Bride of Sci-Fi Movie Stumpers of the 50s Quiz

Answer: The H-Man

"The H-Man" (1958) was known in Japan as "Beauty and the Liquid People", and was one of the first of the Japanese movies to combine a monster with a crime drama. This was later done in such films as "Godzilla Vs. The Thing", "Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster" and "Space Monster Dagora", to name a few.

The monster in this movie was a radioactive glob that dissolved and absorbed people, and was eventually killed with a flamethrower.

Answer: Cat-Women of the Moon

Why anyone would want to remake a Sonny Tufts/Marie Windsor/Victor Jory extravaganza is beyond me, but they did it anyway. Both movies had loads of beautiful women, tacky effects and poorly-puppeteered spiders. Both also had the same story, in which a scientist created his own rocketship and traveled to the moon.

Here he and his crew met a hitherto-unknown society of beautiful women who lived there.

Answer: Invasion of the Saucer-Men

"Invasion of the Saucer-Men" (1954) was subtitled "A true story of a flying saucer", and featured a invading craft full of very distinctive aliens. They tried to hide their presence by killing the people who had seen them, and framing other humans for the crimes.

The late Frank Gorshin was featured as one of the young men framed and nearly killed by the aliens. The original story was written by Paul W. Fairman.

Answer: Exposure to sunlight

Robert Clarke starred as "The Hideous Sun-Demon" (1959), which was truly a bad movie if there ever was one. Well, almost any Robert Clarke movie can have that distinction, even the sequel Clarke made to this film nearly 40 years later. Remember, if the movie has Robert Clarke in it and the title isn't "The Man From Planet X", be prepared to flee at once!

Answer: The Black Scorpion

"The Black Scorpion" (1957) is an good example of the quintessential fifties science fiction movie: enjoyable actors who actually could act, a good story and great special effects. Willis O'Brien, the man responsible for the original "King Kong", animated the many scorpions and devilish creatures that plagued Richard Denning and Mara Corday.

The creatures were awakened by unexpected volcanic activity in Mexico.

Answer: The Crawling Eye

"The Crawling Eye" (1957) is one of my all-time favorite science fiction/horror movies. Like "Fiend Without a Face", the somewhat graphic nature of the deaths put it only a few paces behind a slasher film. The aliens, which definitely resemble crawling eyeballs, had a penchant for killing by decapitation, unless they planned to use their victim later on.

Once again, we have a fine British sci-fi film with a surprisingly good script and cast. Forrest Tucker, who starred as scientist Alan Brooks, did a fantastic job, and Janet Munro's performance as Sarah Pilgrim is one of the highlights of the film.

Answer: The Cosmic Man

"The Cosmic Man" was a very underrated cheapie, starring John Carradine as the title character, who was only shown as a 'negative' creature (photographic, that is). The Cosmic Man's aims were a bit strange. The majority of his actions involved him searching out and destroying supplies of rare materials, that were needed in scientific or defense-related works.

In the character's own words: "I am one of many cosmonauts. Our purpose is manifold. We travel for searching out and exploring new worlds of which there are countless millions in this universe. Many observers such as I have visited this planet before. Many more will come in the future. What we learn of lifeforms, atmosphere, raw materials, all this knowledge is transmitted to all the advanced civilizations in the free cosmos. Some worlds are old, their peoples must migrate to younger planets where living conditions are similar. Some worlds are lifeless, but have an abundance of life-giving material which can be shared by all. Your vast oceans for instance, have been mined for centuries by a society from a far distant world. The materials they remove will never be of any use to any living creature of your world."

So basically, he was an intergalactic Socialist. But even with that slight political bent, this was a surprisingly well-written and well-acted film. Bruce Bennett was featured as the scientist who became sympathetic to the Cosmic Man's aims and tried to help him before the authorities could use a special magnetic deflector to neutralize him.

Answer: The preying mantis

Dr. Nedrick Jackson (William Hopper) made this statement in 1957's "The Deadly Mantis". Jackson was called in to help identify an enlarged spur that had broken off the giant insect's leg after attacking several military bases and targets above the DEW line. Jackson assisted Colonel Joe Parkman (Craig Stevens) in finally stopping the monster, using gas bombs and flamethrowers to kill it as it tried to hide in the Lincoln Tunnel.

Answer: Destination Moon

Woody Woodpecker did indeed make a cameo in "Destination Moon" (1950), being introduced as "one of Hollywood's best-trained actors" in a special film that was shown to various industry leaders by Jim Barnes (John Archer). Barnes was trying to drum up support for his rocket project, which would eventually launch as the spaceship Luna.

Answer: Eegah!

While it was an interesting quote, screenwriter Nicholas Merryweather apparently didn't have the time to check it out, since Genesis 4 doesn't have that many chapters. He was a tad involved with other things, since Merryweather was actually Arch Hall, Sr., father of the film's star and the film's producer.

This was another great one to watch on "Mystery Science Theater 3000". Arch Hall, Jr. warbled his way through yet another nepotic adventure, this time encountering a giant caveman (in the form of Richard Kiel).