Reviews (6)

Kind of silly, but entertaining
If not for Peter Lorre, this movie might be too silly to sit through. But Lorre turns in a grand performance, along with G. Carroll Nash as the detective.

If you can not laugh when 'THE HAND' starts crawling around, then you are indeed a serious horror movie fan!

Recommended for Lorre's performance.

Give Peter Lorre A Hand!!
This is a well-titled, but bizarre horror film from Warner Bros, a studio not known for producing horror films. Victor Francen stars as a renowned pianist living in one of those dark creepy movie mansions/castles. One hand is useless, so he uses his other hand to play. He relies heavily on his nurse, Andrea King, shuns his secretary, Peter Lorre, and sometimes seeks the company of Robert Alda who helped adapt the music for one-handed playing. When Francen dies (violently) and leaves his estate to his nurse, this sets off a series of strange events as everyone is terrorized by his disembodied hand!!

Sound bizarre? Well the film certainly is strange, establishing a foreboding mood early on and then taking the story in "unusual" directions. The characters are not well defined, especially the nominal leads Alda and King. It's one of those films where the characters need a slap to the head since they act so stupidly at times (or maybe it's the writers who should have been slapped around a bit). Only Peter Lorre really establishes a presence and performance here, going all the way in his characterization of the decidely strange secretary. It's perfect casting for the role and he capitalizes on it.

Director Robert Florey does establish some mood and atmosphere, but the outright silliness and illogic of the whole story hurts the film. It's fun to watch at a certain level, but with a better script and director it could have been a much more effective chiller.

The creeping hand...
Victor Francen, a very wealthy man, is unable to cope with the fact that his stunted hand has robbed him of his greatest pleasure: piano-playing. He feels nothing but contempt for the sycophants who beleaguer his house: Legacy-hunters and permanent resident Peter Lorre who "studies" in his library - they all sponge on him. Imagine the indignation of his relatives when his testament is opened and his nurse (Andrea King) is his sole heiress! They contest the will and Lorre fears the loss of "his" beloved books. But soon they realize that they have more to fear than just the loss of their inheritance: Francen's hand displays its individual existence, creeps around the house and strangles everybody unreasonable enough to stay...

Why is everybody standing petrified while the hand is climbing up their body? Why don't they simply decamp? The film is neither as eerie as it should have been, nor as funny. The part with the testament drags on and the leading actor looks like a stage-villain with his beard. On the other hand it has a feeling for the 1890ies italian atmosphere and Peter Lorre plays with great gusto. With his haircut he could replace Demi Moore in G.I JANE every minute and he enjoys himself when he casts the horoscope of his supporting players and describes with glee the pangs of death that await them. The star player however - Francen's severed hand - needs some acting lessons: its performance is better than that of Michael Caine's hand in THE HAND (1981, directed by Oliver Stone), but not as good as Conrad Veit's hands in ORLACS HÄNDE (1924).

his Bach is worse than his bite
In their Hollywood in the Forties book, writers Charles Higham and Joel Greenberg attest that director Robert Florey disowned the studio cut of his film. Florey shot the story as seen through the eyes of Peter Lorre as an assistant to a disabled pianist whose hand it is believed is responsible for murder. Florey was confident the audience would be smart enough to realise that what we were seeing is not objective reality but rather Lorre's tormented vision. What survives is only redeemed by Lorre's hallucinations with the disembodied hand, his own manic intensity, handprints in the dirt, and the professional mourners hired to chant for the dead pianist. Otherwise we get stuck with a sappy romance between Robert Alda as a local fake antique sealer and big-haired Andrea King as the pianist's nurse, and static scenes of talk. The screenplay by Curt Siodmak gives Lorre an interest in "the secrets of the ancient astrologists, lost since the burning of the Alexandrian library", and the logic that someone could have been playing the piano other than the hand in "because nobody's ever heard you play, that doesn't mean you can't". The special effects of the hand require some getting used to since one naturally expects it to be a fake and therefore is looking at the mechanics, as in darkened sleave or blocking that can cheat the shot as when the hand is supposed to grab someone's throat behind a door or we get a hand POV shot. However there are moments where disbelief is suspended. The film's most bizarre... image is the disembodied hand, extending it's ring finger for Peter Lorre to replace the ring the pianist used to wear.

A creepily atmospheric horror tale.
Altho nominally based on a short story by W.F. Harvey, this film uses only the title (a great title!) and the basic gimmick of a living disembodied hand. A bit too slow-moving, but with several memorably scary scenes that have that perfect atmosphere you can only get with an old black-&-white horror film. The final "evil plot and hallucinations" payoff is not really satisfying, but Peter Lorre is at his unique best as a revenge-crazed madman. He dominates the film, despite his third billing. The scenes involving the living hand are technically excellent, and probably could not be improved on today. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

One of my favorites
This episode is a sterling example of how the Outer Limits TV series took sci-fi television to heights that have yet to be surpassed four decades later. Typical of this series, "The Man Who Was Never Born" manages to be frightening while at the same time literate, thoughtful and futuristic -- and yet humane in how the story portrays its characters.

Martin Landau is terrific as "Andro," the mutant human from the future who can influence present day people with hypnotic suggestion. Landau is such a class act; truly one of the best actors of these past forty years. His voice transmits his earnest and gentle character's conflict and confusion in dealing with his own emotions (e.g., love, duty to humanity) and the awesome choices that his situation presents.

I'd like to acknowledge the well-written comments from previous reviewers that spurred my interest in this episode. I must echo their praise and highly recommend this episode.

TV at its most distinguished.
This episode manages to be highly original with some highly unoriginal material--mainly, the "Beauty and the Beast" theme and the ancient sci-fi cliche of saving the future by traveling to the past. "The Outer Limits" had a genius for making the old seem new, and "The Man Who Was Never Born" may be the most distinguished example thereof. The new series, by contrast, achieves exactly the opposite by making newer themes seem old and stale through cliched presentations. Same name, very different series.

Martin Landau is superb as Andro, the sensitive and peace-loving human mutant from the future who hates the task he must carry out. Everyone is top-notch, in fact. The themes within themes make each viewing a new experience.

The masterful direction is by Leonard Horn, who went on to contribute in a major way to the original "Mission: Impossible" series, his finest achievement being that series' "Operation: Rogosh," now available on video.

Who said that sci-fi couldn't be romantic?
"The Architects of Fear" and "The Man Who Was Never Born" are the only episodes of the 60's anthology that underneath the otherworldly trappings was a love story.

Martin Landau ("Andro") stars as an Earthman from the future that travels back in time to prevent the birth of a man destined to destroy humanity as we know it. Along the way he falls for "Nicole" (Shirley Knight), the woman that would become the mother of Earth's destroyer. Both actors show why they have been a theatrical and television presence, respectively, for over four decades.

Accompanied by a lush Dominic Frontiere score and superb lighting, the episode is a feast for the ear and the eye.

Haunting
Easily one of OL's top five episodes. The effects are rancid, but the story is so well written, acted, and produced, you won't care. It's a study in the suspension of disbelief that will completely draw you in, and leave you with your jaw dropped - it has probably the most haunting ending of any entry in the entire series.

Martin Landau was the ideal choice to play Andro, who travels eighty-five years back in time to prevent a sterilizing and disfiguring biological warfare plague from devastating humanity. Overshooting his mark, he inconveniently falls in love with the woman he must kill (Shirley Knight) in order to achieve his objective. How he resolves the dilemma constitutes the most lyrically poetic of all OL stories, and one not to be missed.

In a nutshell, this one is pure magic. They don't make them like this, anymore.

My 2nd favorite Outer Limits episode
One thing I liked a lot about Outer Limit was the viewer could never be sure where the story was taking him. Unlike series TV where you might lose a Star Trek private but NEVER a regular, with Outer Limits there were NO REGULARS, so they could tell the tale anyway they wished. They do so here in a great form, as the story keeps twisting in ways one may not expect. This is a very thoughtful episode with many touching moments. And who does not want to root for the beast to win the gal? ... Read more

Reviews (27)

The Marxes Unleashed
Despite its technically inferior sound and variable print quality, "The Cocoanuts" (1929) remains a cinematic landmark. It was the first musical-comedy captured on film and, most importantly, introduced the Marx Brothers to the big screen. Though shot within the stage-bound confines of Paramount's Astoria studio, directors Robert Florey and Joseph Santley manage to incorporate stylish visual touches that complement the anarchic spirit of Groucho, Harpo, Chico and (briefly) Zeppo. As a result, "The Cocoanuts" lacks the stiffness and claustrophobia that plagued many 1929 talkies. Admittedly, there are a few slow stretches, since the filmmakers and performers hadn't quite mastered the pacing and timing of early sound comedy (notice the Groucho-Margaret Dumont exchanges). Still, the film moves at a pretty good clip (except for the forgettable musical interludes with Mary Eaton and Oscar Shaw) while showcasing some of the Marxes' best routines. Harpo, in particular, is brilliant and remarkably inventive throughout. Groucho has plenty of memorable dialogue, but his portrayal of Mr. Hammer is no match for Captain Spaulding or Rufus T. Firefly. Chico, of course, represents the ideal visual-verbal counterpart for Harpo and Groucho, even though his character is more belligerent than usual. And poor Zeppo would have better opportunities in his remaining film appearances. Flaws and all, "The Cocoanuts" survives as a fine introduction to Marxian madness.

Entertaining and Historically Significant
THE COCOANUTS is historically significant as one of the first all-talking, all-singing musical films. It's also significant for unleashing the Marx Brothers onto the movie going public. THE COCOANUTS gave filmgoers a taste of what had Broadway audiences rolling in the aisle and while the film suffers from the static production typical of early musicals, it remains very entertaining thanks to the brothers' anarchic comedy. Director Robert Florey did use some innovative camera shots to help overcome the staginess (i.e. part of Chico's piano solo is shot head-on through the raised piano lid; a novel touch at the time). For many years, THE COCOANUTS was only available in generally awful prints with muddy soundtracks; recently portions of the film in mint condition have come to light, so while it's not a complete restoration, the film looks and sounds better than it has in years. For all it's faults, including an oddly forgettable Irving Berlin score, THE COCOANUTS still provides plenty of laughs.

It's one of the best
First off, lets get some stuff straight. This is a great start for the Marx Brothers. Second, The sound can get bad but please still buy it. Third, Zeppo does not star in it. He's in it for like 4 minutes and then he doesn't say anything. After 10 minutes of the movie he turns into Harpo. Fourth, this can be interrupted by some dances.But this is an awsome movie, and I recommend it.

ON YOUR MARX,GET SET, STOP!
What I'm about to write applies to the first 5 Marx movies.I own them on VHS and borrowed the DVDs from our local library .The VHS versions are clearer,brighter,and show more picture.The sound is also of better quality on tape.As you know by now,no extras.The DVDs will receive one star less rating because of the lack of extras,poor picture and sound quality THE COCOANUTS 2 stars for DVD 3 stars for VHS.ANIMAL CRACKERS DVD;4 stars VHS;5 stars. MONKEY BUSINESS DVD;3 VHS;4. HORSE FEATHERS DVD;4 VHS;5.And DUCK SOUP DVD; 4 stars and of coarse VHS;5 stars.Don't get me wrong. The dvds aren't of such bad qaulity as other reviewers would lead you to believe,it's just that the VHS versions are better (MCA Universal) that is. If you have the cash and simply must have these reMARXable movies on dvd go ahead get the discs.I'm waiting for them to be reissued by MCA.This time correcting all the faults I mentioned with the current discs. I justa hope'a they put'a them'a out before they put'a me in'a da olda ladies home.

well it's my favorite
No kidding. I like the late-20s feel it has, the dancing, the slicked back hair... and the Marx Brothers, to me, are at their funniest, especially physically. I've watched it so many times I've lost count. I've memorized big chunks of the dialogue. Sure it's stagey, with its non-moving camera, but it also gives it the flavor of what it must have been like to see them on stage at that time.
"Horse Feathers" is a near second, though. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Nice twist on Poe.
This is the E. A. Poe story with a twist. I liked it alot, had me guessing what would happen next. Clever pop-open coffin setup. The specter's face was very effective. Well done twist to a classic Poe story.

Good Episode of a Sublime, Though Sadly Forgotten, TV Show
True fans of Horror who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s love this show. Even Stephen King, in his book DANSE MACABRE (p. 216 of the oversized paperback), calls this "the best horror series ever put on TV." The show's host, Boris Karloff, is obviously no stranger to the horror genre, and he co-stars in this particular episode, "The Premature Burial."

With only a vague resemblance to the Poe story of the same name, this story concerns a man who suffers from catalepsy and consequently becomes obsessed with ensuring that he is never buried alive during a seizure. But unbenknownst to him, his cuckolding young wife has other plans. Karloff appears as a medical doctor who is good friends with the cataleptic gentleman and who eventually uncovers the truth about the wife's sinister doings. All in all, it's an entertaining little horror story with an interesting and suspenseful climax. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Typical Forties War Film, Well Made
Dennis Morgan stars as fighter pilot Colonel Robert Lee Scott who flies with the Flying Tigers, trying to keep the Burma Road open, while also launching attacks into Hong Kong, trying to strike down the Japanese Navy. Scott believes in himself and in luck, while missionary priest Alan Hale tries to make him see that God's hand can be found all over. Morgan is good in the lead role, and well supported by Hale and many familiar character actors with faces you might remember, even if their names escape you. The film isn't quite as moralistic as the title would suggest, although Morgan's gradual acceptance of God's power is certainly at the heart of the film. I imagine that the image of God taking care of everyone must have been a comfort to audiences at a time when the world had been turned upside down. The film is also filled with some terrific air battles, replete with some bad Japanese trash talking (did Forties' audiences buy this?). I've seen enough Forties war films to expect that, as well as some stiff, corny dialogue between the fliers, and I find that part of the fun of watching these kinds of movies. At only an hour and a half, the film moves along quickly, mixing in enough action with the sentiment to keep me entertained. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

classic outer limits
one of my all time favorite episodes of the outer limits, the plot? what a great idea, take all your misfits of society, your criminals,rapists,murderers,child molesters, etc and Banish them to another planet, let them deal with the problem. one problem. what alien race would tolerate another's misfits? great episode, great animation with the alien bugs. nasty critters.great performances by Bruce Dern, and others in this classic. a must see.

This is the one with the alien bugs!
When asked if he remembers "The Outer Limits", invariably, a person can recall this episode. It's the one where a man on the run (Bruce Dern) and his crazy girlfriend inadvertantly drive into an area of the desert (filmed at Vasquez Rocks in Ca.) where a group of government officials await the arrival of outer-space visitors. The aliens turn out to be scary little bugs about eight inches in length with equally scary faces. Theyare criminals exiled to earth because they come from a planet that has outlawed capitalpunishment. A must for "Outer Limits" collectors. This one would be a great one to re-make on the new series.

HILARIOUS
me and my friend checked this out from the library, and were rolling on the floor laughing! it seems that they ran out of money to continue making the claymation ants. at the end, they just sit there while the people blow them up. The funniest part is when the ant suddenly jumps out of the ship and you can tell its super-glued to the door. I would pay 50 bucks for it! buy it right now!

"What we have here is a failure to communicate!"
The inhabitants of the planet Zanti have a foolproof means of dealing with their hardened criminals: just ship them to another planet and let that planet deal with him. Of course, the planet in question is Earth and you know how WE deal with the natives.

"The Zanti Misfits" is one of the most intense of the series' two-year run. An inspired touch is the Zanti convicts: ants with human faces. While the episode reuses the same models (due to a tight budget, no doubt), it still holds the tension from the first sight of the inhabitants of the prison ship until the last all-out battle with the U.S. military.

Michael Tolan, Robert Sampson, Olive Deering, and a young Bruce Dern bring realism to their respective roles of the human characters involved in the Zanti government's machinations.

Nothing like "The Outer Limits" has been seen on television since. One can be grateful that "the video revolution" enables a new audience to discover this landmark program.

Invade their privacy at your own risk....
The Zantis love their privacy, and after Bruce "You smell bad when you lie" Dern invades it, he ant in very good shape. For sure, any episode that remains a classic even after lines like "'He's a psychopath, and he's not beautiful'" (the crazy lady quoting her husband) is some amazing episode. Much more than an inside-out version of "Them!" this is a perpetual-motion, real-time classic that skitters along in a nice, ant-sy fashion. Much of its power stems from the drama of Earthlings desperately trying to avert a confrontation with a superior power, all the while wondering if it might be better (and more honorable) to lock antennae with the enemy. Here, we see humans stepped on by ants--at least until the closing ant-ihilation. Have you ever wondered how the Zantis are able to TALK via radio to the Earthlings, yet all they can do in person is buzz? They have human faces with mouths, but on-camera they don't talk, though they sure behave ant-agonistically. I'll be Derned if I can understand it. Director Leonard Horn subsequently joined the colony of directors on "Mission: Impossible." ... Read more

Amazon.com

There isn't much of Edgar Allan Poe left in this stylish but gruesome thriller. Bela Lugosi followed Dracula with a scenery-chewing performance as Dr. Mirakle, a mad scientist and sideshow hypnotist who uses his sideshow, which also features his trained gorilla (a stunt man in a phony, flea-bitten costume), as a cover for his sadistic experiments. His ape kidnaps street women whom Mirakle lashes to a crucifix-like pillory, strips to their underwear, and injects with simian blood. They inevitably die horribly, and he discards the bodies via a trap door over the river. When the ape falls in love with a lovely young Parisian miss (Sidney Fox), Mirakle sends him to abduct her from her attic room (one of the few elements left intact from Poe's story). Director Robert Florey, who inherited the project after losing Frankenstein to James Whale, shows his debt to the German expressionists with a gloomy, shadowy world of foggy alleys, misty riverbanks, and near-perpetual night (beautifully captured by cinematographer Karl Freund, later the director of The Mummy). Unfortunately ill-conceived comic relief too often breaks the carefully controlled mood of menace and the unsettling undercurrent of perversity, but Florey's striking images and inventive direction are enough to pull the film through the dead spots. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Bela Lugosi Shines In Atmospheric Horror Tale
While certainly not the best short story produced by the legendary Edgar Allan Poe the basic outline, although greatly altered in parts makes an ideal vehicle for the talents of horror veteran Bela Lugosi. Fresh from his triumph as "Dracula", the role of demented scientist Dr. Mirakle was a role Lugosi was ideally suited to and he makes the most of his screen time here in an otherwise partly weak production that is big on atmosphere and menace but lacking in real action to keep the story moving. The film compensates for its often slow pace with some splendid camerawork courtesy of Karl Frund who created an almost surreal Paris setting that was heavily influenced by the earlier German Expressionist filmmakers that brought the classic story of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", so memorably to life. Visually a treat for the viewers eye with its elongated architecture, dark lighting and rich attention to detail, the deficiences in the basic story can be often overlooked in this first of many versions of this famous Edgar Allan Poe story.

Set in Paris in 1874 "Murders in the Rue Morgue", tells the unsettling story of a demented scientist and part time side show hypnotist Dr. Mirakle who has been conducting bizzare experiments to do with man's evolutionary process.He believes that he can prove the link that he feels links man's development from apes by the successful mixing of the two species blood. To find specimens for his experiments however Mirakle takes to roaming the mist shrouded streets of Paris at night preying on prostitutes who he then lures to his laboratory. Once they are in his grasp he conducts his sinister experiments whereby he mixes their blood with that of his caged ape Erik who is featured in his sideshow. When predictably the experiments fail Dr. Mirakle unceremoniously dumps the unfortunate women's bodies through a trapdoor into the river Seine below. Alarm starts to rise when the bodies begin to appear at the morgue with the same tell tale surgical marks on their bodies. After his failed attempts Dr. Mirakle chances upon a young girl Camille L'Espanaye (Sidney Fox), who with her fiancee Pierre Dupin (Leon Ames), happens to attend the Doctor's performance with Erik the ape one night at the sideshow. Dr. Mirakle is totally smitten by the young girl and sees her pure qualities as ideal in his experiments to become the "bride of the gorilla" which he believes have failed so far because of the tainted blood of the prostitutes he has been using. When his repeated attempts to make contact with Camille fail, even after he sends her a lavish new bonnet to replace the one Erik stole from her during the performance Dr. Mirakle takes matters into his own hands. After the sideshow moves on he remains in Paris and plots to kidnap Camille for his own use in his experiments. Employing Erik to kidnap the girl the ape breaks into Camille's apartment killing her mother and taking the unconscious girl back to Dr. Mirakle's Laboratory. Pierre in the meanwhile has suspected Mirakle of foul play all along and goes in pursuit of his fiancee's kidnapper. With the aid of the Paris police they manage to break into Dr. Mirakle's laboratory but not before Mirakle is himself killed by Erik who claiming Camille as his own climbs up onto the Paris rooftops in a futile attempt to escape with his prey. Pierre manages to follow him over the dangerously angled rooftops and in the thrilling climax that recalls the famous last scene of "King Kong", shoots Erik and is reunited with Camille.

In many ways "Murders in the Rue Morgue", has a quite sordid and surprisingly sexual nature to it and at the time of release ran into a number of censorship problems that resulted in the story being edited and watered down in parts from its original form. The idea of blending the blood of young women with an ape was bound to be looked upon as quite depraved and unseemly and even today the scenes in Dr. Mirakle's lab where he has the young prostitute (Arlene Francis),tied to an "X" frame while he opens her veins is quite sexually charged and very disturbing. The scene of the girl screaming in pain is not minimalised at all and is without a doubt the most disturbing image from the film. Dr. Mirakle's complete lack of feeling or even sympathy for his unfortunate victims also lends this film a sinister edge as well. Bela Lugosi was horrifically made up for this role with curly ruffled hair and eyebrows that join in the middle and combined with his piercing eyes creates an unforgettable horror image. Director Robert Florey here works wonders with a slow moving story and in all their work together teams well with Bela Lugosi. Earlier deprived of helming the classic "Frankenstein", here he definately has a lesser story to work with but makes the most of projecting a sinister quality in particular with Lugosi's character. The film's great age is betrayed in its special effects with the disjointed shots of Erik the Ape who is obviously a man in a gorilla suit for the long shots and then in the closeups is a real ape of a lighter colour who bares no resemblance to the ape in the longshots. That aside it's a production strong on atmosphere and fairly low of suspense from Universal's golden age of horror that will still please film buffs. The basic story has proven popular with film makers and has been remade at least 3 times in later years.

While Bela Lugosi will always be remembered for his more famous roles such as "Dracula", "The Raven", and "White Zombie", his work in this film given the characters limitations, is first rate and goes a long way towards explaining why he will always be considerd one of filmdom's horror greats. The premise of this story may surprise you with its very blatant sexual elements but all in all it is an enjoyable if not top rate horror effort from Universal Studios, the legendary home of Hollywood's unforgettable horror films and stars. Enjoy

Dr. Mirakle's Monkey
In comparison to such Universal Poe "adaptations" as The Black Cat or The Raven, Murders in the Rue Morgue is almost faithful to the original-almost! Poe used the story as a showcase to introduce C. Auguste Dupin, the first literary detective, to the public. A financially independent recluse and spiritual kinsman of Roderick Usher, Dupin, who solves crimes for his own disinterested ratiocinative pleasure, is called in by the Parisian police whenever it runs up against a brick wall in its investigations. In this case, a woman and her daughter have been brutally murdered under suspicious circumstances, and Dupin is able to show-to the consternation of the authorities-that the culprit was a runaway orangutan belonging to a sailor, and not a human agent.
The studio eliminated Dupin as a character altogether, but retained the Parisian setting, placing the story in the 1840s, as well as the idea of a woman who has been mysteriously killed by an unknown assailant. However, into the straightforward framework of the Poe story, Universal inserted the proverbial 500lb. gorilla in more than one sense of the word, since what the movie boils down to is a woman copulating with a great ape, if anyone stopped to think about it-as I am sure some audience members did, even back then.
The simian in question now belongs to Dr. Mirakle (Bela Lugosi), a mountebank and mad scientist evidently patterned after Dr. Caligari, although the name Mirakle has even deeper roots in the German past, reaching back to the stories of E.T.A. Hoffmann, as fans of Jacques Offenbach's great opera The Tales of Hoffmann will quickly realize. Mirakle's mad scheme is to prove a primitive evolutionary theory by "mating" Erik, his pet primate, with a human female. What would Peter Singer have said? Unfortunately, all of his attempts hitherto have been made with ladies of the street, and have failed when his subjects turned out to be sexually infected. But a light dawns after Mirakle encounters the beautiful, young, and presumably virginal Camille L'Espanaye (Sidney Fox) when she visits his sideshow at a carnival. Doesn't Erik seem attracted to her? Hmmmm...
Most of the great horror films of the early sound period had a latent sexual content all too evident today. But while the Universal productions were for the most part relatively straightlaced for the pre-Code days, Murders in the Rue Morgue is almost improbably scabrous. Not only does it feature interspecies coitus combined with side glances at prostitution and venereal disease, but it includes a scene in which Mirakle tortures a woman bound to a rack that could have come straight out of Sade. (If I am correct, the same prop rack reappears in The Black Cat.)
Here the movie ventures into the netherworld of exploitation subsequently populated by hacks like Dwayne Esper, although it may have been primarily influenced by Allan Dwan's stylishly lurid Paris after Midnight, produced by Fox the year before, which had encountered problems of its own with the Hays Office. In The Monster Show, David J. Skal even goes off on a tangent trying to make Dr. Mirakle into an avatar of the Nazi butcher Dr. Josef Mengele. But the principal resources of Murders in the Rue Morgue are the sadism and racism that already figure explicitly in the Poe story, the staple ingredients of many a production in those years, not crypto-fascism.
This louche little opus was the work of Robert Florey, a rather enigmatic figure in the history of American movies. French born, Florey had a career that extended over several decades in Hollywood, co-directing the Marx brothers' first movie, The Cocoanuts (1929), and assisting Charlie Chaplin in the shooting of Monsieur Verdoux, among other chores. Florey had originally been scheduled to direct Frankenstein with Bela Lugosi as the monster, and had even shot some tests, before Universal prudently handed over the picture to James Whale and Boris Karloff, giving Florey and Lugosi this assignment instead. But one of Florey's brainstorms made its way into the final version of Frankenstein: the windmill in which the monster burns to death.
Certainly Florey provides a very atmospheric recreation of Paris in the era of Louis Phillipe. With the photography of Karl Freund and the stylized décor of Charles D. Hall, the film almost seems a homage to Ufa at moments, especially in the fairground scenes whose indebtedness to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari movie buffs will easily recognize. Yet Murders in the Rue Morgue, in spite of a chase over the roofs of Paris in the last reel, is curiously low on suspense, as comparison with The Mummy, directed by Freund in the same year for the same studio, reveals. Nothing in the Florey even remotely approaches the electric excitement of the scene in the latter movie in which a young archaeologist inadvertently revives the mummy by translating the Scroll of Thoth. An even more interesting comparison would be with Edgar G. Ulmer's later Bluebeard (available on DVD), also with a nineteenth century Parisian setting, made on a much tighter budget than the Florey, but which gets far more imaginative mileage for its money.
Bela Lugosi is good as Dr. Mirakle, but the role does not afford him the opportunity to display his idiosyncratic talents to the extent that his parts in Dracula, White Zombie, or The Black Cat did. Otherwise, the cast is disappointingly bland for such a wildly overwrought subject. But the credits do contain one surprise: the name of John Huston, who shares credit with Tom Reed and Dale Van Every for writing the screenplay of this least Hustonian of movies. Talk about strange bedfellows!

A VINTAGE CHILLER
Two young couples go to a Parisian carnival in 1845. There they are captivated by a self-proclaimed scientist who claims that evolution can be proven by the blending of human blood with that of apes. His pet ape - named Erik - seems to be attracted to one of the young ladies whose name is Camille...Based upon Edgar Allan Poe's 1843 novellette, this sometimes hokey and rather corny melodrama is an acceptable entry in Universal's world of vintage horror flicks. As Dr. Mirakle, Bela Lugosi plays his role with intense relish. The highly stylized sets are quite reminiscent of those which appeared in the 1919 silent classic THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. Television's Arlene Francis had her brief bit of movie stardom in her playing of a partially clothed lady of the pavements who's murdered and strains of Tchaikovsky's SWAN LAKE can be heard by those who like Classical music. Among the young ingenues who were tested for the part of Mlle. Camille L'Espanaye was Bette Davis - the producers decided she lacked sex appeal - so the tiny (4'11") Sidney Fox was given the role. Fox and Davis both made their film debut in a forgotten 1931 Universal potboiler entitled BAD SISTER. Fox had the lead as the vixen, while Davis played the drab essence of sweet simplicity: in 1942 Fox, unsuccessful in films, committed suicide. Bette Davis was the Queen of Hollywood.

A Potential Masterpiece Almost Ruined.
Poor Robert Florey! After preparing the original FRANKENSTEIN project only to have it handed to James Whale (who retained Florey's idea of the stolen criminal brain), he and original star Bela Lugosi (who rejected the part of the Monster because it had no dialogue) were given this film as a consolation prize. Florey wanted to create an American CABINET OF DR CALIGARI. He had the great cameraman Karl Freund and together they created a bizarre shadowy Paris that is almost overbearingly atmospheric. Lugosi threw himself into the role of Dr Mirakle with remarkable intensity. What should have emerged from all this was an American expressionist classic. It didn't happen and here's why. The book UNIVERSAL HORRORS reveals that when the film was finished it was shown to the Universal top brass (Carl and Junior Laemmle) and they didn't like it. Too humorless and too arty. So they had additonal scenes shot including close-ups of a real orangutan clumisily inserted, comic relief scenes with dialogue by a young John Huston added, and then rearranged Florey's existing order of scenes. To add insult to injury the film was then cut from 72 to 61 minutes. The end result was a terrible mess that barely resembles what Florey intended. However there are several moments which still make the film worthwhile. Lugosi's performance, Karl Freund's camerawork, and a surprisingly effective performance from Arlene Francis of WHAT'S MY LINE fame. It's a pity that we will never see what Robert Florey intended but what is left is still fascinating in spite of everything that happened. Robert Florey would later make the horror classic THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS in 1946. By the way Leon Waycoff who plays Dupin would change his last name to Ames and gain fame as the neighbor on the MR ED show 30 years later.

Bela is back
This is a great movie why? Because Bela Lugosi is in it not to mention he is in his youth as a universal legend (right after classic Dracula) the gore is great which is a plus in my book. This is good for universal 1930's horror film manics which means it has a good story line good actors and good suspence and this has it all. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

In this corner, Flynn; in that corner, Smith!
I don't generally care much for Westerns, but "San Antonio" is a highly enjoyable, often laugh-out-loud example of the genre. Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith engage in a lot of snappy repartee, Smith belts out the classic "Some Sunday Morning", and S.Z. Sakall, a staple of 1940's musicals and comedies, shines here.

A charming, lighthearted mid-'40s oater
Errol Flynn was never more debonaire than in this briskly paced, totally enjoyable, two-fisted Western romance. Flynn plays Clay Hardin, a rancher who's been chased out of town by a syndicate of corrupt rustlers, but is back in town with the proof that will vindicate him... and with a hankering to meet actress Alexis Smith. She's a high-tone New York gal who finds herself charmed by the dapper, self-assured machismo of Flynn's good-natured rustic roughneck. You'll be charmed, too: it's hard to imagine anyone else being so suave and polite when they're whomping on the bad guys. Filmed in brightly saturated Technicolor, with the ruins of the Alamo eerily lit by the Texas moon. This film is a goodie! [Cast note: anyone who was charmed by S. K. Sakall's famous comedic cameo as a German emigre in "Casablanca" ("What watch mama?") will get a kick out of his extensive supporting role in this film... More cutesy ethnic schtick than you can shake a schntizel at!]

MEDIOCRE FLYNN WESTERN.
By no means a Western type, Errol Flynn was really the only non-American actor to become successful in this genre of film in the U.S. He confessed to being baffled by his considerable success in his earlier westerns (i.e. DODGE CITY & THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON, et al.) and he sometimes referred to himself as the "rich man's Roy Rogers". Here we have a mediocrity of the genre. The story concerns an 1877 cattleman named Clay Hardin (!) who returns to San Antonio from Mexico, where he has obtained proof that the owner of San Antonio's leading dance hall (played by Paul Kelly) is indeed the head of a well-organised syndicate of cattle thieves...Naturally Flynn has trouble convicting Kelly, but it all works out in the end. An amusing scene near the beginning of the picture has Flynn and Alexis Smith doing a Mexican dance together.

Flynn Seeks Revenge
Errol Flynn stars as a cowboy out to get revenge on the cattle rustler that has stolen his cattle and the cattle of several other men. He returns to San Antonio to settle the score, but before he can do that, he falls in love with Alexis Smith, the actress and singer performing at his enemy's saloon. Needless to say, things get complicated. This isn't the greatest of Flynn's westerns, although it's far from the worst. There's just nothing new here. Flynn was already starting to show the signs of the premature aging that would eventually lead to his death, and his performance lacks its usual fire. Smith, however, plays her character well and looks beautiful in the great technicolor. There is a terrific saloon shoutout/brawl, but it doesn't add up to much more than an average western. It's entertaining, but nothing special.

There's just soooo many Westerns out there..........
As I continue my intro, there are tons of westerns out there, probably more than any other genre, considering all of the 'B' westerns out there.

To get on with my review, as I was hinting it's really hard to get a decent plot, one like say Rio Bravo or The Searchers. But anyway, it still is a pretty good movie. San Antonio is about a man who loses his fortune to some bad guys (I can't think of anything else to call them, either that or say crooked cattle punchers?) and goes to get his revenge. Flynn is once again his dashing self and Alexis Smith offers a good character. I guess "good character" isn't exactly the best way to describe it. She plays a very feisty actress/singer who ends up working for Flynn's enemies but falls in love with him.

The color in this film was great and it was qutie a high grade movie. The song sung in the film "Some Sunday Morning" won the Oscar for best song. It's a pretty good film on it's own, but when put up against other westerns and Flynn's previous work (Captian Blood, Robin Hood, etc.) it just doesn't have the same magic. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Excellent purple prose meets the unbelievably creepy
Joseph Stefano's prose can either fall flat or wonderfully enhance the action on the screen. It's definitely the latter here, whether delivered by George MacReady in his breathless anticipation of power or by Neil Hamilton in what turns out to be a grotesque soliloquy that's somewhere between Mein Kampf and a prolonged mental orgasm. And matching the mental horror generated by the speeches of the alien-possessed is the physical horror of the actual attachment of the symbiots and the contortions created by failed attachments. Effective editing, great use of sound and lighting, and Don Gordon's stoic performance all help the episode.

Bring On the Sick, Nameless Nuclei!
One of Stefano's best scripts, and one of the scariest OL entries. This one could almost be considered a logical sequel to "Corpus Earthling," in which alien parasites commandeer human hosts.

The Invisibles are "sick, nameless nuclei" spawned in space and fallen to Earth, looking like mutant horseshoe crabs, that attach to human hosts' spinal columns and seize control of them. The GIA (the CIA actually refused to let their name be used for the government agency in the story) have gotten wind of the Secret Society of the Invisibles, consisting of some very powerful political names, and infiltrate it with undercover agent Luis B. Spain. The audience accompanies Spain on his adventure of discovery into alien invasion, and gets quite a few chills along the way.

The tension and suspense in this episode are superior. It's a nail-biter. The possession scenes are uncomfortable, suggestive of homosexual rape. The cast is stellar, especially Neil Hamilton as a possessed general and the ever-arch George Macready as the head of the alien Society.

If this one doesn't make your skin crawl, well, then...you're probably one of Them.

Actually deserving of 4 stars, but........
just to counteract an unjust low rating elsewhere on this page. Not a great episode, but very good along the lines of "Invisible Enemy". As good if not better than your typical theatrical sci-fi potboilers of the late 50s-early 60s.

Incredibly stylish episode!
While producer Joseph Stefano's script fails to make things as clear as they might be, "The Invisibles" has incredible style and atmosphere, mostly courtesy of director Gerd Oswald. Don Gordon ("Bullitt," "Papillion") is perfect as "GIA" agent Luis Spain, and future "Batman" regular Neil Hamilton and a pre-"Hogan's Heroes" Richard Dawson head a fascinating supporting cast. The plot concerns alien parasites from somewhere in space who are intent on using humans as hosts for--what else?--planetary takeover. Extremely effective and greatly enhanced by the cinema-level photography of Conrad Hall.

lesser Limits
This is one of the poorer episodes in the series. The claim that it is one of the most unsettling is probably due to the "attachment" procedure that the title creatures use to enter the bodies of their human hosts. It reminded me of the way John Hurt was "hosted" in the film Alien. However having this procedure didn't seem to change the behaviour of Don Gordon who behaves the same way before and after. Perhaps the way it effected George MacReady and Neil Hamilton (later to appear in TV's Batman) was to make them act over-the-top. This is particularly unsettling for MacReady, who's voice is in opposition to this kind of performance. (Who can forget him in Gilda with Rita Hayworth). His teeth are also noticeably odd here. Was he wearing dentures? There is also a surprising homoerotic subtext to this episode which I'm sure is unintentional. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

BETTE DAVIS AS A SLINKY, SOPHISTICATED SIREN..
This film, which was rather risque for its day, features a very blonde and nubile Bette Davis in her first role for which she received star billing. Playing the role of sophisticated, free spirited, and successful commercial artist Helen Bauer, who believes that love does not necessarily lead to marriage, though it can lead to the bedroom, Bette is charming. It seems that Helen is in love with ad agency owner Don Peterson, who wants to marry her. At first she refuses, but finally gives in. She is a most reluctant bride, however, as she is afraid that the bonds of marriage will ruin their love.

They do run across some bumps in the road and have some inconsequential flings to make each other jealous and to test the waters, but it is nothing that true love will not conquer. She and Don weather the storms and discover that they are irrevocably bound to each other, not by the bonds of matrimony, but by the bonds of true love.

This is a brash and breezy film that is really a bedroom farce. Sex outside the bonds of marriage and the concepts of a successful working woman are some of the cutting edge issues addressed. Somewhat heavy handed and stilted, it is a still film worth seeing just to watch Bette Davis as a sophisticated, slinky siren in this early role. While she is good, however, the best is yet to come. This is a film for die hard Bette Davis fans or classic film lovers. Others may be disappointed.

BETTE HAD BETTER
This little potboiler from 1933 has the distinction of being the first film in which Bette Davis received top billing. Bette WAS rather impishly cute and sexy in her early blonde ingenue roles - but she was utterly disgusted upon the release of this tawdry little number, and, in her memoirs, she wrote "my shame was exceeded only by my fury". All she got out of it was status without achievement. Darryl F. Zanuck had personally selected it for her - one of his last productions before he quit Warners in protest at the studio's delay in restoring the pay cuts it had forced on its staff in the cost-cutting emergency following the signs that at last the cinema box-office was being hit by the Depression. Robert Florey directed this bedroom farce which stated that free love is preferable to betrothal; it was to make a star out of Davis but she felt embarrassed - not enhanced - by 'smart' situations and frivolous bedroom scenes. The film decides that while "free love" may do more for the undressing scenes, a submissive wife makes for a safer box-office (even in pre-code 1933!). EX-LADY was a re-make of a rather risque - but rather unsuccessful - Barbara Stanwyck vehicle entitled ILLICIT two years prior. The original poster for this film has received near cult status among collectors: a bare shouldered young Bette, blonde and beautifully seductive with the words describing "Filmdom's newest favourite after her achievements in CABIN IN THE COTTON and 20,000 YEARS IN SING SING" - AND - "We don't DARE tell you how daring it is" Malarkey.

So What?
This Bette Davis movie isn't bad, I guess, but it sure is a bore. So she doesn't believe in marriage and is living in sin with Gene Raymond: well, what of it? Takes more than that to be interesting, I'm afraid. Most noteworthy because it features Frank McHugh as an egghead, very different from the "Toity toid street" roles he got later in life. Rent it if you've got time to lose and money to burn.

Bette Davis insists living together is better than marriage
Bette Davis, in the first film in which she receives top billing, plays Helen Bauer, a gifted commercial artist, who convinces her boyfriend, Don Peterson (Gene Raymond), an advertising writer, to try her modern idea of living together without benefit of clergy as a situation superior to marriage. Helen insists that an emancipated woman needs to have complete independence and that marriage kills romance. Everything is going fine until Don notices that living in sin is not going to win him many clients. Helen agrees to get married, even though she insists they will only end up hating each other. Don has her take over the art department of his agency so they can be together day and night. Things go progressively down hill for "Ex-Lady" at this point. Their business does well enough for them to finally take a honeymoon, but when they return several big clients have gone elsewhere. Then one of their clients (Kay Strozzi) allows Helen to believe Don is having an affair. This inspires Helen to make eyes at one of Don's competitors (Monroe Owsley). Of course, the point of all this is to make marriage seem like a good thing, but this is certainly an extremely contrived story. This 1933 film directed by Robert Florey only lasts 62 minutes, which is surprising given how much is jammed into the story. The idea of Helen being a successful working woman is almost as scandalous as her wanting to live in sin with her man, but it is the sex that they are trying to sell in this movie. Davis looks beautiful, but it is amazing how she has trouble keeping dressed in all of those bedroom scenes. So you get a liberal treatment of sexuality and a conservative conclusion on the sanctity of marriage, a combination guaranteed to make no one happy.

BETTE DAVIS IN HER FIRST STARRING ROLE!
Davis looks sensational as a free-spirited designer who does'nt believe in marriage! This is actually a lame little melodrama and I agree agree with the other reviewer in that the film's only claim to fame is that it's the first film with Davis's name above the title. Barbara Stanwyck starred in the same essential story only two years prior in Illicit! ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Tourist Attraction = 2 out of 5 stars
If you can get over the laughable creature from the deep, then this episode is at least watchable with a few decent moments. It all starts out well, in fact, it has the feel of "The Creature From The Black Lagoon." The characters are not too annoying and the premise is solid, but it completely unravels halfway through the episode. It seems that after 20 minutes, the director had the actors do the script as an improv because NOTHING happens and everything just goes in circles. Which brings me to the end.............errrrrrrrr.........hmmmmmmm.....no comment.

In short, the opening is solid and the premise is good, but the script and plot execution is awful.

thank you for your time, David

I Sink the Budget Fantastic!
If any good came out of this episode, it would probably be the fact that "Tourist Attraction" is the touchstone for how NOT to waste money on a uninteresting idea.

The underwater photography is fairly good, even if the critters are not very convincing. The performances are fairly perfunctory and even Henry Silva as the maniacal dictator seems rather uninterested in what little is going on.

The ending, where an already weakened dam breaks, flooding the city below, comes as a welcome relief to anyone who managed to make it that far into the show.

A Sinking Ship
Absolutely one of the worst--and possibly THE worst--Outer Limits episodes. Usually, OL was a brilliant, if sometimes erratic series. Tourist Trap is aptly named; after watching it, you'll feel as if you've been an unwilling prisoner for the last hour. "Horrible" is too kind a description.

A Lungfish Ate My Homework (Blub!)
It could have been worse. It could have lacked the presence of Henry Silva, as a South American despot. Its locales and sets could have been less exotic and lush. Even Janet Blair's legs are surely worth a point or two.

Unfortunately, I've named about all this episode is worth. Tourist Attraction has the sad distinction of being the reason many worthier OL entries looked so [bad] - it ate most of the production budget for the first season. And the saddest thing is, you'd never guess it to look at it. The lungfish beasties (they could only afford three, made to look like more through the miracle of recycling) are really unconvincing.

Let 'er sail! (Blub, blub, blub...)

Ambitious as Hell
Though the Outer Limits was ahead of its time in many respects, this episode seems rather dated. This doesn't detract from it if one remembers what TV production qualities were back then. Here, we have underwater photography, several sea-monsters, and Henry Silva all in one episode of an anthology series. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Morality makes its own decisions
One of the best episodes in the Outer Limits series, this one has an intellectual and moral theme that is directly relevant to today. The story is set at a government research center called Cypress Hill and opens with a scene of a technician sitting in front of a circular display screen. The technician is viewing, apparently real-time, a research professor, Dr. Anderson, who is voicing complaints about his superior, which, the technician notes, is the "12th occurrence". The technician's attention is then shifted to the presence on-screen of what appears to be a "monster", and he then is strangled to death from behind.

In the next scene, a Senator Orville appears at Cypress Hill to investigate the murder and the general morale situation at the center. Inquisitive and intolerant of evasiveness, Orville sets up a board of inquiry and calls several witnesses, the first one being Clyde Wyatt, an investigator from the CID. When questioned by Orville, he notes only that the technician was strangled to death but that he is "not competent to say" regarding any morale and psychological problems at Cypress. Wyatt's evasiveness angers Orville, and he quickly dismisses Wyatt from the stand.

The next witness is a Dr. Philip Fletcher, an elderly man who has been employed for five years at Cypress as a research consultant in astrophysics. Fletcher had sent a letter to Orville, addressing the morale problems at Cypress. Apparently he had written several more letters but did not send them, having been questioned by the military police about the letters. Questioned by Orville as to how Cypress knew he was writing the letters, Fletcher responds by saying that "they know everything" and speaks of rumours and fear at Cypress. Cypress is a "ghost town" he says, and a place where "no one laughs".

After being notified that the head of Cypress, Dr Clifford Scott, was unavailable for questioning due to suffering a physical breakdown, Orville calls a Dr. Lomax. Lomax states that morale is no better or worse than any other government facility, but Orville rebuts by stating the statistics: divorce up 400%, rampant alcoholism, and three suicides. Also, reports of a "peeping Tom machine" have been related to Orville, but Lomax refuses to discuss the machine. Orville then demands all information on the machine, and gets a demonstration of it the next day.

Called OBIT for "Outer Band Individuated Teletracer", Lomax explains its operation to Orville, and illustrates its use by spying on a draftsman who is located somewhere in Washington D.C. Lomax states that "those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear from OBIT", but this is dismissed eloquently by Orville, who expresses worry and revulsion over the ability to use the machine to spy on himself when engaging in commentary on the President, his wife, or other senators.

A fourth witness, Col. Grover, is then questioned by Orville, but Grover has no knowledge of OBIT's manufacturer or who authorized its deployment. Again Orville demands all information about OBIT and its history of deployment and when threatened by Grover as to his political future, dismisses any concern with it, stating that "morality makes its own decisions".

Orville then calls Mrs. Clifford Scott, who states that the morale has been unbearable at Cypress and was left completely in the dark about the location of her husband.

Grover is later recalled, and speaks of 18 OBIT units deployed in the military as well as many more in industry and education. He describes painfully OBIT as being the most "hideous creation ever conceived", and one that saps the spirit, and indulges in using it himself, not being able to resist its temptations.

After insistence from Orville, Orville questions Dr. Scott, who describes his opposition to OBIT, and how he is always at odds with Lomax, who for some reason cannot be monitored by OBIT. The reason becomes rapidly apparent, as Lomax is transfigured to an alien being, who represents a race of beings who have deliberately placed OBIT machines on Earth to create rips and tensions in society and demoralize humanity, as preparation for their eventual invasion. He disappears suddenly from the scene.

The episode ends with the announcer explaining that all of the OBIT machines have been found and destroyed and that whether OBIT can live up to its reputation "depends on you".

The OBIT machine, with its ability to spy real time on citizens within a 500 mile radius, and even then through solid rock or steel, is certainly a technological marvel. Such a machine does not exist of course, but its abilities can be emulated. Governments can now engage in data mining and Email and business transaction monitoring, coupled with citizen spies whose sole function is to report "suspicious" behavior, can certainly have the same devastating effects as OBIT. The resulting suspicions and extreme paranoia accompanying these strategies of spying can indeed make life unbearable and demoralizing.

We must make sure we have senators who think like Orville, and refuse to allow this kind of privacy-robbing technology to be employed unless in very extreme life-threatening circumstances. "OBIT-like" projects like TIAA and its children must not be allowed to progress and must be kept in check. Thankfully there are many in government who are taking steps to insure that these kinds of projects do not get implemented. Eternal vigilance among citizens, government officials, and the military must be unrelenting in insuring that these kinds of projects never be put in place. Such an attitude should be part of our consciousness and automatized in our belief structures and in our machines, for this is the proper morality in the information age: a morality which makes its own decisions.

Don't Look Behind You...
...but someone is watching. And they're not human. If you thought the NSA was bad...

One of OL's few truly evil E.T. entries, a murder mystery performed as a courtroom drama. The script is highly literate, but the suspense is half-shot from the beginning by showing too much. It's still worth it for the opening murder scene and the dramatic finale alone, though the interesting analysis of intrusive government spying on its own citizenry along the way is quite good, too (and, for the time, eye-opening, as well).

Typically great OL cinematography, one of the creepier and more memorable monsters, and good performances all around, especially by Jeff Corey.

OL masterpiece with Orwellian overtones
An army security man is strangled under mysterious circumstances at Cypress Hills, a top secret military installation where a sinister new snooping system (the Outer Band Individuated Teletracer) is being tested. This audio-video spying device can tune in to the individualized biorhythms of everyone on the base, except for the murderer, it seems. The frightening implications of this new device for depriving personnel of even the slightest shred of privacy and dignity are unravelled in the course of a congressional investigation conducted by young, charismatic Senator Orville. His persona is tough as nails, but smooth-edged with dashes of wisdom and self-deprecating wit, a la JFK. This portrayal comes across as an intriguing reflection of the Camelot era, and we know from the moment we meet him that he is going to get to the bottom of things. Likewise, we are shown from the opening scene that the murder was committed by a Thing Not of This World, a monstrous, gangly, one-eyed creature of obviously alien origin. Our attention is also directed early on to one Byron Lomax, a sinister character who is in charge after the rightful director of the base is sent away to a mental institution, in Kremlinesque fashion we find out. These plot threads are woven together in a tense, moody script with expert direction and stylish noir photography, giving this episode the unmistakable first-season OL signature. The shattering and dehumanizing effect of invading privacy, feeding upon dark, all-too-human impulses, is the moral center of this story: we must rise above our lower impulses and temptations, or be dragged down by them. In the latter case, we become easy prey for an invading alien race that easily sets us up, and can take over without a single shot ever having to be fired. This is OL at its characteristic, intelligent best, with solid story and thought-provoking themes convincingly elaborated (e.g., we are our own worst enemies, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, etc.); plus loving homages (intentional or otherwise) to schlock 1950's scifi cinema, most notably Wyott Ordung's hilariously inept "Robot Monster". But it bridges the lowbrow appeal of such juvenile material with the prescience of George Orwell's writings. The kind of sheer range on display here is breathtaking, and puts to shame what passes today as scifi cinema, with its monotonous emphasis on artless techno special effects and characters targeted to audience hang-ups and attitude.

I.C.U.
This Outer Limits is unusual to feature a courtroom hearing as a series of talking heads, when otherwise episodes feature a lot of action. The scenario by Meyer Dolinsky centres around the titular surveillance machine, which Meyer used to parallel the House Un American Committe and Senator Joseph McCarthy witchhunts of the late 1940's and early 1950's. However the Senator who comes to the defence department site where a murder has been committed, ironically acts as arrogantly (and humourlessly) as McCarthy. The only seemingly intentional laugh in the whole episode is when a doctor is heard to make a derogatory remark about his superior - "He doesn't know the difference between a periodic table and a timetable". The obligatory series monster here is seen on the OBIT screen, which deliberately resembles the early round TV sets, and it is the sighting which accounts for the witnesses death. The monster itself is quite bizarre. The initial long shot view has it wearing a diaphonous gown, and it's mask face is half Halloween pumpkin and half unformed baby head. When the monster attacks another witness, it is unintentionally funny. Since the hearing's talking head structure relies upon testimony it becomes a series of performances, the best being Konstantin Shayne and Sam Reese, and the worst Alan Baxter. As the administrator of the base and the one associated with the OBIT, Jeff Corey wears distortive bottle-bottom black-rimmed spectacles which give him a great look but his climactic grandiose speech is undercut by it coming out of nowhere, and the maniac way it is filmed by director Gerd Oswald. The narrative also features a few plot holes - an affair has no pay off, and the monster has the unexplained ability to be in two places at once. However Oswald provides some redemptive images - a flashing cheap hotel sign, the ominous placement of Corey's overly hairy hand, and the soft-focus lighting of Joanne Gilbert as the base commander's wife, who still manages to come off as an anorexic transexual.

Probably my favorite.
I've always loved this episode. I has good dialogue, a fairly good monster, and a believable premise (except for the monster, of course). The pacing is well done, and it leads up to a fine climax. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Totally entertaining, mind-expanding scifi spectacle
"Galaxy Being" is the superb, seminal episode of the original Outer Limits, and it still packs quite a unique wallop today--indeed all the more so by contrast with the dismal state of contemporary scifi cinema. This is a towering, all-time great portrayal of the human encounter with the alien, who is at once intelligent, wise, noble, confused and stressed-out. His final, stern lecture to the foolish, frightened earthlings who in their ignorance would destroy him, puts this film into the same class as "Day the Earth Stood Still", one of OL's most important thematic forerunners. But then, in a brilliant stroke, there is a strong and daring infusion of emergent parallels between the rational and the non-rational, between recent discoveries of science and ancient, intuitive, mystical teachings--way ahead of its time in 1963. Another profound theme, embodied in both the alien and the Cliff Robertson character, is the courage of the individual who would seek to investigate the unknown, against the pressures of brain-washed society to conform, and all the efforts of authorities to keep humanity subservient and under control. Should these loner, visionary scientist types who break the rules in their quest for knowledge be careful what they're fooling around with? Of course; and yet, its often by mistakes that we learn the most and advance furthest as a species. The special effects are stylish and riveting, especially the design and imaging of the alien itself, which has few comparisons. The human/alien relationship is mirrored as well by the maritally troubled husband/wife couple, who have their own differences to overcome. The lame gender stereotypes of today's pathetic, post-Cameron/Hurd scifi offerings (i.e., the men as wimps or swaggering macho idiots and foils for the obligatorily smarter, stronger, wiser but good looking female lead) are nowhere to be seen, so you might not like this if you require that kind of shallow, formulaic content. The focus here, setting the tone for the whole series, is on the timeless and recurring themes of human existence, the quest for meaning, the finding of the self in the other, transcendence versus domination, the triumph of the human spirit and hope. Outer Limits is the Shakespeare of TV/cinematic scifi, and will admirably withstand the test of time. By the way, there is one unintentionally diverting moment here to watch for which I've got to mention, because I've never seen it commented upon elsewhere. It involves quite a double handful that Cliff Robertson gets hold of in the last act. How did that get by ABC's watchful eye?

Please Stand By
An inventor, and a manager of a radio station, creates a 3-D monitor device in order to communicate with alien beings from outer space. He receives a signal from the galaxy of Andromeda. This is the pilot episode and a classic one. The key episode that gives you the premise and the series approach. Cliff Robertson is the perfect example of a cursed and lonely tinkerer ("But the secrets of the universe don't mind. They reveal themselves to nobodies. Who care ?") lost in his radio experimentations and in search of an absolute. The best scene remains the intense dialogues between Cliff Robertson and the Andromedan Being about the fundamental questions : Life, Death, War and God ("Infinity is God. God, Infinity, all the same."). Pre-"Counterweight" Jacqueline Scott plays skeptical and pragmatic Carol Mawxell who threats her husband ("Carol, it's more than interesting, it's important !"). Pre-"Production and decay of strange particles" Allyson Ames (Leslie Stevens' wife) is very gorgeous. The alien's optical effects is strange and magnificient at once and it is the best "bear" of the entire series. There are two beautiful scenes with the negative effects : 1.The Being enters a shop, with suspended instruments, and examines items (binoculars, musical box, bust). 2.The Being cauterized the injury of Allan Maxwell's wife with a blast of radiation. You have a "The day the Earth stood still" reference with the army, the jeeps and the alien's warning ("There is much you have to learn.").----"The planet Earth is a speck of dust, remote and alone in the void. There are powers in the universe inscrutable and profound. Fear cannot save us. Rage cannot help us. We must see the stranger in a new light-the light of understanding. And to achieve this, we must begin to understand ourselves, and each other."

-End of transmission-

Debut Episode Of This Sci-Fi Series Is Still The Best!
This VHS video contains the premiere episode of the 1960s science-fiction TV series, "The Outer Limits". Cliff Robertson stars in "The Galaxy Being", a story of energy gone haywire.

I recall watching this thrilling episode as a little kid years ago, and even today it's still a terrific sci-fi outing.

That's Jacqueline Scott as Robertson's wife. Jacqueline was a veteran guest star in many, many TV shows of that era, including a 2nd guest spot on "The Outer Limits" (the episode "Counterweight" in December 1964). Scott also very ably appeared in shows such as "The Fugitive" (as Richard Kimble's sister), "Gunsmoke", "Bonanza", "Lassie", "Ben Casey", "Route 66", "Perry Mason", "The Twilight Zone", and "Marcus Welby".

Somewhat ironically, "The Galaxy Being" episode of "The Outer Limits" premiered on network television on Monday, September 16, 1963, exactly one day before "The Fugitive", another series which featured Miss Scott frequently as a guest star, made its network debut.

If you're looking for one of the best episodes of "The Outer Limits" TV series, look no further than this particular entry.

'Scared the [stuff] out of a then ten-year-old!
When I saw the pilot episode of the classic sci-fi anthology, I was frightened beyond belief. The mouthless, glowing alien that the unwitting radio announcer "yanks" from outer space was enough to make a kid sleep with a nightlight on.

As an adult, I can now better appreciate the social commentary built into this particular installment. Also, the acting of a young Cliff Robertson, fresh from his popular role in "PT-109" can be also be credited for the success of this entry.

While the later "The Bellero Shield" explored a similar theme of reversed "alien abduction" with better results, "The Galaxy Being" was a great start to a show that should've lasted beyond its two years.

Outer Limits #1: My radio conversation with an alien...
On September 16, 1963 viewers watching ABC at 7:30 on that Monday night noticed that the picture on their television screen started to do funny things. Then a deep voice intoned: "There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture..." Thus started one of the two greatest science fiction anthology shows in television history, "The Outer Limits."

"The Galaxy Being" was the pilot episode, starring Cliff Robertson as Alex Maxwell, a technician at a radio station who makes contact with an alien. The first half of this episode highlights the simple but compelling conversation between these two in which they discuss everything from life and death to God ("Infinity is God. God infinity. All the same," the alien tells the human). The episode takes a radical, but not totally unexpected turn in the second half when Alex goes away and a DJ boosts the station's signal, which manages to bring the alien to Earth. The alien was shot as a negative photographic image, which is amazingly effective, as most simple, elegant ideas often are. Of course the alien's mere presence sends frightened citizens running in terror and Alex comes back to find an imminent confrontation between the alien and all those people with guns.

Writer and Director Leslie Stevens comes up with a nice introduction to the world of "The Outer Limits." The episode appeals to both those who like the intellectual dimensions of good science fiction and those who want cool monsters from another planet. It also establishes one of the show's strongest elements, which was making viewers uneasy with what was going on rather than going for fear and terror. Robertson also provides the first of many strong performances by actors on this show (e.g., Robert Culp in several key OL episodes). His Alex Maxwell might be an ordinary Joe, but making first contact with an alien is a cause for curiosity and wonder, not fear and loathing. No reason to get into allegorical dimensions regarding the Cold War, because the simple lesson here is that aliens are people too. ... Read more

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