This Island Earth
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Movie Reviews of This Island Earth
Movie Review: This Island Earth
Summary: 5 Stars
Is is fantistic, definatly a true classic in a great CD form.Movie Review: "Here's something my wife could use in the house. An interociter incorporating an electron sorter."
Summary: 4 Stars
Here's an interesting bit of trivia (okay, maybe not so much interesting, but worth noting, at least)...seems the film This Island Earth (1955) was one of the first major science fiction features filmed in Technicolor, a process that actually had been around, in various states, since the early twentieth century. Directed by Joseph M. Newman (The Gunfight at Dodge City, Tarzan, the Ape Man), the film stars Rex Reason (The Creature Walks Among Us), Faith Domergue (It Came from Beneath the Sea, Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet), and Jeff Morrow (Kronos, The Giant Claw). Also appearing is Lance Fuller (The She-Creature), Robert Nichols (Giant), and Russell Johnson (Attack of the Crab Monsters), probably best known as `The Professor', from the mid 1960s series "Gilligan's Island".
As the film begins we meet a scientist named Dr. Cal Meacham (Reason), preparing to leave Washington D.C. after attending a conference on atomic energy. Anyway, Cal borrows a jet to fly home (must be nice), and upon arriving, his plane conks out due to some showboating (nice play, Shakespeare), but Cal is saved as a mysterious force takes control and lands the vehicle safely, much to the amazement of Cal and his dopey assistant named Joe (Nichols), who I think is supposed to provide a comedic element for the film, failing miserably I might add. But wait, there's more...shortly after Cal's return he receives a catalog featuring advanced electronic components related to assembling something called an `interocitor', which turns out of be a fancy, schmancy triangular television with some pretty amazing and far out capabilities (actually, it looks a bit like the drive-thru order box at a fast food restaurant, but that's neither here nor there). Once constructed, Cal receives a message from a melon headed, white haired nerdlinger type named Mr. Exeter (Morrow), who invites Cal to join a mysterious brain trust whose purpose appears to be development of new forms of atomic energy. His curiosity piqued, Cal hops a plane (one which he isn't piloting, thankfully), and ends up in a remote location somewhere in Georgia where he hooks up with Exeter (apparently he's dropped the `Mr' routine), Dr. Ruth Adams (Domergue), another scientist named Steve Carlson (Johnson), among others...eventually Cal learns Exeter is not of this Earth (well duh) and his motives for assembling Team Brainiac not as altruistic as originally stated, which leads to Cal and Ruth trying to escape, only to get beamed aboard Exeter's spacecraft (commence the probings), complete with swishy doors, and transported to Exeter's home planet called Metaluna (once you reach Neptune, hang a right and go about three billion miles, look for the Stuckeys and you're there). As far as what happens next you'll just have to watch the film, but I will share this, there's aliens, an honest to goodness flying saucer, ookie mutants with huge brains and oversized claws with a penchant for pinching, killer remote-controlled meteors, some dude named The Monitor (sound ominous, doesn't it?), matte paintings of fantastic alien landscapes, and so on...
I really liked this film a lot...sure, the acting leaves something to be desired (Rex Reason probably could have been replaced with a tree and few would have noticed), but there appeared to be a real sense of ambition towards the presentation of the material. The main strength of this film is the special effects, which, in my opinion, come off pretty well. Certainly compared to today's standards they'll seem hokey, but I'm betting when the film was originally released audiences were amazed and I'll doubt few left the theater feeling like they didn't get their money's worth. The bits I thought really odd were how some of these so called scientists, at least the ones who didn't have their minds `toyed' with, at the Georgia facility seemed so slow on the uptake with regards to figuring out their host was an alien (I would have thought the ginormous cranium a dead giveaway). And then once they did figure it out, no one seemed that surprised or shocked. Honestly, had it been me being abducted and taken a bazillion miles into outer space, ending up on some alien planet I would have been seriously freaking out, but neither Cal nor Ruth really seemed all that upset. Perhaps scientists are made of sturdier stuff than us non-brainy types, of which I consider myself one. As far as the characters there was some promising development early on, but it eventually faded as those introduced fell into homogenous roles (Reason the rugged, masculine hero type, Domergue the attractive screaming mimi in peril, etc.). Morrow's character of Exeter did seem to have the most potential, in terms of his altering certain plans based on his developing an understanding of humans after spending time with them, but this sort of petered out a bit, taking a backseat to the visual aspects present in the film, which is a fairly common pitfall in the genre, especially in today's films, in terms of flashy effects superseding the more substantial elements of the story. All in all you can certainly find plenty of fault with this feature, but I'd suggest viewing the film with a slightly less critical eye, as not to miss all the fun.
The picture, presented in fullscreen (1.33:1), does look really good, despite areas that exhibit some minor signs of age (there weren't any frames missing, but there was some specking here and there). As far as the Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio, I thought it came through very well and had no complaints. There's not much in the way of extras except for an original theatrical trailer and subtitles in English, Spanish, and French. I was a little surprised at the lack of an audio commentary, especially since I've always considered this staple film in the classic science fiction genre, maybe not to the extent of those like The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), The Thing from Another World (1951), or Forbidden Planet (1956), but one still worthy of attention.
Cookieman108
Incidentally, This Island Earth was given the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment, as it was the flick featured when the show made the leap to the big screen back in 1996.
Movie Review: A must-have for any classic sci-fi buff
Summary: 4 Stars
This is not a great movie, but it is an enjoyable one. It's the kind of movie that's very easy to underestimate. The kind of movie that sort of sneaks up on you by being good in unexpected ways.
It's also a film with a fair bit to interest movie history buffs [feel free to skip the next three paragraphs if you have no interest in this kind of stuff]. The female lead is played by Faith Domergue, who apparently got her start in movies largely as a result of being Howard Hughes' mistress - from the age of fifteen. On a note that is perhaps then ironic, but certainly less disturbing, her character in this film is actually portrayed as a highly accomplished scientist in her own right. She's hardly a protagonist of stature equal to the male lead, and yes, she does do her share of screaming, but she is there on her own merit. She doesn't get to be where the action is just because she's someone's daughter or nice or wife; unlike so many other female characters from the science fiction of the day.
To me, the most interesting thing about the male lead actor is that "Rex Reason" is actually his real name: the one he was born with. Seriously, who could have come up with anything better for an atomic age science fiction star? He seems to have enjoyed quite a successful career as a character actor and B-movie lead, and is still alive and kicking today at the age of 81.
And finally of course we come to Jeff Morrow. While not playing what would normally be considered the leading man of the piece, he does get top billing. He is also generally accepted as having given the most compelling performance of the movie. By contrast with "Rex Reason", "Jeff Morrow" is actually a stage name. Morrow's real first name was Irving. Popularly known as "the Cro-Magnon man" for his unusually large brow (even without the pretty spectacular makeup he wears in This Island Earth), like Rex Reason Morrow had a fairly successful career as an A movie supporting player and a B movie lead. Aside from his own starring role in This Island Earth, Morrow is perhaps best known for playing a Roman centurion in The Robe: a rather dubious Biblical epic starring Richard Burton. Curiously, that movie also featured another major science fiction cult actor, Michael Rennie, who is of course today most famous for The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Well, so much for the history. Now back to the movie.
Many will know this film best for being lampooned on Mystery Science Theatre 3000. In truth, that's not a fate it deserves. Yes, it is a "B" movie, but only in the way that virtually all science fiction films of this era were B movies. That remained the case right up to the time of Kubrick's groundbreaking 2001 - A Space Odyssey (Two-Disc Special Edition). But B movie or nay, This Island Earth is still a long way from being schlock.
That said, this is a movie that a nine or ten year old could not only watch and enjoy, but would also "get" completely without missing any extra layers of meaning. If such unsophisticated fare doesn't sound particularly appealing, I'd be quick to add that this is a movie that most adult sci-fi fans should also enjoy immensely - provided, that is, that they're not a complete bunch of old sourpusses.
So if you're looking for intelligent sci-fi, look elsewhere. This is not a movie that deals much in ideas. Equally well, if you're looking for hard sci-fi, again look elsewhere. The "science" in this movie is almost pure bunkum. The sole exception to this is that unlike so many other works of science fiction, this is a movie that understands that energy is a finite resource, and that interstellar space flight would in fact require and consume that resource in abundance.
So if we don't get hard sci-fi and we don't get intelligent sci-fi, what are we left with? Quite simply a tightly scripted and generally well put together action-adventure story, with acting that's both engaging and appropriate to the material at hand.
But most of all we get a movie that's an enormous amount of fun just to look at and listen to. The special effects are amazingly good by the standards of the day, and hold up pretty well even now. But more than this, the sets, the costumes, and the general feel of the piece give us a real tour de force of the language of 1950s science fiction, and of 1950s futurism more generally. This is serious classic sci-fi, complete with flying saucers, bug eyed monsters, and ray guns. Plus lots and lots of stylized atom designs that are liberally scattered around for no apparent reason.
All this and a soundtrack that even includes a theremin.
What more could we ask for?
Theo.
Movie Review: Beware the moo-tants and hope that the third tube works...Fifties sci-fi at its most earnest
Summary: 4 Stars
Cult favorites get no respect, especially on MST3K. Still, it's comforting to know that 30 years from now our grandchildren will be chortling with superiority while they watch the Mystery Science Theater 6000 treatment of Kill Bill on their beet-powered 3D zygordapods.
This Island Earth combines the clunky dialogue, earnest acting and steadfast plotting that makes so many Fifties movies hard not to satirize, whether the director is Joseph Newman, as in this case, or Douglas Sirk or Samuel Fuller. Is This Island Earth so much sillier or up for satire than, say, Fuller's The Naked Kiss? Probably not, although Criterion disagrees. Please note that elements of the plot are discussed.
One thing for sure, the planet Metaluna looks like it has a bad case of small pox. Dr. Cal Meachum (Rex Reason) and Dr. Ruth Adams (Faith Domergue) are too polite to say this to Exeter (Jeff Morrow) as Exeter's flying saucer escapes asteroid attacks and manages to land on the besieged planet. The Metalunans are fighting off a vicious enemy and desperately need uranium to power their asteroid shields. That failing, they will move to Earth for a bit of ethnic cleansing before settling down to a new start. Exeter had been in charge of recruiting Earth scientists, with Dr. Adams and Dr. Meachum among them, to solve the problem of...well, I've forgotten. Exeter, however, is a good Metalunan and doesn't want to see these earthlings have their brains rearranged in a special machine. In the background are the hulking, dangerous moo-tants, as Exeter pronounces their name. They appear to be the result of Metalunan scientists' successful efforts to breed army ants with cows. Will Exeter save his new friends from the head Metalunan and the moo-tants? Will Earth be saved? Will Dr. Meachum and Dr. Adams return home in each other's arms? And what about Exeter? Will the third tube save him?
It all started when the talented, dashing Dr. Meachum received, instead of the condensers he ordered, two of the AB-619 model. He'd never heard of such things. They were followed by a mysterious metal catalogue and a set of plans to build an interociter. His interest piqued, he places an order. Before long Dr. Meachum has sorted through 2,486 parts scattered haphazardly across his lab floor and has built the thing. By inserting the accompanying intensifier disc, a forerunner of the Blu-ray DVD, into the slot in the upper right side of the interociter, he makes video contact with Exeter, who entices him to join a challenging scientific effort. It was at the luxurious hidden laboratory complex somewhere in Georgia that he is reacquainted with Dr. Adams. And then, suspicious of the setup, they try to escape, only to find themselves on their way to Metaluna in that flying saucer. (Cal and Ruth seem to be among those many holders of PhDs who prefer to use their titles, most likely to reassure each other that they did indeed pass their orals.)
This Island Earth is great fun and not much more. Because it is so earnest, it's one of those pulp science fiction movies all too easy to make fun of. I'll plead guilty, too, but any sarcasm was inadvertent. This is a movie to enjoy with a gentle smile. But what about Exeter and that third tube? See the movie, but here's a hint...
"Yes," says Exeter to Cal and Ruth as they flee in the spaceship back toward Earth, "they're concentrating all their attention on Metaluna. Those flashes of light... they're meteors... hundreds of them! Intense heat is turning Metaluna into a radioactive sun. Temperature must be... thousands of degrees by now. A lifeless planet. And yet... yet still serving a useful purpose, I hope. Yes, a sun. Warming the surface of some other world. Giving light to those who may need it. Now, into the converter tubes! Ruth, you take the first tube. Cal, you the next."
"What about you?" asks Cal.
Exeter pauses, then says, "I'll use the third tube."
The Technicolor DVD transfer looks great. There are no extras. And while there are chapter stops, there's no index of them on the menu.
Movie Review: 'THIS ISLAND EARTH' WAS NEVER A WIDESCREEN MOVIE!!! SO, SF FANS DON'T GET IN A HUFF OR A PANIC!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm happy to see a reasonably priced dvd edition of this fun fifties science fiction adventure will be available soon. However, I've noticed some reviewers are decrying that the movie will not be in widescreen. Well, that's because the movie was NEVER filmed in a widescreen format. It was released in a Standard Full Frame screen format in exactly the same dimensions as the 1953 'War of the Worlds' was released. People, please check the facts before spouting off inaccuracies that only incite discord and misinform the public. I attended a science fiction film festival years ago at the American Film Institute in Washington D.C. where they showed all of the major SF films of the fifties in their original formats. 'This Island Earth' was NOT a widescreen feature. 'Forbidden Planet' YES! 'This Island Earth' NO! Examine all of the original advertising for the movie and you will not find any evidence of the film being shot in 'Widescreen', 'Cinemascope', 'VistaVision' or any other popular moniker for widescreen shooting of that era. And, back then, had the movie been shot in widescreen they would have played it up BIG as a further draw to bring into the theatres the fledgling television crowd. Also, consult Philip Riley's excellent treatise on 'This Island Earth' (Magicimage Filmbooks, 1990) and you will find no mention among the author's extensive coverage of the film's production that the movie was ever shot in a widescreen format (nor that it was ever even considered as a widescreen production). So, take heart all you SF fans and dvd aficianados and buy your copy of 'This Island Earth' with confidence knowing that you're not getting cheated out of a WS experience - because there was never one in the first place. Then sit down and enjoy one of the best space adventures of the fifties!
****>IMPORTANT (June 14, 2006 ADDENDUM): One reviewer in this mix keeps insisting that this movie was in widescreen. IMDb is being trotted out as the authority to turn to. Well, IMDb IS QUITE SIMPLY, WRONG!! (No surprise here) 'THIS ISLAND EARTH' WAS NOT, IS NOT AND NEVER WILL BE A WIDESCREEN MOVIE (unless it's butchered)! If there is a copy on vhs in a 'Widescreen', 'Cinemascope', 'VistaVision' or 'Ultrawide Scope' (whatever that may be!) format then it's because the vhs/dvd distributors forced it into a widescreen format by cropping the frames to make it look like a WS version - much like the late 1960's re-release of 'Gone with the Wind' which was cropped at the the top and bottom of the frames, transferred to 70mm film stock and released to the theatres as a 'wider' version (to the horror of GWTW fans) . And, as all competent film buffs know, 'Gone with the Wind' was also NOT a widescreen movie (mercifully, it's been restored to its Standard Full Frame format for the dvd release). So, if y'all want Universal to release a 'widescreen' version of 'This Island Earth' they'll have to butcher the film by cropping it to give the illusion that it's a WS feature. I can't think of a more boneheaded approach to releasing a film on dvd just to appease the misguided, misinformed and perpetually ignorant WS crowd.