The Silver Screen Oasis

I loved THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL! I'm not saying it's The Great American Movie. But it's exciting, melodramatic and creepy. The fact that I had never seen it made this camp classic the most enjoyable TV viewing I've had in weeks! No time is wasted in setting up the story. "It all started on a dark, lonely night..." GUILTY! SENTENCED TO DIE! And...become a monkey.

We almost always root for the monster in a horror film. This time we REALLY want revenge to be exacted by those hairy paws. And so it is! The story rolls right along, crashing through windows and climbing walls; fulfilling every available angle of satisfaction. Phillip Terry and Ellen Drew are believable as ill-fated brother and sister. The bad guys, recognizable by moustaches and scars, are not only evil. They're disgusting. They LOVE being ***holes! The movie never slows down for needless exposition or development. It's pure sensation, and it works, well...sensationally!

I liked everything about Svengoolie's latest offering. To tell the truth, it's more fun, if not more literate, than the two Karloff vehicles with a similar theme. If you haven't seen THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL, directed by Stuart Heisler, do watch for it to come around again.

Your lively review was better than watching the movie, Red. Thanks for putting it in the right perspective for me.

Can it be true? Is it possible? Has anybody else heard what Svengoolie will be showing this weekend?

Just one of the best sci-fi movies ever made.

Tick...tick...tick. 6 hours till one of the truly great fantasy films! Oh, what the Hell? THE BEST!

Over the years, I've said all I can say about THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN. I do hope people enjoyed it. Next week is the quietly suspenseful, THE UNINVITED. That's another good one.

" . . . THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN. I do hope people enjoyed it." RR, I too, share your enthusiasm. A truly incredible picture, and one I haven't seen for years. The bleak ending is haunting, and quite unlike anything I've seen, in any other movie. The poor fella resigns himself to the fact that he has to kiss goodbye to home, wife, friends--everything he knows--and face descent into an unknown infinity!

The bleak ending is haunting

Or, it can be seen as uplifting. He has become one with the Universe and is not merely resigned to that, but profoundly moved by that realization. He can continue to shrink, but his existence will continue. He and, by extension, humankind will not be obliterated.

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN comes in at #2 on my list of favorite movies of the Sci-Fi sort. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is #1. Now that is bleak.

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS would have been much bleaker without that tacked-on prologue and epilogue. Much more effective, too, IMO. A real nightmare ending. Wonder if there's any way one can get a copy of the film in its original form.

Or, it can be seen as uplifting

It's downright spiritual. How many fantasy films conclude with a declaration of faith in God? But as Joe said, it rips my heart in two when he realizes his wife, and former life, are gone forever. I believe, in the book, they even had a daughter. A lot of people call this one of the best fantasy films. I consider it one of the great movies, period!

A truly incredible picture, and one I haven't seen for years

I wish I could say that! I don't think a year goes by that I DON'T watch it.

RedRiver wrote:Or, it can be seen as uplifting

It's downright spiritual. How many fantasy films conclude with a declaration of faith in God? But as Joe said, it rips my heart in two when he realizes his wife, and former life, are gone forever. I believe, in the book, they even had a daughter. A lot of people call this one of the best fantasy films. I consider it one of the great movies, period!

A truly incredible picture, and one I haven't seen for years

I wish I could say that! I don't think a year goes by that I DON'T watch it.

I agree, R.R. It's all summed up in Scott Carey's final declaration: "I still exist!"

How many fantasy films conclude with a declaration of faith in God?

That declaration really upset Richard Matheson. His ending was about the power of Man to overcome seemingly overwhelming obstacles, with no real hint of a higher power.

Been a while since I saw it but doesn't WAR OF THE WORLDS end with the narrator stating that despite all of man's efforts to halt the invasion they were defeated by earth microbes placed on our planet by God?

Interesting about Matheson who apparently did hold religious beliefs, which he elaborated on in WHAT DREAMS MAY COME.

"...doesn't WAR OF THE WORLDS end with the narrator stating that despite all of man's efforts to halt the invasion they were defeated by earth microbes placed on our planet by God?" That it does, W.G. The mellifluous tones of Sir Cedric Hardwicke inform us that: "The Martians were defeated by one of the littlest things that God, in his wisdom, put upon this Earth."

That's the line. Clever but as a young'un always found it kind of a cop out. Wanted an all-out war as in EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS with earth defeating the aliens. Of course I appreciate its significance today.