Elizabeth, that is an interesting photo you posted this afternoon, because the trail is green but the field is light brown. There's a disconnect to looking at it, because if the field is dried out then the trail should be too, and vice versa, if the trail is green then the field should be green. Rain falls on everything. But then I thought "I'm looking at it from a California point of view". Out here when it rains the whole hillside turns green, but maybe in your picture beige is the natural coloring of the vegetation in the field, like wheat or something. It's also interesting because the trail itself is not dirt, it looks like a newly mown strip of grass that runs through a crop of some kind. You'll have to elaborate on this location! :):)
Tonight's movie was a Roger Corman classic, but before I get to it I wanna clear up a discrepancy about a director I misidentified as being a "hack". You may recall that in this time of public domain viewing, we've watched two films from director Bert I. Gordon, both of which I found surprisingly well made. I was surprised because I'd read that Gordon was a hack, and these movies were of professional quality, especially in the technical sense. The matter continued to puzzle me ("why would someone call this guy a hack when there are real offenders out there to choose from"?), until finally today the matter was cleared up. As I was searching my new IMDB list for tonight's movie, I came across one that was directed by a Herschell Gordon Lewis. A lightbulb went off in my brain and I thought, "Eureka! I have found it"! You will notice a similarity between the two names, there is a Gordon in each one. So I was getting Bert I. Gordon mixed up with Herschell Gordon Lewis, a genuine hack, and......
How do I know this, you ask? Well, at some point I did indeed read an article or two about HGL, but as it turns out, I actually had the first hand experience of attending one of his movies. This would be waaaaay back in about 1980 or so. My friends and I were art house fans, and we also loved horror. We heard about a screening at the Nuart or one of the West L.A. moviehouses of a film called "The Gore-Gore Girls", an obvious take on the 1960s go-go dancer phenomenon. It was supposed to be really cool and hip, and also very gory as inferred by the title. As aficionados of all things gruesome, we thought we'd better go see this picture, even though the title sounded stupid. I think we'd read about it in a local paper called the L.A. Weekly, which was devoted to L.A. culture and the arts. The reviewer would have certainly mentioned the film's creator, Hershell Gordon Lewis, who is now heralded as the father of the "splatter" genre. Well at any rate, long story short, several of us went to see this movie, and about 20 minutes into it, I got up and walked out of the theater. That's how bad "The Gore-Gore Girls" was. Another friend joined me in the lobby shortly thereafter. He couldn't believe I'd walked out because I never did that. I'd even sat through "Don't Go In The House" and loved every sick minute of it, but this movie was on a whole 'nuther level of terrible. It was absolute garbage in every way, including it's sub-amateur production values, and it's "blood for blood's sake". I don't remember if the rest of our friends walked out on "Gore-Gore Girls". I think it was just me and John. But here's how bad Herschell Gordon Lewis' movie was : I didn't even remember his name or his motion picture until tonight, when I came across it on the IMDB list and realized I'd confused him with Bert I. Gordon. So, my mistake Mr. Gordon! I apologize for calling you a hack, when it was the name of Herschell "Gordon" Lewis that was bubbling up from my subconscious. He was a genuine hack, one who made - if I'm not mistaken - the only movie that's ever caused me to walk out of a theater.
So there you have it. Long live Bert I. Gordon, talented director, and phooey on Herschell Gordon Lewis.
This brings us back to tonight's Corman Classic, which was called "Not Of This Earth" (1957), and starred Joseph Birch and Beverly Garland respectively as a black suited Alien and his live-in nurse. Birch, a solidly built character actor known mostly for Westerns, is here speaking with a European accent. In addition to his suit, he wears a hat and wrap around sunglasses. As the movie opens, after scaring a young lady half to death, he enters a doctor's office, demanding a blood transfusion. Through negotiation involving mind control, the doctor agrees to give him what he needs. During the visit, Birch meets Garland and hires her on at $200 a week (big bucks for '57) to be his personal nurse. He needs one on duty round the clock because his blood is in the process of evaporating, thus he requires daily transfusions to stay alive.
He tells Nurse Garland not to worry about the supply. He's now got his own source to obtain blood. You see, when he was out riding through Griffith Park with his weasely chauffeur (Jonathan Haze), they came across a group of winos enjoying a morning Thunderbird. "Who were those gentlemen"? Birch inquired, to which Haze responded, "You mean the stumblebums? They're vagrants who sleep in the park".
"Do they have jobs or families"?
"No. Nobody cares about their kind".
Hmmm. This gives Mr. Birch an idea. "After you drop me off, I want you to come back to the park and pick up several of those men. Invite them to dinner, bring them back to the house". The "dinner" works out very well for Birch as you can imagine. With plenty of winos in the park, he no longer has to worry about a blood shortage and can turn his attention to The Matter at Hand - making contact with his Superior on Planet Davana. Behind a sliding door in his living room, Birch has an Interplanetary Teleportation Machine, and I have to step in here to tell you that I spent some time Googling and checking Youtube after the film was over, to see if I could locate a clip of the scene where this machine is revealed. I think it's one of the greatest scenes in low-budget sci-fi history, and you absolutely have to see it! After activating the Teleporter, his Superior appears in the framework.
"Have you a progress report"?, he asks.
"Yes", Birch replies. "Their blood is suitable for our use, although it must be replenished regularly".
"Good. We will transfer down gradually so as not to endanger the supply. This will give our scientists time to work on a simulation, to be used when the last sub-human is gone". That's how these guys refer to us, as "sub-humans", which - though it's never stated - caused me to assume that they consider themselves the real Human Race. The problem with their blood is that it's been irradiated by an all-out nuclear war on Davana, so they're looking for a new place to live. They've sent Birch here to Earth to test out the blood of the sub-humans, and so far the results are looking pretty good! The thing is, folks, that I could never hope to replicate the dialogue in this scene, between Birch and the Superior. The screenwriter uses Sentences Of Great Significance, spoken in Formal Alien English, to explain the Utter Seriousness of the Earth Mission, which both agree is of Dire Importance. He (the writer) somehow manages to straddle the fine line between campiness ala "Plan 9" and really good sci-fi dialogue, which would be Too Weighty and Philosophical for this movie. I mean, he nails it, and as played out by Birch and the other actor as The Superior, it's reason alone to watch this movie.
Now, Beverly Garland has done a little snooping around down in the basement, where she was of course forbidden to go (the ubiquity of this directive was once dealt with in the clearly titled "Don't Go In The Basement"(1973), after the release of which no one could claim ignorance). While she is down there, curious about the unexplained and never ending blood supply, she leaves her swim cap behind as she's just gotten out of the pool. I was shocked, because the Beverly Garland of "Decoy" would never be so absent minded. Here, though, she's in Scream Queen mode, and she'll have plenty of screaming to do once Mr. Birch discovers the swim cap. He, in turn, will have his hands full with the plucky Garland, who is nobody's fool and also has a cop for a boyfriend (Morgan Jones). During a further search of the house, the couple will accidentally discover the hidden Teleportation Machine and also a crematorium, which Birch has been using to dispose of bodies.
Now the Constantly Smoking Chimney makes sense! The pieces are coming together regarding Mr. Birch (or "Mr. Johnson" as he is called in the movie). Confronted with the evidence against him, Birch admits to the Davanians' evil plot, and a chase through the hilly streets of Hollywood ensues. Can Garland and her boyfriend escape Mr. Birch, and more importantly, can they prevent him from teleporting back to Davana? The future of the sub-humans depends on it!
Friends, this one is a classic, as noted at the beginning of the review. The only thing preventing me from giving it my highest rating is a slightly low-budget look (minor lighting & sound issues) and the lack of a complex plot, which isn't a deal-breaker here because the script is otherwise excellent as also mentioned. It does earn my penultimate rating, however, and so "Not Of This Earth" gets Two Huge Thumbs Up, and is considered a must see for all fans of sci-fi, B-Grade or otherwise. I should also mention that Roger Corman has some very artful and inventive opening title sequences, using paintings and clever graphics. I've noticed this in several of his movies, a nice touch that ups the expectancy of a well-made picture. Boy did he succeed with this one! ////
That's all I have for the moment. It is now Thursday evening and Elizabeth, I see by your most recent post that you're preparing to do some recording. That's always good news and I'll be glad to hear the outcome when it is ready! I've been playing a lot of guitar myself since the lockdown began, more than I've had time to in recent years, and while my chording takes some work due to Dupuytren's, I can still play lead just fine and do a lot of smaller voicings too. So I've been playing every morning and have some good ideas too. For now they'll have to remain in my head and on the fingerboard, but at some point when I have a larger living space I'll try to do some recording of my own (and hopefully I can get a technical wizard like yourself to help me, lol).
Now I shall go for my CSUN walk. It was 97 degrees today (oh boy!) but it's now cooling off. Stay well and I'll see you later tonight at the Usual Time. :):)
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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