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This I sland Earth  

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This I sland Earth 

Original two-sheet promotional poster  

Directed by Joseph M. Newman 

Produced by William Alland

Written by

Raymond F. Jones

Franklin Coen

Edward G. O'Callaghan

Starring

Jeff Morrow 

Faith Domergue 

Rex Reason 

Lance Fuller  

Russell Johnson 

Music by

Joseph Gershenson (music

supervision)

Henry Mancini (uncredited)

Hans J. Salter  (uncredited)

Herman Stein (uncredited)

Cinematography Clifford Stine

Editing by Virgil Vogel

Distributed by Universal Pictures International 

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Release date(s) June 1, 1955 (U.S. release)

Running time 87 min.

Country United States

Language English

Box office $1.7 million (US)[1] 

Thi s I sland Earth is a 1955 American science fiction film directed by Joseph M.

 Newman. It is based on the novel of the same name  by Raymond F. Jones. The filmstars Jeff Morrow as the alien Exeter, Faith Domergue as Dr. Ruth Adams, and RexReason as Dr. Cal Meacham. The film was one of the first major science fiction films to

 be made in Technicolor . In 1996, This Island Earth was edited down and lampooned inthe film  Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie. 

When initially released, the film was praised by critics, who cited the special effects,well-written script and eye-popping color (prints by Technicolor) as being its major assets.[2][3] 

The film was one of the last films to use the three-strip  Technicolor  filming process.

Even during production, the film's special effects were shot on the more conventionalEastman color process, which most studios had already adopted.[citation needed ] 

Contents

  1 Plot   2 Cast   3 Response   4 Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie   5 Scientific errors 

  6 Other references   7 External links   8 References 

Plot

Dr. Cal Meacham, a noted scientist, receives an unusual substitute for electroniccondensers that he ordered. Instead, he receives instructions and parts to build acomplex communication device called an interocitor . Although neither Meacham nor 

his assistant Joe Wilson have heard of the device, they immediately begin construction.When finished, a mysterious man named Exeter appears on the interocitor's screen and

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tells Meacham he has passed the test. His ability to build the interocitor demonstratesthat he is gifted enough to be part of Exeter's special research project.

Intrigued, Meacham is picked up the next day at the airport by an unmanned, computer-controlled Douglas DC-3 aircraft with no windows. Landing in a remote area of 

Georgia, he finds an international group of top-flight scientists already present –  including an old flame, Dr. Ruth Adams. Cal is almost immediately suspicious of theodd-looking group of men leading the project.

Cal and Ruth flee with a third scientist, Steve Carlson (Johnson), but their car isattacked and Carlson is killed. When they take off in a small plane, Cal and Ruth watchas the facility and all its inhabitants are incinerated, and their plane is drawn by a bright

 beam into a flying saucer . They learn that Exeter and his group are from the planetMetaluna, having come to Earth seeking uranium deposits as well as scientists to helpdefend their planet in a war against the Zagons. Exeter informs the Earthlings that he istaking them back to his world. Exeter and the Metalunans are attacked by Zagon star 

ships, carrying meteors, to be used to destroy them and Metaluna. The Metalunansaucer easily avoids each attack, dodging the oncoming meteors.

They arrive to find the planet under bombardment and falling quickly to the enemy.Metalunan society is breaking down and there is little hope. Their leader, The Monitor,reveals that the Metalunans intend to relocate to Earth and insists that Meacham andAdams be subjected to a Thought Transference Chamber in order to subjugate their freewill so they cannot object. Exeter believes this is immoral and misguided since itimpedes their ability to help the Metalunans. Before they can enter the brain-reprogramming device, Exeter decides to help Cal and Ruth escape.

Exeter is badly injured by a Mutant while the three escape from Metaluna just before itis destroyed. The Mutant also boards the craft, but dies as a result of pressuredifferences on the journey back to Earth.

As they enter Earth's atmosphere, Exeter sends Cal and Ruth on their way in their small plane, but he himself is dying and the ship's energy is nearly depleted. With no other options, Exeter flies out to sea and crashes.

Cast

  Jeff Morrow as Exeter   Faith Domergue as Ruth Adams  Rex Reason as Cal Meacham  Lance Fuller  as Brack   Russell Johnson as Steve Carlson  Douglas Spencer  as The Monitor   Robert Nichols as Joe Wilson  Karl L. Lindt as Dr. Adolph Engelborg  Robert Williams* as Webb  Coleman Francis* as Express delivery man  Charlotte Lander * as Metaluna woman at decompression chamber   Marc Hamilton* as Metaluna inhabitant  Regis Parton* as the Mutant

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  Orangey* as Neutron, the cat

* Not credited on-screen. 

Response

This Island Earth was released in June 1955[4] and by the end of that year had accruedUS$1,700,000 in distributors' domestic (U.S. and Canada) rentals, making it the year's74th biggest earner .[5] 

The New York Times review opined, “The technical effects of This Island Earth,Universal's first science-fiction excursion in color, are so superlatively bizarre and

 beautiful that some serious shortcomings can be excused, if not overlooked."[6] "Whit"in Variety wrote "Special effects of the most realistic type rival the story andcharacterizations in capturing the interest in this exciting science-fiction chiller, one of the most imaginative, fantastic and cleverly-conceived entries to date in the outer-spacefilm field. "[3] 

Since its original release, the critical response to the film has continued to be mostly positive. Bill Warren has written that the film was “the best and most significant science

fiction movie of 1955…[it] remains a decent, competent example of any era’s science

fiction output..”[4] In Phil Hardy’s The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction thefilm was described as “a full-blooded space opera complete with interplanetary warfareand bug-eyed monsters…the film’s space operatics are given a dreamlike quality and a

moral dimension that makes the dramatic situation far more interesting.”[7] Danny Peary 

felt the film was "colorful, imaginative, gadget-laden sci-fi." [8] However, of the 14

reviews included in a Rotten Tomatoes survey of internet critics regarding the title, 28%reflect negative reactions.[9] Greater Milwaukee Today described it as “An appalling

film…” [10] 

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie  

 Main article:  Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie 

This Island Earth is the film-within-the-film in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (or  MST3K: The Movie). As in the television series, the fictional crew of thespaceship Satellite of Love are forced to watch the film as part of an "experiment";while watching the film, the crew can be seen in silhouette at the bottom of the screen,mocking the action. The film also includes "host segments" (skits with the crew andMad Scientists), including two scenes with the characters using an Interocitor.

In order to maintain a 73-minute running time and to accommodate several "hostsegments", "This Island Earth" was edited down by about 20 minutes, removingnumerous scenes, some important (like a sequence of the Zagon fleet attackingMetaluna). Consequentially, this makes "MST3K: The Movie" shorter than the original"This Island Earth", or even the average, 90-minute "MST3K" episode.

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Scientific errors

The film suffers from numerous scientific errors. The laboratory cat is called  Neutron "because he's so positive" (the name should therefore have been Proton); the Earth issurrounded by a "heat barrier" which the Metalunan saucer must negotiate both whenleaving and returning - although visually dramatic this has no scientific basis; a   planet isreferred to as having once been a comet; and another is transformed into a sun  bymeteorite  bombardment.[citation needed ] 

Other references

  A brief homage to This Island Earth is seen in  E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial  (1982).E.T. turns the TV on during a showing of the film, at the scene when Cal andRuth are being abducted by the aliens and Cal says "They're pulling us up!"

  In the film  Explorers, "This Island Earth" is mentioned in a line of dialogue: "I

 just got this new tape of This Island Earth. It's got this great saucer landing...And it's got, no, it's got this big mutant, with this, like, two brains." Aclip from This Island Earth is also seen on an onscreen TV; the clip contains theline "Our universe is vast - full of wonders. I'll explore..." - a reference to theframe film's space exploration plot.[11] 

  The 1988 video game  Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders contains keyreferences to this movie, such as large-headed aliens disguised as humans,communications through interstellar teleconferencing, and an airplane pulledinto a flying saucer.

  Shock rock metal band GWAR ̀s 4th album, This Toilet Earth and its companionshort form movie Skulhedface contain numerous references to this movie,including, among other things, the title, an alien with an oversized brain posingas a human, and communication between aliens using an interstellar teleconference device.

   New Jersey  punk   band The Misfits included a song tribute entitled This Island 

 Earth on their 1997 album  American Psycho.   Steve Hackett included a song called "Turn This Island Earth" which was

inspired by the film on his 2011 album Beyond the Shrouded Horizon.[12]   The alien Orbitron, the Man from Uranus, from the 1960's toy line "The Outer 

Space Men", also known as Colorform Aliens, is based on the Mutant.  On page 11 of chapter 3 in the graphic novel Watchmen, a poster advertising

This Island Earth is seen in the foreground.  Weird Al Yankovic, a fan of both This Island Earth and Mystery Science

Theater 3000, has featured the Interociter in both his film UHF  and the musicvideo for "Dare to be Stupid".

  The Metaluna Mutant is one of the many alien monsters held captive at Area 52in  Looney Tunes: Back in Action. It was later one of the aliens released byMarvin the Martian so that it could stop the main characters from taking the"Queen of Diamonds" card.

External links

  This Island Earth at the Internet Movie Database   This Island Earth at AllRovi 

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  This Island Earth Sourcebook at The Thunder Child    This Island Earth soundtrack release by Monstrous Movie Music review 

References

1.  ^ 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1955', Variety Weekly, January 25, 19562.  ^ "This Island Earth (1955) 'This Island Earth' Explored From Space".  New York Times,

June 11, 1955.http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9406E7D6133AE53BBC4952DFB066838E649EDE. Retrieved 2012-03-24.

3.  ^ a  b  "Whit". Review from Variety dated March 30, 1955, taken from Variety's CompleteScience Fiction Reviews, pg. 107, edited by Don Willis, Garland Publishing, Inc., 1985.ISBN 0-8240-6263-9 

4.  ^ a  b  Warren, Bill.  Keep Watching The Skies Vol I: 1950 - 1957, pgs. 228 – 234; 444,McFarland, 1982. ISBN 0-89950-032-3. 

5.  ^ Gebert, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Movie Awards (listing of 'Box Office

(Domestic Rentals)' for 1955, taken from Variety magazine), St. Martin's Paperbacks,1996. ISBN 0-668-05308-9. "Rentals" refers to the distributor/studio's share of the  boxoffice gross, which, according to Gebert, is roughly half of the money generated byticket sales.

6.  ^ "This Island Earth (1955) 'This Island Earth' Explored From Space".  New York Times,June 11, 1955.http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9406E7D6133AE53BBC4952DFB066838E649EDE. Retrieved 2012-03-24.

7.  ^ Hardy, Phil (editor). The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction, Aurum Press,1984. Reprinted as The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction, Overlook Press,1995, ISBN 0-87951-626-7 

8.  ^ Peary, Danny Guide for the Film Fanatic, Fireside Books, 1986, pg. 433. ISBN 0-

671-61081-3 9.  ^ "This Island Earth (1955)". Rotten Tomatoes.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/this_island_earth/. Retrieved 2012-03-24.10. ^ Snyder, Steven. "This Island Earth Reviews". Greater Milwaukee Today.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/this_island_earth/reviews/. Retrieved 2012-03-24.11. ^ http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/e/explorers-script-transcript-ethan-

hawke.html 12. ^ The Evil Jam Interviews Steve Hackett 

Universal Monsters film series

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

   Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr.

 Hyde (1953)

The Phantom of the Opera

  The Phantom of the Opera (1925)   Phantom of the Opera (1943)

Dracula

   Dracula (1931)   Drácula (1931)   Dracula's Daughter  (1936)  Son of Dracula (1943)

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Frankenstein's Monster

   Frankenstein (1931)   Bride of Frankenstein (1935)  Son of Frankenstein (1939)  The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

Edgar Allan Poe  

   Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)  The Black Cat  (1934)  The Raven (1935)

The Mummy  

  The Mummy (1932)  The Mummy's Hand  (1940)  The Mummy's Tomb (1942)  The Mummy's Ghost  (1944)  The Mummy's Curse (1944)   Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)

The Invisible Man

  The Invisible Man (1933)  The Invisible Man Returns (1940)  The Invisible Woman (1940)   Invisible Agent  (1942)  The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944)   Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man 

(1951)

The Wolf Man The Wolf Man (1941)

The Ape Woman

  Captive Wild Woman (1943)   Jungle Woman (1944)  The Jungle Captive (1945)

I nner Sanctum Mysteries 

  Calling Dr. Death (1943)  Weird Woman (1944)   Dead Man's Eyes (1944)  The Frozen Ghost  (1945)  Strange Confession (1945)   Pillow of Death (1945)

The Gill-man  

  Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)   Revenge of the Creature (1955)  The Creature Walks Among Us (1956)

Multiple monsters

   Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)   House of Frankenstein (1944)   House of Dracula (1945)   Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Others  The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)  The Cat and the Canary (1927)

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  The Man Who Laughs (1928)  The Last Warning  (1929)  The Last Performance (1929)  The Cat Creeps (1930)   La Voluntad del muerto (1930)   Island of Lost Souls (1932)  The Old Dark House (1932)  The Mystery of Edwin Drood  (1935)  Werewolf of London (1935)  Tower of London (1939)   Black Friday (1940)   Man Made Monster  (1941)   Night Monster  (1942)  The Mad Ghoul  (1943)  The Climax (1944)  The Cat Creeps (1946)   House of Horrors (1946)  The Brute Man (1946)  She-Wolf of London (1946)  The Strange Door  (1951)  The Black Castle (1952)  Cult of the Cobra (1955)  Thi s I sland Earth (1955)  Tarantula (1955)  The Mole People (1956)  The Deadly Mantis (1957) 

The Monolith Monsters (1957)   Monster on the Campus (1958)  The Leech Woman (1960)

Remakes

   Dracula (1979)  The Mummy (1999)  The Wolfman (2010)

Tributes

  Young Frankenstein (1974)  The Monster Squad  (1987)   Darkman (1990)  Van Helsing  (2004)   House of the Wolf Man (2009)   Hotel Transylvania (2012)  The Dreaded Savage (2013)

Retrieved from"http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=This_Island_Earth&oldid=519682500 "

Categories: 

  English-language films   1955 films 

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  1950s science fiction films   Alien visitation films   American science fiction films   Films based on science fiction novels   Monster movies 

  Films featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes   Science fiction war films   Universal Monsters film series 

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Source Material: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Island_Earth 

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