History of Alien
Looking back over the history of science fiction cinema, it's
fascinating to note just how long it took aliens to invade the big
screen. HG Wells' The War Of The Worlds popularised the alien
invasion
subgenre in 1897, but it would be more than 50 years before an adaptation made it to the big screen.
Before the 1950s, sci-fi cinema was dominated by mad scientists and monsters on the rampage, from James Whale's 1931 classic Frankenstein to Ernest B. Schoedsack's brilliantly odd Dr. Cyclops (1940), in which a mad professor shrinks a group of explorers using radiation.
It took the post-war paranoia of the Cold War to usher in a golden age of sci-fi, and with it, a rash of alien invasion movies. These invasions came in many forms, and the nature of alien visitations changed notably as the 50s wore on.
In The Man From Planet X (1951), a bargain basement picture set in Scotland but shot in California, its extraterrestrial visitor is a peaceful one, only becoming violent when an evil scientist attacks him.
Robert Wise's better known The Day The Earth Stood Still, released a few months later, has a similar scenario. Michael Rennie's benevolent alien, Klaatu, comes to Earth to issue a dire warning about its inhabitants' aggressive nature.
1953's It Came From Outer Space introduced an initially sinister breed of alien, who kidnap the inhabitants of a small Arizona town and replace them with emotionless duplicates, a sci-fi trope that would appear repeatedly in 50s sci-fi cinema. It later transpires that the aliens are harmless, and merely need time to repair their broken down ship, and after returning the kidnapped inhabitants to their loved ones, the creatures make their dramatic exit.
Later that same year, the big screen adaptation of The War Of The Worlds finally arrived courtesy of director Byron Haskin, and its aliens were anything but benevolent or friendly. Crashing to Earth in what appear to be meteorites, the Martians emerge in vast, eerily-designed war machines, and immediately begin obliterating everything they see.
The epic sweep of Wells' novel made the cut, but his sly allegory didn't. Originally written as a cutting indictment of the British Empire's inhumane foreign policy, The War Of The Worlds became a straight ‘us versus them' war movie in the hands of Hollywood, and ends on a clanging note of religiosity that would have, no doubt, irritated the original novel's rationalist author.
Nevertheless, Haskin's adaptation, produced by George Pal, is an effective one, and its visual effects are startling, considering the technical limitations of the era.
The varying tone of these early 50s movies, with their alien visitors alternately friendly or malevolent, were inextricably bound up with the mood of the time. The Second World War had ended with the horrifying image of the nuclear bomb, and the Cold War era had begun.
As anti-communist sentiment grew in late 40s America, led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, reports began to flood in of strange, disc-like lights in the sky. The fear of invasion and destruction, both physical and psychic, was apparently everywhere.
Suddenly, the threat of aliens introduced by HG Wells back in the Victorian era had a greater sense of immediacy than ever before, and the possible outcomes of such an invasion were played out in science fiction films throughout the decade.
In Earth Versus The Flying Saucers (1956), aliens seek to overwhelm our planet with shock and awe, destroying several famous landmarks in the process.
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, released the same year, suggests an alien threat that is silent and insidious. Initially dismissing their claims as mere paranoia, a small town doctor (Kevin McCarthy) realises his patients are gradually being replaced by emotionless Pod People. It's a nightmarish, brilliantly directed film that taps into the era's preoccupation with a loss of identity, and is inarguably one of the best science fiction movies of the decade.
#collected if you need more information then visit this link:
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/alien/16578/a-brief-history-of-the-alien-invasion-movie
subgenre in 1897, but it would be more than 50 years before an adaptation made it to the big screen.
Before the 1950s, sci-fi cinema was dominated by mad scientists and monsters on the rampage, from James Whale's 1931 classic Frankenstein to Ernest B. Schoedsack's brilliantly odd Dr. Cyclops (1940), in which a mad professor shrinks a group of explorers using radiation.
It took the post-war paranoia of the Cold War to usher in a golden age of sci-fi, and with it, a rash of alien invasion movies. These invasions came in many forms, and the nature of alien visitations changed notably as the 50s wore on.
In The Man From Planet X (1951), a bargain basement picture set in Scotland but shot in California, its extraterrestrial visitor is a peaceful one, only becoming violent when an evil scientist attacks him.
Robert Wise's better known The Day The Earth Stood Still, released a few months later, has a similar scenario. Michael Rennie's benevolent alien, Klaatu, comes to Earth to issue a dire warning about its inhabitants' aggressive nature.
1953's It Came From Outer Space introduced an initially sinister breed of alien, who kidnap the inhabitants of a small Arizona town and replace them with emotionless duplicates, a sci-fi trope that would appear repeatedly in 50s sci-fi cinema. It later transpires that the aliens are harmless, and merely need time to repair their broken down ship, and after returning the kidnapped inhabitants to their loved ones, the creatures make their dramatic exit.
Later that same year, the big screen adaptation of The War Of The Worlds finally arrived courtesy of director Byron Haskin, and its aliens were anything but benevolent or friendly. Crashing to Earth in what appear to be meteorites, the Martians emerge in vast, eerily-designed war machines, and immediately begin obliterating everything they see.
The epic sweep of Wells' novel made the cut, but his sly allegory didn't. Originally written as a cutting indictment of the British Empire's inhumane foreign policy, The War Of The Worlds became a straight ‘us versus them' war movie in the hands of Hollywood, and ends on a clanging note of religiosity that would have, no doubt, irritated the original novel's rationalist author.
Nevertheless, Haskin's adaptation, produced by George Pal, is an effective one, and its visual effects are startling, considering the technical limitations of the era.
The varying tone of these early 50s movies, with their alien visitors alternately friendly or malevolent, were inextricably bound up with the mood of the time. The Second World War had ended with the horrifying image of the nuclear bomb, and the Cold War era had begun.
As anti-communist sentiment grew in late 40s America, led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, reports began to flood in of strange, disc-like lights in the sky. The fear of invasion and destruction, both physical and psychic, was apparently everywhere.
Suddenly, the threat of aliens introduced by HG Wells back in the Victorian era had a greater sense of immediacy than ever before, and the possible outcomes of such an invasion were played out in science fiction films throughout the decade.
In Earth Versus The Flying Saucers (1956), aliens seek to overwhelm our planet with shock and awe, destroying several famous landmarks in the process.
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, released the same year, suggests an alien threat that is silent and insidious. Initially dismissing their claims as mere paranoia, a small town doctor (Kevin McCarthy) realises his patients are gradually being replaced by emotionless Pod People. It's a nightmarish, brilliantly directed film that taps into the era's preoccupation with a loss of identity, and is inarguably one of the best science fiction movies of the decade.
#collected if you need more information then visit this link:
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/alien/16578/a-brief-history-of-the-alien-invasion-movie
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