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Reviews
This Island Earth (1955)
Way better than its rating here.
Ditto the previous review. This is what 50's Science Fiction was about. It is not a horror film dressed up as a futuristic thriller, but a well placed, original, and interesting story. I especially like the mystery unfolding slowly over the course of the film. I first saw this as a kid and the mutant was the coolest monster in the 50s, which as we all know was the cool monster decade. If you only ever saw the MST3K parody of this title please don't vote. You have no more seen this movie than if you watched it during a bachelor party. MST3K was great as long as it stuck to "Plan 9" and "Robot Monster" but unfortunately it grouped several good movies in with those turkeys.
Chow Hound (1951)
Chuck Jones at his best.
As a boy, every kid in the neighborhood was repeating the "No Gravy?" line. This Chuck Jones at his edgiest. The ending is truly (and deservedly) sadistic. Amazing, that this cartoon couldn't be made today. Now lets hope Warner Bros. releases it on DVD. This is one of those one-off gems that don't make there own collection. To a child, the dog represented everyone who tells you what to do, orders you about, and generally makes life hell. Interesting that the dog, cat, and mouse, behave much like an abusive Father, repressed Mother, and abused child, but that's probably reading too much into it. When the dog receives his gravy, which he has "hounded" the cat & mouse about for the entire cartoon, it is divine justice in the 1951 sense.
Invaders from Mars (1953)
Stagecraft 101
If you like stock footage of army tanks being loaded onto a train, or endless shots of guys in green velvet jump suites and ping-pong ball eyes running back and forth, then you'll love this movie. The only interesting scenes are in the police station. Whoever created this set should receive an award. The ceiling appears to be about 30 feet high. There are no pictures or other decorations on the walls anywhere and the jail cell where the boy meets the shrink is about 5 feet deep with the walls, floor, and ceiling tapered to add the illusion of depth. The effect is bizarre since it creates an (unintentional?) forced perspective which makes the boy look huge next to the (not-so) distant back wall when compared to the people in the foreground. It's worth seeing for Milburn Stone who is brilliant as usual.