17th September 1971, All-Night Session of Sci and Fi ‘Kensington Post’ page 39
Mary Lear
A VARIED mixture of science fiction movies makes up this month’s all-night show at the Electric Cinema Club, Portobello Road (Friday and Saturday).
H. G. Wells’ prophetic novel THE TIME MACHINE was brought to the screen in 1960 by the American director George Pal. Starring Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux, it won its creators an Academy Award for the excellence of the film’s special effects.
This is one of Pal’s best sci-fi movies, and Pal was a specialist, remember: DESTINATION MOON, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS and CONQUEST OF SPACE?
The plot of CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED, a British sci-fi classic made in 1963, was suggested by John Wyndham’s “Midwich Cuckoos.”
The film was chosen by the Electric in preference to the original screen play, VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED because it gives an infinitely more effective interpretation of Wyndham’s basic idea of children from space born to ordinary human folk.
Starring Ian Hendry and Alan Badel, it includes a fine wrangle over the moral issues between the two.
THEM! is another classic of its kind. Made in the U.S. in 1954 and directed by Gordon Douglas, it tells how an atomic test creates a nest of giant ants which threaten the world with destruction.
THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED deals with a theme which has always fascinated sci-fi writers and film-makers alike. Roger Corman takes a handful of ill-assorted people. makes them survive nuclear destruction and then battles for control of a valley which has escaped contamination.
