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Pat · @Pat

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Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

The Blob (1958)

This movie was marketed as a horror film but technically it’s also a science fiction because the Blob came from outer space on a meteor. This is a B-movie with a lot of cheesy special effects but it makes fun of itself and it was marketed to young people many of whom actually thought the film was scary.

The Blob itself was basically just watered down gelatin with food coloring and they got it to move by placing it on a table with a camera mounted on it. Then they would tilt and jiggle and move the table around at various angles to get the gelatin to move around. Then they’d film it in slow motion or print the film in reverse or turn the whole jig upside down to get the different effects that they wanted.

The scene where the blob jumps from the stick onto the man’s arm was simply filmed upside down to get the blob to defy gravity.

To the producers of the film, the Blob was a self-referential metaphor. The film was produced about a decade after the end of World War II; all the returning veterans had jobs by then and were making a lot of money. This was the beginning of the hay day for a new advertising and promotion industry for all consumer products including movies. Just a couple of years after this film was released, The Beatles arrived on the scene using the new promotion techniques to help fuel their meteoric rise, resulting in Beatlemania during the 1960s.

Here’s a trailer for the film, showing the style of advertising they used, which seems quaint compared to the psyops employed by businesses today.

Accessible video description:

The trailer opens with Steve McQueen and another woman entering the police station to tell the police about the blob then there are big title graphics that say “Beware of the blob” as the announcer talks about the film.
It shows a bunch of people sitting in a theater and it shows the blob oozing from the projection booth then it shows a bunch of people running from the theater screaming.
More Title Graphics say “it crawls... it creeps... it eats you alive!” The Blob, now very large, oozes out of the front doors of the theater. a man and a woman are briefly shown kissing in a car as they are interrupted by a falling meteor, the man and woman drive off. then it shows an old man with a stick with the small blob on it and the blob jumps up from the stick onto his arm. Shows the blob indoors, about the size of a bear, a man tries to shoot it with a gun. then it shows Steve McQueen trying to calm people down but they run towards a diner. then the blob engulfs the diner. next it shows Steve McQueen, the text says, “starring Steve McQueen”, then more title Graphics say, “Get Set it's coming soon”, then in huge type “The Blob” with smaller type that says “a Tonylyn production”, “color by Deluxe”.

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#science #fiction #ScienceFiction #SciFi #FTW #sfftw #film #movie #ET #extraterrestrial #alien #space #1950s #1960s #badmovie #blob #horror #oldpromos #beatles

#science #sciencefiction #scifi #et #fiction #ftw #sfftw #film #movie #extraterrestrial #alien #space #1950s #1960s #BadMovie #blob #horror #oldpromos #beatles

Last updated 2 years ago

Original post

Pat · @Pat

159 followers · 3428 posts · Server qoto.org

Open media

-

Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

The Blob (1958)

This movie was marketed as a horror film but technically it’s also a science fiction because the Blob came from outer space on a meteor. This is a B-movie with a lot of cheesy special effects but it makes fun of itself and it was marketed to young people many of whom actually thought the film was scary.

The Blob itself was basically just watered down gelatin with food coloring and they got it to move by placing it on a table with a camera mounted on it. Then they would tilt and jiggle and move the table around at various angles to get the gelatin to move around. Then they’d film it in slow motion or print the film in reverse or turn the whole jig upside down to get the different effects that they wanted.

The scene where the blob jumps from the stick onto the man’s arm was simply filmed upside down to get the blob to defy gravity.

To the producers of the film, the Blob was a self-referential metaphor. The film was produced about a decade after the end of World War II; all the returning veterans had jobs by then and were making a lot of money. This was the beginning of the hay day for a new advertising and promotion industry for all consumer products including movies. Just a couple of years after this film was released, The Beatles arrived on the scene using the new promotion techniques to help fuel their meteoric rise, resulting in Beatlemania during the 1960s.

Here’s a trailer for the film, showing the style of advertising they used, which seems quaint compared to the psyops employed by businesses today.

Accessible video description:

The trailer opens with Steve McQueen and another woman entering the police station to tell the police about the blob then there are big title graphics that say “Beware of the blob” as the announcer talks about the film.
It shows a bunch of people sitting in a theater and it shows the blob oozing from the projection booth then it shows a bunch of people running from the theater screaming.
More Title Graphics say “it crawls... it creeps... it eats you alive!” The Blob, now very large, oozes out of the front doors of the theater. a man and a woman are briefly shown kissing in a car as they are interrupted by a falling meteor, the man and woman drive off. then it shows an old man with a stick with the small blob on it and the blob jumps up from the stick onto his arm. Shows the blob indoors, about the size of a bear, a man tries to shoot it with a gun. then it shows Steve McQueen trying to calm people down but they run towards a diner. then the blob engulfs the diner. next it shows Steve McQueen, the text says, “starring Steve McQueen”, then more title Graphics say, “Get Set it's coming soon”, then in huge type “The Blob” with smaller type that says “a Tonylyn production”, “color by Deluxe”.

- - - - -

#science #fiction #ScienceFiction #SciFi #FTW #sfftw #film #movie #ET #extraterrestrial #alien #space #1950s #1960s #badmovie #blob #horror #oldpromos #beatles

#sciencefiction #et #alien #1960s #BadMovie #film #extraterrestrial #fiction #scifi #ftw #movie #1950s #blob #science #sfftw #horror #space #oldpromos #beatles

Last updated 2 years ago

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Pat · @Pat

158 followers · 3368 posts · Server qoto.org

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Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

Killers from Space (1954)

This film was released less than a decade after the United States had bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in WWII and just five years after the Soviet Union had tested their first nuclear weapon. It's very typical of 50s scifi during the height of the Cold War with all the giant bugs and lousy special effects -- but this one is special because it has a couple of well-known actors in it.

Steve Pendleton was a character actor whose face was well known to audiences at the time and Peter Graves, the protagonist in this film, was just getting his career going. He's probably most well known for his starring role in the comedy Airplane (1974), and to older folks he's most known for playing Jim Philps the lead character in the original Mission Impossible series.

Ironically the giant insects in this movie are not the result of exposure to nuclear radiation but they look just like the giant insects from any other 50s scifi. The rest of the special effects in this film are just as bad.

And the science facts presented in the film are just as bogus as most other scifi films at the time. (Some of the science mistakes are highlighted in this satirical trailer of film.)

You'll notice a picture of Eisenhower in the background on some of the shots in this movie. The actors were awkwardly positioned to make sure that you could see his picture in the background. I'm not sure what point the filmmakers were trying to make but it was obvious they were trying to include his picture in those scenes.

This is a really bad film with a ton of unintentional flaws but it's really rather entertaining for that reason. I recommend this film for anyone who enjoys watching silly 50s science fiction or who studies the Cold War period.

Accessible video description:

The video starts with a title, then the protagonist in tattered clothing stumbles up to a poorly acting guard at a building. then he's in a doctor's office with his shirt off and the doctor points at a large scar on his chest. then in an office with military men with Eisenhower's picture in the background. then his wife, is talking to a man who is investigating the protagonist and they subtly flirt as he lights her cigarette. then a man in a phone booth asks for the police. then a woman takes a printout from a teletype and puts it into a message tube which is sent to a dispatcher who reads it. then the protagonist is in the laboratory of the humanoid aliens who have big eyes. then a video screen shows pictures of an alien city. then a bunch of closeups of giant insects, lizards, a cockroach and a grasshopper with silly sound effects dubbed over them as the protagonist looks frightened. Then the protagonist is walking with the leader of the aliens and the alien tries to convince him to be a traitor. then the protagonist is talking to one of the military guys about how to destroy the alien facility while it briefly cuts to a shot of the woman in silence. after he gives his plan there are close-ups of people looking incredulously into the camera including a woman from another 1960s comedy and finally Larry Tate from the old TV show Bewitched.

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#science #fiction #ScienceFiction #SciFi #FTW #sfftw #film #movie #ET #extraterrestrial #alien #space #1950s #badmovie #coldwar #bigbugs #nukes #ruskies

(fair use satire with scenes from this film, The Absent Minded Professor (1961) and Bewitched (circa 1970) plus well-known sound effects from other films)

#sciencefiction #extraterrestrial #science #scifi #ftw #sfftw #BadMovie #bigbugs #nukes #ruskies #film #movie #et #alien #1950s #coldwar #fiction #space