watch all the movies mentioned in Science Fiction Double Feature

I’m also in the middle of doing this, hopefully to be completed in the next month. I’ve just watched The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, and Curse of the Demon. My question is: will the reference “Dana Andrews said prunes gave him the runes” be explained in the Curse of the Demon, or only Night of the Demon? I’m using Netflix for my goal, and netflix only has curse of the demon available for instant watching.

What set you to this goal?

Overall, it was fun. It gave me a neat sense of what it must have been like to go see B-movies back in the glory days. And I had a good time picking out the couplets: Leo G. Carrol/Was over a barrel, Dana Andrews said prunes/Gave him the runes, etc.

But I have to admit, some of the lines from the song have very little to do with the movies they reference, which makes me wonder if even they’d seen all of them, or if they were just pulling the names and stars off some list.

I can get you Doctor X and Tarantula!

This was probably the most stereotypical of the bunch. Plenty of “Science. Science, I say,” dialog. There was a great line about “We used the simplest adhesive of all - the atom!” This movie also features giant guinea pigs, which look like a bucket of fun. But, then again, the tarantula looked like fun, too. He seemed so happy to be out, waving his legs and crawling around. If you watch carefully - or care about planes—you will notice that the Air Force jets are cobbled together from stock footage. The planes shown taking off are not the attack planes.

Well, he didn’t build a creature. No one really built a creature. Doctor X. more or less handcuffed himself to a chair. Yeah, exciting name aside, Doctor X. seemed to be the good guy. The “creature” is actually pretty exciting, but I don’t want to be a spoiler.
One of the interesting things about this film is that it was in a semblance of color. I turned the color off because I thought it had been Turnerized. Nope, that was how Technicolor looked at first, pre-Wizard of Oz. The other exciting thing is that this film dates from about the first year of “talkies.” It was based on a play. I can’t imagine a horror stage production, but let’s face it—the American stage has been dead since Hair. If you’re watching for Rocky references, Doctor Scott really seems based on Dr. Duke.
Another thing that has been interesting me while watching old movies is how much spoken language has drifted. The character of Lee Taylor, reporter for the Daily World, really underscored the shift in slang and diction. If anyone can explain that joy-buzzer, leave a comment. It kind of figures into a risque joke at the end, but other than that…
Another interesting point is the treatment of doctors by the police. I don’t know that police would have behaved that way in the past, but perhaps it was plausible. I can’t imagine doctors being told to catch a killer among them today. Ah, and those world famous doctors! They were quite an assemblage. All in all, this movie was pretty good. I wish it were more available on DVD.

He passed them. Watching this movie sorted out the reference in the song. Explaining it would involve a spoiler, though. First off, I will tell you that there are two versions. Watch Night of the Demon. (If you get the “Double Feature,” it’s the second one.) The British edit is a bit better. I’m not sure why the edits were made. What really needed cut was the crappy demon itself. However, because this demon graced the cover of Daniel Cohen’s “Movie Monsters,” I had really good memories of it from childhood. Ah, Daniel Cohen. The only crap I would read as a child. (As a child, I was a “reluctant reader,” which was great. If people knew you could read but just hated books, they’d give you the most lurid stuff imaginable. It prepped me for a life of internet porn and the NY Post.) So… watch the longer edit. There’s more exposition, which is handled well.

When Worlds Collide… it won’t go like this. A bit more action packed than Forbidden Planet, but not as tightly written. I don’t think everyone would be following the lead of wealthy industrialists in the earth’s last days. I think religious leaders spring to the fore in those conditions. This seems to bubble right beneath the surface with the biblical intro and closing, but it’s never developed.
This is more a movie about morals and ethics than interstellar action. However, I’m not sure I agree with the morals posed. I wonder if that is a function of no longer being in the Cold War. The whole “Noah’s Ark” plan for humanity has nice parallels with Dr. Strangelove and … haha … the “Shadow Government.” Remember that? The biggest question in my mind now is what is the optimal male to female ratio for repopulation.

I think this movie may be popular because it is logically consistent. I’ve found myself pondering the plot points. I pondered them after the first time I watched the movie, too. There’s a fair amount there. I wish, though, that it could have been made in 45 minutes. It drags a bit. Not that it needs more action. The biggest obstacle to enjoyment is, once again, goofy special effects. Parts of the movie are really beautiful, though.

What’s to say? It was pretty good. I didn’t know that it was written by Bradbury. It seems to have been the inspiration for Kang and Kodos. More or less what you would expect from solidly done old science fiction. I miss the camp of Buster Crabbe.

I watched the Kong. I’d seen the Kong before. I used to watch it every Halloween with “Sammy Terry.” Yes, Hoosiers, I’m staring at you, saying: ‘Remember Sammy Terry?’ Well, my mom always watched these with me. When I was little, she would tell me what was missing.
A local movie buff once ushered me into his garage. There, he had a reel with a spliced portion showing Kong stomping a ‘native’ into the muck. All the “lost” scenes are restored, save the famous Spider Pit. I wonder though—did society keep getting increasingly squeemish until the 1970s? Even today, I find censorship is an interesting issue. One often thinks of “the government” being responsible for censorship, but that’s not the case. The ugly end is that whenever the debate rears its head, Hollywood opts to SELF-censor. (Yes, I am champing at the bit for ‘This Film Is Not Yet Rated.’)
From my childhood, I remember Kong being crap, on the edge of racist. With the censored footage restored, the story is more compelling. It lives up to the marquee claims of action and adventure. Sure the stop-action animation is corny today. Sure, it’s obvious they never built more than the head and arm of Kong, but it’s pretty good. As a child, the only exciting bits were savage natives. Uncensored, the savages hardly command the screen—Kong and the dinosaurs do.
I also kept thinking this must be how my guinea pigs feel when I pick them up. Kong’s hand chasing people through their apartments is like me scooping up the pigs.