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| The Brain from Planet Arous / Teenage Monster; December, 1957 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 11 2017, 09:06 AM (293 Views) | |
| Laughing Gravy | Feb 11 2017, 09:06 AM Post #1 |
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![]() The Brain from Planet Arous (1957) Dir. Nathan Hertz A Howco International Picture 71 min. / B&W / 1.66:1 Image Entertainment DVD, 2000 ITB Strange Science Theatre #110 Teenage Monster (1957) Dir. Jacques Marquette A Howco International Picture 65 min. / B&W / 1.37:1 Image Entertainment DVD, 2000 ITB Strange Science Theatre #111 ITB Shock Theatre #194 People who knock the double-features released in the 1950s by Allied Artists or American-International Pictures should be sentenced to a lifetime of watchin' this double feature (or the upcoming Giant Gila Monster/Killer Shrews show). You gain a healthy respect for the semblance of quality some professionals achieved on their thrifty budgets when you see stuff like this. Not that the films weren't entertaining, mind: one of 'em is quite a show. The other made my soul bleed. We'll start with the good one: Nuclear Scientist John Agar and his buddy are investigating a strange outbreak of radiation in a nearby mountain and come across Gor, a giant floating balloon brain from the planet Arous, who kills the buddy and inhabits the body of Dr. Agar, turning him into a meglomaniac who keeps trying to rape women, causes catastrophes, threatens the world with his insane ramblings, and who probably would've tweeted about the New York Times at 3 a.m. had that option been open to him in those days. Gor is an escaped brain convict, it seems, and ANOTHER giant floating balloon brain, Vol, is an Arous bounty hunter on his trail. Vol inhabits the body of George, the fiance's dog and I know what you're thinking, and no, I am not making all this up. I couldn't. I dunno who could. I mean. i know this film had a writer and everything, but I don't know how he came up with this any more than you do. Anyway, the dog, the fiance, the fiance's dad, and several guys in military uniform try to pry Gor out of Dr. Agar's body before he destroys the world. Well, the story's unique, anyway. Of course, Josef Stalin and Eleanor Roosevelt doing their rendition of "Who's on First?" at a war bonds rally would've been unique, too, but I am not sure how entertaining THAT would've been, either. Million-dollar Dialog: Gor to Dr. Agar: "We will take the young female for a ride in your car. I will ENJOY being you tonight. She gives me a very strange, very new elation." Lots of stock footage of atomic explosions in this one; the famous Bronson Canyon cave in all its glory, and the lovely Joyce Meadows (a former Miss Sacramento) as the put-upon fiance. Thomas B. Henry plays her dad, and since I keep mentioning that you don't know his name but you'd know him if you saw him a-cause he's in every 1950s sci-fi movie, here he is: ![]() Yeah, that guy. I don't know anything about him other than he's in every 1950s sci-fi picture. Maybe he was MISTER Sacramento. In any case, if the sight of Dr. John Agar (who spends much of the film wearing the most uncomfortable-looking contact lenses you can imagine) chasing a big balloon brain around the office with an axe isn't worth the price of admission, what th' hell is, my friends? What th' hell is? Intermission offered up some snack bar ads, a trailer for the upcoming cinematic masterpiece The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy, and a Merry Madcap cartoon, Bopin' Hood, featuring a cat that plays jazz bringin' his Sherwood Trio to Squaresville, where the king don't allow no be-bop, man. (I kid you not, my friends.) Then Fever Dream Theatre continued with our second feature, Teenage Monster, and we all missed the good old days of the high level of quality achieved by such films as The Brain from Planet Arous, days that by the time this film was five minutes old were seemingly gone forever. Back in the Old West, a meteor (movingly portrayed by a Fourth of July sparkler) strikes a prospector and kills him and seriously wounds his 9-year-old tow-headed son, much to the chagrin of Mom. Seven years later, the son has turned into 50-years-old Gil Perkins (a really OLD teenage monster), who has long hair, a beard, hairy hands, bad teeth, and a bloody socket for a left eye. Gil wanders around the countryside killing people and then whining about it when Mother scolds him, and it's impossible to describe the Teenage Monster's voice, a cross between a squeezable cupie doll that says "mama" and an actor with huge false teeth in his mouth that make him 90% unintelligible, probably not a bad thing with the dialog he's given. Million-dollar Teenage Monster Dialog: "I just wanted to pet the cows. And he tried to stop me!" In an unusual twist (as if this movie needed one), the Teenage Monster attacks one of the village maidens, and Momsy gives her $500 to keep her mouth shut (seems the gold mine paid off after the sparkler hit it) and the young lady decides she likes the money so much she befriends T.M. and coerces him into getting her MORE money and killing off people she doesn't like and stuff like that. Eventually, she tries to get him to kill mama, and... well, the only people who turn out happy when "The End" crosses the screen are US out here in Audience Land. The film has SOME interest in it; Anne Gwynne, veteran of many Universal horrors including House of Frankenstein and Weird Woman, not to mention Dick Tracy vs. Gruesome and the serials The Green Hornet and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, is Mommy, plus Jack Pierce - yes, THAT Jack Pierce - did the makeup. But all that said, this is a painfully awful film to have to slog through. Both o' these were released in the early DVD days by Image; they're both full-frame, and that seems to be the correct ratio for Teenage Monster but I quickly discovered that the tops of sets and the boom mic were on full display in Planet Arous and reframed it with my TV to proper aspect ratio. The film's bad enough without the boom getting in the way of the balloon brain, as I always say. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| Frank Hale | Feb 11 2017, 12:39 PM Post #2 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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It's not like I'm an expert in this arena, but I happen to have seen both these (even posted about Teenage Monster...see below), and let me just say, I think you nailed it. Arous always seemed like run-of-the-mill-50's-TV-stupid, but these days I'm remembering Teenage Monster as one of the lamest films I’d seen in quite a while. However, I guess I've become older and crankier, as it appears I was more charitable back then. I still have to wonder exactly what audience these were made for, and to express, once again, my continuing admiration for your stamina. 9/14/06: Not only not unwatchable, but very funny in a MAD-magazine sort of way. Seems clearly to have been intended as a comedy. For the first 10 minutes, I thought it was merely routine-50’s-pathetic, but then I started laughing uncontrollably. Stars Anne Gwynne, who still looks great, with make-up by Jack Pierce. The teen-ager’s appearance as your average 50-year old wolfman can be explained by his “accident”. The repackaged [in a Teen Terror Collection] Wade Williams print is pretty good. Amusing trailer is included. Mr. G, you may want to pencil this one in for a Friday night second feature. |
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| The Batman | Feb 11 2017, 04:43 PM Post #3 |
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Charter Member
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Of course the Image DVDs for these titles are OOP and now expensive. But, thanks to Mr Hale, I've found the Teen Terror Collection, for a reasonable $14.99, so I'll be back with thoughts on that one. And the set contains TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE, which I found to be much better than I expected. I have it in a decent PD release, but hopefully this Sony release is even better in quality. |
| Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman! | |
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| Bert Greene | Feb 11 2017, 07:59 PM Post #4 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I always rather liked the wacky, comic-booky "Brain from Planet Arous." But "Teenage Monster" is a drag. |
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| Laughing Gravy | Feb 12 2017, 09:15 AM Post #5 |
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Bats, Teenage Doll is a Corman classic - you're gonna like that one. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| The Batman | Feb 12 2017, 02:57 PM Post #6 |
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Charter Member
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Thanks, LG, always up for checking out a Corman flick I haven't seen. |
| Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman! | |
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