Welcome to yet another one of the tributes to the wonderful ladies who appeared in the classic sci-fi films of the 1950s. We’ll start off with…..
With Beverly Garland as Nadine Storey
Mr Johnson, an alien from the planet Davanna, has come to Earth seeking a new supply of blood because his people are dying out. Mr Johnson sends human specimens through a portal to Davanna. Nurse Nadine Storey and Mr Johnson’s chauffeur, Jeremy become suspicious concerning Mr Johnson’s activities and team up to investigate.
Read on for more......
With Vera Day as Sheila
Professor Quatermass contends with a supposed "meteor shower" which in fact turns out to be a secret alien invasion. The alien invader arrives on earth in rock-like receptacles, then takes over the minds and nervous systems of human beings.
At the St. Patricks Day dance at the Rec Center, just as a mob tries to throw Quatermass and his two companions out, a “meteorite” falls through the roof. Barmaid Sheila then picks it up and becomes infected.
With Valerie French as Eve Wingate
Five individuals from five nations suddenly find themselves on an alien spacecraft where they are given the power to launch capsules with unbelievable destructive power. No power on earth can open a container. Only a mental command from the person to whom it is given can do so. Each of the five has been given the power of life and death by being able to instantaneously launch their capsule to whatever coordinates he/she chooses. A capsule so launched will then eradicate all human life within a 3,000-mile radius of its chosen location.
After being returned to Earth, Eve (Valerie French) casts her capsules into the English Channel and then books a flight to Los Angeles where she is met by a Clark (Gene Barry), who takes her to a closed race track where they can hide – at least for the time being!
With Cathy Downs as Carol Forrest
Lt. Col. Glenn Manning is accidentally exposed to a plutonium bomb blast at Camp Desert Rock. Despite having 90% of his body burnt, he survives and begins to grow in size. As he grows, his heart and circulatory system fail to keep pace with his growth and he is gradually losing his mind due to the reduced blood supply to his brain. He attains a height of 50 feet before his growth is stopped. A now insane Manning escapes and poses a danger to Las Vegas.
Manning’s wife, Carol has a difficult time trying to contend with his continuing despair and pessimism.
With Mara Corday as Teresa Alvarez
Teresa runs a cattle ranch in Mexico that's been in her family for years but now there’s something killing the cattle and causing great destruction. After falling from her horse while out riding one day, she happens to meet a geologist from the United States, Hank Scott and his Mexican partner, Artur Ramos. They are in the area to do research after a volcanic eruption and related earthquakes.
With Joyce Meadows as Sally Fallon
The Brain from Planet Arous was Joyce Meadow’s second film opposite John Agar who plays nuclear physicist, Steve Marsh who investigates a mysterious radiation source coming from Mystery Mountain. He returns possessed by a disembodied brain called Gor, an escaped criminal from the planet, Arous. To counter Gor’s plans to dominate the world, Steve’s fiance, Sally and her father agree to work with Vol, another brain from Arous that wishes to stop Gor.
With Alix Talton as Marge Blaine
Having been freed from being trapped in suspended animation in Arctic ice since prehistoric times, a giant praying mantis attacks military outposts before proceeding to the warmer regions of Washington and New York. A palaeontologist together with the military try to come up with a way to kill the creature. Museum magazine editor Marge Blaine sees this as an opportunity for a big scoop!
With Randy Stuart as Louise Carey
While on holiday at sea, Scott Carey is enveloped in a strange cloud. Later back at home he discovers that he is losing weight and height. It is determined that radiation from the cloud is reacting with an insecticide on his skin and is causing him to progressively shrink. He eventually loses his job and his relationship with his wife, Louise deteriorates as he tyrannically tries to dominate her. Scott then finds himself a mere six inch being in a world of gigantic proportions in which he has to survive giant-sized threats to his very existence.
And......
With April Kent as Clarice
At a local coffee shop, Scott meets and befriends a female carnival sideshow midget named Clarice who is slightly shorter than him. She persuades him that life is not all bad being their size.
Two hundred years previously, a group of doctors discovered a way to extended their lives by draining the life force of others. If they are unable to so, they will begin to petrify. They become the staff doctors of a girls’ reform school, in order to assure themselves of a steady supply of what they need.
With Charlotte Austin as Carol Adams
And....
Together with Doctor Jess Rogers, social welfare officer Carol Adams becomes suspicious of the unusual number of healthy female inmates dying of heart failure or suicide. She also enlists the help of inmate, Tracy who performs clerical tasks for Carol.
With Shirley Patterson as Margaret Hathaway
A naval expedition consisting of three men and a woman crash-land in a deep crater in Antarctica where they find themselves trapped in an Antarctic prehistoric jungle world.
Maggie is a reporter with Oceanic Press and her role in the film is pretty standard for the time: eye candy and love interest in need of rescuing and an object to be possessed.
An underwater earthquake in the Salton Sea uncovers eggs of a long-extinct sea monster. Once hatched, the creatures sustain themselves by sucking the life force of humans. The creatures move on to land in search of wider hunting grounds. Humanity's fate depends on a crew of scientists and Lt. Cmdr. John Twillinger.
With Audrey Dalton as Dr. Rogers’s war-widow secretary, Gail MacKenzie who is part of a love-story subplot involving herself and Commander Twillinger.
Meteors fall from suddenly space, the fragments of which litter the desert landscape. When they get wet such as during a rainstorm, they grow into towering monoliths. Once they become too tall, they fall over and shatter. Each new piece then grows into yet another monolith, with the process repeating itself for as long as they keep getting wet.
With Lola Albright as Cathy Barrett, geologist Dave Miller’s girlfriend, who one day takes her students on a desert field trip where young Ginny Simpson finds one of the strange rocks and takes it home.
Dr. Conway has discovered that he can potentially extend the human life span by hundreds or even thousands of years by inserting a gland he created into a living human body. To complete the process, he needs human experimental subjects. Dr. Loren Wright helps by bringing individuals who have no family connections to Dr. Conway's house in the belief that he can cure their depression or other problems they may have. Just before they're to be released, Conway uses them in his glandular experiments.
With Allison Hayes as Grace Thomas who is brought to Conway’s house by Dr. Wright to get her depression cured.
And….
Marilyn Buferd as Dr. Sharon Gilchrist who is the cold-hearted scientist who it turns out is really in love with Dr. Conway.
And…
Sally Todd as Natalie Andries who was at Conway’s house to be cured of her depression but ended up as yet another one of Dr. Conway's human experimental guinea pigs.
An experimental form of radar at a US Air Force base in Canada seems to be linked to a series of mysterious deaths and disappearances at a nearby village. Major Jeff Cummings while investigating the disappearances learns that Professor Walgate is conducting experiments into telekinesis resulting in the creation of invisible monsters from the subconscious. These creatures are intent upon feeding on the base's nuclear power, and are killing its personnel by sucking their brains out through of the back of their heads.
With Kim Parker as Barbara Griselle who is the sister to the first victim. Maj. Cummings is immediately attracted to Barbara who works for Professor Walgate who writes books on such topics as “The Principles of Thought Control,” and “The Energy of Thought.”
When a father doesn't return home one night, his daughter and her boyfriend go out searching for him only to encounter a giant spider in a cave near the missing man’s wrecked car. Returning to the cave with the Sheriff, the spider is sprayed with DDT. Believing that the spider has been killed, it is taken away to be temporarily lodged in the local high school gymnasium. However, the spider is awakened by loud rock and roll music played by a teenage band and it then sets about running amok throughout the town.
With June Kenney as Carol Flyn who insists on looking for her missing dad which leads to the discovery of the spider and all that follows. Mike is little more than putty in her hands. (Let’s face it fellas, most us find ourselves in his position at one time or another! We know who the real boss is!)
Originating during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the ruins of Pompeii, the “Faceless Man is mummified in molten lava and turned to stone. He comes to life two thousand years later in order to rescue a woman who he believes is the reincarnated love from his life back in ancient Pompeii.
With Elaine Edwards as Tina Enright (Paul’s fiancée) who is an American living in Italy. She’s a painter who finds herself being the centre of the Faceless Man’s attention.
And…
Adele Mara as Maria Fiorillo (Carlo’s daughter) who at one time had a relationship with Paul. She has finished her training as a doctor and now works with her father in the museum.
[Note: Click on the film titles above to take you to the posts featuring the films referred to.]
Watch out for the next and last instalment featuring classic sci-fi ladies of the 1950s in the not too distant future….
In the meantime, why not check out two NEW PAGES included in this blog:
- Classic Sci-Fi Double Feature
- Classic Sci-Fi Radio Play
©Chris Christopoulos 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment