Originally Posted by Inspector Abberline  There did not seem to be a thread for 1940's sci-fi,so I stuck it here.
Dr Cyclops (1940)
What first stands out as the film begins,is how extraordinarily vibrant the color is on the screen,which seems quite incredible when you consider how old it is.And although I love black and white films,you do begin to wonder what other films from that era would of looked like in this vibrant color.The story see's Albert Dekker as Dr. Thorkel,summon some other scientist to his hide out in the deepest dankest jungles of Peru,where he has been secretly been experimenting,on what you may ask?? well we do not find out until his colleagues start to get on his nerves,he then tricks them into a room ,and hey presto he shrinks the whole lot of them down to size,well about twelve inches to be precise.Yes Dr Cyclops has got himself a shrinking gizmo,that's probably not the technical term but it will do.Its quite extraordinary to think that this movie was made in 1940,especially considering how much better it is compared to say Honey I shrunk the Kids (1989) ,and the special effect's are equally effective to anything that was in that film,it has some excellent miniature effects work and would certainly make a great double bill with The Incredible Shrinking Man.When checking out the credits on the WWW,I was surprised to read that the film has some underling but unintentional references to world war 2,with Dr Cyclops looking decidedly Japanese and his gizmo drawing power from a radium mine. (nuclear power) To be honest my mind was working in a total different direction,in one scene Frank Yaconelli as Pedro,is trying to talk to his dog,unfortunately Pedro is only twelve inches high,and well his dogs genitals would of been in his eye level,slightly off putting when your that tall. Directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack, who made not only King KOng but the equally brilliant The Most Dangerous Game,does a sterling job in keeping the action flowing,although at 77 minutes its not exactly Gone with the Wind either. Whether you want a dose of quick B-Movie science fiction or you have a thing for shrinking things,you could do no worse than this cracking film,my only gripe was that when Dr Cyclops shrunk the group,there clothes didn't shrink with them,but when we next see them they are conveniently wearing bed sheets or probably handkerchiefs as toga's,still a great entertaining movie. |