:43.000 had rejected that one because he didn't want too much 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:45.679 focus to be put on that. But I was I 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:48.360 was reading a post about this that far out magazine 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:52.560 dot co dot uk, and it had images from the 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:56.040 original correspondence between Bass and Kubrick, and you can see 0:17:56.119 --> 0:18:00.640 that Saul Bass has has signed like the cover letter here, 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:04.600 and he includes this wonderful It's either an illustration or 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:08.600 a stamp of himself as a fish. So it's like 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:15.520 his sort of mild mannered, mustached, bespectacled uh face here 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:19.119 on a fish's body. Uh. It's pretty amusing. Is that 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:23.439 a joke on him being a Bass? I guess? So Yeah, 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:26.200 his Shining poster is worth looking up because I love 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:29.639 the design. It's like it shows just three sort of 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:34.480 silhouettes heading into the opening of of a maze, and 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:36.919 and part of me wonders if did Kubrick reject this 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:38.520 just because he was in a bad mood and he 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:42.359 was being difficult or yeah, maybe so because it's a 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:46.000 great poster now, Like we said, Phase four was Bass 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:48.240 is only full length film, though he made six other 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:53.000 short films, including Why Man Creates, from which won an 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:56.760 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. His other films 0:18:56.760 --> 0:19:01.160 include the nineteen eighty Robert Redford produced the Solar film 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:05.200 promoting solar energy over fossil fuels. He also made a 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:09.720 very interesting looking nine four short titled Quest, based on 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:13.320 the Ray Bradberry story Frost and Fire. I was like, 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:16.280 I looked this one up. I found a like a 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:19.040 rip of it on one of the video streaming sides, 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:21.960 but I didn't watch it because part in part it 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:24.520 it looks too interesting. I feel like I need to 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:28.200 see this in a uh like a higher visual format 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:31.480 or something I wonder discount there that collects his his 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:33.600 smaller works, or something I would hope to say yea, 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:36.960 or or perhaps there's one of the blue rays that 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:39.879 we allude to later on for this film has some 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.399 extras like that, but it looks very cool and definitely 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:46.680 has that the sort of the sci fi visual sensibilities 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:50.120 that will discuss in relation to this film. I also 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:51.679 want to point out that he often worked with his 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:56.240 wife and creative partner, Elaine Bass on these projects. Right, So, 0:19:56.240 --> 0:19:58.720 so if you've heard us talk in the past about 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:01.080 Rubbed the Firm movie, I would say this is a 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:03.800 really excellent example of one of those. This is a 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:07.600 design first movie and the pleasure of it is almost 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:14.080 all about texture. It is a celebration of surfaces. Now, 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:20.160 it did have a writer, um Mayo Simon Born. This 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:23.240 is the screenwriter who wrote the West World sequel Future 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.520 World in seventy six. This had Peter Fonda and youle 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:29.719 Brenner in it. Also the nineteen sixty nine film Maroon 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.959 starring Gregory Peck and Gene Hackman. That one won an 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:36.760 Academy Award for Visual Effects. But Simon went on to 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:40.280 create the NBC TV show Man from Atlantis, which I've 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:43.600 never heard of before, starring Patrick Duffy of Dallas Fame 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:46.800 and Belinda Montgomery, who some of you might remember as 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:50.520 being Doogie Howser's mom, I do not remember. It looks 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:53.960 very fun in a mid like mid seventies TV sci 0:20:54.000 --> 0:21:04.720 fi sort of way. Now, we we've already said that 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:07.960 this is not really an actor's film. In fact, it's 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:10.760 not even really a very human film. But we I 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:13.480 guess we should mention some of the cast members. Right 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:18.160 first and foremost, we have a Nigel Davenport playing Dr 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:23.920 Ernest D. Hubbs Um now Davenport Live, two thousand and thirteen, 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:27.280 English actor known for nineteen sixty six is a Man 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:30.520 for All Seasons, in which he played the Duke of Norfolk, 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:36.120 and es Chariots of Fire, in which he played Lord Birkenhead. 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:39.679 Um that that one had. I've only seen parts of 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:43.080 Chariots of Fire and it was many years ago. Um. 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:46.000 It's got a pretty extensive cast, so I I don't 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:48.440 specifically remember where he fit into that, But of course 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:51.720 it's a a famous movie, has a tremendous score by evangelist. 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:56.400 Nigel Davenport seems like an actor you call in for gravitas. Yeah. Yeah, 0:21:56.480 --> 0:21:58.480 he has a great presence and a great presence in 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:03.439 this where he plays the um determined and at times 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:07.280 reckless at times later on the film he basically becomes 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:13.560 kind of an ant focused captain ahab in anyways, so 0:22:13.600 --> 0:22:17.360 he has just a terrible case of mad scientist disease. Yes, 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:20.359 so he's He's perfect casting for this. I can't imagine 0:22:20.359 --> 0:22:23.080 anyone else here. Uh he was. He was also in 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:26.199 the nineteen seventy seven adaptation of H. G. Wells The 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:29.640 Island of Dr Moreau. This is when I fondly remember 0:22:29.720 --> 0:22:32.359 from catching on TBS or t n T back in 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:35.959 the day this one started Burt Lancaster and Michael york Um. 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:39.640 He apparently plays Scrooge's dad in the nineteen eighty four 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:43.120 George C. Scott adaptation of a Christmas Carol, And he's 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:45.880 also in nineteen eighty four is Gray Stoke, the Legend 0:22:45.920 --> 0:22:51.159