Reminds me of Ed Wood and Plan 9. The story and everything just comes to a complete stand still whenever they start the stock footage: tanks, army things, etc.
Just removing those (and there's a lot of it) would up my rating considerably.
"The more you drive, the less intelligent you are"
-- Repo Man
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Couldn't agree more. The stock footage was so obvious and badly done it ruined a lot of it for me.
The constant reuse of shots annoyed me as well, especially the mutants running around the corridors that were either different shots of them running back and forth through two different corridors or the same shot used twice.
I wonder how much shorter the movie would be if they took it all out though... An hour maybe?
Thanks for the response, astream.
Even though I compared them, I think It's still actually better than Plan 9. There were some good ideas there. The remake wasn't that great, either. Maybe it's time for a good remake.
Those are my principles, and if you don't like them ...well, I have others.
-Groucho Marx
I agree that the stock footage detracts somewhat from the film, but to me it isn't the fact that they're stock shots per se (all of it of the Army, tanks, etc.), as it is that there's too many of them, and that the music that accompanies these scenes is usually a very plodding version of When the Caissons Go Rolling Along, so slow, boring and repetitive that it makes those scenes seem even worse. Still, I can excuse the use of such footage on a low-budget film and concentrate on its better aspects. But I agree with astream that what's more annoying and less defensible is the repeated use of some of the film's own footage (mainly the mutants running around and firing their ray gun), used way, way too much. They certainly could have afforded some additional, different shots to use in those scenes.
shareThe stock footage was rather funny to me when I first saw the completed film. As for the Mutants. We only worked one week on the set. The daily routine took some time. It was usually at least 1 1/2 hour getting into those zipped up costumes and do the makeup. They were cumbersome and didn't allow you to even go to the restroom. I would guess that the tunnel scenes took about 3 hours to film and they didn't do many scenes that were different. My comment to the other cast that made up the Mutants when we saw the film the first time was no wonder we didn't spend any time shooting, they just showed the same stuff over and over.
shareHi hydroguy -- I think you should make clear to everyone that you worked on the film, which gives you much more insight than the rest of us.
Obviously they needed to save as much money as possible on this movie, hence the still-excessive use of stock shots. And as I wrote above, the slow rendition of As the Caissons Go Rolling Along makes that part of the stock fotage even more of a trial. But the movie is still great.
Possible SPOILERS ahead
On the other hand, I guess we could also say that since (at least in the original American version) the whole thing was a dream, the re-use of the same footage, especially the mutant scenes, is more fittingly dreamlike, a deliberate movement away from reality.
Well, it's a good excuse, anyway!
Hi Hobnob, Those were good observations. I haven't looked at the film for quite a while. But when I really got to looking at it I caught not just the "repeats" when the film premiered at the Fox in Westchester (LA Premier), but that they had also mirrored some of those tunnel scenes to make them appear to be different. I need to take the DVD out and take a look. I usually show the thing about once every two-three years down in the desert where I spend the winters. We have a howl with it.
I ran into this site a while back and read the data on the movie. They made some incorrect entries, but I don't think they want to change them and none are serious. I'm not really sure how to go about submitting stuff. I have tried. I would venture a guess that there may not be any remaining members of the cast still living at this point in time. I was only 22 and I think Jimmy was the only member younger than me. Anyway, if you have any suggestions, it's a good time to get them done.
They always have Update buttons -- those yellow things -- on every page that enable readers to click onto the appropriate pages to submit additional information, changes, etc. Depending on what you're looking to do, when you click them on you'll get a list of all the info they have, with spaces at left for you to Add/Change/Delete, where you can type in changes. There's also a space where you have to enter the reason for your changes.
If you have questions email me and perhaps I can help out more specifically. Click on my name (hobnob53) and this will take you to a page where you can send me a Private Message (PM). This is off the boards and only I see it. I'm notified when someone sends me a PM. It's an easier way of making private conversations that don't really need to be on the public boards, like this.
I believe Jimmy Hunt and Janine Perreau (Kathy Wilson) are both still alive, about 70 now. The last adult member of the cast who died, as far as I know, was Barbara Billingsley, who had that brief bit as Arthur Franz's secretary. She died just last year, at 94.
Stay in touch. But any information you can get in would be most appreciated. IMDb sometimes takes its time making corrections, but usually they're pretty good.
I actually liked the stock footage as a kid, and the way it was, at times, in seemingly surreal fashion, brought back for more. The intent, I believe, was similar to that of many TV series of the period (Highway Patrol comes to mind, with it opening "whenever the laws of any state are broken...",--soo reassuring--the bad guys always lose). In the case of IFM it was the army, and with Caissons accompaniment, which I found catchy and uplifting, working as a kind of counterpoint to the "sand choir", as in this is our music, and it's uplifting. The one pulls you down, the other lifts you up.
BTW, unless it's a goof, the IMDB had William Phipps, listed as Sgt. Baker in the cast, as still alive, If so, he'd be around ninety-four. So there's at least one adult actor left.
The observatory, too. Other movies during this time used stock footage, but it wasn't as cheesy as in this movie.
shareStock footage is one of the hallmarks of the B-movie sci-fi classics! Besides the footage is about as accurate as it gets!
shareAt least the usage of it makes for one of the funniest scenes when that military leader dude is suddenly distracted by the tanks "appearing" - the effect of cutting from his rapid turn of the head to the extremely obvious stock footage is quite hilarious.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
IMO it didn't ruin it, but neither did it really help it.
share