cinema history class: x: the man with the x-ray eyes (1963)

The session: "June is Corman! Corman is June!"
In memory of famed director (who died in May), Roger Corman, we view four films that he directed.

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Week 3: X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963)
Directed by Roger Corman

My Level of Prior Knowledge
I hadn't heard of this.

Plot:
A doctor has developed eyedrops to improve people's vision, and tests them on himself, with interesting results.

Reaction and Other Folderol:
First things first, there's something I need to get off my chest about this movie. It's not a big deal. Or, at least, it shouldn't be. But there's something that bugged me -- more than I should have let it. And you'll think I'm petty for caring about it and mentioning it. At the start of the movie, Dr. Xavier talks about his motivation for developing his experimental eyedrops. He talks about how people can only see a very limited subset of the electromagnetic spectrum. But that's not the limitation that the drops addressed. Or at least it's not the only issue they addressed. In the first experiment we see, the drops give a monkey some level of x-ray vision. That's very different from an extended visual range. And that's what we see as the movie unfolds: the drops produce all kinds of enhanced vision. The full nature of the enhanced vision isn't even made clear. So maybe my issue can be explained away very simply -- Dr. Xavier had one idea in mind, and his experimental eyedrops did a lot more. That's not really problematic. In fact, it makes perfect sense as the premise for a movie. So I really shouldn't complain about this. But, damn, I already wrote this long paragraph and I don't want it to go to waste. So spare me your lectures about sunk cost.

Putting all that aside (and, please, let's do put it aside), X is an interesting and cerebral film. At times it meanders as Dr. Xavier goes from adventure to adventure, fleeing the trouble that he and his experiment have gotten him into. And things go from bad to worse until the ultimate denouement, which seems like something The Twilight Zone would have done. It's actually impressive that they were able to accomplish so much on such a small budget. The evolution of Dr. Xavier's eyes was truly horrifying.

I hadn't thought about it until Vin noted it, but there are ways that this felt like The Invisible Man or a variation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Myself, I saw more of Flowers for Algernon and Mr. Superinvisible. But that last one may be because of the party scene. But that party scene was great. Ray Milland, as Dr. Xavier, was great with his sly lecherous grin.

Overall, a very strong film.

Ratings
Me: 8
Bob-O: 9.7
Dave: 9.5
Ethan: 9
Joe: 10
Vin: 7.5

cinema history class: the undead (1957)

The session: "June is Corman! Corman is June!"
In memory of famed director (who died in May), Roger Corman, we view four films that he directed.

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Week 2: The Undead (1957)
Directed by Roger Corman

My Level of Prior Knowledge
I hadn't heard of this.

Plot:
An experiment with hypnosis sends a woman back in time to one of her earlier lives

Reaction and Other Folderol:
The Undead is an exercise in contrasts. It's a story of damnation and a story of salvation. And it's an odd mix of science fiction and fairytale. It also explores a topic that fascinates me (and that is often poorly portrayed), the fact that all aspects of our lives are interrelated. And the fact that you can't simply change one thing and expect everything else to remain intact.

The ending was way more Twilight Zoney than I was expecting, but that saved a sometimes-confusing plot. Once again I am learning that not all low-budget directors are the same. Roger Corman is definitely not Ed Wood. 

Ratings
Me: 8.5
Bob-O: 9.6
Ethan: 8
Joe: 10
Rich: 8

cinema history class: day the world ended (1955)

The session: "June is Corman! Corman is June!"
In memory of famed director (who died in May), Roger Corman, we view four films that he directed.

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Week 1: Day the World Ended (1955)
Directed by Roger Corman

My Level of Prior Knowledge
I hadn't heard of this.

Plot:
After a nuclear war, seven people find themselves in a sheltered valley. They survived the war. Can they survive each other?

Reaction and Other Folderol:
This wasn't really what I was expecting. Because of Corman's reputation for putting together movies on a tight budget, I was expecting a trashy kind Plan 9 type of thing. But apparently Roger Corman was very different from Ed Wood. Despite the low budget and sometimes claustrophobic feel, this was a very good movie. And it was, dare I say it, surprisingly cerebral.

I did enjoy some cute touches that blurred that played with the distinction between beginning and ending. And the movie did a good job of teasing us early on by just showing a little bit of the main antagonistic monster (that is, the nonhuman one).

There was one element of the movie that I think was too subtle. There was a secondary plot involving that monster and one of the women. It was clear that the movie was trying to imply something. But it wasn't entirely clear what. I guessed correctly at part of it, but the rest eluded me. Keith explained afterwards, since none of us got it. And that was a loss, because that understanding would have turned an "oh, that's clever" moment at the end into a full-blown "Holy Shit!"

The characters were reasonably well developed, so the interaction was interesting to watch. And rooting for one person over another was pretty easy. But there were ways that the characterizations were inconsistent, which detracted from the overall movie.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I failed to mention that this reminded me of the terrible 1992 sitcom, Woops!. But that show sucked, so maybe I shouldn't mention it. Too late.

Ratings
Me: 8.75
Bob-O: 9.4
Ethan: 6
Joe: 10
Rich: 8

cinema history class: yog, monster from space (1971)

The session: "Japanese Sci-Fi"
Four Japanese science fiction movies -- but not the cliche giant monster kind

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Week 4: Yog, Monster from Space (1971)
Directed by Ishiro Honda

My Level of Prior Knowledge
I hadn't heard of this.

Plot:
A space probe is infiltrated by an alien life form. It wreaks havoc and destruction upon its return to earth.

Reaction and Other Folderol:
I really should like this movie more than I did. The premise is a reasonably good one, even if it's been done in other films. And the giant squid was really fun to watch. But once the squid was gone, replaced with other giant sea creatures, the magic was kind of gone.

The thing here is that this was a lot like the Tsuburaya giant monster movies featuring the likes of Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan. And the fact is I never really developed an affection for those films.

Ratings
Me: 6
Bob-O: 9.1
Christina: 8.5
Dave: 9.5
Ethan: 7

cinema history class: terror from beneath the sea (1966)

The session: "Japanese Sci-Fi"
Four Japanese science fiction movies -- but not the cliche giant monster kind

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Week 3: Terror from Beneath the Sea (1966)
Directed by Hajime Sato

My Level of Prior Knowledge
I hadn't heard of this.

Plot:
Reporters attending an underwater missile test discover a city full of water cyborgs -- and an evil villain running the show.

Reaction and Other Folderol:
Before staring, I'd like to note that one of the alternate titles was Agent X-2: Operation Underwater. In some ways that title is less descriptive, but I still like it better.

There's a strong element of James Bond-styled adventure here. Especially in the form of the sunglasses-clad villain. And that's just one of the many obvious influences that went into this mix. I can see where this borrowed from any number of zombie movies.

In many ways, the movie is very silly, what with the ill-fitting cyborg costumes, the very simple controllers for the cyborgs, and other things like that. But it still produced a lot of suspense -- way more than a movie this cheesy should be expected to manage. The effects were very...effective despite being primitive. And there was great incidental music. And I did love the villain's monologue. 

Ratings
Me: 8.5
Bob-O: 9
Christina: 8.7
Dave: 9.3
Ethan: 6.5
Joe: 10