WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: It! The Terror from Beyond Space 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:06.120 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:16.440 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb. 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:17.840 And I am Joe McCormick. 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:20.680 And this week on Weird House Cinema, we're continuing some 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:24.040 of our alien related explorations with a film that is 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.840 frequently cited as one of the b movie influences on 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:31.760 alienscribe Dan O'Bannon, along with the likes of Mario Bob 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:34.879 as Planning the Vampires, which we've discussed in the show before, 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:38.320 but this week we're talking about it The Terror from 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:39.360 Beyond Space. 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:41.839 If you couldn't tell from the way Rob said it, 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:44.560 there is an exclamation point in the middle of the title. 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.680 I love midline punctuation other than a colon in a 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.080 title like it's this is two sentences. 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:55.960 Yes, I think we could have fit a question mark 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:58.240 in there as well, though, like it the Terror from 0:00:58.280 --> 0:00:59.840 Beyond Space, we don't know. 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:02.800 I really liked this movie, but I feel like the 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:06.920 title is misleading. In what way is the Terror from 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:10.479 Beyond Space? It's just like a thing somewhere out there 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:12.840 in space. It's from another planet, a known planet. 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.520 Actually, well, I guess you know. At this point, maybe 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:17.880 people had seen enough movies where the terror is from 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:20.280 space and they're like, well, can we get beyond that? 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:21.640 What's the next logical step? 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:25.480 It suggests some kind of like interdimensional love crafty and 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:28.280 sort of origin. It's not there. This is the Terror 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:29.080 is from Mars. 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:33.039 Yes. I really like some of the posters for this 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:36.280 particular movie. One of them that I pulled up and 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.280 included in our notes here is the nice horizontal poster 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:42.960 we see some version of the monster holding a woman. 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:48.320 Of course, one of the classic staples of the old 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:51.560 Monster movie is one that I love, and I love 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.920 some of the promises on this particular poster. It says 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:58.720 it reaches through space. It scoops up men and women. 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:00.680 It gorgeous on blood. 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.160 Now is there any way to reach other than through space? 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:08.320 I guess one could reach through time, possibly with one's 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:09.400 mind or something. 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:11.679 Yeah, yeah, I guess I'll reached through space. Is it 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:13.520 reached through time? I'm not sure. 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:16.839 But it scoops up men and women, It scoops them. 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:19.560 Here's the thing. It definitely scoops up men. Does it 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:20.640 ever scoop up a woman? 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:24.079 I don't recall it scooping. No, it's gonna get men 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:25.000 multiple times. 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:27.919 Yeah. Another case where the monster holding a woman is 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:29.799 a complete lie on the poster. 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:32.880 Yeah, I was trying to think, what's the name of 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:34.799 the wrestling move that it does with the guy where 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:37.880 it just like fully like you know, presses a guy 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:39.760 above above its head. 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.040 That is fitting least, I believe, sometimes called a gorilla press, 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:47.280 which is fitting because, as we'll discuss, we have a 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:50.200 veteran gorilla suit actor playing our monster. 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:54.080 It the Terror from Beyond Space aka Mars, has a 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:57.640 sort of a gorilla esque silhouette, especially in some shots. 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:00.960 Absolutely, and the silhouettes work really well. This is a 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.480 movie that has a i think, especially for the time, 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:07.080 a pretty great monster costume. There's some flaws, as we'll discuss, 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:11.320 that weren't necessarily within the control of the monster suit maker, 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:16.480 but more importantly, one of I mean, the most important 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:18.360 thing about a monster suit is you've got to you 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:20.359 got to shoot it right, you gotta light it correctly, 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:22.720 you gotta know what to show and what not to show. 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:25.760 And they don't do that perfectly in this film either, 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:27.919 but there are moments where it works really well. 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:31.160 I agree. The movie has a pretty good understanding of 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:34.520 how to use how to use shadows, and how to 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.520 obscure the monster so as to heighten the suspense, and 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:41.480 to use what looks good about the monster performance and 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:44.240 try to avoid what doesn't look so good about it. 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.000 And in fact, you may recall the director of this movie, 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:50.240 Edward L. Kahn, also directed another movie we did on 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:54.880 Weird House, the Creature with the Adam Brain, and that 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:57.080 that was a hoot. Of course, that one I think 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.440 was much funnier than this movie. This one I think 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:05.040 overall works better on its own terms when taken more seriously, 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:08.720 But in both cases the director was good at using 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.640 like shadows of the creature instead of a direct shot 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:13.400 of the creature. 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:16.120 Yeah, yeah, it's you know, it's obviously a lower budget 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:19.680 late fifties affair, but still it's a fun and an 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:24.200 effective ride. Like not everything is great, but everything comes 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:27.080 together enough that it has this kind of structural integrity, 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:31.480 the structural completeness that is very enjoyable, especially when you 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:35.000 consider that this film was shot in well as many 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:37.440 as two weeks. I've seen two weeks sighted, but I've 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:42.039 also seen six days sided as the shooting period for 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:43.080 this picture I. 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:45.039 Think isn't that what John Carpenter said about it in 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:46.560 the interview we watched. 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.760 Yeah, Carpenter in let's see what was this? A twenty 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:53.040 fifteen appearance on Turner Classic Movies. He says it was 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:57.200 shot in six days, which does not seem unreasonable given 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:59.359 what we know about the director and productions of this 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:00.000 time period. 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:02.799 It's a fun interview Carpenter does about the movie because 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:06.080 he clearly has great affection for it. This is something 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:09.640 he saw as a child, and it's stuck with him, like, 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:13.200 you know, you can tell he's still even as an 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.719 adult going back and watching it, sees it with a 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:19.720 little kid brain and appreciates it in that way. And 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.840 you know, that's something I always enjoy when I'm able 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:24.680 to do it, when I'm able to like turn off 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:28.279 adult brain and become a child again watching a movie 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:32.280 maybe on the sillier end of the spectrum. And Yeah, 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:36.239 but he says another thing about the movie, which is that, Okay, 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:40.680 it does have some pretty large technical flaws, and we 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:42.479 can talk about some of those as we go on, 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:47.200 but considering the how small the budget was, how fast 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:51.080 it was made, it's actually a pretty impressively effective picture. 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:53.680 He says, a quote about it, it's something like it 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:56.760 has a great little engine that runs it or something 0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:01.080 like that, And I totally agree. There is a There 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:06.400 is a strong sort of mechanical tactile feeling to the 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:08.200 plot and a lot of the scenes, and it works 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:10.080 really well. It just kind of pushes you through. 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:12.200 Yeah, Yeah, it's kind of I guess it's like thinking 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:13.839 about what is the car supposed to do? Is supposed 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:15.720 to drive you from point A to point B. What's 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:18.080 a movie's supposed to do? Well, answer is a little 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:21.000 more complicated, but essentially entertain us and tell us a 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:23.719 story and allow us to be immersed in that story. 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:26.200 And this film does all of those things. Even if 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.000 you were to be picky about it, you could be like, well, 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.359 look at that hubcap, look at that tail light, you know, 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:33.520 but hey, it all comes together and you make it 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:34.320 to your destination. 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.040 Look at that whatever chin or something poking out of 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:38.000 the monster's mouth. 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.760 Yeah, and in the end too, you know, it's like, 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:45.839 we have some pretty pretty solid performances in here. We 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:50.359 have some effective scenes, some that are I think actually 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:52.480 quite scary, that still hold up and have a certain 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.640 amount of tension and terror to them. Michael Weldon and 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:58.599 the Psychotronic Film Guide praised it as a quote pretty 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:02.480 scary space ar And you know, I think it depends 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:05.760 what you compare it to. You know, obviously it's a 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:09.680 very interesting exercise to compare this to Alien, but it's 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:12.960 also a little unfair to hold it to that, to 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:16.000 that level, you know. But on its own terms, it 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:21.200 has some some scares, some jump scares, some creepy atmospheric moments. 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:22.080 I really liked it. 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:24.560 I agree, And I also agree that as far as 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:27.480 the sort of set pieces, the horror set pieces go, 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:32.600 I think O'Bannon correctly selected the best elements to lift. 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:35.000 Like some of the best stuff in the movie is 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:37.720 the stuff that gets copied over into the alien plot. 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:40.560 Yeah. So we'll have more to say about all this 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:44.680 as we proceed, but elevator pitcher this film, I think 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:46.880 all you have to say is alien stow away. 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:50.320 I'd add another element. I'd say there's like two parallel 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:53.880 elevator pitches. One is alien stow away, the other is 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:55.559 murder on Mars question. 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:59.360 Mok, that's true. I would say that's the beat plot 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:03.760 that's sad, kind of gets shuffled aside. But it's a 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:06.640 nice what if, like, what if they had really been 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.840 able to deliver both in equal volumes, or if someone 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:10.720 were to re explore it. 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:12.560 Today intriguing idea. 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:15.720 Yeah, well, if you want to watch it The Terror 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.360 from Beyond Space before proceeding here. This one is pretty 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:22.800 widely available in digital and physical formats, including a twenty 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:26.120 twenty three KL Studio Classics Blu Ray release that has 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.600 a new HD master, a FEATURETTE, and I think three 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.319 different commentary tracks. I ended up not being able to 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:33.960 pick this one up. I think they do have it 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:37.120 at Video Drone, but I ended up watching a quality 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:39.440 stream of it that I think must be the HD master, 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:42.320 and it looks it looks pretty darn good. 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:44.920 The stream I watched also looked pretty sharp. 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:47.880 All right, let's get into the people here. So we 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.760 mentioned the director already, and again we have talked about 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:54.400 this director before because it is the One Week Wonder. 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:57.360 It is Edward L. Cohn, who lived eighteen ninety nine 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.880 through nineteen sixty three, who also directed The Creature with 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:03.480 the Adam Brain that was released in fifty five. 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:06.600 So I've really enjoyed both of the movies of his 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.920 we watched, but I recall Creature with the Adam Brain 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:17.240 being more silly, being more very fun, but a more ludicrous, 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:21.840 goofy low budget monster movie, and this one being surprisingly 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:23.040 tight by comparison. 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:25.720 Yeah yeah. Creature with the Adam Brain had kind of 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:29.360 a serial energy to it, like an old old action 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.280 serial kind of vibe, and this one is, you know, 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:36.480 it's very identifiable as as space horror proto space horror 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:38.520 in many ways, and you can see why it was 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:39.360 such an influence. 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:42.600 Creature with the Adam Brain was the movie that had 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:45.120 the news broadcasts by Dick Cutting. 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:47.400 Yes, oh, good old Dick Cutting. Yes. 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:47.680 Yeah. 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:52.120 So. Con was a highly prolific low budget director for 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:56.120 three decades, directing one hundred and twenty eight films. Many 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:58.160 of you may be familiar with. Some of his nineteen 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.280 fifties horror and sci fi films is fifty seven's Invasion 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:05.000 of the Saucermen and the Zombies of Maritau nineteen fifty six, 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.440 Is The She Creature, nineteen fifty nine's Invisible Invaders, and 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:11.160 The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake. He also did a 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:15.240 lot of westerns action films, biker films, and various social 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:19.000 exploitation films of the thirties, forties, fifties, and early sixties. 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:22.080 So it just to give you an idea of like 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:24.880 how fast he was pumping these out, how fast the 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:27.400 one week wonder was getting these done. It. The Terror 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.600 from Beyond Space is one of five con films released 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:32.040 in the year nineteen fifty eight. 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.560 Even Roger Corman only did five movies in nineteen fifty eight, 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:39.040 Oh wow, but he did do eight in nineteen fifty seven. 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:42.480 I mean there are some years where Corman was pumping 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.840 him out in such quantity that he's unequaled. 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:48.600 Yeah, whenever you're feeling a little too proud of yourself, 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.280 you think, have I made eight movies this year, three 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.720 of which are about atomic radiation, and two of which 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:55.240 have the word naked and the title. 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:01.120 Now getting to the screenplay. The screenplay is by Jerome Bixby, 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.640 who lived nineteen twenty three through nineteen ninety eight American 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:08.240 writer and composer, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:12.320 who also wrote various short stories and two novels, Call 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.280 for an Exorcist and Space by the Tale, both published 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.319 in sixty four. His nineteen fifty three story It's a 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:21.000 Good Life was adapted as an episode of the Twilight 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:24.560 Zone in nineteen sixty one, and also revisited in Twilight Zone. 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:26.440 The movie this is the one about the six year 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:29.920 old boy with godlike powers that can wish you into 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:33.360 the cornfield and so yeah, now it The Terraform Beyond 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:37.520 Space was only his second produced screenplay, following CON's Curse 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:40.200 of the Faceless Man from the same year. He also 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:44.160 has a story credit on nineteen sixty six Is Fantastic Voyage. 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:47.120 We often think about Isaac Asimov in relation to that picture, 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.640 but we have to remember he only wrote the novelization, 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:53.520 he was not involved in the screenplay, and also Bixby 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.240 wrote four episodes of the original Star Trek series. 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:58.840 I'd say the screenplay, like some of the other things 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:01.760 we've been talking about, you could look at from multiple angles. 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:05.120 Is it high art? No? Is it super smart? 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:06.000 No? 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:08.440 I mean it's it's got some kind of gaps and 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:13.319 flaws in it and some failed characterization, but it's for 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.040 what it is and for the level of movie this is. 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:17.960 I feel like it's a pretty tight plot. 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.960 Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's it's efficient, it's economic, there's 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:23.839 not really a dull moment, and it's got some nice 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:25.880 little splashes of dialogue here and there, which of course 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:29.600 are helped along by a really solid cast of character 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:32.960 actors and some leading act Yes, I agree. And speaking 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:36.720 of starting at the top, we have Marshall Thompson playing 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:42.160 the character Colonel Edward Carruthers. Thompson lived nineteen twenty five 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:45.640 through nineteen ninety two, all American actor who we've talked 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:48.760 about on the show before because he was in a 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:51.960 little film from nineteen fifty eight titled Fiend Without a Face. 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:55.280 Ah. This is the Brain Attack movie, the one that 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:58.080 takes place at I think it's a research installation up 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:00.920 in Canada or in Alaska. It's some or sort of 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:05.439 arctic location, and the idea is that a remote military 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:09.120 base that's doing experimental I don't know whether something or 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:13.200 other gets attacked by invisible brains and spinal columns. 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:18.240 Yeah. A film that's mostly notable for really incredible stop 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:21.839 motion brain monsters and some very squishy sound effects to 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:25.040 go along with them. Generally not notable for the acting. 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:27.200 In fact, I remember it's just kind of commenting that 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.600 Marshall Thompson was kind of like a square joed, you know, 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.000 kind of boring actor like they're just you know, very 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:34.280 lukewarm performance. 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:36.400 That is what I thought of him in that movie. 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.079 I'd say he's a good bit better in this actually. 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:41.480 Yeah, this film gives him a lot more to work with. 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.160 He has a more complex character. So on one level, 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:47.600 he is the square jod chick magnet hero per usual, 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:50.640 but especially early on in the picture, he's also the 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:54.640 lone survivor of a terrifying encounter on an alien world 0:13:55.080 --> 0:14:00.920 who has subsequently been condemned to the firing squad you know, 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:05.320 all but officially for the murder of his crew. And 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:08.800 so he is able to work with that, and you 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:10.560 do see that in his performance. He has like kind 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:14.520 of a nice haunted look, especially throughout the first you know, 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:15.240 third of the. 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:18.000 Picture, framed for homicide by a star beast. 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:18.600 Yeah. 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.840 Yeah, it's an unusual type of character, but it's good. 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:23.800 Yeah. So I set out to be kind of again 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.400 bored by his performance, as one often is I think 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:29.920 with leading man performances from genre pictures of this time 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:33.200 period for various reasons we've discussed in the show before. 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:35.720 But I ended up enjoying his performance. 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:37.480 Somewhat totally agree better than average. 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:39.400 Yeah, yeah, I'm not gonna go through everything we said 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:41.400 about him last time, but basically, he's a guy who 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:47.440 kind of has like two prongs to his filmography. They're 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:51.040 the cult films and then they're like the good natured 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.520 animal films. So he did like a horse movie called 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:57.440 Gallant Bess in forty six, and then sixty five's Clearance 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:01.600 The Cross Eyed Lion, and so forth. His final film 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:05.080 role was a supporting role in nineteen ninety one's mc bain, 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:10.080 an action movie starring Christopher Walken, Michael Ironside and also 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:14.680 featuring Louise Gouzman in a supporting role. But I don't 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:18.160 think I was familiar with mc bain outside of the 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:21.280 yelling McBain on The Simpsons and having the fictional action 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:24.440 hero McBain, which when I looked into it a little 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:28.120 bit more. Apparently this movie, the ninety one movie McBain, 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.320 came out after the Simpsons jokes, and because of it, 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:34.760 the Simpsons had to stop making McBain jokes. I don't 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:37.680 know if that's completely true, but that's the argument I've heard. 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.160 I don't think they stopped doing mc bain jokes. I 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:44.440 remember mc bain jokes going well into the last seasons 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:46.360 I saw, at least like season seven and eight. 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:49.120 Maybe they came back after a while and they had 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:51.360 to like just hush it for a bit. I don't know. 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:53.360 But then again I thought I was familiar with Christopher 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:56.720 Walken's filmography, and then mc bain feels like one that 0:15:56.800 --> 0:15:59.520 just came out of nowhere, that did not previously exist, 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:02.600 And just suddenly I jumped onto a different timeline. 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:06.560 Which episode is it where McBain is delivering a palette 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.240 of UNICEF pennies out of an airplane and then he 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.080 gets attacked by COMMI Nazi fighter jets. 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:14.200 I don't remember that one. 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:17.120 He has to jump down and punch through the cockpit. 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:21.200 Anyway, if anyone out there has seen mc bain from 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:24.760 nineteen ninety one, well right in and we would like 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:35.040 to hear from you, all right, continuing on with the 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:37.040 rest of the cast here, We're not going to do 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:38.760 the whole cast because this is still one of those 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.400 films where there are just a lot of at least 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:44.360 on the surface, interchangeable guys. 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:49.200 But I really lost track of the guys multiple times 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:49.600 in this. 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:52.440 Yeah, though I did find it easier to keep track 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.560 of them on the whole compared to a lot of movies, 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:58.320 because on the whole, the cast is pretty good, and 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:00.480 you know, we got some nice character actors in there, 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.240 and the screenplay also seems to be doing a little 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:05.280 extra work to keep us from getting too confused. 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.119 Well yeah, but I am going to ding it for 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:10.960 one thing, which is that they do a role call 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:14.720 of the cast early on, where you're like, oh great, Fortunately, 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:17.840 like all the cast members sound off, they call in 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:20.080 on the radio, they say their name and it shows 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:22.080 you their face. I'm like, this is a good way 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.280 to just familiarize you quickly with all the characters and 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:27.760 what their names are. But there are characters who don't 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:31.399 participate in the role call. Later you think you know 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:33.240 them all, and then just random other people are in 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:35.280 the mix. It's like, wait, I don't remember that guy. 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:37.520 Yeah, some sort of cast system in play here. 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:38.719 Did not say present. 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:42.480 All right. So Marshall Thompson is playing our doomed guy, 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:45.520 or seemingly doomed guy who needs to be picked up 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:48.800 from Mars because his mission to Mars ended in terror 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:51.800 and death. Yeah, we have this rescue crew coming in 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:53.320 to pick him up, and that's where we get into 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:56.480 the rest of the cast, and this mission is headed 0:17:56.560 --> 0:18:01.160 up by Colonel Van Heusen played by him Spalding, who 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:04.560 lived nineteen fifteen through the year two thousand. American stage, 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:07.359 screen and TV actor the forties, fifties, and sixties, I 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:11.000 think best known for this film. He worked in various westerns. 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:13.640 I think, sometimes played a villain, sometimes played a hero. 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:16.720 He has that kind of gaunt, stern look that I 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:19.160 think allowed him to jump back and forth between the two. 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:21.960 Yeah, he played The character he plays in this movie 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:25.920 is relatively stoic. You can imagine he's used well as 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:30.720 kind of like a moderately threatening man with dark moods. 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:35.240 Yeah. Yeah. I was reading on a classic film board 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:39.120 about some of his roles, and apparently he played Doc 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:42.560 Holiday in a nineteen fifty four TV western series called 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:47.000 Stories of the Century, And apparently he played a villainous 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:49.760 Doc Holiday in this. So Doc Holliday is like using 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:51.959 his dentistry to torture people or something. 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:54.200 WHOA. 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:56.240 So that's the kind of range he had here. But 0:18:56.320 --> 0:18:59.600 in this he's essentially one of the heroes. But there's 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:04.440 there's some misunderstandings involved as well. All Right, we also 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:09.320 have the character Anne Anderson, one of the scientists aboard 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:13.040 the vessel, played by Shirley Patterson. I believe she's credited 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:15.920 on this as Sean Smith. This is She lived nineteen 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:18.480 twenty two through nineteen ninety five, Canadian actress of the 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:21.320 forties and fifties, best known for her roles in fifty 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:24.760 six is World Without End, fifty seven's The Land Unknown, 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:28.520 and the nineteen forty three Batman serial, which I've seen 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:32.199 parts of. It's very hard to watch because it's just 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:35.639 it's boring. But in this yeah, she's a scientist, I 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:38.760 think a geologist, but she's also the captain's girlfriend. 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:41.879 Apparently this movie's approach to gender is not one of 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:46.479 its most sort of future anticipating moves. So like, there 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:49.600 are two women aboard the ship as members of the crew, 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:52.639 and they are both scientists, but they are also the 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:56.720 significant others of other crew members, and they have to 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:58.879 do all the cooking and the serving of coffee. 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:01.080 So yeah, multiple. 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:03.200 Reviewers have pointed that out, and it's not the only 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:05.040 movie of the time like that, by the way, where 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:07.680 there's like, oh, you know, there's one woman on this crew. 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:11.280 She is a scientist. We are going to the dinosaur planet. 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:12.600 She's also the ship's cook. 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:15.840 Yeah. Yeah, it's not one of the best aspects of 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.640 the picture. There's no Ripley on this crew. Ripley would 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:20.879 never Yeah, she would tell you to get your own 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:23.159 darn coffee. And you know, even if it is and 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:24.840 it's the best thing on the ship, so of course 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.800 you should get your own coffee. The other female that 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:31.480