You Won't Believe Your Eyes!": A Front Row Look At The Science Fiction And Horror Movies Of The 1950's by Mark Thomas McGee (2018) To say we plowed through this book like a kid gobbling his way through his stash of Halloween candy would be a gross understatement......
Like the author, we spent our entire childhood (and beyond, we say without shame) devouring the perpetual parade of cheapo horror and sci-fi movies that played in our neighborhood theaters every Saturday afternoon.
As we've pointed out in countless posts on this blog, movie studios treated sci-fi/horror like abused step-children......thrown into darkened basements and fed a little bread and water every so often.....
Like summer stock, dinner theater or 1950's TV shows, these movies were heavily populated with a mix of actors in the twilight of their careers alongside plenty of hungry newcomers itching to get their foot in the door......(which more than few of 'em did, becoming big stars).
Were these movies bad? Sure, a lot of 'em. Some of 'em so mind-numbingly horrendous.they became cult touchstones of unintentional hilarity......
(Early in the book Author McGee shows one these gems to his young daughter......who watches stunned. "This was in theaters?" she asks in disbelief. When told yes, she can only ask "And you paid to see it?")
Yes indeed. We baby boomers happily forked over our allowances to feast upon timeless classics like "The Beast With A Million Eyes", "Cat Women Of The Moon", "Robot Monster", and "I Married A Monster From Outer Space"
And believe it or not, more than a few of these turned out to be bona fide good movies and venerated today at classics....(such as "Forbidden Planet", "Them!", "This Island Earth" among others)
McGee not only takes the reader through a breezy, witty tour through all these films, he peppers his reviews with reminiscences of the surviving actors, writers and directors who worked on them.
Each chapter's a joy to read since they reveal that despite the ultra low budgets and slapdash production of these films, they still got made with all the clashes of ego and artistic temperament that you'd only expect in a big budget major film.
We've never found ourselves so sorry to finish a book as much we felt with this one. (Kind of like savoring the last french fry with your Quarter Pounder)......
For anyone who's a fan of these films, it's must, must must read. So beloved readers of this blog should know what comes next.....yes, it's a 5 star (*****) FIND OF FINDS. Dive in and give yourselves the best end-of-summer treat ever.
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