“Robert Wise: The Motion Pictures,” by Joe Jordan

Title: Robert Wise: The Motion Pictures
Author: Joe Jordan
Contributors: Gavin MacLeod, Douglas E. Wise
Edition: illustrated 
Publisher: BearManor Media, 2020
ISBN: 1629335363, 978-1629335360
Length: 506 pages

“Robert Wise: The Motion Pictures,” by Joe Jordan is a product of meticulous research by the author, covering a period of over fifty years. It contains detailed plot synopses and commentary of many of Robert Wise’s memorable and important films. 

By photo by Alan Light, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2227156

Robert Wise began his film career at RKO as a sound and music editor. He later became more involved in editing film content and went to work for RKO film editor William "Billy" Hamilton. At RKO, Wise worked with Orson Welles on “Citizen Kane” (1941) and was nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing.

In his role as producer and director, Wise aimed for establishing a connection to the viewer and had a reputation for a strong work ethic, attention to detail, budgetary thrift and well-researched preparation for a film. 

Of relevance to this blog is Robert Wise’s film “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, a classic science fiction masterpiece that warned about the dangers of atomic warfare.

Other films of Robert Wise that have stayed in my mind over the years are;

• “I Want To Live” (1958)
• “Run Silent, Run Deep” (1958)
• “The Haunting” (1963)
• “The Andromeda Strain” (1971) 

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19705323 

• "Startrek The Motion Picture" (1979)

Joe Jordan's book includes over twenty interviews, as well as presenting a comprehensive analysis of Robert Wise’s work. 

I am sure that after reading this fascinating tribute, you’ll come away with an even greater appreciation of this two-time winner of the Academy Award for Best Director – the legendary Robert Wise. 

*************

A Tribute

Rosetta and Joe Jordan

Joe's Robert Wise book is dedicated to his father and it is very sad to note the recent sudden passing of his father.

Joe's mother, Rosetta preceded her husband in death by 37 years. He missed her so much and never remarried.

Joe has managed to find comfort in knowing that both of his parents are finally together again. It is also of comfort to Joe that his father was able to enjoy the revised edition of his son's book prior to his passing.

According to Joe, "My father was so excited to receive his copy of the Robert Wise book. You should have seen the look on his face when he found out the book is dedicated to him. My father was always a big fan of The Sand Pebbles," (a 1962 novel by American author Richard McKenna about a Yangtze River gunboat and its crew in 1926. In 1966 it was used as the storyline for a movie of the same name starring Steve McQueen and directed by none other than Robert Wise.)

Our condolences go out to Joe for his loss along with our best wishes and kind thoughts. I'm certain his father would have been very proud of Joe.

Father of Science Fiction & Fantasy - Oscar Winner George Pal Interview Preservation - GoFundMe

George Pal was as you may know is known as The Father of Science Fiction and Fantasy in Modern Film. In the annals of Hollywood, Academy Award winner George Pal will always be remembered as a titan, a brilliant visionary who profoundly shaped the art of motion pictures. As an animator, Pal was a pioneer of stop-motion animation known as Puppetoons ™ and a peer of Walt Disney. In the 1950's as a producer and director of live-action films, he brought to the screen such science fiction and fantasy classics as "The War of the Worlds", "The Time Machine", "When Worlds Collide", "Destination Moon", "Tom Thumb", "Houdini", "Atlantis the Lost Continent" "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm", "7 Faces of Dr. Lao", "The Power", "Doc Savage: Man of Bronze" and others. Pal's cinematic legacy can be traced in the works of Walt Disney, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Gene Roddenberry, Tim Burton, James Cameron, Peter Jackson and dozens of others.

Link to George Pal Tribute on this blog: 

The original 1 inch 'B' NTSC video format used in the production of The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal - the only film document ever done on Pal - are long out of use. To make matters worse, only 2 working 'B' NTSC 1 inch videotape machines exist that can aid in the digitization process. There is no telling how long these machines will last or their working parts as they are no longer in existence! 

It goes without saying, this is a severe race against time to preserve what represents the only film document ever made on George Pal and the beloved one of a kind icons that worked with him.... most of whom have sadly passed on.

The historical importance of preserving and digitizing these interviews cannot be understated!

Talent interviews to preserve includes: Rod Taylor, Alan Young, Tony Randall, Tony Curtis, Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury, Gene Roddenberry, Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Russ Tamblyn, Barbara Eden, Ann Robinson, Roy E. Disney, Ward Kimball, Robert Wise, George Pal, Mrs. George Pal, David Pal, Gae Griffith, Walter Lantz, Gene Warren Sr., Wah Chang, Jim Danforth, Robert Bloch, Chesley Bonestell, Albert Nozaki, William Tuttle, Duke Goldstone, Bob Baker and Phil Kellison.

The digitizations will be used to upgrade existing productions. Eventually they will be find a home with film footage companies and possibly donated to an educational institution yet to be determined.

If you’d like to help with preserving these irreplaceable interviews about one of the most influential figures in the history of motion pictures and the science fiction/fantasy genre, please use the Link Below:

https://www.gofundme.com/fantasy-worlds-of-george-pal-film-preservation

A Tribute to Eugène Lourié

A film pioneer of many talents

Eugène Lourié, French film director, art director, production designer, set designer and screenwriter was born in Charkov, Ukraine on April 8, 1903. He was well known for his 1950s science fiction movies, some of which have been featured in this blog.

The Early Days

In 1919, Eugène Lourié worked on an anti-communist film titled Black Crowes. Having fled from the Soviet Union, he made his way to Istanbul where he earned enough money for a fare to Paris, France by painting and drawing movie posters.

Film career

While in Paris, Lourié studied painting and stage design. He designed sets and costumes for various ballet companies before turning his attention to film.

In the 1930s, Eugène Lourié worked as a production designer for the likes of such directors as Jean Renoir, with whom he worked on the French films, La Grande Illusion and La Règle du Jeu. Lourié took over as sole art director for the former film.

In the early 1940s, Lourié moved to Hollywood and worked with such directors as Sam Fuller, Robert Siodmak and Charlie Chaplin. He was art director for Chaplin's last American film, Limelight (1952).

In 1953, he made his directorial debut with The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, the first of three dinosaur films that Lourié would direct and which tended to typecast him as a science fiction film director. For these giant-monster films, Lourié often did the art direction and special effects on them as well.

After his 1961 film, Gorgo, Lourié stopped directing movies because he did not want to direct "the same comic-strip monsters."

He was nominated for an Academy Award in 1969 for best visual effects on the film Krakatoa, East of Java. In this film, Lourié made a non-speaking cameo appearance playing the part of a lighthouse keeper on the coast of Java in 1883 who observes Krakatoa's final cataclysmic explosive eruption and sends news of it to the outside world by telegraph.

In 1980, Lourié designed Clint Eastwood's Bronco Billy, and had an acting part in Richard Gere's 1983 film, Breathless.

Eugène Lourié’s Filmography

Jeanne (1934) 

The Bread Peddler (1934) 

Dark Eyes (1935) 

The Alibi (1937) 

The Messenger (1937) 

Ramuntcho (1938) 

The Lafarge Case (1938) 

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) 

The Colossus of New York (1958) 

Behemoth, the Sea Monster (1959) 

Gorgo (1961) 

Flight from Ashiya (1964) 

Crack in the World (1965) 

Krakatoa, East of Java (1969)

DeathLourié died on 26 May 1991 (aged 88) due to a stroke while in the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills. He was survived by his wife Laure and a daughter.

©Chris Christopoulos 2018

A Tribute To Bert I. Gordon

The Amazing Colossal Film Worlds

Of

"Mister B.I.G."

One thing you may have noticed throughout a number of the films featured in this blog is the name of American film director, Bert I. Gordon. Gordon was famous for such science fiction movies as The Amazing Colossal Man, its 1958 sequel, War of the Colossal Beast and Attack of the Puppet People. (The last two films will be featured in this blog soon.)

Read on to find out more........

A Tribute To John Agar

(January 31, 1921 – April 7, 2002)

“…. if I give anybody any enjoyment, I'm doing my job, and that's what counts."

Early Life

John Agar was born in Chicago, Illinois into a wealthy Chicago meat packing family as the oldest of 4 children on Jan 31, 1921. He was educated at the Harvard School for Boys in Chicago and Lake Forest Academy in Lake Forest, Illinois. He graduated from Trinity-Pawling Preparatory School in Pawling, New York, but did not attend college.

After the death of his father, John and his family moved from Chicago to Los Angeles in 1942. 

War Service 

During World War II, a 20 year old John Agar left his studies and enlisted and served in the United States Army Air Corps, mostly at the March Field in Riverside, California. He served as a physical fitness instructor on account of his solid physique. He left the AAF in 1946 having achieved the rank of sergeant at the age of 24.

Marriage

John Agar is often best remembered for being the first husband of actress Shirley Temple (a school friend of his sister) whom he married in 1945. Agar was 24 years old and Temple was only 17.

A foretaste of what was to come regarding the marriage soon emerged with the media frenzy and constant scrutiny surrounding Agar’s relationship with Shirley Temple.

Agar and Temple had a daughter, Linda Susan Agar in 1948.

Agar and Temple’s marriage turned out to be a troubled one due in part to Agar's drinking problems and the pressures arising from their high public profile. John Agar hated being constantly referred to as "Mr. Shirley Temple" in the papers. He turned to alcohol to help cope with the mounting pressures. 

After only 4 years of marriage, Temple sued for divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty in 1949.

After his divorce from Temple, Agar remarried in 1951 to model Barnett Combs. They had two sons, Martin Agar and John G. Agar, III. The marriage lasted for 49 years until Loretta’s death in 2000.

Acting Career 

Movie producer and Temple’s boss, David O. Selznick signed Agar to a five-year acting contract starting at $150 a week, including acting lessons!

Agar and his wife Shirley Temple worked together in Ford's classic 1948 Western film, Fort Apache and in the film, Adventure in Baltimore. Agar worked with John Wayne in Fort Apache and again in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. He also worked with Wayne in the classic World War 2 film, Sands of Iwo Jima. Agar went on to make a total of six movies with John Wayne.

John Agar’s career was unfortunately punctuated by alcohol-fuelled incidents. In 1950 Agar was fined for reckless driving and in 1951 was jailed for five months for drunk driving. Agar was released after 60 days on probation. In 1953 he was arrested for drink driving yet again and was sentenced to 120 days’ imprisonment.

The news media turned against John Agar who was not long before considered to have been one of Hollywood's most popular leading men.

No longer having the status of an A-movie star, Agar did manage to continue with his acting career by playing leading roles in low-budget science fiction, Western, and horror B movies in the 1950s and 1960s. He was to eventually achieve something of a cult status among classic science fiction movie fans.

John appeared in many science fiction films, some of which have already been featured in this blog;

Revenge of the Creature 

(1955) 

(sequel to "Creature from the Black Lagoon")

Tarantula (1955) 

The Mole People (1956)

The Brain from Planet Arous  (1957) 

Daughter of Dr. Jekyll (1957) 

Attack of the Puppet People (1958) 

Destination Space (1959) 

Invisible Invaders (1959) 

The Hand of Death (1962) 

Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962) 

Women of the Prehistoric Planet (1966) 

Zontar the Thing from Venus (1966) 

(remake of 1956 Roger Corman’s, "It Conquered the World") 

As the popularity of science fiction films began to wane in the 1960's, John Agar appeared mostly in Western genre films.

Although acting roles grew more scarce for Agar, his loyal friend of over 20 years, John Wayne, gave Agar supporting roles in the Westerns, The Undefeated (1969), Chisum (1970), and Big Jake (1971).

In tribute to John Agar’s contributions to science fiction, director John Guillermin also gave Agar a cameo role in the 1976 remake of the 1933 classic, King Kong.

In addition to these movie roles, John Agar made several guest appearances on popular T.V. programs in the 1970's and 1980's, such as Charlie's Angels, Police Story, and an episode of The Twilight Zone. Agar was also in great demand at sci-fi conventions.

Death 

John Agar died on April 7, 2002 at Burbank, California of complications from emphysema. He was survived by his three children.

Awards & Legacy 

John Agar was awarded the "Lifetime Career Award" by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films in 1981.

Agar was quite realistic about his career, and the films he appeared in:

“To me the idea of just working is what's fun, I don't give a doggone what kind of part.” However, “a lot of the pictures I made were not released--they escaped.” 

Thank you John Agar for doing your job: giving us a lot of fun!

©Chris Christopoulos 2016

A Tribute to Willis O'Brien

Pioneering motion picture special effects artist who pioneered the technique of stop motion animation and created "the most startling and intriguing monsters who have ever invaded screenland."

King Kong vs T-Rex

Early Life

Willis O'brien was born on 2 March 1886 in Oakland, California. His father, William O'Brien was self-educated and was a noted etymologist. He also spent 15 years as assistant district attorney for Oakland. Poor investments coupled with some bad luck forced the O’Brien family into poverty when Willis was just 11 years old.

Before he began working in film, Willis O’Brien worked short stints as a cowboy, professional boxer. farmhand, factory worker, fur trapper, bartender, draftsman in an architect's office, railroad brakeman and surveyor. He then went on to become a cartoonist for the San Francisco Daily News, and worked as a professional marble sculptor.

Career

O'Brien was eventually hired by the Edison Company to produce several short films with a prehistoric theme, most notably The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy (1915) and The Ghost of Slumber Mountain (1918). For his earlier short films, O'Brien created his own characters out of clay,

For later feature-length films, O’Brien would employ Richard and Marcel Delgado to create detailed stop-motion models that were based on O'Brien's designs. These consisted of rubber skin built up over articulated metal armatures.

O'Brien's first Hollywood feature was the film version of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World (1925). O'Brien's dinosaurs could not only move and fight but they also seemed to be able to "breathe" due to the use of a bladder inside the model that could be inflated and deflated.

His most famous work involved animating the dinosaurs and the iconic giant ape in King Kong (1933), the first "monster movie," and its sequel Son of Kong (1933). O’Brien visited zoos in order to study the behaviour and movements of gorillas. He also attended wrestling matches to get a feel for how Kong would do battle with the dinosaurs of Skull Island. O'Brien’s models were 18-inches high and were constructed on metal skeletons with joints consisting of balls and sockets. The skeletons were padded with foam rubber and cotton and covered with rabbit skin.

When O’Brien viewed the first printed footage of his character, King Kong in motion, he noticed that its fur moved because it was disturbed by his fingers during filming. When showing the footage to the film's producer, O’Brien was worried that this would be noticed and that as a consequence he would be fired. Instead, he was praised for his ability and attention to detail in succeeding to actually make Kong's fur seem to blow about in the wind!

Personal Tragedy 

Married to Hazel Ruth Collette in 1925 Obrien and his wife had a troubled relationship and were divorced by 1930. The couple had two sons. Hazel suffered from tuberculosis and was often heavily sedated. The disease spread to one of their sons, William and blinded him. Tragically, during the production of The Son of Kong (1933), Hazel shot and killed her two sons and then turned the gun on herself. She survived the incident but died from cancer and tuberculosis soon afterward.

Later Film Career

O'Brien was credited as Technical Creator in the film Mighty Joe Young (1949), for which he won the first-ever Oscar for Best Visual Effects in 1950. O'Brien's eventual successor, Ray Harryhausen also worked alongside O'Brien on this film.

In 1956, O'Brien wrote the script but did none of the animation for the first colour film to combine animation and live action photography, The Beast of Hollow Mountain.

In 1957, O'Brien worked on the film, The Black Scorpion, in which he and collaborator Peter Peterson did the special effects. They also both worked together on the film, The Giant Behemoth (1959) about a radioactive sea monster in which O'Brien helped build the sets and the models.

O'Brien did not enjoy great success during his life. In fact, in his later years he struggled to find work. There were numerous false starts and even though O’Brien had plenty of ideas, he could not work out how to get them produced in Hollywood. Promotion was not one of his strong points.

Later Years 

Shortly before his death, O’Brian animated a brief scene in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), which had some characters dangling from a fire escape. He was also one of the writers for Ishiro Honda's King Kong vs. Godzilla.

At the age of 76, O'Brien died in Los Angeles on 8 November 1962, survived by his second wife, Darlyne.

In 1997, he was posthumously awarded the Winsor McCay Award by ASIFA-Hollywood, the United States chapter of the International Animated Film Society ASIFA (Association internationale du film d'animation). The award is in recognition of lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation.

Legacy 

Despite working largely in obscurity, Willis O’Brien has left an amazing legacy in terms of cinematic special effects. Consider the pioneering process he employed of shooting one frame at a time to give his models a sense of realism, movement and personality which audiences were able to identify with.

O’Brien’s ground-breaking method of live action combined with stop motion animation has until recent times been a standard special effects process. It was Willis O'Brien who used for rear projection, a flexible cellulose-acetate screen stretched over a frame.

O’Brien also began using the by now familiar blue screen behind live action actors thereby permitting them to be incorporated into existing footage.

O’Brien’s creations can be best summed up by one reviewer who saw them as being “marvels of ingenuity both in design and in the method of animation” and that their “movements are so supple and natural that it would be easy to believe them to be huge living creatures."

©Chris Christopoulos 2016

A Tribute to Val Guest

(11 December 1911 – 10 May 2006)

Guest "brought a lot of intelligence to a genre that is often sorely in need of it." (director Joe Dante)

English film director and screenwriter, Val Guest is best known for his work for Hammer. Several of his science fiction and horror films have been featured in this blog. What we notice about his films is how they seem to work without the need for expensive and flashy special effects. Instead, like many British science fiction films, they seem to rely on fine story lines, good acting, effective use of cinematography and tight direction. 

Early life

Val Guest was born Valmond Maurice Guest to parents, John Simon Guest (a jute broker) and Julia Ann Gladys Emanuel in Maida Vale, London.

Some of Guest's childhood was spent in India before the family returned to England shortly prior to the first world war.

His parents were divorced when he was young, but he was not told of this and instead was led to believe that his mother had died. Even after his grandparents revealed to him that there had been a divorce, Guest led his father to think that he still believed that she was dead. Later meetings with his mother, however, were kept secret.

Val Guest was educated at Seaford College in Sussex.

Career:

After leaving Seaford College in 1927, Guest went on to work as a bookkeeper. at 15 years of age.

Guest then went on to appear in various London theatre productions and in some early sound film roles. In 1930 as part of a song writing partnership duo, Val Guest signed a contract with the music publishers Feldman's. He also earned additional income by writing movie news and gossip for such magazines as Picturegoer and Film Weekly.

Later, a fortuitous meeting with future film star Ida Lupino resulted in a meeting with her uncle, Lupino Lane at which an offer was made to Guest to script and appear in the musical film, The Maid of the Mountains (1932), which Lane was directing.

Val Guest decided to quit acting and began a writing career.

In about 1934, Guest became the London correspondent for the Hollywood Reporter trade paper before going on to work on film screenplays for Gainsborough Pictures.

The screenplay work came about as a result of a challenge issued to Guest to write a screenplay by director, Marcel Varnel who was less than pleased by Guest’s comments in his regular column, "Rambling Around" concerning the Varnel's latest film. 

The result of the challenge was the script, “No Monkey Business” (1935) directed by Varnel. Thus was born a partnership between Guest and Varnel with Guest being placed under contract as a staff writer at Gainsborough's Islington Studios. Guest’s screenplay writing career endured for the rest of the 1930s.

In the early 1940s after directing a Ministry of Information short film about the dangers of sneezing, Guest became a director in his own right with his debut feature, Miss London Limited. (1943), a musical comedy about an escort agency.

Guest’s involvement with the film industry would continue for the next 40 years as a director, screenwriter and producer.

Relationships

Guest was married to Pat Watson but they divorced after Guest fell in love with American actress Yolande Donlan whom he married in 1954.

Val Guest’s Sci-Fi Films:

Guest was eventually offered the opportunity to direct Hammer's first Quatermass film, (Quatermass Xperiment) which was adapted from the BBC television serial by Nigel Kneale. 

The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) was shot in the style of a television documentary. With that film’s success came a sequel, Quatermass 2 (1957) which Guest also directed. 

Guest went on to direct other science-fiction films such as The Abominable Snowman (1957), and The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961) which won Guest and Wolf Mankowitz a BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay. 

The fluid and biting dialogue of The Day the Earth Caught Fire together with the superb acting performances is very impressive. I suggest you find a copy of that film and watch it. You don’t get dialogue in a film that is so full of such wit, cynicism, sarcasm and irony like that anymore! This film will be featured at a later date in this blog.

Trailer

Later career

Guest wrote and directed the less than impressive, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970). This was followed by sex comedy films, Au Pair Girls (1972) and Confessions of a Window Cleaner (1974).

Guest went on to direct television episodes of series such as The Adventurer (1972–73), Space: 1999 (1976-77), and The Persuaders! (1971–72), as well as several episodes of the Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense series in 1984 and 1985.

Guest's final feature film work was writing and directing The Boys in Blue (1982). 

Life After Films

Guest retired in 1985, and lived with his wife in retirement in California.

In 2001 Guest, presented his life story in the auto-biographical book, "So You Want to Be in Pictures."

In 2004, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to Guest and his wife, Donlan.

In 2006, Val Guest died in a hospice in Palm Desert, California from prostate cancer aged 94. He is survived by his sons, David and Christopher, and two grandchildren.

A Final Thought

We can end this tribute with the words of Joe Dante which best describe much of Val Guest’s film work: 

“Thoughtful and well-done."

©Chris Christopoulos 2016