TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES CHANNEL VIDEO FEATURETTE: Drive-In Double Features! Thursday Nights in June 2011
Drive-In Double Features - Thursdays in June
It came from the drive-in! The al fresco movie theater, a rage of the 1950s and '60s, spawned a new type of film -- the creature feature aimed at Atomic Age teenagers. These youngsters found their own parked car a perfect place to fall into each other's arms while being scared silly by B-movie monsters, often representing the anxieties of the age, such as threats of nuclear war or science fun amok. What could be more nostalgic, or more fun, than reliving those warm summer nights of dreamy dates and dread-inducing double features?
TCM presents a summertime festival spotlighting some of the most sensational monsters to have graced those drive-in movie screens that once dotted the American landscape. No less than 15 of the films are TCM premieres, including four examples of the Golden Age of Japanese movie monsters. Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956) is the Americanized version of the 1954 Japanese film Gijira, introducing the giant monster to U.S. audiences with re-dubbing and inserted scenes featuring Raymond Burr as a reporter who helps fight the menace. Also screening: Rodan (1957), Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster (1965) and Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (1970).
Other campy creatures making their TCM debuts include Tarantula (1955), a spider that grows to the size of large buildings; The Cyclops (1957), a one-eyed terror who's 25 feet tall; The Giant Behemoth (1959), a once-dormant dinosaur that rises from a polluted ocean emitting deadly radiation; and The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955), another radioactive monster from the deep.
On the distaff side, we have Susan Cabot as The Wasp Woman (1959); Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958), starring Allison Hayes; and Queen of Outer Space (1958) which includes the great Zsa Zsa Gabor!
Airing Thursday, June 16, 2011:
8:00 PM Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
A harridan with a philandering husband has an alien encounter and grows to mammoth proportions, seeks revenge on hubby. Hilariously awful sci-fi with some of the funniest special effects of all time. Remade for TV in 1993 with Daryl Hannah.
Dir: Nathan Hertz Cast: Allison Hayes, William Hudson, Yvette Vickers.
9:30 PM Village of the Giants (1965)
Delinquent teens ingest a substance and grow to 30 feet tall, then proceed to take over a small town.
Dir: Bert I. Gordon Cast: Tommy Kirk, Johnny Crawford, Beau Bridges.
11:00 PM Queen of Outer Space (1958)
Manned rocket ship from Earth is abducted to Venus, where the planet is ruled entirely by women. Silly, to say the least, but at least some of the laughs were intentional. Zsa Zsa, incidentally, does not play the title character!
Dir: Edward Bernds Cast: Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming, Lisa Davis.
12:30 AM Mars Needs Women (1968)
Mars invades the Earth in a search for female companionship.
Dir: Larry Buchanan Cast: Tommy Kirk, Byron Lord, Yvonne Craig.
2:00 AM Cyclops (1957)
Expedition scours Mexico in search of Talbott's lost fiance, discovers that radiation has transformed him into an enormous monster. Nothing much in this cheapie.
Dir: Bert I. Gordon Cast: James Craig, Gloria Talbott, Lon Chaney [Jr.].
3:30 AM The Manster (1962)
A mad scientist turns a reporter into a two-headed killer.
Dir: George P. Breakston Cast: Peter Dyneley, Jane Hylton, Satoshi Nakamura.
4:45 AM The Killer Shrews (1959)
No, this isn't about an attack of nagging wives, it's an inventive but silly sci-fi tale of people isolated on a Texas island, menaced by title creatures created by well-intentioned scientist.
Dir: Ray Kellogg Cast: James Best, Ingrid Goude, Ken Curtis.
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