The Beginning of the End (1957)

Beginning of the End is a 1957 American science fiction film directed by Bert I. Gordon and starring Peter Graves and Peggie Castle. The film is about an agricultural scientist (Graves) who has successfully grown gigantic vegetables using radiation. Unfortunately, the vegetables are then eaten by locusts (the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers), which grow to gigantic size and attack the nearby city of Chicago. The film is generally recognized for its "atrocious" special effects and considered to be one of the most poorly written and acted science fiction motion pictures of the 1950s.

The film opens with newspaper photojournalist Audrey Aimes (Castle) accidentally stumbling upon a small town in Illinois which has been inexplicably destroyed. All 150 people in the town are missing, and the evidence indicates they are dead. Incredibly, the local fields are also barren, as if a swarm of locusts had eaten all the crops. Aimes suspects that the military is covering something up, and travels to a nearby United States Department of Agriculture experimental farm to learn what creature might have caused the agricultural destruction. She meets Dr. Ed Wainwright (Graves), who is experimenting with radiation as a means of growing gigantic fruits and vegetables to end world hunger. Dr. Wainwright reports that there have been a number of mysterious incidents nearby, and that locusts have eaten all the radioactive wheat stored in a nearby grain silo. The tension in the film rises as the audience sees gigantic mutant locusts rampaging over the countryside. Dr. Wainwright and Ms. Aimes begin to track down the source of the mysterious occurrences, and quickly discover that the locusts which ate the grain have grown to the size of city bus. The monsters have eaten all the crops in the area, and now are seeking human beings as a means of sustenance. It is also clear that they are headed for the city of Chicago. Wainwright and Aimes meet with General Hanson (Ankrum), Colonel Sturgeon (Henry), and Captain Barton (Seay) to strategize a solution. Machine gun and artillery fire seem ineffective against the creatures, and there are far too many to effectively deal with all at once. The United States Army and Illinois National Guard are called upon to help protect the city. But the monsters quickly invade Chicago, and began to feast on human flesh as well as several buildings. General Hanson concludes that the only way to destroy the beasts en masse is to use a nuclear weapon and destroy Chicago. However, Dr. Wainwright realizes that the locusts are warm-weather creatures. He concludes that he might be able to lure the locusts into Lake Michigan. There, the cold water will incapacitate them, and they will drown. The lure itself will be a tape recording of the locust mating call. The plan is put into effect, and it works at the last possible moment. The monstrous locusts drown, but Dr. Wainwright and Ms. Aimes wonder if other insects or animals might have eaten other radioactive crops. They ponder whether the whole world might be facing an attack of monstrous creatures.

Films with a science fiction theme were an uncommon but well-established genre of motion picture long before the 1950s. By one film historian's count, the "modern" era of science fiction film began in 1951 with the release of The Day the Earth Stood Still and When Worlds Collide.In 1952, King Kong was re-released theatrically. King Kong proved immensely popular, holding its own against new releases such as Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth (which later won the Academy Award for Best Picture). King Kong earned $2 million to $3 million dollars (estimates vary) that year, roughly double the box office gross of its initial release and making the re-release very highly profitable for RKO Pictures. In response to the success of King Kong, many film studios rushed science fiction-themed films into production. The following year saw the release of four highly influential motion pictures: The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, It Came from Outer Space, Invaders from Mars, and The War of the Worlds. The financial success of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (distributed by Warner Bros.) sparked an interest in giant monster films, and in 1954 Warner Bros. released another very profitable monster film, Them! With the success of these two films, giant insect pictures became a distinct sub-genre of science fiction films in the 1950s. Beginning of the End was financed by American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres (AB-PT). The company had been formed in February 1953 when the American Broadcasting Company and United Paramount Theatres merged. In September 1956, AB-PT (sometimes also called "Am-Par") announced the formation of a movie studio, and revealed a slate of six films a year in January 1957.The studio's focus was on low-budget features which it could place in its theatres in the Northeast and South. AB-PT hoped to expand to a yearly slate of 20 pictures, and signed a distribution deal with Republic Pictures to get them into theatres. Beginning of the End went into production in 1956, the first of the "boom years" for science fiction films in the United States. Its production was a direct outcome of the success of Them! AB-PT announced on November 29, 1956, that it had approved production of its first film, Beginning of the End and announced on December 2, 1956, that production would begin immediately. The company said it had hired 34-year-old Bert I. Gordon to direct and produce. Gordon had gotten his start as a supervising producer for televised commercials and network TV shows, had produced his first feature film (Serpent Island) in 1954, and directed his first feature film (King Dinosaur) in 1955.

The story was already set, according to press reports, with Variety claiming that Bert I. Gordon had already completed the script. Press sources noted that the studio was clearly attempting to cash-in on the science fiction movie craze. However, the final screenplay is credited to Fred Frieberger (a veteran writer of B movies) and Lester Gorn. The screen story bears a striking resemblance to the 1904 H. G. Wells novel The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth. (Gordon would adapt this novel twice more, once for Embassy Pictures in 1965's Village of the Giants and again for American International Pictures in 1976's The Food of the Gods.) Casting was complete within two weeks of the start of production. In late November, AB-PT said actress Mala Powers was being considered for the female lead. But on December 2, the studio revealed that Peter Graves and Peggie Castle had been cast as the leads. Three days later, AB-PT announced that Don C. Harvey, Morris Ankrum, Pierre Watkin, Ralph Sanford, and Richard Benedict had also been cast.The studio also said that Pat Dean, its "sexboat" discovery (and a former dancer at the El Rancho Vegas hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada) would also appear in the picture. Larry Blake, Duane Cress, James Douglas, Eileen Jannsen, John Kranston, Ann Loos, and Jeanne Wood were added to the cast a few days later. Ankrum, Henry, and Seay were cast because they usually played military men in B movies, roles they portrayed in Beginning of the End as well.

John A. Marta, a veteran cinematographer, and Aaron Stell, a long-time film editor, also worked on the film. Marta had shot close to 150 B movies for Republic Pictures by this time, which is probably why he was hired (given AB-PT's relationship with that studio and Marta's fast-and-quick shooting style). Albert Glasser composed the musical score. Glasser worked in the same office building where Gordon had his offices, and Gordon admired his score for the 1956 war film Huk! (a B movie from Pan Pacific Productions). Gordon had already used Glasser to score his 1956 monster movie The Cyclops. Glasser wrote the musical score for Beginning of the End as well as five more of Gordon's films.Glasser was paid $4,000 for his work on The Cyclops, which may indicate how much he was paid for the musical score for Beginning of the End.The musical soundtrack included the song "Natural, Natural Baby. The art director was Walter Keller. It is not clear what the budget for the picture was, although descriptions often use the term "low budget" or "ultra-low-budget." According to a statement by AB-PT President Leonard Goldenson in 1957, the average cost of the AB-PT pictures greenlit to date was $300,000.  In comparison, Invaders From Mars was budgeted at $150,000, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms cost $400,000,  It Came From Outer Space cost $532,000,  Them! came in at under $1 million, and 1953's The War of the Worlds cost $2 million.

Filming began December 3, 1956.  Shooting took place on the Republic Pictures backlot at 4024 Radford Avenue in Los Angeles, California (built by Mack Sennett and now home to CBS Studio Center). Actor Peter Graves said Gordon "was okay, he was a good director."  He also had praise for actress Peggie Castle, and said he felt privileged to be working with an actor of Morris Ankrum's stature. Gordon himself provided the special effects for the film. According to composer Glasser, Gordon literally worked out of his home garage. Animated grasshoppers were considered, but the idea rejected as too costly.So Gordon relied heavily on split screen, static mattes, and rear projection effects for the film. But his most important effort was one he had used in King Dinosaur: Placing live creatures on still photographs, and blowing air at them to encourage the creatures to move.Gordon purchased 200 non-hopping, non-flying, live grasshoppers in Texas (which had recently seen an outbreak of a species of exceptionally large locusts) for the film. But when he attempted to bring them into California for filming, state agricultural officials required that every single one of the animals be inspected and sexed. He later described his efforts

I had to get my grasshoppers from Waco, Texas. They had the only species large enough to carry focus. I could only import males because they didn't want the things to start breeding. They even had someone from the agricultural department or some place like that come out to take a head count, or wing count. The grasshoppers turned cannibalistic. Gordon kept the grasshoppers in a box for only a few days, but during that time the grasshoppers devoured one another and only 12 were left when Gordon finally got around to shooting them. Gordon also considered building miniatures for the grasshoppers to climb on, but this, too, was deemed too expensive. Instead, Gordon used still photographs of the Wrigley Building and other noted Chicago landmarks and simply filmed the grasshoppers moving about on top of the photograph. When the monsters are supposed to be wounded or killed by gunfire, Gordon merely tipped the photograph and the grasshoppers slid down it. According to one film historian, "the effect looks (almost) real" until one of the grasshoppers steps off the "building" into what is supposed to be thin air
-From Wikipedia


THE BEGINNING OF THE ENd
BERT I. GORDON  (1957)
REPUBLIC PICTURES
76 MIN
USA

Earth vs the Spider (1958)

Earth vs. the Spider (also known as The Spider and Earth vs. the Giant Spider) is a 1958 American black-and-white science fiction horror film produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon, who also wrote the story, upon which the screenplay by George Worthing Yates and Laszlo Gorog is based. It starred Ed Kemmer, Eugene Persson and June Kenney. The film's original title was Earth vs. the Spider but when The Fly, also released in 1958, became a blockbuster, the film company changed the name to The Spider on all advertising material. The original screen title, however, was never changed.
Jack Flynn is driving down a highway at night, looking at a bracelet he has bought his daughter for her birthday. Suddenly he hits something and his vehicle crashes. The next morning, his teenage daughter Carol, concerned her "bad-dog" father didn't come home last night, convinces her boyfriend Mike to go looking with her for him. They find his crashed truck and the bracelet, but not his body. Thinking he crawled into a nearby cave, they investigate. In the cave they fall onto the gigantic orb web of an enormous spider, a Mexican redleg tarantula, which emerges from behind some rocks to get them. They manage to escape and make it back to town. Carol and Mike have a hard time convincing the Sheriff about the giant spider, but with the help of their science teacher, Mr. Kingman, they go take a look and when they are at the cave again the missing man's body is discovered drained of fluid. The spider attacks again convincing the sheriff, who orders large amounts of DDT to kill the giant spider, and appears successful. The apparently lifeless body of the spider is taken back to town to the high school gym where Kingman wants to study it. A group of teenagers uses the gym to practice rock and roll numbers they are going to play for a school dance. As other teenagers enter the gym they begin dancing and the giant tarantula regains consciousness and the kids run out of the gym screaming while the janitor, stopping to call the sheriff, is killed.

The spider breaks out of the gym and terrorizes the town, killing a number of people before it heads back to its cave. It also pays Mrs. Kingman and her baby an unwelcome visit at their home until her husband, in his car, bangs the creature at its leg and leads it from the house. The Sheriff along with Kingman decide to use dynamite to seal the spider in, but they discover Carol and Mike are in the cave looking for the bracelet her father had bought her, which she had lost the first time in the cave. The spider chases them out onto a narrow ledge. Kingman acquires a couple of large electrodes. They run cables outside to some power lines as the tarantula is descending on a strand of web to get at the trapped teenagers. Kingman throws Mike one of the electrodes, and then they turn on the juice and electrocute the spider. The arachnid falls, impaling itself on agmites at the bottom of the cave.

From Wikipedia

EARTH VS THE SPIDER
BERT I. GORDON
AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURES
USA
73 MIN

Attack of the Puppet People (1957)

Attack of the Puppet People (also known as I Was a Teenage Doll (working title), Six Inches Tall (UK) and The Fantastic Puppet People) is a 1958 American black-and-white science fiction Horror film directed, produced and written by Bert I. Gordon. It stars John Hoyt as an eccentric doll maker. It was produced by Alta Vista Productions and distributed by American International Pictures. The film was rushed into production by American International Pictures and Bert I. Gordon to capitalise on the success of The Incredible Shrinking Man, which had been released in 1957.

The film begins with a Brownie troop visiting a doll manufacturing company called Dolls Inc., owned and operated by the seemingly kindly Mr. Franz (John Hoyt). As the girls tour the factory, they see a number of very lifelike dolls stored in glass canisters locked in a display case on the wall. These are part of Mr. Franz’s special collection. Sally Reynolds (June Kenney) answers a newspaper advertisement for a secretary; Franz's previous one has mysteriously vanished. Although she is concerned about his obsession with his dolls, she reluctantly agrees to take the job. She soon meets a traveling salesman, Bob Westley (John Agar), who introduces himself as the best salesman in St. Louis and immediately sets about attempting to seduce her. Their relationship become serious enough that Bob persuades Sally to quit her job, promising to break the news to Franz. The next day however, Franz informs Sally that Bob has gone back home to take care of business and that she should forget him. She, however, is unwilling to accept this and goes to the police with a theory about Franz' role in her boyfriend's disappearance ("He made Bob into a doll!"), but Sergeant Paterson (Jack Kosslyn) is skeptical. Franz has developed a machine which can shrink people down to a sixth of their original size. He then uses it on anyone who tries to leave him. When he finds that Sally plans to quit, she becomes his latest victim. Franz has already miniaturized at least four other "friends". They are stored in suspended animation (which he has also invented) in glass jars in a display case in his office. After a reunion between Sally and Bob, Franz reveals how the process works and why he miniaturizes people (it seems that he developed a strong phobia against being alone after his wife left him). Periodically, Franz awakens his captives to enjoy parties he throws for them.

During a welcoming party for the two newcomers, Franz has to deal with full-size friend and customer Emil (Michael Mark). The prisoners try, but fail to call for help. However, Sergeant Paterson begins investigating Franz, as many people he knows seems to be missing. After Franz is questioned by Paterson, he panics, announcing to his miniature prisoners that he plans to kill them and himself before he can be caught. He takes his troupe to an old theatre, supposedly to test his repairs on Emil's marionette. There, he throws one last party, making his captives act out Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for him. Bob and Sally manage to escape and make it back to Franz's workshop. Franz tracks them down, but not before they are able to return themselves to normal size. They leave to fetch the police, despite his feeble pleas. The fate of the other prisoners still miniaturized and frozen is not revealed.


ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE
BERT I. GORDON  (1957)
AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURES
79 MIN
USA

The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)

The Amazing Colossal Man is a 1957 black-and-white science fiction film, directed by Bert I. Gordon and starring Glenn Langan. The film revolves around a 60 foot mutant man produced as the result of an atomic accident. Distributed by American International Pictures (AIP) at the top of a program double-bill with The Cat Girl, the film was followed by a sequel, War of the Colossal Beast, which appeared in 1958.


Langan plays Lt. Col. Glenn Manning, an officer in the U.S. Army who suffers serious burns to over 90% of his body following an inadvertent exposure to plutonium radiation from a bomb blast. He miraculously survives the explosion and his burns completely heal, but the radiation causes him to abnormally grow into a 60-foot-tall giant. At this size, his heart is unable to supply sufficient blood to his brain and he gradually goes insane. Army doctors attempt to halt and reverse his growth with a formula, but after getting injected with the cure, he grabs the needle and spears one of the doctors with it, killing him on the spot. He then escapes from confinement, "kidnaps" his girlfriend, Carol Forrest (played by Cathy Downs), and wreaks havoc in Las Vegas before being cornered by the Army at the Hoover Dam. After releasing Carol he is shot and appears to fall to his death in the Colorado River. From Wikipedia

One of my all time favorite movies, this was the first film I saw as a kid that intoduced me to a whole new world of cinema. -JB

THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN
BERT I. GORDON  (1957)
AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURES
73 MIN
USA

The Village of the Giants (1965)

Village of the Giants is a 1965 science-fiction/comedy movie with many elements of the beach party film genre. It was produced, directed and written by Bert I. Gordon, and based loosely on H.G. Wells's book The Food of the Gods. The story revolves mostly around a chemical substance called "Goo", which causes giant growth in living things, and what happens after a gang of rebellious youngsters get their hands on it. The cast was mostly teens, or young actors playing teens, and The Beau Brummels and Freddy Cannon make musical guest appearances. The movie was a low-budget exploitation film and not a huge hit (released mostly to drive-ins as part of a double bill), but had some notable use of special effects and undoubted sex appeal, and went on to become a cult classic. The movie proved far more successful years later, when released on home video. Village of the Giants takes place in fictional Hainesville, California. After crashing their car into a roadblock during a rainstorm, a group of partying, big-city teenagers (Fred, Pete, Rick, Harry, and their girlfriends Merrie, Elsa, Georgette and Jean) first indulge in a vigorous, playful mud-wrestling fight, then hike their way into town. Fred remembers meeting a girl from Hainesville named Nancy, and they decide to look her up. Nancy, meanwhile, is with her boyfriend Mike, while her younger brother "Genius" plays with his chemistry set in the basement. Genius accidentally creates a substance he names "Goo", that causes animals, including a pair of ducks, to grow to gigantic size. The out-of-town teens break into the local theater and clean up from the rain, then go to a nearby club where The Beau Brummels are performing. Shortly, the giant ducks turn up, followed by Mike and Nancy. Everyone is astounded by the size of the ducks, wondering how they got so big. Mike explains that it's a secret, but following a suggestion made by their friends Horsey and Red, they host a picnic in the town square the next day, roasting the ducks and feeding everybody. Freddy Cannon is featured singing a song in this scene. Fred and his friends also see potential in whatever made the ducks grow, but their minds are purely on profit. They scheme to learn the secret, and are ultimately successful, escaping with a sample. Back at the theater, the gang argues over what to do with the Goo, now that they have it. Feeling peer pressure, Fred slices up the Goo, giving everyone a piece each, which they consume a moment later. As the Goo takes effect, they each grow to over thirty feet tall, ripping right out of their clothes. At first everyone is shocked and regretful, but realizing their newfound power at their new size, the gang decide to take over the town.


Overnight, the giants decide to isolate Hainesville from the rest of the world. They rip out the telephone lines, overturn broadcasting antennas, and block the remaining roads out of town. When the sheriff and Mike arrive to deal with them, they discover that the giants have no plans to leave – and are literally holding the sheriff's daughter, as "insurance" that they won't have any trouble. While the town's adults seem paralyzed, the teens decide to fight back. An attempt to capture Fred results in Nancy being taken hostage. Meanwhile, Genius continues to work, trying to produce more Goo. Mike asks Genius to forget the Goo for awhile, and make them a supply of ether – having noticed the giants only leave one guard on the hostages, Mike and Horsey plot to subdue that guard, recover the guns, and free Nancy and the sheriff's daughter. Having led the giants outside the theater, Mike plays David to Fred's Goliath, to distract them while Horsey and the others effect the rescue. Genius' newest attempt at Goo results in an antidote. He rides over to the square on a bicycle with a pail full of the fuming antidote. As the giants breathe in the fumes, they all return to normal. Mike cold-cocks the surprised Fred, and promptly runs him and his friends, looking silly in their now-oversized clothes, out of town. From Wikipedia



VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS
BERT I. GORDON
EMBASSY PICTURES
81 MIN
USA

War of the Colossal Beast (1958)

War of the Colossal Beast is a 1958 black-and-white science fiction film, directed by Bert I. Gordon and produced by Carmel Productions and distributed by American International Pictures. It continued the storyline of the 1957 movie The Amazing Colossal Man, although it was not marketed as a direct sequel, and featured a different cast.[1] Both The Amazing Colossal Man and War of the Colossal Beast were later mocked on the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000. Upon hearing of several recent robberies of food delivery trucks in Mexico, Joyce Manning, the sister of Army officer Lt. Col. Glenn Manning (though in The Amazing Colossal Man, Glenn's fiance said Glenn had no surviving family), becomes convinced that her brother survived his fall from the Hoover Dam at the end of the first film. Along with Army officer Major Mark Baird and scientist Dr. Carmichael, she goes to Mexico to look for him.



It is discovered that Manning, now grown to 60 feet tall after being exposed to plutonium radiation, survived his fall from the Hoover Dam at the end of the previous movie, but he has gone insane and part of his face was left disfigured following his confrontation with the Army at the dam. Not only has the plutonium radiation mutated him into a 60 foot disfigured freak, it also has conferred other benefits; drastically reducing his vocabulary and diet - he now appears capable only of uttering simple variations on "aarrrgh" (although he does manage a single strangled "Joyce!" at the movie's end) and only eating loaves of bread (by the truck-load). Manning is captured and drugged by the Army and taken back to America, but he again escapes and goes on a rampage through Los Angeles and Hollywood. Eventually, Joyce makes him snap to his senses and realizing what he has done, Manning kills himself by electrocution (somehow causing the movie to change from black and white to color for the final minute) on high-voltage power lines around the Griffith Park Observatory. The ending, involving electrocution, is almost exactly like the death of the 50-ft Woman.

From Wikipedia

WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST
BERT I. GORDON  (1958)
AIP
68 MIN
USA

Tormented (1960)

Tormented is a 1960 horror movie starring Richard Carlson and was directed and produced by Bert I. Gordon for Allied Artists Pictures Corporation.

Jazz pianist Tom Stewart (Carlson), who lives on an island community, is preparing to marry his fiancee Meg. Shortly before the wedding, Tom's old girlfriend Vi (Juli Reding) visits and informs him that she will end Tom's relationship with Meg, using blackmail if necessary. While arguing on top of a lighthouse, the railing Vi is leaning against gives way. She manages to briefly hang on, but Tom refuses to help and watches her fall to her death. The next day, Tom sees Vi's body floating in the water. He retrieves her only to see the body turn into seaweed. Tom tries to forget what he's seen, but over the next several days, all manner of strange occurrences happen. Vi's watch washes up on the beach and mysterious footprints appear in the sand. Before long, Vi's ghost appears and tells Tom that she will haunt him for the rest of his life. One day, Meg's little sister Sandy shows up and asks Tom if she can see the engagement ring. As Tom shows it to Sandy, he's spooked by a disembodied hand that soon makes off with the ring. Soon afterward, a party is held for Tom and Meg. Vi's disembodied head makes a small appearance in a photo taken of Tom and Meg, and when he's alone, Vi taunts Tom that she'll now use her voice to tell the world how Tom Stewart killed her. To add to Tom's dilemma, a ferry-driving beatnik comes looking for Tom, intent on collecting the $5 Vi owes him for her trip to the island. Tom's haste to pay the fellow off causes the shifty man to stick around, where his attempts to blackmail Tom lead to the ferryman's death. However, unbeknownst to Tom, Sandy has inadvertently witnessed the murder. At the wedding, Sandy keeps quiet about what she's seen, but almost says something at the point in the sermon where it asks if anyone "can give reason why these two should not be joined in matrimony." Before she can speak, the church's front doors burst open and the flowers all begin to wilt as the candles die out, bringing the ceremony to an abrupt and unpleasant end. Later that night, Tom goes to the lighthouse, telling Vi that he's leaving the island. Soon after, Sandy listens in to what Tom says. When Tom finds her, he realizes that he's now trapped; Sandy knows too much and could possibly tell Meg and the others. A desperate Tom leads Sandy up to the broken lighthouse railing with the intent to push her over. But just then, Vi's ghost swoops down on Tom, causing him to go over the edge as Sandy watches. Soon afterward, the islanders go searching for Tom's body. However, the first one they find is Vi's. Shortly afterward, Tom's body is found and placed next to Vi's body, which somehow manages to turn and lay its arm across his body. On Vi's dead hand is the engagement ring that was supposed to be Meg's, signaling that Tom is now stuck forever with Vi.


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TORMENTED
BERT I. GORDON (1960)
76 MIN
USA