Tonight we made a partial recovery with a film called "The Cosmic Man"(1959), starring John Carradine, which gives you some insight into the filmmakers' quest for authenticity, lol. Any movie from the later period of Carradine's career is gonna be pretty cosmic, as far as entertainment value is concerned. It's fair to say JC was an eccentric performer, so his presence in a movie guarantees it won't be boring, at least during the scenes he's in. The trouble in this movie was that he wasn't onscreen near enough. Ex-Tarzan and Olympian Bruce Bennett is the actual star despite Carradine's top billing, and while his Old Pro demeanor steers a steady course, he lacks the fireworks to give us a showing of James Best-ian stature. Bennett is playing a nuclear physicist here, and it looks like he took the role to heart. He's so deeply into his equations that it's hard to get a rise out of him. As the film's hero he's a tad dull, but he does predict the coming of The Cosmic Man when all around him disregard it, so think of his character as a quiet visionary. He's no substitute for John Carradine but he's a damn sight better than what we had last night, with Robert Clarke running loose as "The Hideous Sun Demon".
After that experience, we couldn't have expected to return to full strength in one fell swoop, so overall I think we did fairly well with "The Cosmic Man".
The Air Force is tracking an object moving across the sky at the tremendous speed of 180,000 miles per hour. When it disappears behind Bronson Canyon, they send a team out to investigate. Deep in a culvert they discover a spherical craft about the size of one of those horrible "suffocation" balls that were used to capture escapees on the show "The Prisoner" in the 1960s. If you don't remember the show, just imagine a white ball ten feet in diameter and you'll get the picture. This ball, or craft, hasn't actually landed. Instead, it is suspended in mid-air about five feet off the ground. The Colonel in charge can't make heads or tails of it, so he calls in Bruce Bennett for advice. Bennet, our nuclear physicist, has been summoned because he worked on the Manhattan Project; the Colonel wants to make sure the sphere is not some kind of atomic bomb. After examining it (and bringing in all kinds of detectors and devices) , Bennett concludes that it's not a weapon of any sort but rather what it basically appears to be, a UFO.
"But how did it get here"?, wonders the Colonel. "There's no one inside to fly it. We checked the entire surface, there's not a door or even a seam, anywhere". Bennett concludes that it could've been flown remotely : "It could be an advance probe, sent ahead of a landing force". That gets the Colonel's attention, but then Bennett adds "though we can't rule out that it doesn't have an occupant. Who's to say what physical properties a being might have who isn't from Earth? We know of the incredible amount of space between subatomic particles, for instance, and that certain rays, such as Gamma, can pass through lead. Perhaps the pilot, if there is one, doesn't need a door".
This possibility exasperates the Colonel, who is more of a nuts-and-bolts kind of guy : "Are you expecting me to believe there's an Invisible Man in there"?
"Not an Invisible Man necessarily", replies Bennett, "but maybe a Cosmic Man".
And with that, we have our title. Hooray! It's pretty impressive that Bennett has deduced all of this after a single examination of the sphere, but then as I've said, he's a visionary and a brilliant one at that. He also discovers that the craft is being suspended by some sort of anti-gravity technology "far superior to anything we've developed". The Colonel's heard enough scientific mumbo-jumbo by now, he's ready to call the Pentagon and recommend a switch to Defcon One. Bennett implores him to hold off : "If there is a Cosmic Man in there, how do we know his intentions? What if he's come in peace"?
"Yes, and what if he hasn't"?!, answers the Colonel.
Bennett resorts to logic : "But don't you see, Colonel? He's from a civilization much more advanced than ours. With their technologies they could've destroyed us already if that was their intent."
This back-and-forth will set up a major plot theme : the conflicting philosophies of science and the military as to how to deal with the unknown intruder in their midst. The Colonel just wants to blow the sphere to Kingdom Come. Bennett, for his part, knows the consequences of atomic warfare, including and especially the collateral damage. "You still feel guilt over Hiroshima", jibes the Colonel. "Well I don't. I say we take no chances with this thing. I'm calling the General"!
The military is brought in, but by that time The Cosmic Man has bailed. He appears to us as a flickering Shadow, a special effect that looks pretty cool. He leaves the sphere and shows up at a nearby lodge, which must be up in the mountains off of Angeles Crest, though in the movie it's supposed to be close to the landing site. In daylight he appears wearing his "John Carradine" disguise, dressed in long topcoat, collar upturned, with a scarf, hat and square, mirrored sunglasses. He speaks in that familiar baritone, in slow precise phrases. "I-Have-Come-To-Meet-With-Doctor-Karl-Sorensen", he tells the woman behind the desk, the lodge's proprieter. "May-I-Inquire-If-He-Has-A-Room-Here"?
Dr. Sorensen is Bennett, of course, and he is staying at the lodge, but right now he's out at the landing site trying to prevent World War Three. The Cosmic Man knows this, and actually he is All Knowing. He knows who the Good Guys and Bad Guys are, and he's already way past both of them. Where he comes from, they are so over violence, so what we have here is basically a remake of "The Day The Earth Stood Still", albeit without the major studio budget and Gort the Giant Robot.
To prove he is who he says he is, Carradine goes around at night as The Cosmic Man, disabling radar, diagramming an anti-gravity equation, appearing in Shadow to the Lodge lady and various others, including some Air Force subordinates. Unlike the alien Klattu in "DTESS", he makes no specific threats, nothing along the lines of stopping the Earth's rotation, but he does make clear that the atomic testing and ongoing arms race between the Superpowers has got to stop, or else. It's the usual "we cannot allow your violence to spread to Outer Space" argument, which is a legit one I'd say. The Lodge Lady has a young son who is a budding scientific genius himself. He wants to help The Cosmic Man and Dr. Sorensen (Bennett) achieve a peaceful solution, but the Colonel and his superiors keep pushing toward confrontation. Eventually, The Cosmic Man will use the boy to further his directive, but in a way I cannot reveal. That part you will have to see for yourself.
"The Cosmic Man" wins points for it's interesting, thoughtful script. If you like scientific dialogue, there's plenty of that. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of action. It's a little slow and there isn't enough John Carradine. As I mentioned above, we didn't make it all the way back with this film, but it's definitely watchable and contains a decent amount of hardware to give it a convincing look, though the print was not as sharp we've been used to. I'll give it Two Regular Thumbs Up, and we'll try to make more progress tonight as we search for even better material. ////
It is now 6:45 on Monday evening. We've had a lot of rain, starting last night and continuing through this morning. The sky is still threatening - hopefully I can get my full walk in, I will depart in the next few minutes. I am enjoying my book on Gobekeli Tepe, listening to lots of music, playing guitar and eating chips and salsa. Thank goodness there's been no shortage of those, or of avocados......:):)
Stay well and I'll see you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons and tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment