Science Fiction Sunday 39

I was up early on this nice Sunday and watched The Atomic Submarine. It's been awhile since I watched it and thought it would be a nice way to pass the time while I sorted out all the dark blay pieces that had been piling up. That's not the cover to the edition I watched. It's the poster. I have a copy of the Criterion Edition and it's the one to have. It looks great. There are a few flaws but they are pretty minor. I'm sure no one took the time or spent the money to take care of the movie before Criterion got there. There are a few extras on the DVD but the best is the commentary with producer Alex Gordon and film historian Tom Weaver. After watching the movie I watched it again at 1.5 speed with the commentary running. It's entertaining, even for the second time. Gordon speaks about making the movie and working in the low-budget film industry with Roger Corman and American International Pictures. He remembers a lot of detail and he has a love of the business and some of the people in it. He hired a lot of older actors that he liked, simply because he wanted to meet them and hear their tales of the past. Actors like Tom Conway, Dick Foran and Bob Steele. I liked Tom Conway in The Falcon series, which he took over from his brother, George Sanders. RKO Pictures had been making The Saint movies with Sanders. They didn't want to pay for the rights to the character anymore, so, they made up their own sophisticated international man of mystery, The Falcon. He's not the same guy, he's gotta different name. Sanders did a few of those, passed the torch to his brother, who did another half dozen before the series ended. The Atomic Submarine was made in 1959. It's an alien invasion movie set under the sea. It's got a great monster, which I give highpoints for character, but low points for execution. It works well enough to keep me entertained, the monster and the movie. Gordon talks about the puppet and how he didn't believe it would work. He was happier after seeing the film the special effects guys shot. TAS won't be listed as the best movie of the time but it's pretty entertaining to me. You can judge for yourself and watch the whole movie for free at Internet Archive.

After watching The Atomic Submarine twice I went off to Big Lots!. It's a store that I saw mentioned on The Manchester Morgue blog. A couple of time recently he's mentioned getting movies from this clearance store chain for $3 each. Now he was talking about $6 tv season dvd's. I looked and they are all out in the suburbs. Nothing in close to where I live or work. I picked the one out west a bit. It was the closest. Turns out they have a lot of dvd's. Many of the same ones and not much that I needed. I got a copy of Little Shop of Horrors. The 50's one with Jack Nicholson in a minor role. It's in B&W and Color(ized). There's a bonus commentary by Mike Nelson of MST3K fame. I got a nice looking letterboxed copy of The Magic Sword which was a MST3K selection. The Legend of Rin Tin Tin has 4 serials from the 1930's. That was 6 bucks, as was the complete first season of The Adventures of Robin Hood. 39 episodes from 1959 with Richard Greene as Robin Hood. After I got home and made lunch I slapped on the first disc of Robin Hood's adventures and they were pretty entertaining. I think I must have seen this on tv when I was a kid. We got a lot of Brit made stuff on the CBC. The story line follows the traditional story. Robin returns home from the Crusades. He discovers he's been cheated out his house and land. He takes it on the lam and joins up with the outlaws of Sherwood Forest. He soons becomes the leader. Some of the stories are more humourous than others. There's an extra u there because the series is British. Greene is a personable Robin and there's lots of running about in the woods and shooting arrows. Lots of Prince John's men get stuck on them. There were 4 seasons of the series, the first three of which are out on DVD. You can get the first season for $7.49 on Amazon and it's only $12.99 for the other two out now. The third came out last March so the 4th might actually come out. They are entertaining enough to want to see the rest, especially if I can find them so cheap.

Comments

[Gary Mattingly]

The Atomic Submarine I have seen. I thought I had it but it doesn't seem to be over on the shelves. Hm, I may have to purchase it but first I better wander through the piles again.