All day rain and cold enough that it might as well be winter. All we ever seem to get anymore in Southern California are extremes, it's either freezing cold or super hot, with very little of the kind of balmy, 80 degree weather we used to have for most of the year. You used to see that kind of day in any given month, it was what was meant by "SoCal Weather", but now it's either Hot, Arctic, Pouring or Gale Force Wind, and only one of those do I like, haha. Ahh, but I shouldn't complain, for in two recent books (Velikovski's "Worlds In Collision" and Collins' "Gobekli Tepe") I am learning of something called the Fimbulwinter, the terrible period of cold that in Norse mythology precedes the end of the world. According to the two authors' research, the myth was very likely based on the almost instantaneous coming of the Ice Age, which was generated, it is now believed, by a comet or comet fragments hitting the Earth. Changes in the weather took place so rapidly that animals from that time have been found frozen with undigested food in their stomachs. But what gets me is that term : Fimbulwinter.
It's an awful word, and it sounds like how the experience must have felt: cold beyond measure.
So I shouldn't complain, because even though it's freezing tonight, it's not....... Fimbulwinter!
Lol. Well anyhow, tonight's movie was called "The Monster of Piedras Blancas"(1959). As rubber-suited creature features go, this was one of the better ones, though once again they could've used a little more Creature and a little less dialogue.
Some fishermen in a rowboat turn up dead on the beach near Point Conception. They've been mutilated so the town's Constable (Forrest Lewis) opens a murder investigation, which goes nowhere. Down at the local grocery store, the owner Mr. Kochek begins spreading a rumor that there's a monster in the ocean just off the coast. It supposedly lives in a hidden cave. The constable tells Kochek to stop scaring people, but Kochek is adamant. He tells the lawman he knows what he's talking about, and he continues to admonish everyone who comes into his store to "stey avay from de beech"!
Meanwhile, the lighthouse keeper (John Harmon) is getting nervous. He is interviewed about the "murders" but says he saw nothing. The constable suspects he isn't telling all he knows. The keeper's daughter (Jeanne Carmen) is having a Summer fling with a marine biologist (Dan Sullivan) who works along the same stretch of coastline, assisting his boss Dr. Jorgenson (veteran actor Les Tremayne). They hang out at the beach a lot which perturbs the Keeper, who forbids his daughter to see the young man. When she protests, he threatens to send her back to the boarding school "where you spent your entire childhood. I did it before and I'll do it again"! That she's now a grown woman doesn't seem to enter into it, but he's not thinking straight. All he knows is that he doesn't want her going near the beach. She tells her boyfriend (the marine biologist) not to take the old man too seriously. He's been very protective of her ever since his wife died.
The next day, Mr. Kochek is discovered dead in his store by little Jimmy. When he returns with the Constable, they are met with a Terrifying Sight that will go down in the gruesome Annals of Horror as one of the most Bejeezus Scaring Moments in all of 1950s Science Fiction. I'm not gonna begin to tell you what it is, I'll just say that - as far as I know - this type of scene was unprecedented at the time, and I'm glad I didn't see it when I was a kid. But in the movie, little Jimmy sees it, and I'll bet he was scarred for life. :):)
Well, by now, the Constable knows it's no longer a murder investigation, not in the conventional sense anyway. This is obvious by what we've just witnessed. It turns out that crazy old Kochek was right. They've got a Monster on their hands and they've gotta do something about it before it's too late. He teams up with the marine biologist and Dr. Jorgensen to examine evidence from the store, which includes a fish-like scale that was left behind. "Why......it can't be. This is impossible! This scale is related to the genus Lizardius Rubbericus, which has been extinct for 300 million years"!
I guess the Doc never saw "Creature From The Black Lagoon", but anyway, they now have a good idea of what they're up against, extinction or no extinction. The Constable recalls Kochek's mention of a hidden cave somewhere in the area, so he goes to see the Lighthouse Keeper : "You know this area better than anyone else. Do you know of a cave along the beach"?
"No, I do not! I know nothing of this situation. You shouldn't go looking for caves near the water. You could drown"!
Methinks he protests too much, and so does the Constable, who sees in the man's warning a parallel to that of Mr. Kochek before he was killed. "How well did you know Mr. Kochek"?
"I shopped at his store like everybody else"!
"He spoke of a creature, which sounded crazy at the time, but now we know he was telling the truth. You're the only other person who's been warning folks away from the beach, before we even knew what was happening. If you know something more, something you're not telling us, you've got to tell us now. It could save lives"!
".........alright......(sigh)........alright......I'll tell you".
But now I'm giving you too much dialogue, just like the screenwriter did, so I'll cut to the chase.
It all began years ago, when the Lighthouse Keeper first moved to Point Conception. He'd left a similar job back east, when his wife drowned in the Atlantic ocean. He was lonely, he'd sent his daughter away to boarding school and was by himself. One day he was exploring the beach when he saw this cave. When the tide ebbed, he went inside and walked through about a mile.
"Suddenly I came upon this poor little creature.........it too was all alone. It looked like it had nothing to eat, so I started bringing it meat scraps from Kolchek's market".......
There I go with the dialogue again. I can't help it because the Lighthouse Keeper's explanation is so classic : when he discovered the Creature inside the sea cave, he felt sorry for it because it was so small and alone.........so he started feeding the thing!
Over the years it got bigger and bigger, and hungrier and hungrier, and all of a sudden it wasn't satisfied with scraps. It wanted something a little more substantial at mealtime. So there's your answer. And old Mr. Kochek knew it all along, the Constable should've listened to him. By now, the Creature is pretty upset with the Keeper for betraying him, so there will be a showdown at the Lighthouse itself, in a Fright Filled Finale that I'm pretty sure I've seen before, maybe on TCM around Halloweentime. The film uses the actual Point Conception lighthouse, as well as a cool old beach town near Lompoc, earning it some bonus points that make up for the overly talky script. The great locations, the drive-in movie atmosphere and the Incredible Rubber Suit (not to mention the Unmentionable Scare Scenes I mentioned) all add up to make "The Monster of Piedras Blancas" a minor classic of the genre. There's not a lot of action, that's the only drawback. The print I saw was perfect, too, which enhanced my viewing experience immeasurably, enough for me to rate the movie Two Big Thumbs Up.
I think we're back on track now, so we'll try to maintain quality control on a consistent basis. I will now go for a walk, unless it's turned into Fimbulwinter! outside. Last night my hands were freezing up. If you don't see me later on, I may be found millennia from now, in the ice core, with undigested yogurt in my stomach. Otherwise I'll see you later at the Usual Time! :):)
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment