Political theory and practice

The Stranger (1964-1965).

IMDb meta-data is 12 episodes of 30 minutes each, rated 8.1 by 35 cinematizens.  

Genre: Sy Fy; Species Australian; Sub-species Adolescent.  

Verdict:  Daring then, boring now.

One dark and stormy night a man knocks at the door as he lies down on the steps in the rain.  This odd way of prone knocking is the first of many odd things about this man, call him Adam.  The ideal family within welcomes him only discover (1) Adam remembers nothing (= the scriptwriter’s old friend, amnesia) and (2) he is multi-lingual. Sure enough Dad puts him to work teaching school.  (I started to think of that conman Parkin.) 

Adam bunks at the bottom of the garden and two more things become apparent: (1) he is secretive and (2) has a near hypnotic power over the boys in the class room that makes him the envy of other teachers.  

Aimed at adolescent viewers with three clean-cut, asexual, and elderly teenagers wearing school uniforms in the leads.  Two of them look to be in their 30s, but I could not confirm or deny that perception on the IMDb.  Reg Livermore is in it, yes, Frank-N-Furter from the Rocky Horror Show (1972 +).

In later episodes there is a Queensland caravan on stilts for vertical takeoff, a pipe-smoking professor, two thick plank plods, a media frenzy, a cigar-chopping industrialist, a bumptious secret agent, and the Parkes Radio Telescope which stole the show.

We took it one episode at a time, but shied at the last one, fearing we would fall asleep on the sofa and crash to the floor. For it is lugubrious. It is slow enough to have been filmed underwater.

Yet at the time it must have been a bold decision for the staid old ABC to make it when nearly all programming was very conventional: Dance programs for teens, cooking for women, fishing for men. The two commercial channels (7 and 9) were the same, very careful not to offend or confuse. At the time the commercial channels vigorously opposed any local content requirement, leaving it to the ABC to do that. Bold because science fiction was certainly not mainstream in 1964 and bold because there are segments where the aliens speak their language with no translation of any kind, leaving the audience as lost as the characters in the story. Bold also because it is not respectful of authority, the plod range from incompetent to obstructive, the media representatives are irresponsible, the government agents are rule-bound, even the United Nations gets a slap.

The story does play on the Australian dichotomy of immigration. Yes, immigrants are needed but no we don’t want them disturbing our ways. The Pacific Island solution, rediscovered a few years ago, is applied here and the aliens are settled on an inaccessible island. The Prime Minister is one Chips Rafferty, a long way from Tobruk.

The Parkes Radio Telescope is a set for several episodes and it looks like they really did use it long before The Dish (2000). There is also extensive footage of parade through Sydney at the end, and that might have been the Queen’s visit. If so, then Herself was lined up along the street somewhere.

Made 60 years ago, it creaks. You Tube’s Mechanical Turk recommended it and then Kate discovered it on iView.  

IMDb meta-data is runtime of 24 episodes at 30 minutes each, rated 7.7 by 727 cinematizens.

Genre: Sy Fy.

Verdict: Addictive.

France 1978: When his major project fails, a Cartesian astrophysicist is shunted off to a backwater until the reaction to the expensive flop dies down. He is sent to head a unit dedicated to Objects Volents Non-Identifiés (OVNIs) sightings, that is, UFOs to you. A bad joke and a nightmare, this assignment seems to him. The more since no one in a subsequent inquiry can explain the failure of the major project. In the infamous last words of many a technician ’That should (have) work(ed).’  

However, needs must and off he goes just past the broom cupboard before the last exit. There he finds…Groupe d’Étudies sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-Identifié (GEPAN), that is, Study Group on Unidentified Aerospace Phenomenon. Amid all the erroneous reports by nut cases there are a few anomalies which Cartesian, man of science, decides to resolve. Doing so, he reasons, will restore his reputation in the scientific community. For the work he has three subordinates, a receptionist to answer the telephone, an unpaid intern to spin the computer (remember mag tapes?), and an unsalaried former police officer for leg work. They are there for their own reasons, too, he slowly realises.  

Rather than simply study, that is, gather information about the reports of OVNI, Cartesian determines to investigate and debunk them.  No longer will the staff write, file, cross-reference, colour-code, and tabulate material, rather they will go forth to examine allegations themselves.  

The fateful four meet all manner of those who have seen an OVNI, not all of whom are obviously stark staring mad, although some are.  

Little by little….he sees some strange things himself.  Moreover, it seems that someone is covering tracks.  Wheels turn within wheels. 

Inevitably, in a genre program like this, predecessors come to mind and in fact some of them are retrospectively integrated into the stories. One can map some of the characters onto the more pretentious program like X-Files. Steven Spielberg even gets a look in. There is also a footnote to François Truffaut on one scene.

The touch is light. The humour is often in the situation or juxtaposition of events, not in some half-wit trying to be funny and only succeeding at being stupid. The bureaucratic backbiting that sent Cartesian to this Siberia is realistic.  His confused home life is nicely drawn, as when his close colleague, boss, and ex-wife describes their relationship as NI, non-identifié. Though set in 1978 when homosexuality was taboo in France, it is integrated into the stories as a fact of life.  

The story arc spans all twenty-four episodes but it does wrap most of the ends, though not quite all. Still it was worth the wait, n’est pas!  

The team covers a lot of bases and each gets screen time.

The cars, the clothes, the technology — including Minitel — are of the time and place.  So are the sexist attitudes in that the one who answers the telephone is a woman.  Although even in the early going at least three other women (the engineer, the soldier, and the agent) have roles that it is unlikely they would have had at the time.  While the reviews I read pick at anachronism they focussed on the automobiles, not the social norms.  

It also differs from some other French television I have seen in that it does not have big name guest stars from the cinema in episodes, requiring flattering roles for them that can be shot in one take. (Capitaine Marleau groans under this dwarf-star weight in several episodes, but this series has so many other irritations this is but one on the list, yet it seems a success perhaps because of the aspects that annoy me!)

I came across OVNI on SBS.

The Last and First Men (2020)

IMDb meta-data is a runtime of 1 hour and 9 minutes, rated by 6.7 by 3,400 cinematizens.

Genre: Sy Fy.

Verdicts: Unique, Fleeting.

Tag lines: The future calls… from Iceland via Yugoslavia. Answer now.  

An audiobook with pictures accompanied by a moving musical score, together framing a desiccated narration by the androgynous Tilda Swinton.  Ter text is passages from Olof Stapledon’s 1930 eponymous book. 

Sounds odd because it is, but it works.

The monumental architecture is from Yugoslavia’s remnants. There is a list in the Wikipedia entry.  While we have been to Croatia we did not see any of these in our brief sojourn.

I recently re-read Stapleton’s book. See my comments below. 

Olaf Stapledon, First and Last Men (1930)

At that time I came across references to this film and a trailer on You Tube but I was unable to find it except in blu ray version which was of no use to me.  Then one night video-mining the SBS website there it was with a notice that it would soon be withdrawn — hence the word ‘Fleeting’ above — so I watched there and then. Glad I did.

Readers of the Murderbot Diaries know what ‘ter’ means. All others ….pay cash.  

My Name is Bruce (2007)

IMDb meta-data is runtime of 1 hour and 24 minutes, rated 6.1 by 24,146 cinematizens.

Genre: Bruce Campbell.

Verdict: for fanboys only.

Thinking it is a joke so he plays along, Bruce is lured into a confrontation with the Chinese god of bean curd! You read that right, bean curd. This is tofu is tough, not merely firm, all right! 

The Raimi family is, as always in this genre, well represented. The in-jokes, references to other Campbell films, snipes at SyFy mainstays, caustic representations of the NRA, merciless criticism of screenwriters, and self-deprecating humour come thick and fast in this slasher-fest.

The boys from Detroit are at it again!

Der Herr vom anderen Stern (1948)

IMDb meta-data is runtime of 1 hour and 33 minutes, rated 6.2 by 68 cinematizens.

Genre: Sy Fy.

Verdict:  Too little, too late.  

A man from another star travels the galaxy by concentrating his mind; as he passes Earth he loses focus and lands in a phone booth, well, in front of one, where he takes the form of a nearby shop window dummy, just as two Keystone Kops pass.  Having appeared from nowhere, he gets their attention. Worse, Alien has no papers and seems amused at being asked to identify himself, but he is only to glad to confess that he is a man from another star. 

Ach! What is a plod to do with an alien but take him to someone in higher authority.  There follows an interview with police chief who is left in a daze for this alien can create objects by thought alone, like a cigar or an ashtray.  Since he has no papers, the solution is to get him some, so chief has him escorted to the registry office, where he again performs his magic. He now has papers, but by this time the not so secret police are onto him and dog his steps.  

In and out of lines of petitioners at the police station and registry office, he meets Flora whom he quite likes and takes up with somehow mollifying her boyfriend with his concentrated thought.  Or maybe he is her brother and my ears blinked.  

Alien looks longingly at the stars but cannot summon the concentration required to travel, weakened by his attachment to Flora. He decides to stay and tries to fit in. That does not go well. Without his magic he has nothing to offer, but with it, he is suspect. He laments at man’s inhumanity to this man, himself. Both astronomers and astrologers seek him out for knowledge of stars, which he treats as a joke. Stereotypes descend on him, unscrupulous business men want his help, criminals see fortunes in his powers, politicians hope to use him to gain office, and so on.  

He is wined and dined, and there is the oddest dance sequence ever filmed.  Not even Busby Berkeley could have come up with this strange…. I don’t know what to call it.  It is so ludicrous that it is surprising it did not catch on.  

He rejects all these temptations, and for his trouble is imprisoned as a danger to society, whereupon he delivers a sermon to the fourth wall castigating, it seems, the audience for the crimes of World War II. While incarcerated he is able to concentrate enough to continue his travels.  

The premiss is neat and the magic scenes work well, but the pace is catatonic and the plot wanders around. It seems far longer than it is.

The city of Berlin is a compound of opulence, Weimar decadence, and post war technology with hidden telephones for the secret police on street corners, everyone has enough money to smoke cigarettes, alcohol flows freely, white dinner jackets with sashes are common place. That was certainly not life in 1948 Berlin.  

In outline it reminded me of Der Himmel über Berlin (1987) though not in execution.  Though this same actor was in the 1993 sequel, closing a circle of sorts.

Alien is Heinz Rühmann (1902-1994) who was Joseph Göbbels’s favourite actor and performed in many Nazi-sponsored films which were invariably lighthearted romances to distract viewers from reality, the last released in 1945. Like many other German performers of his age, he entertained troops on the Eastern Front. He was investigated after the war but not sanctioned and returned to the screen in this film, which some see as a mea culpa. Anne Frank (1929-1945) who had his picture on the wall in her hidey-hole did not live to such a ripe old age in the comfort he did.  

I watched it on You Tube in German with the German closed captions turned on to help.  Played nearly as broadly as a silent movie, it is easy to follow.    

Raumpatrouillet Orion (1966)

Space Patrol Orion

IMDb meta-data is 7 episodes of 1 hour each, rated 8.0 by 20,407 incredibly generous cinematizens.

Genre: Sy Fy; Species: West German

Verdict: Yawn.

All our problems have been solved in this futuristic adventure short-lived serial. There are no nations and no states, only humanity. Resources are infinite and Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations is a museum piece. Space flight is faster than light. Orion 8 has an ostensibly multi-national crew all played by Aryans. Only the names indicate plurality: McLane must be Anglo, Monti is Italian, Shubashi is Asian, Legrelle French, Sigbjörnson Nordic, and Jagellovsk Slavic. It premiered in West Germany in the same week that Star Trek was first shown on television Stateside.

The money went for the sets which are excellent; far better than Star Trek. The direction is lifeless. The broadcast were in Black and White. The scripts clichéd to say the least.

The first episode is ‘Angriff aus dem All’ (‘Attack from Space’) and the tension turns on that old German chestnut – Ein Befehl est ein Befehl. (Immanuel Kant has a lot to answer for.) Our renegade and disobedient captain who knows better than anyone else, reluctantly obeys orders for once, and consequences follow because he was right — sort of — all along. It is all about him. Though there is a crew, they are only there to reflect him. There is no teamwork.

Episode 2. ‘Planet ausser Kurs’ really should be called shoot the messenger rather than ‘Planet off Course.’ As the world is about to end senior management argues about lines of reporting to shift blame down the line in a touch of realism. McKinsey management at its best. Meanwhile, Captain Intrepid once again saves the day single-handed. By the way the recurrent villains are called ‘Frogs.’ Get it?

In every episode Commissar Tedious contradicts the well-jawed Captain, while the ageing crew members act like adolescent schoolies. There is no character development. She starts out an automaton and stays that way. He starts out a jerk and stays that way. Of course they will become a couple. Back at Headquarters the senior staff act like stereotypes

3 ‘Hüter des Gesetzes’ Three laws of robots are mentioned but not Asimov. The robots look like balloon version of mute Daleks when they go on strike. The tech is not to be trusted.

4 ‘Deserteure’ (Desertion) everybody wants to go to AA – 05-0189. There are always a lot of numbers bandied about but this episode tops that chart. Ditto as above.

5 ‘Der Kampf um die Sonne’ The last one to leave turned out the Sun. It has to be rebooted and Orion 8 has just the foot to do it. Despite all the claims in previous episodes, in this one the Captain encounters extraterrestrial HUMANS! Well, that is new and news, but wait, there is more. This world in run by women! He doesn’t believe! He can’t believe it! He won’t believe it! It’s unbelievable! That takes 45 minutes. It turns out through a slip of the scriptwriter’s typewriter that the Captain and the Leaderess know the same literature and so establish a decorous rapport. A good book is truly universal. Since Earth and the planet have never met before this coincidence is occult.

6 ‘Die Raumfalle’ The Space Trap. The script writer comes on board; it doesn’t help.

7 ‘Invasion’ (Guess!). Always the Frogs. This is the most Cold War of the episodes with the enemy within, The Heidelberg 10.

Der Ende! (This became my favourite German phrase at this moment.)

The cardboard characters, the repetitive Commissar, and the snail pace make for uphill viewing… That 8.0 rating must have an external explanation, perhaps the never-seen Frogs like it. (But then that turgid 12-part ABC Sy Fy serial of the same era ‘The Stranger’ (1964) is rated 8.1.) The sets are certainly arresting, and either at the beginning or end of each episode shows the crew relaxing from their arduous duties of standing motionless on the floor marks with dance sequences almost as odd as that in ‘The Man from Another Star’ discussed earlier. See below.

More retrospective specials 18 on TVDb than original programs 7.

The 1950 serial of the same name set in the 30th Century had Commander Corey whizzing around zapping bad guys with the Paralyzer, and then reprogramming them to be nice with the Brainograph. My mother wanted one of those, Now that was entertainment. Check it out on You Tube.

The Enemy Below (1957).

IMDb meta-data is runtime of 1 hour and 38 minutes, rated 7.4 by 11,180 cinematizens.

Genre: War; Species: Submarine. 

Verdict: Age has not wearied it.

Two professional warriors square off, and tactical deadlock ensues. 

The same can be said of the movie itself – professional, and evenly balanced.  

It is directed with a sure hand by that song and dance man from Arkansas who managed to get the use of a US Navy ship and crew, and who recruited and funded great cinematography.  Never did CinemaScope look so good, even on a computer screen.  The blue expanse compares with the opening scene of Lawrence of Arabia that came a few years later.

The performances are effortless, and unencumbered with emotional backstories, wrung dry as they are these days, evidently, for a slow-witted audience.  Back stories are there, to be sure, but put to one side. Robert Mitchum, as always, seems born into the part; it fits him like an old glove.    

A sampling of the critics’ reviews linked to the IMDb page reveals more about the critics than the movie.  Their remarks are positive but guarded, as if the writer fears that praising such a simple, well-told tale somehow diminishes one’s status as a discerning critic, ergo many of the compliments are left-handed, needlessly qualified, and vague. 

Strange to say for a war movie but there is little violence until the last act. The teenage-boy pyrotechnics — think Greyhound — favoured by the arrested-development directors of Holly- and Pinewood are absent. Nor is any love interest forced into the story by flashbacks. Instead we have parallel character studies on the blue water as the two protagonists take one another’s measure by feint, manoeuvre, and, hardest of all, by waiting quietly for the other to blink. It does have some great special effects for the era, though not the eye-popping, bone-shaking of Das Boot.  

I came across it quite by chance while You Tube surfing, and remembering it fondly, if vaguely, from the Rivoli Theatre, started to watch the first few minutes…and 97 minutes later it ended.