Sci-Fi Film Fiesta, The Swingin' 60s - Volume 3: Freaky Future Shocks by Chris Christopoulos - HTML preview

\Part 5: Subterranean Chamber of Horrors

“Abandon all hope you who enter here.”

(Dante Alighieri, Inferno)

 

Once underground, George finds some wood to make a torch, but he doesn't light it just yet. While he explores the underground chambers and takes note of the machinery, he is being observed by figures in the background – the dreaded Morlocks. Upon entering the next chamber, George stumbles across human skeletons, and their disposition can only mean one thing: the Morlocks have reverted to cannibalism and food source are the Eloi!

On the heels of this horrific revelation,George finally sees the grotesque form of these hideous human descendants with their squat stature, glowing eyes, long white hair and blue-gray skin. One of the Morlocks is driving the Eloi with a whip and they move like lambs to the slaughter. George suddenly spots Weena in the line, and moves to cut her from the herd and awken her from her trance. A male Eloi then shakes himself awake up and follows them. Meanwhile, George has been spotted and a Morlock attacks him with a whip. George then manages to retrieve the whip from the Morlock grasp and uses it to give it some of its own medicine. Soon it is on for young and old – or not so old.

Having ben forced to retreat and being penned in with the Eloi, George lights a match, the light from which causes the Morlocks back off. However, when the match goes out the Morlocks advance once again. After another tussle with the Morlocks, George locates the torch and tries to light it, but finds he’s down to his last match. Weena runs over to him and helps him to get the torch to burn.

George keeps the Morlocks away with the torch and directs the Eloi to start moving towards the stairs. Suddenly George finds himself without his torch and has to resort to good old fashioned manly fisty-cuffs. The Morlocks despite their ferocity are absolutely rubbish pugilists but their numbers are overwhelming for just one man to contend with. Just as George is about to be throttled to death by a Morlock, one of the Eloi males suddenly discovers that he does indeed possess testicles. Having seen what transpired, he forms a fist and uses it to attack the Morlock that is pummeling George.

George grabs the torch and directs the Eloi up the stairs while covering their retreat. On the way up the stairs, George ignites some flammable material with the torch. Despite some Morlocks blocking their path on the stairs, the Eloi with their newly found fighting spirit are able to knock them off the stairs into the fire. With the fire spreading and turning into a conflagration, the Eloi manage to climb out of the holes. Once out in the open, George, directs then to gather dead wood and drop it all down into the holes as added fuel for the fire. Suddenly there is an explosion and the structure around one of the holes falls in. From the river, George and the Eloi witness more underground explosions and the entire subterranean structure collapses forming a gigantic hole in the ground.

Now that the underworld of the Morlocks was gone, what now? Certainly the life of leisure for the Eloi is no more along with the centuries of fear. Now they will have the task of starting over in which they will no doubt be forced to work to survive.

“ Another night was coming, but this night no Eloi needed to fear.” But what of you, George? Without your Time Machine, you are imprisoned in a world in which you do not belong, a feeling you know only too well.

Here you sit at the same pool where you first saved Weena's life, toying with the blossom Weena gave you earlier. And she sits nearby and you have to tell her that you are sorry that you have to stay because you cannot go back to your own time and tell people “about the happiness and sorrow the future has in store for them,” whether or not they could learn from it. Let’s face it George, you wanted originally to flee from that feeling of being out of time and out of place in your own world. However, you now realize that in this future time you had once longed to see for yourself, you just don’t don't fit here any more than Weena would in your time.

As they talk, Weena wonders if George has any girl-friends in his time and asks how the women wear their hair. Despite the gulf of time that separates them, there is something they both share: their very human feeling of love for each other.

This charming interlude is suddenly interrupted by the excited voices of other Eloi, who point toward the damaged stone building. As George and Weena, along with a group of Eloi approach the building, they notice that the doors are now wide open and that the the Time Machine lies enticingly just inside. Filled with joy, George moves toward the open doorway and further inside just beyond to where his machine sits. Weena starts to follow, but her years of conditioning and force of habit force her to halt before the threshold.

After George briefly examines his machine, he proceeds to fit the control lever into place. Suddenly darkness descends as the doors of the stone building close with a with a sound of clanging finality. To her horror, Weena sees the doors close, runs up to them and vainly pounds her fists on the unyielding metal. At the same time, George rushes to his side of the doors and struggles to open them. Once again he and Weena find themselves separated by a barrier.

 

The trap is sprung as a small group of surviving Morlocks emerge from the inferno of their subterranean hell. George has no choice but to climb aboard his machine while trying to fight off some very perturbed Morlocks. Having dispatched one of his cannibalistic assailants to whatever form of Morlock hell awaits it in the afterlife, George manages to get the machine started. He pushes the lever forward and he and his machine are propelled into the future. Observing the dead Morlock on the floor rot away to a skeleton and then disintegrate into dust, he decides that is definitely not the direction in which his destiny lies. George reverses the direction of the control lever, sending himself and his time machine hurtling back into the past as Time itself were an elastic band and he were merely subject to its forces.

Part 6: “He has all the time in the world!”

 

Except of course that George is a Time Traveller who has mastered movement through the fourth dimension and is at this and other innumerable moments careening back through Time: fire, sunshine, darkness, lava prison, crimson illumination, daylight, lava withdrawing into wounds, ruins springing into structures, collapsing mushroom clouds, flashes of light shrinking to singularities. sun and moon madly chasing each other before tiring…..until the time comes to pull the lever and come to a halt.

January 5, 1900, the night George had invited his friends over to dinner. The only discernible change is that he and his machine are outside in the garden now and not in the laboratory. It is 8.00pm and a bruised and battered George gains access to his house via a bit breaking and entry.

After stumbling into his house, he meets with his friends and relates his story to them. At the end of his tale they still remain incredulous and sceptical. Hillyer believes that George’s story is “ridiculous! Simply preposterous!” while Bridewell thinks it is the “best adventure yarn” he’s heard for years. But how to make them understand? Ah, yes! The little blossom that’s nestled in George pocket. Perhaps his friend Filby can try and match it to any species known now and ex[lain how Goerge could have come by it in the middle of winter. What, you don’t know, Filby?

Well, George you’re friends are getting ready to leave so it’s time to say farewell to them. Perhaps your good friend Filby can sense the note of finality in your voice and suspects that you’ll not be seeing each other again. The others might not believe your story, but Filby? What impels him to return to the house to check on you after the other have departed in the carriage?

You’re too busy man-handling the time machine back into the laboratory while Filby searches the house looking for you. He and the good Mrs. Watchett are not in time to see you before you disappear on your journey into the future once more. Apart from the deafening noise generated by your machine and the swirling papers caught by a gust of wind, the only clue left - the open doors and the tracks made by the time machine having been dragged along the floor and through the snow.

Filby arrives at the inescapable conclusion that your story was indeed true and that you had built your Time Machine in the laboratory, and used it to travel through time but not through space. Upon your return, the machine materialized in the garden, due to the Morlocks 800.000 years in the future having moved it into their stone monument. When you returned, you had dragged the machine back to its original location so that when you return to the future, you would find yourself outside the stone building with Weena and the Eloi and avoid being imprisoned behind the metal doors.

Having put the pieces of the puzzle together, Filby returns to the parlor with Mrs Watchett. He believes that George would probably have taken something with him into the future rather than depart without a plan in mind. As if in confirmation he discovers that three books are missing from the shelves. Ah, but which books? What books would you take to help build a new society? ‘ History’ to learn from and understand one’s past and origins? Principles of ‘science’ and ‘engineering’ for practical applications of knowledge? Works of’ literature’ for the cultivation of the heart, soul and human emotions? ‘Philosophy,’ ‘ethics’ and ‘religion’ for moral development and reasoning? Dirty ditties and jokes to read while on the lavatory?

Will George ever return? A rather mute point considering that he above all others has all the time in the world………...

 

“Now it's been ten thousand years

Man has cried a billion tears

For what, he never knew, now man's reign is through But through eternal night, the twinkling of starlight So very far away, maybe it's only yesterday

In the year 2525, if man is still alive

If woman can survive, they may find”

(In the Year 2525 ‘Exordium & Terminus’

by Zager and Evans)

 

Points Of Interest

The Time Machine (HG. Wells' The Time Machine)1960 is based on the 1895 novella of the same name by HG. Wells. The film received the Academy Award for Best Special Effects for its time-lapse photographic effects and was nominated for the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. The Time Machine had a budget of under $1 million and ended up earning $1,610,000 in the United States and Canada and $1 million elsewhere, turning a profit of $245,000.

The name of the film's main character "George" links him with both with George Pal and the great pioneering science fiction writer. Herbert George Wells. In HG. Wells' original story, the protagonist is referred to only as the "Time Traveler."

Pal originally considered casting a middle-aged British actor like David Niven or James Mason in the role of George but later reconsidered in favor of the younger Australian actor Rod Taylor who would come across as being a more athletic and idealistic character. It was Taylor's first lead role in a feature film but we have previously seen him in another science fiction film,

Taylor convincingly portrays a disillusioned, idealistic adventurer who feels that he is both out of time and out of place and who seeks to escape from a world that seems to revel in the dark side of human nature, where scientific endeavor is devoted to finding ever increasing means of causing death and destruction.

Taylor’s character expresses the need and desire of many people and indeed the ultimate end aim of many ideologies to find something akin to a utopia where human beings can live in peace and harmony with one another and with nature. When George makes a sudden stop in the far future, it seems to him that in this “vast garden” nature appears to have regained control of the landscape.

Yvette Mimieux was cast in the role of Weena despite having no previous acting experience. Mimieux lied about her age to Pal, stating she was 18 despite being only 17 when filming began. She turned 18 during the film’s shooting and was not legally supposed to work a full shooting schedule, but did so anyway. By the end of the shoot some of her earliest scenes were re-shot since her acting ability gradually improved as her confidence in acting grew.

Yvette Mimieux, despite her lack of acting experience, was perfect for the role of Weena. Of course, these days there’ll be those who’ll babble on about her being merely a Utopian fantasy figure for male viewers, who is in constant need of rescuing, screams a lot and is just a stereotypical love-interest for the male protagonist. Blah, blah, blah.. Well, guess what? Mimieux is playing an Eloi character who would be displaying little more than bovine-like innocence. And yes, her character did gradually evolve and was an essential impetus for the George character giving him a reason to have hope.

The time machine prop was designed by MGM art director Bill Ferrari and built by Wah Chang. The large clockwork disk rotated at various speeds to indicate movement through time. A brass plate on the time machine's instrument display panel displays the inventor’s name as "H. George Wells.” George Pal wanted the disk on the machine to spin clockwise for travel into the future and counter-clockwise for travel into the past, however, it was deemed too expensive and time-consuming to add the reversing feature.

Some of the costumes and sets were re-used from Forbidden Planet (1956), such as the Civil Defense air raid officer uniform, which was originally the C-57-D crew uniform, and the large acrylic dome in the talking rings room, originally from the C-57-D's control bridge.

The effect featuring fruit and leaves growing on a tree limb at an accelerated rate as George moves forward in time was achieved by having a painting on a canvas photographed with a locked-off camera. One frame at a time would be photographed as the artist applied the progressive growth of the fruit and leaves in more and more detail.

The scenes depicting lava overrunning the streets of London was achieved by using a miniature replica set and fermented oatmeal as the lava substitute.

With many ideologies and visions of the future, problems often arise as a result of the process involved with the means employed to achieve particular ends. In the film, the apparent Paradise or Utopian future has come at a cost in that the Eloi appear to have lost the attributes of initiative, compassion, individuality and curiosity that their ancestors displayed. Progress and human evolution has been replaced by stagnation and devolution and human history and legacy has been reduced to the dust of disintegrating pages of crumbling unread books. Beneath this false Eden lies a hell in the form of cannibalistic Morlocks who shun the light and utilise the Eloi as we farm cattle.

Much of future outcome for Humanity appears to have been the result of our dark side involving conflict, warfare and self-destructive tendencies. In HG. Wells’ original story, humanity’s development into two distinct ‘races’ was more the result of the logical outcome of the processes arising from the Industrial Revolution and class system. Eventually, it was the working classes and those who operated the machinery of industry and served the interests of the ruling classes that eventually retreated to the bowels of the earth with their machines, while the rather useless wealthy aristocratic and capitalist classes eventually formed the surface-dwelling Eloi. In a twist of irony, those who had previously been exploited had thousands of years into the future become the exploiters.

Instead of adopting HG. Well’s social-political and economic underpinnings of his original story, Pal made use of the Cold-War geo-political climate and concerns of the mid-20th century to help explain the shape of things to come in humanity’s distant future. And so we have nuclear wars, air-raid sirens and all-clear announcements and generations of conditioning.

The question as to whether or not we can change our own destiny, or even alter the course of history is perhaps all too briefly touched on in the film. The danger though lies in the temptation to over-emphasise such cerebral matters at the expense of entertainment and telling a good story. Thankfully, Pal’s film does not do this as some modern sci-fi films tend to do in addition to all the politically correct social engineering woke rubbish they often include.

Much of the science touched on in the film even to this day remains in the realm of speculation, theory and mathematical modeling. Take the idea of four dimensions They constitute what we are aware of in our universe. But there is no law stipulating that four is all the number of dimensions we can possibly have. Some people have postulated there may be as many as 11 dimensions and that there may be other universes with multiple dimensions. Who knows? No-one!

Will we ever be able to time travel? Many people will say absolutely not. The laws of physics prevent it. Well, go outside at night and look up at the stars. Even better, use a telescope and you’ll see stars and galaxies, the light from which would have taken hundreds and thousands of light years to reach us, Yes, you will have been looking into the past.

Time traveling to the past? In a universe with a closed geometry, you could conceivably move off in a straight line and eventually will arrive back at the point you started from and under certain conditions you could conceivably arrive at a point before from which you started.

Time travelling to the future? Let’s hop over to Einstein. Assuming you have infinite energy, keep accelerating away from the earth closer and closer to the speed of light. From your point of view aboard your light ship, time for the people back on earth would appear to have sped up. From the point of view of the folks back on Earth, time aboard your ship would appear to have slowed down. By the time you get back to earth, your friends and family may no longer be around while to any Eloi who’s left you would appear to have aged hardly at all. To any Morlock, you’d make a tasty entree.

Changing the future and our destiny? Paradoxes abound here. If you go back in time and kill Adolf Hitler or better still, prevent his parents from ever meeting, would you then prevent him from being born, becoming Fuehrer of Germany and starting the Second World War? Or would you just be creating an alternate time line in which events play themselves out differently while the original time line would still play itself out? Do we in fact live in some kind of Multiverse with an infinite number of possible timelines and outcomes as suggested by proponents of String theory?

UFOs / UAPs? In any consideration of anomalous happenings in our skies and under our seas, discussion inevitably turns to whether or not such phenomena are the product of an alien or extra-terrestrial intelligence. Could it be that we are looking in the wrong direction? What if such phenomena are in fact devices that originate in another dimension which we cannot perceive or even from a future time period? If that is the case, then perhaps we are being observed and monitored possibly with the intention of manipulating events, people and even natural phenomena with a view to achieving desired future results as part of some experiment. Whether true or not, it would sure make a grand speculative scenario for a budding sci-fi novelist or film maker.

 

******************

X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963)

 

A thoughtful and engrossing Corman classic that has a ton of heart

 

Directed and produced by Roger Corman

Written by Robert Dillon

Music by Les Baxter

Cinematography: Floyd Crosby

Edited by Anthony Carras

Distributed by American International Pictures

Running time: 79 minutes

 

Cast

 

Ray Milland as Dr. James Xavier

Diana Van der Vlis as Dr. Diane Fairfax

Harold J. Stone as Dr. Sam Brant

John Hoyt as Dr. Willard Benson

Don Rickles as Crane

Barboura Morris as Nurse with young patient

Morris Ankrum as Mr. Bowhead

Dick Miller as Heckler It’s my pleasure to present in this post the 1963 Roger Corman sci-fi / horror classic film, “X – The Man With The X-Ray Eyes.” This film is close to my heart being the very first science fiction / horror film I remember seeing on the big screen. Once again I’ve taken a few liberties in my presentation of the film’s plot, but you should be used to that by now….

(Spoilers follow below….)

 

A scientist experiments with human eyesight and develops a

drug that enables a person;

To see beyond the realm of normal vision!

To see through objects!

To see through the very fabric of reality!

 

Diary Entry Of Dr. Sam Brant

My friend Dr. James Xavier came to see me today for another eye examination, the same examination I gave him just three months ago! Very strange indeed as there is nothing at all wrong with his eyes and vision. The trouble seems to lie with a deep dissatisfaction within himself concerning what he sees as a limitation with what human eye sight is able to perceive.

He is firmly of the opinion that he along with everyone else is “blind to all but a tenth of the universe.” It quickly became apparent to me that James has been planning to experiment on himself to redress this situation. In other words, as he put it, he is “closing in on the gods.” But don’t you realize James, “my dear friend, only the gods see everything?”

 

From Personal Journal Of Dr. James Xavier

Further to my research into “developing a way to sensitize the human eye so that it sees radiation, up to and including the gamma rays and the meson wind” (funding):

I received a visit from Dr. Diane Fairfax, the Foundation’s appointed liaison to special projects such as mine.

Concern was expressed as to my last report on my work (“dated nine months ago”) as well as the sum in excess of $27.000 of the Foundation’s money I have already drawn. How can I make a bunch of business men and their appointee comprehend the kind of problems that need to be overcome in such a ground-breaking endeavor as mine?

The only way I could think of was to provide the good doctor with a demonstration involving one of the test monkeys that has “been conditioned” with the “standard pleasure-pain technique.” My “compound, when used in the eye, increases receptivity” whereby “the sensitivity is enormously increased.”

Using the red, white and blue light experiment, I was able to demonstrate to Dr. Fairfax that the test monkey was able to see through the screens covering the lights “as if they were glass.”

Unfortunately the test monkey died in front of us, most likely from “heart failure, nothing else. I'd call it shock,” not so much from what it saw but perhaps more “because it couldn't comprehend or adjust to what it saw or saw through.” At any rate, there was no indication of pathology, degeneration and all its tissues appeared to be perfectly healthy.

As I tried to point out to Dr. F...sorry, Diane, I am “intensely curious” and driven by the end goal that is best exemplified right here in this hospital where there are people I can help “by seeing inside them as if they were windows, by seeing their sicknesses with a clarity that would make X-rays a tool fit only for witch doctors.”

It’s time for my research to be tried using a human subject but not some student or intern or convicted murderer. It has to be me. Sure, “that monkey died” but “it was a monkey, not a man.”

I’ll put my proposition to Dr. Sam Brant and hopefully after the expected initial reluctance, he’ll come around to my way of thinking and support me. I’m sure he will…...”

 

August 14th : Recorded Notes On Experiment Designated "X."

“Experimental subject myself, James Xavier. Assisting in experiment, Dr. Samuel Brant…..The compound fully described in a written report has been prepared.”

Dr. Brant administers one drop into each eye of the subject. After an elapse of 8 to 10 seconds, I open my eyes. I can only describe the sensation upon opening my eyes as being “like a splitting of the world.”

My vision seems to be fragmented with “more light than I've ever seen.” My eyes, my entire mind seems “filled with light” so much so that I have to close my eyes.

After re-opening my eyes, everything once again appears to be normal. But wait! I believe I can actually read the words from my report that are presently covered up: "The exact combination of hormones and enzymes is to be determined by analysis." Dr. Brant will confirm this.

He will also confirm that I am now able to perceive the presence of a pen in his shirt pocket concealed by his lab coat, as well as a missing button under his tie.

The experiment works! However, “I have just penetrated the surface. My eyes are not quite conditioned yet, but it's a start.”

 

Diary Entry Of Dr. Sam Brant

 

After the initial administering of the drops to James’ eyes, he expressed the desire to push the experiment further by having me administer another drop in each eye.

With such astonishing ground-breaking experimentation and testing, it is imperative that one does not rush the process. “There should be tests. There might be side effects.” Not to mention having to replicate the results and subject the findings to peer-review. Failure to follow such procedures both now and in the future is a sure-fire recipe for potential disaster!

For James though, it seems that proving the validity of his theory and achieving the required outcome along with over-confidence and hubris is more important than avoiding possible harmful consequences.

Despite my objections, James administered the drops himself after which he was rendered unconscious. It now looks as if I will have to accompany Dr Fairfax and speak on James’ behalf concerning his breakthrough and request the “continuation of his research funds.”

 

Official Correspondence

Re: Continuation of funding of Dr James Xavier’s research on

experiment designated "X."

It is the unanimous opinion of the members of this Foundation that although Dr Xavier’s experiment might on the face of it represent “a fantastic breakthrough,” it nevertheless seems to remain within the realm of what might be more appropriately viewed as “unbelievable.”

In addition, it is apparent that even though Dr Xavier’s work “can and will be repeated by others besides himself,” in relation to its potential practical applications, “there still is nothing positive that has come out of it.”

In light of the above factors, the members of the Foundation “believe our foundation can no longer channel its funds into this work.” We regretfully inform you that we have elected to vote against further funding the continuance of this work.

Sincerely,

Bartholomew Bowhead

 

Dr. Xavier: Mental Monologue:

So, “they decided to withhold the funds…..to just “cut me off like an arm with gangrene.”

I'll show them just how wrong they were just as soon as I get these bandages removed tomorrow. Bandages? “Hardly noticed them at all.” Not much can amount to an impenetrable barrier to me anymore, eh!? I’ll prove to them how it is possible to allow man to see far beyond the normal spectrum and how much it would revolutionize the world! Blind fools!

****************

[Many breakthroughs in science, art and other areas often result in a clash between progressive ideas and established orthodoxy. Witness the case involving Xavier demanding that Dr Benson reconsider the operation on the girl who he perceives has “a tumor directly in the auricle attached to the valve” and has therefore been misdiagnosed. In this case, there is a tangible benefit for the advancement of medicine to be derived from Xavier’s research. But what of the unforeseen consequences should he persist in using his formula unrestricted, unencumbered and unregulated?

Not everything is doom and gloom, however when it comes to human progress and advancements as we can “see” from the humorous party scene in which Xavier suddenly discovers that he can see everyone naked. All of us can see the funny side and the potential in that! Just think of the various anatomical bits flying every which way in a dance like the Twist! (At least censorship and Corman spared us witnessing this spectacle) And we think we have privacy problems these days!]

Notice the dialogue during this scene when Xavier is approached by the young blonde babe and the amount of ironic and cheeky references to seeing and eyes:

 

“I saw you clear across from over there.”

 

“Gee, you've got sharp eyes.”

 

“When I use them.”

“I like the way you look, kind of urgent. I like men who look

urgent.”

“I'm really seeing you for the first time.”

 

Now back to the consequences of Xavier’s actions as we eavesdrop on a whispered conversation between a couple of off-duty nurses, one of whom participated in the operation on the little girl who was diagnosed with stenosis.

News of what took place had indeed begun to spread through the hospital:

************************

Let’s now eavesdrop on a couple of nurses…..

Nurse 1: Just as the operation was about to commence Xavier said to Dr Benson, “Doctor, you must reconsider the procedure.”

Nurse 2: You’re kidding! And then what happened?

Nurse 1: Xavier then insisted that he should be the one to perform the operation and when Dr Benson told him that he was out of his mind and prepared to continue with the operation, Xavier sliced the top of Dr Benson’s hand with a scalpel!

Xavier now had no choice but to take over from Benson. He said something about some experiments he has been conducting which – now get this – allowed him to “see the heart and the lungs and the internal structures quite clearly” within the patient on the table. Xavier was able to establish that there was no stenosis as had originally been diagnosed by Dr. Benson. The operation was a success!

Nurse 2: What’s going to happen now? I mean, if it’s true then Xavier has accomplished something amazing….

Nurse 1: Hold on. You know what medical ethics boards and bureaucracy is like. I’ve already heard that Xavier will likely be tried for malpractice and unethical medical conduct. He can probably kiss his career good-bye.

The two nurses exit the hospital and walk on past a kiosk selling newspapers with headlines whose level of hysteria progressively intensifies with each masthead and edition:

Los Angeles Daily Sunday Sun

Doctor Falls To Death!

 

Los Angeles Chronicle

Physician murdered!