Turner Classic Movies Channel Video Featurette: Drive-In Double Features! Thursday Nights in June '11

Source: You Tube



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 2, 2011:

8:00 PM Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)

Nuclear tests awaken a prehistoric monster.

Dir: Ishiro Honda Cast: Raymond Burr, Takashi Shimura, Momoko Kochi.

9:45 PM Rodan (1957)

Miners uncover the nest of a giant pterodactyl.

Dir: Inoshiro Honda Cast: Kenji Sawara, Yumi Shirakawa, Akihiko Hirata.

11:15 PM Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

Mothra, Godzilla and Rodan join forces to take on a space invasion.

1:00 AM Monster Zero (1970)

Aliens try to use Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan to take over the planet.

Dir: Inoshiro Honda Cast: Nick Adams, Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno.

2:45 AM Dinosaurus! (1960)

Caribbean engineers accidentally revive a frozen caveman and two dinosaurs.

Dir: Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. Cast: Ward Ramsey, Paul Lukather, Kristina Hanson.

4:15 AM Valley of Gwangi, The (1969)

Cowboys discover a lost world populated by dinosaurs.

Dir: Jim O'Connolly Cast: James Franciscus, Gila Golan, Richard Carlson.