Well, you can't win 'em all, not even with early Corman. We found that out tonight with "Battle Beyond The Sun"(1962), the story of a space race to Mars between the U.S. and Soviet Union. The movie actually began life as a Mosfilm production called "Nebo zovyot"(1959), an impressive looking predecessor to "2001", with a message about cooperation between nations in the exploration of space. Roger Corman bought the rights to it three years after it's release and had Francis Ford Coppola re-cut it. Now the two superpowers are known as "South Hem" and "North Hem", short for Hemisphere as you might guess.
South Hem (USSR) has a manned rocket launch set for Mars that will dock first at an intermediate space station. Astronauts from North Hem (USA) follow them there, feigning engine trouble to get the Soviet's permission to land. They then continue the ruse to quickly re-launch, in order to beat the Russians to Mars. It's a dirty trick, but it's played as being "all in good fun", like a healthy competition. In fact, for a film that was originally made in Russia at the height of the Cold War, it's surprisingly noble-minded and fair toward the U.S.
The Americans gain the advantage and are on their way to Mars when a solar flare magnetizes the space in their vicinity. Now they must call for the Russians' help once again, and this time they really need it. Mission Control in Moscow directs them to a nearby asteroid, where they land, but now they are out of fuel and can't get back. The Russians come to the rescue yet again, sending an unmanned refueling rocket, which crashes, so finally they have to send up their cosmonauts because......
Now there are Space Monsters to deal with, and the Americans can't fight them alone.
Apparently, when Roger Corman bought the rights to this film, he felt there wasn't enough Cheesiness, so he had Coppola not only re-edit it, cutting 15 minutes out of the story, but also create and film some of the most ridiculous monsters in his repertoire. They're.......how shall I put it?.......uh, they're rather obscene looking (and quite hideous too). You can either see them for yourself if you watch the movie or simply read a review or some fan comments on IMDB, where the Monsters are sure to be mentioned. The trouble with them, besides their look, is that they don't fit in here.
I don't know why Corman wanted to acquire this film, other than to make money (obviously), because it isn't remotely in his style. For one thing, it's fantastic looking. I kept thinking, "Wow! The Russians made this movie nine years before "2001". The special effects (models and matte work) are the best I've seen from the 1950s, taking up where George Pal left off. It looks like some pretty elaborate sets were built also. I know Mosfilm, the State-sponsored studio of the Soviet Union, made some movies in the 50s and 60s that had every bit the same level of artistry and production values as any Hollywood release, so they must've put some dough into "Nebo zovyot". And sure enough, when I read the background notes on IMDB, it turns out that Stanley Kubrick did indeed use the drawings for this movie as a guide for what he wanted to achieve with "2001". That's how good looking the Russian film is. But in Corman's hands - much as we love him - it all becomes dumbed down. Coppola was just a film student at the time, and he may not have known what he was doing with his cuts. He removed 15 minutes from the story, reducing the narrative to a simple back-and forth competition to see who will reach Mars first. There's nothing left except the Russians constantly having to bail out their American friends. The "international goodwill" aspect remains intact, but that's all there is.
That and the Space Monsters. :)
Normally, with a Corman movie I have a plot I can elaborate on with lots of Weird Stuff to point out along the way. This time I don't have that. I'm gonna give "Battle Beyond The Sun" Two Regular Thumbs Up anyhow, just because of the way it looks, which really is amazing for it's time. But if you're gonna watch it, I'd try to find the Russian version instead. ////
Let's see, what else can I tell ya since the movie review was short? I've finished two books recently, one being "Denial of Justice" by Mark Shaw, a follow-up to his bestseller "The Reporter Who Knew Too Much", about Dorothy Kilgallen and her investigation into the JFK assassination. Many people today would not know who Kilgallen was. She was known in the early 1960s for her weekly appearances as a panelist on "What's My Line", the popular game show, but before that, she'd made a career as a reporter and columnist. She became so famous that she was as much in the news as those she wrote about. Kilgallen was the only journalist who was given access to interview Jack Ruby after he killed Lee Harvey Oswald, and the things he told her set her on a path to break the case wide open. She was the first reporter to openly question the "Oswald Alone" story, laid out by J. Edgar Hoover. Her doubts led her to undertake an investigation of her own, which began with her interview of Ruby and included many others. By November 1965, she had compiled a thick folder of notes and information, which were to become the basis for a book she was planning, the very first JFK assassination review questioning the official story of the Warren Report (which was a joke).
Then she turned up dead, the "official story" being an accidental drug overdose or suicide, take your pick. Fifty years later, attorney Mark Shaw became intrigued with her case and conducted an investigation of his own, and in the two books he has written about Kilgallen he has not only proven beyond a shadow of a doubt she was murdered, but he's proven who did it, and the person is still alive.
Wow, what a story. We basically know now who killed JFK. It was most probably a Mafia hit, headed up by Carlos Marcello, but there is no way he could have gotten away with it and there is no chance it could've been covered up all these years unless a higher power was involved, and in this case that has to be not just J. Edgar Hoover but also the man who became President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson. Until our country comes clean on that fact, we will continue to suffer the repercussions of sweeping it under the rug. I shant go on a tirade, but if you are a JFK buff, be sure to read the two Shaw books. Dorothy Kilgallen was an American hero who stood for the truth. Her efforts should not be forgotten.
The other book I read was called "The Paris Wife" by Paula McClain. It was loaned to me by Pearl's daughter, and though I'm not usually a reader of historical fiction it turned out to be quite interesting and a page-turner at that. It's the story of Ernest Hemingway's first marriage to a woman named Hadley Richardson who was nine years his senior. He is only twenty when they meet, but they fall in love, get married and move to Paris, where he establishes himself as a writer and eventually becomes famous. They get to know all of the expatriate authors and artists of the time, including Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Their child is born and it seems like they are having a grand old time, but then the bottom begins to drop out and it is absolutely brutal. Hemingway was a alcoholic who could drink anyone under the table and also a womaniser, in addition to being a man who constantly felt the need to show off his machismo. He loved bullfighting, for instance (which I find horrible), boxing and big-game hunting (ditto). The book focuses mostly on the love story and the lives of the Jazz Age crowd in Paris, but as the whole scene becomes a train wreck and the Hemingways' marriage comes to an end, it's devastating. I might not have sought the book out on my own, but I'm glad I read it. It's also what caused me to Google "Ernest Hemingway", which is how I discovered The Hemingway App that I mentioned the other night. /////
So there you have it, a good looking movie butchered by Corman and Coppola, and two interesting books. See you later tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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