Hey Elizabeth, that's a great pic of the wild Beth! How did you manage to capture her? Ahh yes, with a telephoto lens, I should've known All kidding aside, that's another very nice picture of you in a beautiful nature spot. I like the yellow flowers there, they remind me of the clover that grows everywhere in our open spaces and attracts a ton of bees (yikes!). The stand of trees in the background of that photo is very impressive also.
You've had a couple more great posts in the last day or so, of the golden hour trees and the clip of the ducklings crossing the pond behind their mama. It's great that you've had such a chance to get out to your parks. There's something to be said for working from home and it's been one positive benefit from the pandemic for a lot of people, though I know it may not be sustainable in the long term.
But what if it was? And maybe it should be whenever possible, so that people can have more free time to be themselves. :):)
I have to take a moment before my movie review to mention a special occasion : today, May 22 2020, would've been my Dad's 100th birthday. So this blog is in his honor. Dad was always on the go and took us so many places when we were kids. He too was from the Midwest (Goshen, Indiana), and he loved to drive, so we went to the mountains, beaches and deserts quite often when I was little. It took me a long time to gain an appreciation for nature in my own life, but in my fifties it finally took hold, so thanks Dad, and for everything else too. :)
Now, do you remember a movie we watched about a month ago, called "IT Conquered the World"? Lee Van Cleef played a scientist who made radio contact with a being from Venus and wound up guiding it to Earth, where it attempted to take over. Well, last night I watched a movie called "Zontar : The Thing From Venus"(1966), which - unbeknownst to me when I chose it - was a remake of "IT Conquered the World". The major drawing card, besides the fact that I'd never seen it, was that it starred the great John Agar, of whom we are huge fans (see yesterday's blog). Agar plays "Dr. Curt Taylor", a role taken on by Peter Graves in the original movie. Taylor is the sane, rational counterpart to Van Cleef's Mad Scientist, who everyone thinks is crazy, especially his wife. The Madman role is played this time by an actor named Tony Huston, John Huston's son. I was very surprised, in looking him up on IMDB after the movie, to find that he was only 16 years old at the time. Watching him, you can see he's young. Some grey coloring has been added to his hair to make him look older, but I would've guessed him to be between 25-30. But yeah, unless he's lying about his age (and Wiki has the same birthdate), then he was playing the Van Cleef role while just a teenager.
That's some big shoes to fill, for as we observed after watching "Conquered", Van Cleef was a demented genius in the original film. He became one of our favorite actors just from that role alone, so Tony Huston had his work cut out for him in trying to measure up to Lee's performance. To his credit, Huston doesn't take the same approach. Where Van Cleef was all nervous energy, pacing in front of his transmitter with a hand held microphone, Huston plays it calm and controlled. He knows he's doing the right thing in guiding Zontar to Earth, and he expects everyone else to realise it too. There is no room for doubt.
The movie opens with a fantastic line that had me slapping my knee in appreciation. The setting is Tony Huston's dinner table. John Agar is there with his wife. Now, you know that the one word I've always used to describe Agar's onscreen persona in film after film is "smug". Well, in this dinner scene, the first sentence out of Agar's mouth is, "My, Keith.......you're acting very smug tonight".
HA! (I'm sorry but it was waaaaayyy too funny). :)
He says this to Keith (Tony Huston) because Keith is displaying a self-righteous attitude toward everyone. This seems unlike him, so when Agar brings it up, Keith motions him over to a curtain in the living room. Ignoring the protests of his wife, Keith draws the curtain to reveal his high tech transmitter. "What would you say, Curt, if I told you I've made contact with Venus"?
"How do you mean"?, replies Agar. "There's no one there to contact".
"Oh yes there is", says Keith. He turns on the trasmitter. "Do you hear that sound, in between the static"?
"I do if I strain my ears".
"That, Curt, is the voice of Zontar".
At this, Keith's wife can take no more. "Don't listen to him, Curt"! she shouts. "He hasn't been sleeping and he's not making any sense! He's obsessed with that radio and that......thing he keeps talking to".
Agar agrees and tries to talk sense into his friend. "Martha is right, Keith. There's no one on the other end. It isn't possible. The atmospheric pressure alone precludes the possibility of life on Venus. Why don't you take a break and we'll finish dinner"?
"Aha! So you scoff at me too, Curt? I thought you'd be the one person to understand. Well, soon enough, no one will be laughing, not after Zontar arrives"!
The plotline of "Zontar" follows "IT Conquered the World" pretty much scene for scene, so if you want a full recapitulation, please refer to that review (April 29th). What I'll do here instead is give a few overall impressions of this remake, just to observe some differences between the two movies. The first notable thing is that "Zontar" is in color. I was of course dismayed to see this, however, it did have a few advantages. For instance, you get to see a classic mid-60s home interior in all it's wood paneled glory. Also, when Zontar himself is finally revealed, he looks pretty cool in gooey black, brown and red. Roger Corman directed "IT", infusing the film with his trademark energy. The same cannot be said for Larry Buchanan and "Zontar". Though he maintains a sort of absurd wit throughout the movie (especially via the performances of Tony Huston and Pat Delany as his overwrought wife), Buchanan can't maintain the zip of the original film. After an electric start, beginning with stock footage of a satellite launch followed by the confrontational dinner scene, the pace begins to drop off, to the point where things are really lagging by the hour mark. Perhaps it was only because I already knew what was gonna happen, but I found myself looking at the "time remaining" quite frequently during the final twenty minutes.
Location is another difference between the two movies. "Zontar" was filmed in Dallas, "IT" in Hollywood and (naturally) Bronson Canyon. As I watched the former, I kept wondering where it was made. The abundance of stunted trees made me think "East Coast", but it was Texas, which has a very unique landscape. It's effective for a sci-fi flick, but I'm so used to the Bronson Cave that I've gotta give the edge to "IT". With the acting, it's worth it to see both movies, which I was going to recommend anyway. Peter Graves is a good "straight man" in the original, but he's no match for John Agar in "Zontar" (but then, who is?). Vice versa for the "Keith" role. As much as I enjoyed Tony Huston's "earnest yet smug" take on the character, that role is owned by Lee Van Cleef, whose performance belongs on the Mount Rushmore of The Great Mad Scientists of Science Fiction. Lastly, I got a big kick out of Pat Delaney's overly emotional characterization of Keith's wife. I have a feeling she was doing it deliberately, perhaps at Buchanan's suggestion, because she seems to be a good actress, but her portrayal is so high strung that if looks straight out of a Method Acting rehearsal.
To sum up, I'd say "IT Conquered the World" is a certified Corman Classic, while "Zontar" is almost an homage to the original, albeit with differences in style and energy. Had "IT" never been made, I'd give "Zontar" a higher rating because you just can't beat John Agar, and Tony Huston's performance is a revelation in deadpan mock-seriousness, especially for a 16 year old kid playing a seasoned scientist. But because "IT" came first, and is the better of the two movies, I can't help but compare them on that basis, so unfortunately I have to dock "Zontar" one rating level down, to Two Solid Thumbs Up. On it's own, it might've garnered Two Bigs.
Someone should consider restoring both films and releasing them on the same disc. For now, I suggest you watch them back-to-back. Do it over two nights, so you can appreciate each movie separately. I will keep searching for more John Agar gems to add to our collection.
See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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