region 2 DVD: pub: Universal 825 1373. 553 minutes 7 films on 7 DVDs. Price: £16.00 (UK) if you know where to look, otherwise twice as much.

check out website: www.universalpictures.co.uk

Let's get down to the nitty-gritty from the start. There are seven incredible 1950s films in this boxset and each deserves some attention.



This Island Earth (1955) 82 minute film
stars: Jeff Morrow, Faith Domergue and Rex Reason

Of the many low budget 1950s films, I have some affection for 'This Island Earth'. Watching it again recently, the metaphor of warring countries doing despicable acts against each other still hasn't changed. I doubt if original SF author Raymond F. Jones had that in mind when he wrote the original story but you can still get it if you look around for comparison.

Here we have visitors from the planet Metaluna looking for talent in nuclear physics, amongst other subjects, to bolster their own planetary defences. To do so, they set an intriguing problem for Earth selected scientists to build an Interositor, one of their own devices, before inviting them to their secret hideaway.

This benevolence changes when those who don't do as they are asked are 'adjusted'. Unfortunately, this messes up their particular talents and when new recruit Cal Meacham (actor Rex Reason) joins forces with the only two unadjusted ones, including Dr. Adams (actress Faith Domergue), they figure out things aren't what they seem with their large-headed tanned white haired hosts.

Their leader, Exeter (actor Jeff Morrow), is placed between doing the right thing for these people as well as aiding his planet. When they are ordered to return to Metaluna, evidence of their stay on Earth is destroyed and Meacham and Adams are abducted. Their arrival on Metaluna only shows how much their enemy, the Zygons, has succeeded in winning and Exeter wisely decides to return them to Earth than die on his planet.

The oddest thing about this film was the addition of some bug-eyed (literally as they derived from alien insects) monsters on Metaluna to give it a BEM quotient. The films could quite happily have done without them but I suppose for the original poster and indeed, the DVD cover, this was seen as a necessity for bums on seats.

The moral message of doing the right thing, irrespective of your leaders is still something that holds up today. Although somewhat over-shadowed by other 50s SF films, 'This Island Earth' still holds up rather well and if you've never had an opportunity to see this film then it should certainly be on your list.

Tarantula (1955) 87 minute film
stars: John Agar, Mara Corday and Leo. G. Carroll

'Tarantula' is really a traditional monster movie. Scientist in an out of way house laboratory experimenting with a growth hormone to feed a growing human population has an accident where one of his early projects gets out. Hence the title spider finding out how it can define the Cube Square Law as it stalks the desert. I suppose it would have been less threatening had a giant guinea pig had gotten out but one does wonder of all the arachnid why choose a tarantula?

There are a lot more less venomous spiders around. It looked like the scientist, Professor Gerald Deemer (actor Leo G. Carroll) was working his way up through the animal kingdom. The treatment worked fine with most except when giving it to adult humans where they rapidly develop acromegaly. I should point out this was not Deemer's fault but that of two of his colleagues.

Quite why they would want to become giants seems at odd with the experiment. As it turns out, research in this area was discontinued with the incineration of the tarantula. Probably a good thing this film wasn't made today or we'd probably have animal welfare and political correctness groups tying everything up in red tape wanting to keep it alive.

Oddly, the areas where the art of experimentation was carried out looked reasonably sane and logically carried out. The real problems were with Deemer's colleagues who really should have known better.

The effects for its day depended principally on back projection as even today, your can't really grow spiders that big. With a black and white film there is less problem with texture or a need to get humans in every shot. The American drive-in movie market must have loved it. As a home DVD, it's still an interesting experience.

The Thing From Another World (1951) 83 minutes
stars: Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer and James Arness

'The Thing From Another World' became a very influential SF film. Apart from the John Carpenter re-make, you can also see its influence in a couple 'X-Files' episodes amongst others. In the 1950s when SF budgets were low, it made sense to have stock cast so the budget could be spent on the effects. A side-effect of this was that there was no expectations for the stars' survival and gave it more a man-in-the-street feel a'la documentary status watching ordinary people placed in extra-ordinary circumstances.

All right, so most people those days and even today, don't really hang about in the Arctic but neither do you expect them to come across a UFO frozen in the ice or even an occupant that later thaws and is out to kill everyone on the campsite. Based on John Campbell's story 'Who Goes There?', the film grips mostly cos you rarely see much of the...er...thing itself. In fact, you see more of James Arness playing the alien from publicity stills and paintings, including the one on the DVD box, than in the film. Interestingly, the solution to stopping him is pretty much standard for monster fare.

This is truly a worthwhile addition to this boxset but I wouldn't take ice with it.

The Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954) 76 minutes with extras
stars: Richard Carlson, Julie Adams, Richard Denning and Antonio Moreno

Scientists in search of fossil remains of a missing link gillman, discover one still alive and not exactly happy having humans invading its territory. The creature is both curious and intrigued as well as a little homicidal in equal measure. Its only mistake is kidnapping Kay, the only girl aboard, that he finally out-lives his welcome.

'The Creature From The Black Lagoon' was a species that wasn't man-made but a hidden creature. No wonder it still holds its power today. I suspect when 3D at home is mastered that the original masters will be resurrected and we will be able to see it as it was originally filmed. This version is still powerful. Like many films in this boxset because it relies on a cast that is essentially us rather than stars, we are gripped more for their fate.

With cleverly staged underwater photography, the creature truly comes to life and it's a wonder no bright spark at Universal has decided its about time for a re-make.

Tom Weaver's audio commentary is very informing. About the only mistake he made was associating actor Whit Bissell with 'Land Of The Giants' when it was 'The Time Tunnel'. His insights are information shouldn't be otherwise under-estimated. The fact that 'Creature' is essentially re-writing the plot of 'King Kong' underwater wasn't something I'd spotted but 'The Beauty And The Beast' plot is common to many of the monster films and a contributing factor to why so many people liked the creatures even if they jumped when they first saw them. The only difference to Kong is that the lady didn't actually grow to like the gillman.

With eleven minutes of stills, this DVD is an outstanding film in this boxset.

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956) 80 minutes
stars: Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter

You have a choice with this DVD, you can watch this film in its original black and white or see a colourised edition. The tones are a little on the pastel side but it's an interesting experience.

'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' is the original subtle alien invasion. No spaceships just pods replacing people with duplicates as they sleep. The same but not the same. The only way you can tell they aren't the same is a lack of emotions. A doctor returning to his small town practise and finding people reporting something is wrong suddenly changing their minds. Its only when a writer friend and his girl-friend discover a body in their home that he believes there's something in it and can't trust anyone any more.

Often seen as a reminder of the 'red menace' at the time, the message is still effective today. Not so much to be suspicious of everyone but to ensure you have proof that something isn't what it seems. Never take anything for granted and ensure all your pods contain peas.

Like most films in this boxset, the reality is played normal, albeit middle-America, which makes the take-over all the more menacing. It crouches on the paranoia that there is always something there waiting to get out and no one believing you. Total nightmare and totally unsettling nearly seventy years later. If you haven't seen it before don't forget to check your cellar or garden after. Just in case, y'know.

The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) 87 minutes
stars: Grant Williams and Randy Stuart

Another film directed by Jack Arnold, this time scripted by Richard Matheson who by giving it a first person narration goes through Scott Carey (actor Grant Williams) agony as after been through a radioactive cloud while on holiday discovers height has become a problem as he rapidly looses it. Like so many of the films in this boxset, the everyman approach and dealing with ordinary problems gives something anyone can relate to. The spider battle towards the end just goes to show what you Americans have in your basement. He was lucky he only had one spider. Our house spiders have much longer legs so a battle would be much tougher.

This film holds up remarkably well and fifty-two years later will still hold you captivated. It showed what could be done and was probably the inspiration for other shrinking films over the decades.

It Came From Outer Space (1953) 77 minutes with extras
stars: Richard Carlson and Barbara Rush

The final film in this collection is also directed by Jack Arnold and was originally made in 3-D based off a Ray Bradbury story. An alien spaceship crashes down in the desert and an amateur astronomer and his girl-friend have problems convincing the local sheriff that aliens have abducted some of the local population and masqueraded as them to sort out supplies to repair their vessel. When the astronomer convinces the sheriff something is going on he then has to go about face to dissuade them or face the aliens' wraith.

In the height of the 'red menace', 'It Came From Outer Space' must surely have played on the latent paranoia of the time relying on a menace that was impossible to be beaten. As an SF film it still holds up pretty well. The nature of creating 3-D at the time necessitated many of the scenes to be filmed inside a studio but the joins don't matter too much and few have seen the film in its original format. With High Definition TV which can give a slightly 3D effect, I do wonder if any studio is going to test it out for home use. The aliens are ephemeral and don't really gain voices until they take human form. Spot some of the 'This Island Earth' spaceship interior inside their spaceship as well. The image of the golf ball spaceship is a long remembered photo and if you've seen that then you ought to see the film.

Tom Weaver's audio commentary is enlightening and informed and worth having a listen to explaining the background to the film with lots of other details. There's a tiny hint that he's been restrained a little cos he's doing this for Universal but as the opening credits say they aren't responsible for comments made should have been a green light.

An extra with this DVD is a thirty minute documentary looking at how many SF films Universal have made over the years. This covers all the films in this boxset plus a few besides. One wonders what would have happened without Universal's input on the SF genre.

Overall, with so many of the films in this boxset directed by Jack Arnold, I'm surprised this wasn't called after him. These DVDs have been available individually but as a collection, its far cheaper to get them this way and now at reduced price an absolute bargain. If you're old enough to remember them when they first came out or like me, first saw them on television, then this is a great way to see them unfettered. It's a shame that they all don't come with extras but the important thing is they are an important part of Science Fiction film history. As some chap called Spielberg comments to writer Ray Bradbury in the Weaver commentary to 'It Came From Outer Space', without this film, his own SF films would not have been possible.

GF Willmetts