Popcorn Crunchers, Reel 113 Trivia Quiz

Answer: He was crushed in Nancy's hand.

When Nancy wakes from her sedation, she goes looking for her unfaithful husband with vengeance on her much-enlarged mind. She tears the roof off of Tony's bar to reveal Harry and his paramour having drinks. Harry shoots at her. The deputy shoots at her.

These gunshots have no effect. Nancy picks up Harry and crushes him with her fist. When she finally is killed, Harry's body is still in her hand.

Answer: When Earth Will Be No More

Often-seen actors Morris Ankrum, John Zaremba, and Thomas Browne Henry appeared in "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" (1956). Veteran actors Gene Roth, Sally Fraser, and Hank Patterson played in "Earth vs. the Spider" (1958). Frequently-cast actors Patric Knowles, Melville Cooper, and (again) Morris Ankrum had roles in "From the Earth to the Moon" (1958). Paul Awad and Kathryn O'Sullivan wrote the science-fiction novel "When Earth Shall Be No More" (2022). Revelation 21:1a (NRSV) says, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away..." W. Oliver Cooper (1885-1963) wrote a hymn which began "When time on earth shall be no more". Nobody appears to have made a movie called "When Earth Will Be No More" in the 1950s.

Answer: the Mark 1 robot

It is Van Housen's grand design to rule the world through an army of thousands of robots. He has the first made to his specifications. It is shipped, quite by accident, to Mother Riley's store instead of Van Housen's home. Humourous not-at-all-scary adventures follow.

Answer: Morris Ankrum

Lt. Gen. Edward Considine works in the Pentagon. As the concern grows from a random UFO investigation to a sense that the Claw creature threatened the world, General Considine becomes more involved. It was his order to destroy the monster at all costs. Morris Ankrum (1897-1964) played numerous film roles of people in authority: police officers, judges, military officers, and medical doctors.

He played General Considine in "The Giant Claw" (1957).

Answer: Mrs. Slydes, a wild-haired blind old woman

While Nora is in the basement wine cellar, she sees an old woman, seemingly floating toward her. She screams in fear. It later turns out that the woman is Mrs. Slydes, the blind wife of the caretaker, Jonas. Her eyes are white from her blindness. She is played by Leona Anderson.

Answer: Roger Corman

Roger Corman adopted the notion that there should be a science-fiction movie about satellites because of the buzz created by the Soviet launch of Sputnik I. He signed a contract to produce the film without a script nor even a "treatment" in hand. Nonetheless, Corman delivered "War of the Satellites" on time and under budget.

Answer: Films reflect the culture of the Atomic Age.

Science-fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction. Atompunk is a subgenre of science-fiction. It is fixed in the immediate post World War II Atomic Age (1945-1969). It reflects the culture of this period, strongly influenced by technology. It also reflects the fears of living in a post Hiroshima and Nagasaki world.

The nuclear family (no pun intended) and suburbanism are assumed. There is a skepticism about unrestricted science but a certainty about achieving interplanetary space flight. A belief in extraterrestrial life is assumed, as well.

Answer: directing

Sam Newfield (1899-1964) directed an astronomical number of B-movies, silent and talkies, before his retirement in 1958. The total is somewhere over 250 films. Most of these were produced by his brother's company, PRC Pictures. His horror and science fiction titles included "The Mad Monster" (1942), "The Monster Maker" (1944), "Fight That Ghost" (1946), "The Flying Serpent" (1946) and "Lost Continent" (1951). Most of his other work was on crime dramas and westerns.

Answer: Edinburgh, Scotland

The movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth" begins in 1880 in Edinburgh, Scotland, where Professor Sir Oliver Lindenbrook is a noted geologist at the University of Edinburgh. He has just been knighted for his accomplishments. It is from Edinburgh that he is led to Iceland by an inscribed plumb bob encased in lava.

In the film's conclusion, the party is ejected from a volcano in Lipari Island and splashes down in the Mediterranean Sea. They are rescued by fishermen and return to a heroes' welcome in Edinburgh. Location filming took place in Edinburgh.

Many underground scenes were shot at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Remotes also included both Amboy Crater and Sequit Point, California.

Answer: She has the ability to regenerate.

The professor, Lelands Masterson, deprived of his mind by a drug administered by Doctor Aranya, is placed in a mental hospital. He escapes and finds his way into a cantina where Tarantella is an erotic dancer. He watches her seductive dance and quotes a verse from II Kings 9:33 describing the fate of Queen Jezebel: "So they threw her down, and some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses; and he trampled her underfoot..." He pulls out his handgun and shoots her.

She appears to have died but regenerates, and, due to her spider abilities, gets up and leaves the bar.