forgoton classics - Sci Fi movies

Nice to see a few mentions of Things to Come on the thread, although it does suffer from the surviving footage being some 15-20% shorter than intended. H.G.Wells's published script is still a bit ropey in places, but is more coherent. Forum members might like to check out my website on the film here (yeah, I know it's a bit "old school" - never had time to properly revamp it).

Wells, of course, possitively hated Metropolis....
 
Vortigern99 said:
I'm more of a classic horror and fantasy buff than sci-fi, but one of my favorite "forgoton" ;) old sci-fi flicks is The Twonky (1953), a comedic sf film from the director/writer of Five (the first post-apocalyptic survival movie) among other gems.

The Twonky is weird and obscure and delightful. It's about a TV set that is actually a robot from the future! It's a servant robot that goes to extreme and amusing lengths to please its "master", a typical suburban male, by lighting his cigarettes with a laser beam, turning money into more money so he can pay people off, and zapping the vice squad (don't ask) with a memory ray. The man tries to destroy the Twonky, but to no avail; it keeps coming back to "help" him some more, and ends in a very Twilight Zonesque way. Very amusing, different, and little known low budget sf "classic".

BTW, this site is a treasure trove of classic sci-fi movie reviews, described in amusing detail, with pics, through the sf releases of the 50s and 60s. The Twonky is listed and reviewed under the 1953 heading.
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Interesting, I didn't know that they made a movie from the original story by Henry Kuttner.

You can read me about the story here. http://variety-sf.blogspot.com/2008/02/lewis-padgett-twonky-short-story.html
 
I can only remember two films from my childhood that I would consider classics
1. Night of the Lepus. Sherrif- "it looks like hes been attacked by a sabre tooth Tiger", obviously in a town thats rife with sabre tooth attacks
which was just awesomely bad, even for a 5 year old
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Lepus
2. late for dinner
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102279/
which taught me all I needed know about romance (and time travel) aged 21
so its just awesome

bet no one here has seen either though, I'm weird like that in my film tastes, "perversely independant"
:D
 
So I just watched the supposed sci fi classic; THX1138. It was made before I was born, but I'd always heard it was a classic. I have to say, I was not impressed. I thought it started out good, but then fell apart pretty quickly. I just don't get what the big deal was about it. It's not like it was even an original plot line or anything. It's just another variation on the 1984 dystopian future scenario.
 
Schrodinger's Cat said:
So I just watched the supposed sci fi classic; THX1138. It was made before I was born, but I'd always heard it was a classic. I have to say, I was not impressed. I thought it started out good, but then fell apart pretty quickly. I just don't get what the big deal was about it. It's not like it was even an original plot line or anything. It's just another variation on the 1984 dystopian future scenario.
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There was nothing like it before it came out. Visually, it was (and still is) stunning. And while it does have the dystopian future story line as a very loose skeleton, the way it is fleshed out makes it unique.

The backstory of the film's production and eventual release adds to the mystique.

Some movies don't even have to be released to get a cult following and legendary mystique. Witness The Day The Clown Cried, which is either absolute crap or the finest movie ever made, depending on the opinion of the few people who claim to have seen the only VHS copy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_day_the_clown_cried

Beanbag
 
Beanbag said:
There was nothing like it before it came out. Visually, it was (and still is) stunning. And while it does have the dystopian future story line as a very loose skeleton, the way it is fleshed out makes it unique.

The backstory of the film's production and eventual release adds to the mystique.

Some movies don't even have to be released to get a cult following and legendary mystique. Witness The Day The Clown Cried, which is either absolute crap or the finest movie ever made, depending on the opinion of the few people who claim to have seen the only VHS copy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_day_the_clown_cried

Beanbag
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I think that a lot of the mystique also comes from "unknown George Lucas' first film". As I said earlier, a lot of people at the time thought that SciFi had to have LSD worthy special effects like Kubrick's 2001. THX had far more meat to the plot, and worked far more on the human relations. But as a dystopian SciFi plot, I still liked it a lot.

I would've been interested in seeing more stories based on the dystopian world, but the ending,.... life goes on, and all that.... sort of killed that plotline. Although, I suppose he could do a back-story to how they got to the stage they were in.
 
Alferd_Packer said:
Yeah, but those are more well known.

How many here have actually seen Dark Star?
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*Raises hand*

Yeah, I've referenced it in this forum before. I even carried around the Pinback/Bomb dialogue as a sig for a while.

Dark Star said:
Pinback: All right, bomb. Prepare to receive new orders.
Bomb#20: You are false data.
Pinback: Hmmm?
Bomb #20: Therefore I shall ignore you.
Pinback: Hello... bomb?
Bomb #20: False data can act only as a distraction. Therefore, I shall refuse to perceive.
Pinback: Hey, bomb?
Bomb #20: The only thing that exists is myself.
Pinback: Snap out of it, bomb.
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Schrodinger's Cat said:
So I just watched the supposed sci fi classic; THX1138. It was made before I was born, but I'd always heard it was a classic. I have to say, I was not impressed. I thought it started out good, but then fell apart pretty quickly. I just don't get what the big deal was about it. It's not like it was even an original plot line or anything. It's just another variation on the 1984 dystopian future scenario.
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I suppose my first challenge to you is the fact I believe the film has far more to do with "Brave New Worlds" than 1984
 
my main problem with the film was this;

I found it so engaging at the beginning specifically because it was such a moving love story in a dystopian future. But then they split them up so early in the film, and then the focus of the movie completely shifts away from the love story, and then her death is just anticlimactic and seems meaningless. I was just so captivated by their story, and the dynamic of their relationship, that when that ended, I lost interest in the film. And then in the end, all that happens is he goes to the surface, and it ends. The story has no closure. So he escapes, so what? Does he know how to find food, or build shelter, or do anything to take care of himself? Are there any other people around? I've never been a fan of movies with open endings.
 
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And to answer the OP: The Black Hole seems to be a well forgotten one.
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With good reason IMHO. Outside of a very cool ship design (the Nautilus as a spaceship) it wasn't that good.
 
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