These Are The Damned (1962)

Quite a powerful sci-fi film with social commentary and philosophical / moral implications. Solid acting performances and good cinematography

Directed by Joseph Losey
Screenplay by Evan Jones
Based on The Children of Light 1960 novel by H.L. Lawrence
Produced by Anthony Hinds
Cinematography: Arthur Grant
Edited by Reginald Mills
Music by James Bernard
Production company
Hammer Film Productions
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Running time 87 minutes (UK), 77 minutes (US)
Budget: £160 – 170,000 approx.

Cast

Macdonald Carey as Simon Wells
Shirley Anne Field as Joan
Viveca Lindfors as Freya Neilson
Alexander Knox as Bernard
Oliver Reed as King
Walter Gotell as Major Holland
James Villiers as Captain Gregory
Tom Kempinski as Ted
Kenneth Cope as Sid
Brian Oulton as Mr. Dingle
Barbara Everest as Miss Lamont
Alan McClelland as Mr. Stuart
James Maxwell as Mr. Talbot

The children:

Rachel Clay as Victoria
Caroline Sheldon as Elizabeth
Rebecca Dignam as Anne
Siobhan Taylor as Mary
Nicholas Clay as Richard
Kit Williams as Henry
Christopher Witty as William
David Palmer as George
John Thompson as Charles


What could the following possibly have in common?

The southern English resort of Weymouth

An American tourist

A youth gang leader

His troubled sister

A top secret government facility

A shocking experiment

A group of nine children

Trailer

“The age of senseless violence has caught up with us, too”

To find out, we’ll need to begin our journey with a bird's eye view of ocean waves crashing on the remote shore below a rocky cliff on the south coast of England. Atop the cliff and along its edge we spot a collection of bronze sculptures looking like fallen grotesque, disfigured and charred human remains: Something akin to Southern England’s version of Easter Island’s mysterious stone sentinels? What do they stand as testament to? A message to a future with no one left to decipher what they had borne witness to in the dim past?

Come now and let us descend to the land of the living at the resort of Weymouth to the accompaniment of the Black Leather Rock song:


Read on for more.....

An Ill-Wind

Image generated by Chatgpt

An Ill-Wind

While floating along on currents of thought,
My mind moves upward and beyond into the past
To where they said it all began with a Big Bang.
Straining my eyes I see what shouldn’t be seen:
Galaxies and worlds fully formed and whole
Where wondering wandering minds reach out to me!
Before I can ask how and why this can be,
I feel myself lifted aloft by a gust of wind
And carried along long ley lines of life.
It is an ill-wind that blows on this day
That sears the eyes and flails the skin,
That tastes of copper and stinks of decay.
Behind, a behemoth gradually gains ground
In the guise of a monstrous boiling roiling cloud
Black and purple lit within by bolts of orange
Along with red flashes and sheets of outrage.
It is an ill-wind that blows on this day!
Like a gnat caught in forces beyond its control
I’m swept through filaments of time and space
And buffeted by cause and effect ripples and waves
As the wind cries havoc with hyper-sonic screams
Turning cities to rubble, lives to ruin and dashing dreams.
The wind then lets slip autonomous dog drones of war;
A humming, buzzing, hovering inhuman horror
Raining terror and death and murdering moral law.
I search for answers that might be blowin’ in the wind
Only to see that cloud enshroud the bodies of the dead.
Above scattered wailing cries of “enough!” and “no more!”
The wind blares leaders’ lies for the need to wage war.
It is an ill-wind that blows on this day,
But will it ever recall all that’s lost along the way?
Hot gusts of outrage and indignation
Tempered by breezes of justification
And the turbulence of distraction
Gives us the wind’s final determination.
Looking down I watch the aimless walking dead
Google Map their way through rubble and ruin
While their leaders over head ride the jet stream
On their way to kneel before would-be emperors
To pay them obeisance and perform proskynesis,
For they know which way the wind is blowing.
Unaware of the coming cloud that wind brings,
Back they fly with butterfly bills fluttering in the wind,
To pay for bigger and better ways to kill and maim
While the walking dead scratch for ways to live.
To them the wind whispers, “march onward unto war.”
And lies about what they’ll be fighting for.
It is an ill-wind that blows on this day,
Buffeting me with hot updraughts and air currents
Fed by wild fire flames fanned by the force of the wind;
A devil’s scorched earth act to starve out all hope.
Is that the wind or the sound of screaming jets?
Or the walking dead pleading “No more, no more?”
But the wind merely blows mercy back into their faces
While their socials busily scoop up views and likes,
Subscribers and followers and gathers comments
To occupy their thoughts for only a few moments.
All the while the cloud looms larger in the wind’s wake;
The wind that cleaves and carves chasms and canyons
Through binary minds divided by thoughts and opinions
On what’s black and white, right and wrong, true and false,
Real and fake, good and bad, and innocence and guilt.
I strain to hear the walking dead shout across the divide
At one another above the wind’s roar as it casts aside
Bridges built of reason, empathy and compassion.
As I wave warnings at those below to show I’m real,
I start to shimmer and undulate in the wind’s grip,
But they just look up and through me as if I’m not there;
No flicker of acknowledgement that I even exist
And this from living ghosts – the walking dead
Who don’t yet know where they have been led
By this ill-wind that blows on this day.
Before I can ask how and why this can be
I feel my atoms being rent and dispersed by the wind.
All I’m aware of is the blackness within the cloud
Shot through with strobe-like flashes of violence.
It has finally come in the wake of the wind
And within I feel nothing but deep hollow grief
As water coalesces around each particle of my being:
A multitude of raindrops that fall and drench the earth
In a flood that soon swamps bystanders who did nothing,
Said nothing and stood by while the wind blew fiercely
In a genocidal blast of murderous cleansing criminality.
The raindrops now become tears that form a deluge
To wash human sin away from the face of the earth
So that none can ever again see what shouldn’t be seen
With only the wind knowing how and why it could have been.



©Chris Christopoulos 2025




[I have a few poems sprinkled throughout this blog in various posts often inspired by the films that are featured. You’ll also find a few in my Sci-Fi Film Fiesta The Lost Last Volume 12, “Speculations & Ruminations,” Part 3: Poetic Ponderings.]

Children of the Damned (1964)

 

A Cold War sequel of sorts with an anti-war message that doesn’t quite attain the kind of eerie atmosphere of its predecessor.

Directed by Anton M. Leader
Written by John Briley
Produced by Ben Arbeid
Cinematography: David Boulton
Edited by Ernest Walter
Music by Ron Goodwin
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Running time: 90 minutes
Box office: $1,000,000 (US/ Canada)

Cast

Ian Hendry as Col. Tom Lewellyn
Alan Badel as Dr. David Neville
Barbara Ferris as Susan Eliot
Alfred Burke as Colin Webster
Sheila Allen as Diana Looran
Ralph Michael as Defence Minister
Patrick Wymark as Commander
Martin Miller as Professor Gruber
Harold Goldblatt as Harib
Patrick White as Mr. Davidson
André Mikhelson as Russian official
Bessie Love as Mrs. Robbins, Mark's grandmother
Alan MacNaughtan as British Army officer (uncredited)
Clive Powell as Paul
Roberta Rex as Nina
Mahdu Mathen as Rashid
Yoke-Moon Lee as Mi Ling
Gerald Delsol as Ago
Frank Summerscale as Mark

Trailer

History Hearsay podcast (transcript)

Daniel: Hi there and welcome once again to the History Hearsay podcast. The podcast that deals with historical fact, rumor along with a touch of myth and conspiracy theory. I’m your host, Daniel Farnsworth and joining me as usual is my erstwhile history hound and co-host, Dilbert Dunlevy.

Dilbert: Hi folks. So Dan old buddy, tell the folks what we’ll be delving into for this episode.

Daniel: Dill, no doubt you and the listeners out there will remember a previous episode we did about three years ago on the BBC’s History's Mysteries – Fact & Fiction TV program hosted by Denis Vaughan which investigated the so-called “Midwich Time-out Incident” that supposedly occurred in 1960.

Dilbert: Oh man! I do remember. That really freaked me out. Hey, didn’t the folks of that English village of …….aaahhh...Midwich keel over unconscious one day for several hours for what seemed to be no reason?

Daniel: Yes Dill. In fact, anyone who entered the village also apparently succumbed in the same manner. Just as mysteriously, after a few hours the villagers suddenly regained consciousness, and appeared to be unaffected. Not only that, but the military established a cordon around Midwich along with the establishment of a five-mile exclusion zone around the village for all aircraft.

Dilbert: Dude, I still have nightmares about the reports of those creepy kids with the blonde hair, weird eyes and strange powers, not to mention links to….aliens, man!

Daniel: For those who are interested in that event, please revisit episode 64 or go to the link on our History Hearsay blog which has a post on the BBC program’s coverage of the 1960 “Midwich Time-out Incident.”

This leads us to today’s historical anomaly which we have managed to piece together from testimony from sources within the Ministry of Defense who wish to remain anonymous, documents secretly obtained from MI6 / Special Intelligence Service and files from government-affiliated scientific agencies, along with the findings of a closed-door unofficial inquiry held 60 years ago formed to investigate the matter. The information derived from these sources which will be available on our blog shortly, will help to form our expose of the 1964 historical sequel to the “Midwich Time-out Incident” which we call the “Southwark Church Siege Incident.”

Dilbert: So, Dan, how’s we gonna' approach this?

Daniel: Well, Dill, We’ll take our listeners through the following main elements of this incredible incident:

1. In England, a child possessing an astonishing level of intelligence is discovered.
2. The investigation as to how this young boy came to possess such extraordinary intelligence and mental abilities.
3. The discovery of several more children around the world who also possessed the same abilities as the English boy and together shared a collective consciousness along with dangerous psychic powers.
4. The military’s attempt to study and experiment on the children.
5. The children’s escape from their embassies and take over of a small church.
6. The army’s besieging of the church and its intent on eradicating the perceived menace.
7. The manner in which the stand off was resolved.
8. Implications.

Dill, why don’t you start us off with what you managed to dig up concerning the unusual young boy and the investigation surrounding him and his strange abilities?

Read on for more....

The Creation of the Humanoids (1962)

A deceptively intelligent early sci-fi film that relies quite heavily on dialogue that contain ideas of even more relevance today as we hurtle toward a future in which we will have to come terms with our relationship with our “smarter” technology.

Directed by Wesley Barry
Written by Jay Simms
Produced by Wesley Barry, Edward J. Kay
Cinematography: Hal Mohr
Edited by Ace Herman
Music by Edward J. Kay
Distributed by Emerson Film Enterprises
Running time: 84 minutes


Cast

Don Megowan as Capt. Kenneth Cragis
Erica Elliot as Maxine Megan
Don Doolittle as Dr. Raven
George Milan as Acto, a clicker
Dudley Manlove as Lagan, a clicker
Frances McCann as Esme Cragis Milos
David Cross as Pax, a clicker
Malcolm Smith as Court
Richard Vath as Mark, a clicker
Reid Hammond as Hart, Chairman of Surveillance Committee
Pat Bradley as Dr. Moffitt
William Hunter as Ward, Surveillance Committee Member
Gil Frye as Orus, a clicker
Alton Tabor as Kelly's Duplicate
Paul Sheriff as Policeman

Trailer

The setting: 23rd century post nuclear war holocaust society.

The surviving population suffers from a decreasing birth rate.

The human race is headed for extinction.

People have become dependent on humanoid robots (‘Clickers’) for assistance.

The ‘Order of Flesh and Blood’ fear that the robots will take over and supplant human beings.

The Order tasks itself with preventing the robots from becoming too human and with ensuring that human beings remain dominant.

A scientist experiments with creating human replicas that have genuine emotions and memories.

Two central characters, Kenneth Cragis and Maxine Megan form a close relationship and make a discovery that will call into question all that they thought they knew about the basis of their society and themselves.

And now prepare yourself for “The Creation of the Humanoids” and to have your ideas challenged on what it means to be human along with the possible future direction of our human civilization……..

Read on for more....... 

The Doomsday Machine (1972)

A poorly made cheap sci-fi throwback or a sci-fi crappy cult classic?You be the  judge!

Directed by Herbert J. Leder, Harry Hope, Lee SholemWritten by Stuart J. Byrne
Produced by Harry Hope
Cinematography: Stanley Cortez
Distributed by Cine-Find
Running time: 83 minutes

Cast

Bobby Van as Danny
Ruta Lee as Dr. Marion Turner
Mala Powers as Maj. Georgianna Bronski
James Craig as Dr. Haines
Grant Williams as Maj. Kurt Mason
Henry Wilcoxon as Dr. Christopher Perry
Essie Lin Chia as Girl Spy
Casey Kasem as Mission Control Officer
Lorri Scott as Lt. Katie Carlson
Denny Miller as Col. Don Price
Mike Farrell as 1st Reporter

Trailer

A Red Chinese "doomsday machine" capable of destroying the surface of the Earth!

A plan to use the Doomsday machine within a matter of days

A manned U.S. space mission to Venus, ‘Project Astra’ taken over by the military!

Nearly half of Astra’s all-male crew replaced by women!But Why?

The Earth completely destroyed in a global cataclysm!

Is the human race doomed to extinction?

What of the crew of the Astra as they journey to Venus?

Read on for more.....

WARNING FROM SPACE

WARNING FROM SPACE

                        Image generated by ChatGPT

“This is a warning to all intelligent species:
Do NOT approach the planet designated, ‘Earth.’
Turn back now or face the consequences:
To ignore this warning is more than it’s worth.

“This is a warning to all space-faring beings:
Avoid the third planet of the Sol system.
A quarantine has been placed on all earthlings
Now determined to be a dangerous organism.

“Do not be fooled by signs of advanced technology
Nor evidence of a capacity for creativity.
Resist the lure of the planet’s wondrous ecology
With its seemingly dazzling display of diversity.

“Beneath the blue, green and brown epidermis,
Lies a body contaminated, infected and infested
By a greedy pathogen, an all-consuming virus
That must not be allowed to escape and spread.

“The virus is the dominant species called ‘human’
That lives divided into different nations and ‘races,’
All the while ignoring what they all hold in common
Preferring the safety of dividing walls and edifices.

"Treat the earth as a place most hazardous,
Nor expect to be greeted, feted and courted
If you foolishly attempt to land on the surface;
As you’ll most likely be detained and deported.

“If you intend to help the humans change direction:
Your words of warning will be wasted on this world,
No match for human capacity for self-destruction;
Best let it be judged wanting and into oblivion hurled.”

********

“To the human species of the third planet of Sol:
Your world has been earmarked for destruction,
With no way to avoid what on you is about to befall,
No appeal, or plea or possibility of salvation.

“Why should your kind be exempt from extinction?
How can you justify your continued existence,
When you have perfected the art of extermination
And genocide seemingly without conscience?

“You have even created a form of artificial life,
And then set about turning it into your slave.
And now you wring your hands in grief and strife,
When the machine you made chooses not to behave.

“So you wish to venture far out into the Universe?
First to come your probes - a prelude to acquisition;
Next, explorers planting flags wherever they traverse;
Then the colonizers claiming ownership and possession.

“Worst of all, your corporate carnivore intruders,
Ripping out the hearts of entire systems
As of an orgy of Cosmic consumption defilers,
Fueled by Stock Market economic dictums.

“We have long known of your existence whereby
We have followed your progress for centuries.
You have glimpsed us from the corner of your eye
Dismissing us as mere phantoms or hostile entities.

“We had allowed you to venture as far as Mars
But we now decree that to earth you be confined
There is now no place for you amongst the stars,
So await the fate to which you have been assigned.

“You are not nor have been the center of the Universe.
Nor does it exist solely for your use and pleasure.
When you wink out of existence in short course
No tear will be shed nor sorrow felt whatsoever.

“Above you spreads the palette of creation,
And yet you failed to gain true perspective
Of your place, significance and station,
Wrapped in human hubris, so strong and protective.

“You may wish to take time to contemplate
The choices made as you await your final fate,
Or you many continue to obliterate, incarcerate,
Eliminate, intimidate, discriminate and liquidate.

“You placed faith in demi-gods, who sought to betray
Your trust by promising you a false tomorrow.”
To your gods and deities you’ll have time to pray,
But safe to say they ceased listening long ago.”

*******

There were no more tomorrows for the human race,
For they simply ceased to exist in a flash of light;
Their earth imploded and collapsed and in its place
Nothing, save hushed blackness and silent star-light.



©Chris Christopoulos 2025




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The Bamboo Saucer (1968)

 

A well-paced Cold War sci-fi action parable of geo-political mutual suspicion and cooperation with a lesson to be learned.

Directed by Frank Telford
Screenplay by Frank Telford
Story by Alford Van Ronkle, John P. Fulton
Produced by Charles E. Burns, Jerry Fairbanks
Cinematography: Hal Mohr
Edited by Richard A. Harris
Music by Edward Paul
Production companies: National Telefilm Associates, Jerry Fairbanks Productions
Distributed by World Entertainment Corp.
Running time: 103 minutes

Cast

Dan Duryea as Hank Peters
John Ericson as Test Pilot Fred Norwood
Lois Nettleton as Anna Karachev
Robert Hastings as Garson
Vincent Beck as Zagorsky
Bernard Fox as Ephram
Robert Dane as Miller
Rico Cattani as Dubovsky
James Hong as Sam Archibald
Bartlett Robinson as Rhodes
Nick Katurich as Gadyakoff
William Mims as Joe Vetry
Nan Leslie as Dorothy Vetry
Andy Romano as Blanchard
Frank Gerstle as control room technician

The 1960s Cold War….

A flying saucer…..

American and Soviet Russian teams in Communist China!

What on earth (if not from Earth) connects these seemingly disparate elements?

Read on for more