• THE BLACK SCORPION (1957) (film retrospective)

    From Mark Leeper@21:1/5 to All on Mon Sep 6 07:03:15 2021
    The 1950s could be thought of as the Golden Age of giant arthropod
    films and frequently giant arthropod films are mis-categorized as
    science fiction.

    Some of the Fifties science fiction films are not as good as they
    once seemed. THE BLACK SCORPION, on the other hand is actually a
    better monster movie than I had remembered. True, there are a few
    embarrassing touches that leave a bad impression. But there are
    also some subtle touches in the script. It boasts the effects work
    of Willis O'Brien, best known for creating KING KONG. In fact, in
    that film when Kong shakes the men from the log, they were
    originally supposed to fall into a spider web. The decision was
    made not to use the spiders in that film and they finally get used
    here.

    One of the bad touches accounts for why the scorpion had to be
    black. The film ran out of money in production so no image of the
    scorpion could be super-imposed over the matte silhouette of the
    scorpion in many of the later scenes. The producers assumed the
    imagination of the audience would fill in just a very dark scorpion
    so the eye cannot find the details. In these scenes the monsters
    are shown in silhouette.

    The plot of THE BLACK SCORPION borrows a lot from THEM! The film
    starts with an apparent news announcement of a huge volcano, the
    largest in modern times, striking Mexico and bringing with it a
    powerful earthquake. Two main characters, geologists (played by
    Richard Denning and Carlos Rivas), are studying a volcano in Mexico
    when they get involved first with a beautiful rancher and then some
    mysterious disappearances. It seems a number of people including a
    police officer have disappeared. Also, the scientists hear some
    mysterious sounds that are a lot like the ant calls from THEM! The
    locals think that the cause is a demon bull. It takes a long time
    to establish that the real menace is a breed of twenty-foot
    scorpions released by the volcano from being sealed in rocks. Uh,
    that is the premise of this film, that arthropods sealed in rocks
    for millions of years can remain alive. The idea was used in many
    Fifties science fiction films and is probably based on the fact
    that some animal embryos can remain viable for long periods of
    time, but the idea that you could break a scorpion out of obsidian
    and it would be alive as is portrayed in one scene is complete
    balderdash. But in this case we are led to believe that this
    particular volcano and quake released a pocket of prehistoric
    monsters who had been sealed in rock. If that were true, why
    hadn't it happened with any previous quakes anywhere in the world?
    Our heroes find the cavern and enter it to use poison gas on the
    scorpions, a plan that fails but they do get to see a variety of
    giant insects, spiders, and some thing that looks like an unknown
    worm-like relative of a scorpion. The humans have to struggle to
    get out of the cavern. They seal it with dynamite only to have the
    creatures escape to cause more havoc with an attack on Mexico City.

    Richard Denning (who played an over-ambitious scientist in THE
    CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON) plays Dr. Hank Scott, and Carlos
    Rivas (of THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN) is Dr. Artur Ramos. Mara
    Corday (of TARANTULA) provides love interest as a local rancher.
    The acting is not great, but sufficient.

    The film shows the signs of a quick production and a bit of sloppy
    script construction. The worst faults of the film are use of
    mattes and the silly face of the scorpions. The face is not at all scorpion-like and is made even less so by its teeth and the fact
    that it is drooling. At one point early on we and the scientists
    hear a rattle that frightens the scientists but turns out to be a
    baby with a rattle. When we see the baby it seems too small and
    quiet to have been doing the loud rattling. The occasional use of under-cranked camera to speed up the action is too transparent and unconvincing. Generally, however, money-saving corner-cutting is
    cleverly concealed. In a scene of a line of scorpions leaving a
    cave, footage is repeated, but it take a really close examination
    to notice. The scene is used once again when the scorpions attack
    a train and here it is more noticeable. A helicopter rendered in
    stop-motion looks wrong because the of the difficulty of showing
    its fast-spinning blades by using a motionless model repositioned
    between frames. Ray Harryhausen had the same problem when he tried
    to represent fast-spinning flying saucers. A familiar voice-over
    voice is heard too often in the film. The same voice narrates the
    opening footage, is heard on the police radio, and is heard again
    toward the end of the film. We see a swarm of scorpions attack a
    train, but are told shortly thereafter that only one is left alive
    and are left wondering what killed all the others.

    On the other hand, the script is at least reasonable, making the
    film watchable by adults, and it never seems overly silly or
    juvenile. Corday plays a rancher woman who is quite capable and
    repeatedly impresses the men, somewhat against the stereotypes that
    were common in the Fifties. One nice touch is that the scientists
    make mistakes. Most notable is that they accidentally electrocute
    a soldier helping them fight the largest scorpion.

    The screenplay was written by David Duncan, a sometimes writer of
    science fiction novels. He also wrote the screenplays of THE CURSE
    OF THE FACELESS MAN, THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD, and
    (best known) THE TIME MACHINE. The Willis O'Brien scorpions are
    fairly nicely done and have motion like the kind Ray Harryhausen
    gave his creatures. O'Brien apparently used the scene of the
    attack on the phone linemen to sell the film to Warner Brothers.
    That was then used in the film and for a scene shot later in which
    we see the linemen, doubles were used and kept in shadow. Overall
    it is not too shabby for an enlarged creature film.

    Film Credits:
    <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050197/reference>

    What others are saying: <https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1044836-black_scorpion>

    --
    Mark R. Leeper

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  • From Paul S Person@21:1/5 to mleeper@optonline.net on Mon Sep 6 08:16:28 2021
    On Mon, 6 Sep 2021 07:03:15 -0700 (PDT), Mark Leeper
    <mleeper@optonline.net> wrote:

    The 1950s could be thought of as the Golden Age of giant arthropod
    films and frequently giant arthropod films are mis-categorized as
    science fiction.

    Aka "creature features".

    And this one is, indeed, one of the best.

    Some of the Fifties science fiction films are not as good as they
    once seemed. THE BLACK SCORPION, on the other hand is actually a
    better monster movie than I had remembered. True, there are a few >embarrassing touches that leave a bad impression. But there are
    also some subtle touches in the script. It boasts the effects work
    of Willis O'Brien, best known for creating KING KONG. In fact, in
    that film when Kong shakes the men from the log, they were
    originally supposed to fall into a spider web. The decision was
    made not to use the spiders in that film and they finally get used
    here.

    One of the bad touches accounts for why the scorpion had to be
    black. The film ran out of money in production so no image of the
    scorpion could be super-imposed over the matte silhouette of the
    scorpion in many of the later scenes. The producers assumed the
    imagination of the audience would fill in just a very dark scorpion
    so the eye cannot find the details. In these scenes the monsters
    are shown in silhouette.

    Works for me every time I watch it.

    The plot of THE BLACK SCORPION borrows a lot from THEM! The film
    starts with an apparent news announcement of a huge volcano, the
    largest in modern times, striking Mexico and bringing with it a
    powerful earthquake. Two main characters, geologists (played by
    Richard Denning and Carlos Rivas), are studying a volcano in Mexico
    when they get involved first with a beautiful rancher and then some >mysterious disappearances. It seems a number of people including a
    police officer have disappeared. Also, the scientists hear some
    mysterious sounds that are a lot like the ant calls from THEM! The
    locals think that the cause is a demon bull. It takes a long time
    to establish that the real menace is a breed of twenty-foot
    scorpions released by the volcano from being sealed in rocks. Uh,
    that is the premise of this film, that arthropods sealed in rocks
    for millions of years can remain alive. The idea was used in many
    Fifties science fiction films and is probably based on the fact
    that some animal embryos can remain viable for long periods of
    time, but the idea that you could break a scorpion out of obsidian
    and it would be alive as is portrayed in one scene is complete
    balderdash. But in this case we are led to believe that this
    particular volcano and quake released a pocket of prehistoric
    monsters who had been sealed in rock. If that were true, why
    hadn't it happened with any previous quakes anywhere in the world?
    Our heroes find the cavern and enter it to use poison gas on the
    scorpions, a plan that fails but they do get to see a variety of
    giant insects, spiders, and some thing that looks like an unknown
    worm-like relative of a scorpion. The humans have to struggle to
    get out of the cavern. They seal it with dynamite only to have the
    creatures escape to cause more havoc with an attack on Mexico City.

    IIRC, they also see the Black Scorpion kill one of the others -- thus
    revealing where the scorpions are vulnerable.

    The "apparent news announcement" may have been tweaked for the film,
    but the footage is most likely actual footage of the Paracutin volcano
    in 1943, including the reaction of the villagers. No giant scorpions accompanied /that/ eruption, of course.

    Richard Denning (who played an over-ambitious scientist in THE
    CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON) plays Dr. Hank Scott, and Carlos
    Rivas (of THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN) is Dr. Artur Ramos. Mara
    Corday (of TARANTULA) provides love interest as a local rancher.
    The acting is not great, but sufficient.

    The film shows the signs of a quick production and a bit of sloppy
    script construction. The worst faults of the film are use of
    mattes and the silly face of the scorpions. The face is not at all >scorpion-like and is made even less so by its teeth and the fact
    that it is drooling. At one point early on we and the scientists
    hear a rattle that frightens the scientists but turns out to be a
    baby with a rattle. When we see the baby it seems too small and
    quiet to have been doing the loud rattling. The occasional use of >under-cranked camera to speed up the action is too transparent and >unconvincing. Generally, however, money-saving corner-cutting is
    cleverly concealed. In a scene of a line of scorpions leaving a
    cave, footage is repeated, but it take a really close examination
    to notice. The scene is used once again when the scorpions attack
    a train and here it is more noticeable. A helicopter rendered in
    stop-motion looks wrong because the of the difficulty of showing
    its fast-spinning blades by using a motionless model repositioned
    between frames. Ray Harryhausen had the same problem when he tried
    to represent fast-spinning flying saucers. A familiar voice-over
    voice is heard too often in the film. The same voice narrates the
    opening footage, is heard on the police radio, and is heard again
    toward the end of the film. We see a swarm of scorpions attack a
    train, but are told shortly thereafter that only one is left alive
    and are left wondering what killed all the others.

    I'm fairly sure we are told (radio announcer? gummint official?
    scientist?) that the Black Scorpion killed them all.

    Not that that necessarily makes the reduction in giant scorpionkind
    any more realistic.

    On the other hand, the script is at least reasonable, making the
    film watchable by adults, and it never seems overly silly or
    juvenile. Corday plays a rancher woman who is quite capable and
    repeatedly impresses the men, somewhat against the stereotypes that
    were common in the Fifties. One nice touch is that the scientists
    make mistakes. Most notable is that they accidentally electrocute
    a soldier helping them fight the largest scorpion.

    The screenplay was written by David Duncan, a sometimes writer of
    science fiction novels. He also wrote the screenplays of THE CURSE
    OF THE FACELESS MAN, THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD, and
    (best known) THE TIME MACHINE. The Willis O'Brien scorpions are
    fairly nicely done and have motion like the kind Ray Harryhausen
    gave his creatures. O'Brien apparently used the scene of the
    attack on the phone linemen to sell the film to Warner Brothers.
    That was then used in the film and for a scene shot later in which
    we see the linemen, doubles were used and kept in shadow. Overall
    it is not too shabby for an enlarged creature film.

    O'Brien, as I understand it, trained Harryhausen, so the similarity is
    to be expected.

    Film Credits:
    <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050197/reference>

    What others are saying: ><https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1044836-black_scorpion>
    --
    "I begin to envy Petronius."
    "I have envied him long since."

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  • From T987654321@21:1/5 to All on Fri Sep 17 10:36:28 2021
    Awful FX even for low budget at the time.

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  • From Paul S Person@21:1/5 to qwrtz123@gmail.com on Sat Sep 18 08:39:21 2021
    On Fri, 17 Sep 2021 10:36:28 -0700 (PDT), T987654321
    <qwrtz123@gmail.com> wrote:

    Awful FX even for low budget at the time.

    If you say so.

    I've always found them perfectly adequate.

    But then, my criteria are practical: do I believe it? (That is, is
    disbelief suspended?)

    I'm not interested in technical details.
    --
    "I begin to envy Petronius."
    "I have envied him long since."

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)