Benutzer:Si! SWamP/Beast
| name = The Beast with a Million eyes | image = Poster of the movie The Beast with a Million Eyes.jpg
| budget = $33,000[1][2] or $20,000[3] |gross=$100,000[3] }}
| Film | |
| Titel | Ausgeburt der Hölle |
|---|---|
| Originaltitel | The Beast with a Million Eyes |
| Produktionsland | Vereinigte Staaten |
| Originalsprache | Englisch |
| Erscheinungsjahr | 1955 |
| Länge | 75 Minuten |
| Stab | |
| Regie | David Kramarsky |
| Drehbuch | Tom Filer |
| Produktion | David Kramarsky |
| Musik | John BIckford |
| Kamera | Everett Baker |
| Schnitt | Jack Killifer |
| Besetzung | |
| |
Ausgeburt der Hölle (Originaltitel The Beast with a Million Eyes, auch unter dem Titel The Unseen gezeigt) ist ein abseits der großen Studios produzierter US-amerikanischer Schwarz-Weiß-Science-Fiction-Film von David Kramarsky, der Regie führte und produzierte. In den Hauptrolen spielen Paul Birch und Lorna Thayer. Koproduzenten waren Roger Corman und Samuel Z. Arkoff.[4], Verleihfirma die „American Releasing Corporation“, aus der bald American International Pictures wurde.
Handlung[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Allan Kelley leben, knapp bei Kasse, auf ihrer kleinen Ranch abseits großer Städte in der kalifornischen Wüste. Seine FRau Carol hasst die Abgeschiedenheit und bringt das oft gegenüber ihrer Tochter Sandra zum Ausdruck, deren einzige Lebensfreude ihr Freund Larry Brewster ist. Nachdem ein seltsames Objekt, das zunächst für ein Flugzeug gehalten wurde, in der Nähe abstürzt, beginnen Tiere die Familie anzugreifen. Kurz darauf attackiert auch der Farmhelfer die Familie. Es stellt sich heraus, dass ein Außerirdischer die Kontrolle über zunächst die Tiere und dann auch Menschen übernommen hat, mit dem Ziel, die Erde zu erobern. Die Familie Kelley lernt, zusammenzustehen, um sich der Angriffe zu erwehren. Nur die gegenseitige Liebe kann den Ansturm der fremden Macht brechen. Der Außerirdische nimmt letztlich Besitz von einer Schlange, die durch einen Falken getötet wird.[5]
Produktion[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Reportedly the film was based on a script called The Unseen by Tom Filer. Roger Corman was attracted to the project because in the original draft of the script, no monster was seen, which meant the film could be done cheaply.[6] Executive producer Arkoff insisted on a visible monster and space ship, but there was very little in the budget to realize these effects. [7] Corman's original idea was an alien that was incapable of being seen.
In April 1955 it was announced in Variety the film would be the first for Pacemaker Productions, a new company formed by Roger Corman. By that stage the film had been renamed The Beast with a Million Eyes. It would be produced and directed by David Kamarsky, Corman's former aide, while Corman would executive produce. Corman was meant to direct Cobra in India instead (that film was never made).[8] Paul Birch's casting was announced in April 1955.[9]
The Beast with a Million Eyes was the third of a three-picture deal Roger Corman had with the American Releasing Company following The Fast and the Furious (1955) and Five Guns West (1955).[10] Reportedly, cost over-runs on Five Guns West meant only $29,000 remained to make the film for Pacemaker Productions. [11][12]
The title Beast with a Million Eyes reportedly came from American Releasing Company president James H. Nicholson. His title and treatment had film exhibitors signed on before seeing the finished film. The million eyes of the title refers to the alien's ability to see thru the eyes of those animals and people it controls. [13]
Reportedly The Beast with a Million Eyes was a non-union filming of a script originally titled The Unseen, with Lou Place set to direct. After one day's filming, the union threatened to shut down the production unless everyone signed with the Guild. Roger Corman, who was producing, took over the film's directing chores and replaced the cinematographer with Floyd Crosby; however Corman took no official screen credit.[1] However, another version of this story has Corman allocating directing duties to Dave Kramarsky, his associate director on Five Guns West.[10]
Filming took place in Indio and the Coachella Valley, California.[14] Corman shot 48 pages of interiors in just two days at a studio on La Cienega Blvd. in Los Angeles.[10] Bruce Whitmore lieh der „Ausgeburt der Hölle“ seine Stimme. Die Erstaufführung fand am 15. Juni 1955 statt.
The movie is also noteworthy for its promotional poster. It features an eye-catching monster different from that seen in the movie. [15]
Paul Blaisdell[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
When the company vice-president Samuel Z. Arkoff received The Beast with a Million Eyes he was unhappy that it did not even feature "the beast" that was implicit in the title. Paul Blaisdell, responsible for the film's special effects, was hired to create a three-foot-tall spaceship (with "beast" alien) for a meager $200. Notably, the Art Director was Albert S. Ruddy, who would later win two "Best Picture" Academy Awards for The Godfather (1972) and Million Dollar Baby (2004).[16]
It was Blaisdell's first monster made for the movies. He later said:
The creature seen in the last reel... was actually the slave of The Beast, which had no physical being. It used a being from another star system to pilot its ship, but that fact doesn't come across very well in the script. The creature was an automaton and he was quite capable of doing a lot more than he was allowed to do in the film. He was about eighteen inches high - built to the same scale as King Kong. Unfortunately, all of his scenes were shot in about ten minutes, with the wrong camera angles and everything. But it's just one of those things which happens on a low-budget picture.[17]
According to Alex Gordon, when the film was first shown, Joseph E. Levine, then a distributor, offered Nicholson $100,000 to junk the movie and make a new one more in line with the advertising campaign. Gordon says James Nicholson spent two weeks analyzing the film and scratching over the negative to make it seem like lightning strikes to add to the dramatic qualities of the film.[18]
Music[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
The tiny budget meant music in The Beast with a Million Eyes, credited to "John Bickford", is actually a collection of public-domain record library cues by classical composers Richard Wagner, Dimitri Shostakovich, Giuseppe Verdi, Sergei Prokofiev, and others, used to defray the cost of an original score or copyrighted cues.[19]
Reception[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Film historian Leonard Maltin called The Beast with a Million Eyes, "Imaginative though poorly executed sci-fi melodrama with desert setting; a group of people is forced to confront an alien that can control an unlimited number of animals, hence the title." He further described the film as, "(an) early Roger Corman production (that) features Paul Blaisdell's first movie monster."[20]
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction found the movie to be minimal and the effects unconvincing, but noted this was one of, if not the first, movie to feature animals attacking humans, predating The Birds.[21]
TV Guide called the movie a turkey. [22]
Moria gave the movie 2.5 stars, liking the idea and the setting, however the animal attacks are not viewed as scary and the direction was seen as pedestrian. It did however also note the similarities with Hitchcock's movie The Birds.
Einzelnachweise[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
- ↑ a b McGee 1996, pp. 24–27.
- ↑ Harmetz, Aljean. "The dime-store way to make movies-and money." The New York Times, August 4, 1974, p. 202.
- ↑ a b Vorlage:Cite magazine
- ↑ Lentz 1983, pp. 608, 629.
- ↑ http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/beast_with_a_million_eyes_the
- ↑ Palmer p 20
- ↑ http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/beast_with_a_million_eyes_the
- ↑ Vorlage:Cite magazine
- ↑ War Buddies Alex Nicol, Mickey Knox to Costar; Kennedy to Stage-Direct Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 13 Apr 1955: B11.
- ↑ a b c Smith 2014, pp. 18–19.
- ↑ The Beast with a Million Eyes. In: Turner Classic Movies.
- ↑ Palmer p 19
- ↑ http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/beast_with_a_million_eyes_the
- ↑ Vorlage:AFI film
- ↑ http://www.moriareviews.com/sciencefiction/beast-with-a-million-eyes-1955.htm
- ↑ Smith 2009, p. 21.
- ↑ Vorlage:Cite magazine
- ↑ Vorlage:Cite magazine
- ↑ "Movieland events; Gig Young obtains 'A Man in Eritrea'." Los Angeles Times, April 6, 1955, p. B6.
- ↑ Maltin, Leonard. "Leonard Maltin Movie Review." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: March 23, 2015.
- ↑ Beast with a Million Eyes, The. In: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. 4. April 2017, abgerufen am 18. Februar 2021.
- ↑ https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-beast-with-a-million-eyes/2000273568/
Bibliografie[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
- Lentz, Harris M. III. Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy Film and Television Credits, Vol. 1. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1983. ISBN 978-0-7864-0952-5
- McGee, Mark. Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1996. ISBN 978-0-7864-0137-6
- Randy Palmer: Paul Blaisdell, Monster Maker: A Biography of the B Movie Makeup and Special Effects Artist. McFarland, 2015, ISBN 978-1-4766-0729-0, S. 19–32 (google.com).
- Smith, Gary A. American International Pictures Video Guide. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009. ISBN 978-0-7864-3309-4
- Smith, Gary A. American International Pictures: The Golden Years. Albany, Georgia: Bear Manor Media, 2014. ISBN 978-1-5939-3750-8
- Warren, Bill. Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Films of the Fifties, 21st Century Edition (revised and expanded). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009. ISBN 0-89950-032-3
Weblinks[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
- Si! SWamP/Beast bei IMDb
- Review of film at CineSevant
{{SORTIERUNG:Ausgebirt der Holle}} [[Kategorie:Filmtitel 1955]] [[Kategorie:US-amerikanischer Film]] [[Kategorie:Sciece-Fiction-Film]] [[Kategorie:Horrorfilm]]