1950s/1960s Science Fiction films

Cafe Society
1

As noted earlier, Bill Warren has died. After 30 years, I finally bought Keep Watching The Skies!. The first thing I did was open it to the acknowledgements and found my best fiend’s name (right after Harlan Ellison’s). The second thing I did was read the pages on Creation Of The Humanoids, which was shown on TV over the weekend. (I agree with Bill Warren that it was a plodding film. But I liked the ending.)

I grew up watching Science Fiction films from the the 1950s and 1960s, and Japanese monster movies. How many Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings did I spend watching horrors from space? It’s pleasantly nostalgic to see them now. As a sometime filmmaker, I like seeing how they were filmed, and watching the acting. From a historical standpoint, you incidentally see how people used to live back then. (Well, except for the ones set in the future, of course. But then you see Back Then’s idea of Today, which is cool.) Looking more closely, you can see how these films reflected the fears of the day. Yes, many of them are laughable. But there are several reasons to enjoy them.

The thing is, they don’t get played much anymore. I think TCM played it because it’s Halloween month. We have a bunch of cable channels. Any idea which ones play the most of this kind of film?

2

Well…i think there’s a horror-exclusive channel. OR all of MST3K should be available on Youtube. I shouldn’t be surprised if a lot of old sci-fi is available on Youtube. OR there are all kinds of dvd" movie-packs" of that kind available.

3

We get the Comet channel which is showing a lot of these. The Last Man on Earth, Invisible Invaders, and Destination Moon are coming up. They’ve also played a lot of the early Godzilla movies, including both King of the Monsters and the original Japanese version Gojira. They also have the series Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot and Men into Space.

4

Thanks. I’ve set up some recordings on Comet (including MST3K). I have The Godzilla Collection on DVD, Creature From The Haunted Sea in a 50-horror-film collection as well as the individual disc, Last Man On Earth, The Beast Of Yucca Flats, The Twonky (one of my faves), and some others. But it would be nice to see more.

5

In Atlanta, during the 1970s, these movies were shown late at night, Friday and Saturday, on channel 17 (WTCG, Ted Turner’s first station, on UHF.)

6

Hold up… you have The Twonky on DVD? What DVD and how is the picture/sound quality?

7

I think this is where I got it, but I don’t remember. It’s been a long time. It’s also been a while since I’ve watched it. (I pulled it out last night, though.) IIRC, the image and sound quality are about what you’d see on an unrestored broadcast on TV. I don’t recall it being ‘bad’, but it’s not digitally remastered.

Bill Warren was very disappointed in the film version of The Twonky. He’d read the short story upon which it was based, and stayed home from school to watch it when he found out it was going to be broadcast on TV. With great expectations from reading the story, and excitement at discovering there was a film version just before it was broadcast, he didn’t care for the film. But I think it’s hilarious.

8

I think it’s hilarious and creepy and poorly made and brilliant genius, all at once. Thanks for the tip that it was available, Johnny L.A.!

9

I have no complaints. :wink:

The first time I saw The Twonky it was on the big screen. My friend(s) and I would go down to the revival houses in Hollywood, North Hollywood, Burbank, and thereabouts to catch the old SF and horror films. One time we saw The Phantom Of The Opera (1925) with Gaylord Carter accompanying, live, on the organ. Good times. My fiend mentioned not too long ago that some of the revival houses are still having these shows. But I’m 1,200 miles north, and he’s 5,000 miles south so it’s a little inconvenient.