As a young boy, there were many things that could occupy a lads time, playing cars, climbing trees, but two things that would have been at the top of many boys list would have to be playing cowboys and indians and playing with dinosaurs. Oh if there was a way of combining two childhood loves together in a cinematic mash-up?
Fear not, back in 1969 such joys existed for the cinema going public, and every young boy’s playground fantasies had been brought to life by the great Ray Harryhausen.
So sit back and enjoy the spectacle of cowboys and dinosaurs fighting it out in the Mexican plains in our review of ‘The Valley of Gwangi’
In a time when paranoia and fear of the unknown was rife within the American people, the 1950s B-movie was the ideal arena to exploit these fears over and over again. In this 1955 film, ‘It Came from Beneath the Sea’ the fear that was played on was that of atomic power and weapons.
After an encounter at sea with an unknown underwater creature upon the Navy’s Newest Atomic powered submarine, the naval commander, along with the help two scientists try to identify what it was. The creature they discover is that of a giant, radioactive octopus that has left its normal feeding grounds deep within the Pacific Ocean in search of a new source of food. Where is it heading, can anything stand in it way, has man once again unleashed nature’s fury without think about the cost, who now and will it lead to a big old smack-down? Let’s hope.
In a new era of science and at the dawn of the space race, people were looking to the sky, wondering what was out there. Not just in awe, but also in fear. With U.S. paranoia of communism on the rise and the fear of the unknown, the thought of an invasion, human or otherwise, was very high in the minds of the public. To fuel this paranoia come the film ‘Earth vs. the Flying Saucers’
Scientist, Dr. Russell A. Marvin and his new wife Carol Marvin are on their way to a military base to undertake the launch of a brand new satellite system, when the witness what seems to be a flying saucer. Was what they saw real and if so what does this mean to mankind, do they come in peace or to enslave!!!
In a picturesque Sicilian fishing village all is peaceful and serene. Fishermen are out on the boats bringing in the catch of the day. However, they catch more than they bargain for when a secret US spaceship crash-lands just of shore after meteorite stick. Did anybody or anything survive the crash if so what havoc would be unleashed on humanity?
In this ground-breaking film with special-effects be the great Ray Harryhausen, we see inept scientist and military officials run around Italy after something that is perfectly harmless unless provoked. I know lets poke it with big sticks, electrocute it and stick it in a laboratory, that’ll do the trick.
