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Target Earth (film)
''Target Earth'' is a 1954 independently made American black-and-white science fiction film, produced by Herman Cohen, directed by Sherman A. Rose, that stars Richard Denning, Kathleen Crowley, Virginia Grey, and Whit Bissell. The film was distributed by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Set in a large, deserted city, the film's storyline follows a small group of people overlooked during the city's mass evacuation, carried out because of a sudden invasion by hostile robotic beings believed to be from the planet Venus. Plot After a failed attempt at suicide, Nora King regains consciousness and discovers that her building has no electricity or water, so she wanders into the now quiet, empty streets of her city. Stumbling over the body of a dead woman, who has been killed, she encounters Frank Brooks, who has just recently revived after being beaten unconscious in an overnight robbery. They join forces to find others in the deserted city. Hearing piano music coming from a ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herman Cohen
Herman Cohen (August 27, 1925 – June 2, 2002) was an American producer of B-movies during the 1950s, and helped to popularize the teen horror movie genre with films like the cult classic ''I Was a Teenage Werewolf''. Career Born in Detroit, Michigan, Cohen began his career in show business as a gofer and later an usher at the Dexter Theater in Detroit, starting he was just 12. By 18, he was managing the Dexter. From there he went on to become assistant manager of the Fox Theatre (also in Detroit) — a theater featuring over 5,000 seats. After a tour of duty with the Marines, Cohen became sales manager for Columbia Pictures in the Detroit Area and moved to Hollywood to work for the publicity department of Columbia in the 1940s. In the 1950s he started producing films, first working as assistant (and later associate) producer for Jack Broder and Realart Pictures on such films as ''Bride of the Gorilla'', ''Battles of Chief Pontiac'' (featuring Lon Chaney, Jr.), ''Bela Lugosi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
B Movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature (akin to B-sides for recorded music). However, the U.S. production of films intended as second features largely ceased by the end of the 1950s. With the emergence of commercial television at that time, film studio B movie production departments changed into television film production divisions. They created much of the same type of content in low budget films and series. The term ''B movie'' continues to be used in its broader sense to this day. In its post-Golden Age usage, B movies can range from lurid exploitation films to independent arthouse films. In either usage, most B movies represent a particular genre—the Western was a Golden Age B movie staple, while low-budget science-fiction and horror films became more popular in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1953 Films
The year 1953 in film involved some significant events. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1953 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events * January 16 – A new Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. is incorporated following a Consent Judgment to divest their Stanley Warner Theaters. * February 5 – Walt Disney's production of J.M. Barrie's '' Peter Pan'', starring Bobby Driscoll and Kathryn Beaumont, premieres to astounding acclaim from critics and audiences and quickly becomes one of the most beloved Disney films. This is the last Disney animated movie released in partnership RKO Pictures, becoming the last ever smash hit movie of the later company before it bankrupted in 1959. * July 1 – '' Stalag 17'', directed by Billy Wilder and starring William Holden, premieres and is considered by the critics and audiences to be one of the greatest WWII Prisoner of War films ever made. Holden wins the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Warren (film Historian And Critic)
William Bond Warren (April 26, 1943 – October 7, 2016) was an American film historian, critic, and one of the leading authorities on science fiction, horror, and fantasy films. Early life and education Warren was born in North Bend, Oregon and grew up in Gardiner on the Umpqua River. He became interested in science fiction films during the genre's first boom period in the 1950s after seeing ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (1951). Discovering ''Famous Monsters of Filmland'' with its first issues, he received regular acknowledgments and thanks as a contributor throughout the early years of the magazine, along with Don Glut, Eric Hoffman, and Mark Thomas McGee. After attending Reedsport High School, he graduated from the University of Oregon, in Eugene, Oregon. Move to Los Angeles Warren and his wife Beverly moved to Los Angeles in 1966. As an assistant to science fiction agent, editor, and collector Forrest J Ackerman, Warren came into contact with major filmmakers-in-waiti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater, visual arts, travel, and the Internet. History ''PopMatters'' was founded by Sarah Zupko, who had previously established the cultural studies academic resource site PopCultures. ''PopMatters'' launched in late 1999 as a sister site providing original essays, reviews and criticism of various media products. Over time, the site went from a weekly publication schedule to a five-day-a-week magazine format, expanding into regular reviews, features, and columns. In the fall of 2005, monthly readership exceeded one million. From 2006 onward, ''PopMatters'' produced several syndicated newspaper columns for McClatchy-Tribune News Service. By 2009 there were four different pop culture related co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporate history Prototype The prototype of what would become '' TV Guide Magazine'' was developed by Lee Wagner (1910–1993), who was the circulation director of MacFadden Publications in New York City in the 1930s – and later, by the time of the predecessor publication's creation, for Cowles Media Company – distributing magazines focusing on movie celebrities. In 1948, Wagner printed New York City area listings magazine ''The TeleVision Guide'', which was first released on local newsstands on June 14 of that year. Silent film star Gloria Swanson, who then starred of the short-lived variety series ''The Gloria Swanson Hour'', appeared on the cover of the first issue. Wagner later began publishing regional editions of ''The TeleVision ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tank Battalion (film)
''Tank Battalion'' (also known as ''Korean Attack'') is a 1958 war film directed by Sherman A. Rose and starring Don Kelly, Leslie Parrish and Edward G. Robinson Jr. Four men in their tank, during the Korean War in 1951, find themselves behind enemy lines. American International Pictures originally released the film as a double feature with '' Hell Squad''. Plot During the Korean War, four soldiers reminisce about their past romantic adventures. One of them is currently involved with an Army nurse, another with a Eurasian bargirl. When the tank crew takes their girlfriends on a picnic, they make contact with North Korean guerillas who later try to steal medical supplies from their base. Resuming battle with the North Koreans, their tank breaks down against a cliff. One of the men risks life and limb to sneak out and retrieve a new gear box. Soundtrack Richard La Salle's first film score uses pieces of Debussy's '' Three Nocturnes For Orchestra''. Cast * Don Kelly as Sgt. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invaders From Mars (1953 Film)
''Invaders from Mars'' is a 1953 independently made American SuperCinecolor science fiction film directed by William Cameron Menzies and starring Jimmy Hunt, Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, Morris Ankrum, Leif Erickson, and Hillary Brooke. It was produced by Edward L. Alperson Jr and was distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox. Awakened during a thunderstorm, youngster David MacLean witnesses a brightly lit flying saucer disappear underground in the large sand pit behind his home. When his father investigates, he returns a changed man; soon David's mother, a young neighbor girl, and others, begin to act in the same way. Begging the police for help, David's panicked story is heard by Dr. Pat Blake, who takes him to astronomer Dr. Stuart Kelston. David soon convinces Kelston, who comes to believe that this is an invading vanguard from Mars. ''Invaders from Mars'' recounts its story from the point of view of an older child in an adult world heading into crisis.Meehan 1998, p. 50. It w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Cameron Menzies
William Cameron Menzies (July 29, 1896 – March 5, 1957) was an American film production designer (a job title he invented) and art director as well as a film director and producer during a career spanning five decades. He began his career during the silent era, and later pioneered the use of color in film for dramatic effect. Early years Menzies was born in New Haven, Connecticut, to Scots immigrant parents, Charles A. and Helen originally from Aberfeldy, Scotland. He studied at Yale and the University of Edinburgh and, after serving in the United States Army during World War I, he attended the Art Students League of New York. Career Menzies joined Famous Players-Lasky, later to evolve into Paramount Pictures, working in special effects and design. He soon worked on such films as ''Robin Hood'' (1922), '' The Thief of Bagdad'' (1924), '' The Bat'' (1926), '' The Dove'' (1927), '' Sadie Thompson'' (1928), and '' Tempest'' (1928). His contributions to '' The Dove'' (192 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The War Of The Worlds (1953 Film)
''The War of the Worlds'' (also known in promotional material as ''H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds'') is a 1953 American science fiction film directed by Byron Haskin, produced by George Pal, and starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It is the first of several feature film adaptations of H. G. Wells' 1898 novel of the same name. The setting is changed from Victorian era England to 1953 Southern California. In the film, Earth is suddenly invaded by Martians, and American scientist Clayton Forrester searches for any weakness to stop them. ''The War of the Worlds'' won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, and went on to influence other science fiction films. In 2011, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress, who deemed it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Plot In Southern California, Dr. Clayton Forrester, a well-known atomic scientist, is fishing with colleagues when a lar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Pal
George Pal (born György Pál Marczincsak; ; February 1, 1908 – May 2, 1980) was a Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer, principally associated with the fantasy and science-fiction genres. He became an American citizen after emigrating from Europe. He was nominated for Academy Awards (in the category Best Short Subjects, Cartoon) for seven consecutive years (1942–1948) and received an honorary award in 1944. This makes him the second-most nominated Hungarian exile (together with William S. Darling and Ernest Laszlo) after Miklós Rózsa. Early life and career Pal was born in Cegléd, Hungary, the son of György Pál Marczincsak, Sr. and his wife Mária. He graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 1928 (aged 20). From 1928 to 1931, he made films for Hunnia Film Studio of Budapest, Hungary. At the age of 23 in 1931, he married Elisabeth "Zsóka" Grandjean, and after moving to Berlin, founded Trickfilm-Studio GmbH Pal und Wittke, with UFA Stu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla
''Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla'' (also known as ''The Boys from Brooklyn'' and in England as ''Monster Meets The Gorilla'') is a 1952 American comedy horror science fiction film directed by William Beaudine and starring horror veteran Bela Lugosi with nightclub performers Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo in roles approximating the then-popular duo of Martin and Lewis. Opening narration "This is the jungle... the vast wilderness of giant lush foliage... of tropical birds and fierce animal life... the killer tiger... the cunning hyena... the deadly python that can crush a giant elk... the proud lion... a fierce lioness, stalking a prey to feed her young... and the buzzards... the scavengers of the jungle... soaring lower, ever lower... eager to devour the dead or the dying. Kill or be killed... this is the law of the jungle... and here... what have we here? Who are these men? What can they possibly be doing in this cruel tropical wilderness?" Plot Jungle-dwelling native ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
