Post by ijon on Jul 11, 2006 2:31:49 GMT -5
They're by no means as thick as those of the '50s, but there were some interesting ones. Anyone have a favorite, a worthwhile obscurity or some general thoughts?
I recollect LosingMyDignity's question on whether something like King Kong counts as sci-fi. I see his point but would be inclined to be lenient myself. I leave it up to you.
I've seen two recently and just wanted to point them out to those who might be interested. Personally I love this era, if you know who Raymond Z. Gallun was you'd probably love both of these. If not . . . well, read on and see.
Just Imagine is a 1930 romantic comedy set in 1980. I rather like scifilm.org's "What Works" vs "What Doesn't" style and will adopt it. It clearly put a lot of money into visuals, I love these sort of art deco imaginings of the future. I also liked the pop take on the sort of scientific future being propounded by Wellsian technocrats around this time: the story revolves around our numbered rather than named hero trying to convince the marriage board to approve his marriage to his sweetheart. Oh, and I now see where Flesh Gordon got the design for its spaceship!
On the down side, it's a movie from 1930. What can you say, the talkies were new and you can cut the ACTING with a knife. The comic relief also falls a bit flat, revolving as it does around a woman in the mold of Gracie Allen and a man in the mold of Roberto Benigni, except that neither of them quite fills the mold. Comparing the prohi era booze humor to '70s and '80s drug humor did have it's moments though, as did some of that era's pulchritude. It's a musical . . . I kind of like both the later swing and the earlier ragtime, but based on this film 1930 was a weak year in music.
1932's Doctor X is probably a safer bet. The acting is already notceably more naturalistic and it is in color. It's more a whodunnit with a science fiction flavor, but works pretty well on that level. It develops a nice atmosphere and has a fairly decent twist ending. Also Fay Wray was really quite a dish then, and that was a plus for me!
This movie is unusual in combining the leading man and comic relief roles. Initially I was hoping a young Syd Melman would arrive to save the day, though the guy grew on me over the course of the movie. When all was said and done I enjoyed this one.
As a final note, if there are any other fans of this primordial scientifiction out there you'll want to check this great gallery of Frank R. Paul's illustrations. Enjoy!
www.frankwu.com/paul1.html
I recollect LosingMyDignity's question on whether something like King Kong counts as sci-fi. I see his point but would be inclined to be lenient myself. I leave it up to you.
I've seen two recently and just wanted to point them out to those who might be interested. Personally I love this era, if you know who Raymond Z. Gallun was you'd probably love both of these. If not . . . well, read on and see.
Just Imagine is a 1930 romantic comedy set in 1980. I rather like scifilm.org's "What Works" vs "What Doesn't" style and will adopt it. It clearly put a lot of money into visuals, I love these sort of art deco imaginings of the future. I also liked the pop take on the sort of scientific future being propounded by Wellsian technocrats around this time: the story revolves around our numbered rather than named hero trying to convince the marriage board to approve his marriage to his sweetheart. Oh, and I now see where Flesh Gordon got the design for its spaceship!
On the down side, it's a movie from 1930. What can you say, the talkies were new and you can cut the ACTING with a knife. The comic relief also falls a bit flat, revolving as it does around a woman in the mold of Gracie Allen and a man in the mold of Roberto Benigni, except that neither of them quite fills the mold. Comparing the prohi era booze humor to '70s and '80s drug humor did have it's moments though, as did some of that era's pulchritude. It's a musical . . . I kind of like both the later swing and the earlier ragtime, but based on this film 1930 was a weak year in music.
1932's Doctor X is probably a safer bet. The acting is already notceably more naturalistic and it is in color. It's more a whodunnit with a science fiction flavor, but works pretty well on that level. It develops a nice atmosphere and has a fairly decent twist ending. Also Fay Wray was really quite a dish then, and that was a plus for me!
This movie is unusual in combining the leading man and comic relief roles. Initially I was hoping a young Syd Melman would arrive to save the day, though the guy grew on me over the course of the movie. When all was said and done I enjoyed this one.
As a final note, if there are any other fans of this primordial scientifiction out there you'll want to check this great gallery of Frank R. Paul's illustrations. Enjoy!
www.frankwu.com/paul1.html
