[Captain Audio]

"Queen of Blood" has some good footage from Soviet era films.
In fact the plot of Queen of Blood" is similar to that of the Russian film the footage was taken from.
A alien race tries to visit earth but their expedition crash lands on the planet Mars.
An earth space mission makes a rescue attempt. In both the Human astronauts/cosomnauts launch the rescue ship from a Lunat base.

I've watched parts of the Russian film, but it had neither dubbing nor enlish subtitles. A very nicely done sci fi film from what I saw.

"Voyage to the End of the Universe" is another U S film adapted from a eastern bloc film, edited and with slight plot changes. Its dubbed in english but almost the entire film is there.
I've also seen the original with subtitles. An excellent film.

[profh0011]

EAT MY DUST (1975) -- I may have just reached the dumbest movie in my entire Corman marathon.  Ron Howard stars as a young guy who steals a race car belonging to Dave Madden, just so he can impress a girl who doesn't like him by taking her on a joy-ride.  MUCH chaos & property damage ensues.  Unlike the later SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT, this film doesn't seem to have even a single intelligent character in it.  Mindless fun.  I think this would have been a perfect candidate for USA's UP ALL NIGHT.

[profh0011]

QUEEN OF BLOOD was another one I saw.  Roger Corman said he liked to do 2 similar films back-to-back to stretch out his budget, and I feel sure this was done back-to-back with VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET, as both featured Basil Rathbone in an almost-identical role.  I think little bits of Russian footage found their way into this one as well, but most was new.  QOB also seems to be have had a big influence (possibly) on ALIEN !!  The spaceship is turned into a breeding chamber, and the Earth scientists feel sure they can contain any possible danger, in the name of research.  OH REALLY?

[profh0011]

Atlanta, GA all-girl rock band "Catfight!" back in the 90s did a song titled "Mamie Van Doren", a tribute to the movie bad girl.  I kept thinking about that song the whole time I was watching Van Doren in "...PREHISTORIC PLANET".  She was also in "THE NAVY VS. THE NIGHT MONSTERS".

[Captain Audio]

QOB also seems to be have had a big influence (possibly) on ALIEN !! 

Could be, but "Planet of the Vampires" had the most influence on Aliens.
The misty half obscured landscape, the shape of the space ships, and the giant alien skeletons found on the derelict space vessel who's distress call lured the explorers into landing are elements very prominent in "Alien".

[profh0011]

There seems to have been a whole generation of movie directors who spent their careers intensely "paying tribute to" other movies-- LOTS of other movies-- more so than actually writing new stories, or faithfully adapting existing ones.

I remember when the Brenden Fraser film THE MUMMY came out, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, as I counted up a LONG list of films it was ripping off, one after another after another.  And I felt like I was probably the ONLY one in the theatre who knew WHICH films.

It's only a problem when this kind of thing actually gets in the way of you being able to get wrapped up in the story they're SUPPOSED to be trying to tell.

[Captain Audio]

Pretty much all film and most literature has some elements inspired by if not directly ripped off from previous works.

Another non english sci fi mystery film you might like is "the Dead Mountaineer Hotel". If you don't mind subtitles that is. A very original story idea, though if you looked hard enough you might find some familar elements from Agatha Christy stories.
I've heard there was an obscure video game loosely based on this film.

As for "the Mummy" much like the Indiana Jones films these hark back to the old Republic studios movie house serials.
Indiana Jones character and costuming is closely based on the Charleton Heston adventurer character in "Secret of the Incas".

[jimmm kelly]

In terms of out of the ordinary, modern, foreign horror movies--or really in this case a psychological thriller--I like WITH A FRIEND LIKE HARRY (2000)--also called HARRY, HE'S HERE TO HELP and HARRY, UN AMI QUI VOUS VEUT DU BIEN--it's a French movie.

[profh0011]

"Pretty much all film and most literature has some elements inspired by if not directly ripped off from previous works."

As a writer, I totally agree, and have long been aware of this.

However... I do feel there's a difference between merely being influenced by other things-- and creating a blatent, obvious shopping list of swipes which you are parading in front of your audience in such a way that they're looking at the swipes MORE than at the story.

Lucas, Spielberg, DePalma all do this... though the worst offender is no doubt Tarrantino.



Frankly, to me, the ONLY time this sort of thing really works is when Mel Brooks does it. 

And even so, something like HIGH ANXIETY worked for me better than most films by these other guys, possibly because I've seen SO FEW Hitchcock films.

[profh0011]

Today's movie:

WARNING FROM SPACE (1955)

I got about halfway thru this when I realized what they were doing was Japan's "answer" to THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, using that film's idea as a springboard for a MUCH bigger story!  What a cool idea.  Parts of this feel almost like a prototype for ULTRA Q, with one of the main characters being a newspaper reporter.

[Captain Audio]

A Japanese sci fi movie I really liked when i saw it when it first came out was "the Mysterians".
Haven't seen it since so I don't know if I would still like it.

A good fun movie to watch is "Frankenstein meets the Space Monster".
Its more a spoof and parody of 50-60's sci fi, but entertaining despite the over the top portrayals of the smarmy aliens that have come to steal our women.
The alien Queen's perverted little dirtbag of a grand vizier is a classic.

[profh0011]

REVENGE OF THE CHEERLEADERS (1976)

This is what's wrong with movies.  In fact, this is what's wrong with America.  There wasn't one intelligent, likable character in this entire movie.  And yet, somehow, they expected you to root for the title characters, when they were ALL selfish, thoughtless, obnoxious B****es.  And it's badly-made, too.

By comparison, ANIMAL HOUSE seems like the slickest, most intelligent, most well-made film in the history of movies.

[Captain Audio]

Gee Prof, its a porno film about teenage girls gone wild, what did you expect?
If Orson Wells directed it couldn't have been any better.

The general public seems to fawn over skanks, just look at the soap opera characters they follow the most. If the same people lived next door they'd move or burn down their house one dark night.

[profh0011]

I watched "HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD" last night. Without a break. Fun film. Made a LOT more sense than it might have, since half the movies they made fun of, I had JUST watched within the last 2 months!

"I already did this film 3 times."

As soon as I heard that line, I started laughing-- I knew what i was in for.

[profh0011]

GRAND THEFT AUTO  (1977)

You know, somehow, I always thought this was a movie about car thieves.  Although cars do get stolen in this film, that's hardly the center of the plot.

More than anything, this reminded me of a low-budget variation on IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD !!  Completely insane non-stop high-speed action, destruction of property and lust for money from start to finish.

[profh0011]

MASTERS OF MENACE  (1990)

After more biker films than I care to think about, at last I come to one that's intentionally funny. I'm only a short ways into this, but I think it's safe to say, this is the ANIMAL HOUSE of biker films.  A gang of likable goofs are delberaqtely targetted by an uptight, insane D.A. with political ambitions.  My favorite bit so far, after getting 3 years probation, the club decides to hold a party and invites their defense attourney, who shows up with a VERY uptight girlfriend.  "We're going IN THERE??" she asks.  At the door, they're met by a guy who says, "Too bad you didn't come alone-- plenty of beaver inside!"  As if his date isn't shocked and offended enough, when the head of the gang (David Rasche) turns up, he says, "Sorry I didn't meet you at the door, I was upstairs screwing my wife."  I loved that line, not only it is "shocking", but it also displays open honesty and a devotion to his marriage.  Clearly, the bikers are the GOOD GUYS in this one.

[narfstar]

Did anyone else hate the Flash final as much as I did? Time travel is bad enough when you can change the past, but this episode went way beyond reasonable paradox.

[Captain Audio]

Time travel can destroy a series. Once they Guex Ex Machina comes out of the bottle you feel you've wasted your time watching previous episodes.

X-men Days of Future Past was great on the surface but downgraded the entire series of films.
They seem to have completely dismissed Jean Grey and her apparent, though bogus, return from the dead.

[jimmm kelly]

Guex Ex Machina

I studied a year of Ancient Greek but I can't translate that.

On a tangental note--because Arthur Darvill mentioned it--I watched the two seasons of BROADCHURCH--which has an astounding number of connections to DOCTOR WHO, yet is nothing like it. Now I'm starting to watch the American version--GRACEPOINT--which is annoyingly similar and different at the same time.

Darvill is remarkably underused in BROADCHURCH.

The hardest thing is the music track. I hate it so much--sometimes I turn off the sound--especially when they have long scenes with no dialogue where people are just staring out at the ocean. The music has these long tension tracks which seem to be building up to something that never actually happens. And then other music cues tell us that this is the most dramatic scene on the show but it isn't

It makes me wish I was a tech genius. I'd design an app that allowed people to manipulate the tracks on their movies and TV shows--kind of like the old equalizers on stereo systems where you could manually manipulate how a recording sounds.

But maybe there already is something like this on state of the art entertainment systems. I wouldn't know.

[profh0011]

It's true! The high-point for soundtrack music WAS the 60s!!!

[profh0011]

...this still doesn't explain how the flying sequences in KING OF THE ROCKETMEN (1949) are FAR more exciting and convincing than in SUPERMAN (1978).

[profh0011]

THUNDER AND LIGHTNING (1977)

A war between big-time moonshiners and some local boys who are determined to stay independant.  With David Carridine, Kate Jackson, Roger C. Carmel, George Murdock, Sterling Holloway, Charles Napier, and others I'm sure I've seen in other things.  Lots of action in bayou country.

[profh0011]

FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS  (1960)

Now here's something you don't see everyday... an early sci-fi space exploration movie that's a co-production of EAST GERMANY and POLAND !!! They've got this international crew that includes an older scientist, a black man, a Japanese man, and a Japanese WOMAN. A bit on the dull side, but they've got some really unusual, cool design work going on.

[Captain Audio]

IIRC King of the Rocketmen used a full sized dummy on a zip line.
The 50's Superman used a form fitting tray that George Reeves lay on, balanced to bank with his body movements.

Don't know about methods used for the 78 Superman , those flying scenes never impressed me that much.

Just finished the 1940's Phantom movie serial. Far better than I'd expected, great story with good actors and plenty of twists and turns, plus a really good if underplayed ending.

[profh0011]

I was STUNNED by the last chapter of "KING OF THE ROCKETMEN".  They saved up all their budget for one big, massive special-effects sequence, in which they DESTROYED half of New York City!  I didn't see that coming...