Full screen, where is the wide sceen. Its here It and Monster are good classic films from the 50's. It!, being the far better one. The fact you are looking at this you probably know already. What you might not know is next. 1:85 is made from 35mm film that is cropped in the viewfinder, top and bottom at the time of shooting. During the days of VHS why would a studio crop a 1:85 to full screen when the film minus the crop was already full screen. If it is a major film they might have done pan & scan but a lesser film, just scan it as is. You can see the cost savings. This appears to be the case also with some full screen DVDs but to a lesser degree. I believe "It! The Terror from Outer of Space" and "The Monster that Challenged the world" are these full prints. Just set your DVD player to full and TV to Zoom. Your player and TV may use different terminology. I watched It! and Monster this way (Wide 16:9) and it works! No heads cut off. No missing action. You'll notice the title and credits fit perfectly. (If they don't you don't have the set up right.) It actually played better because the close up added tension. No extraneous views of sets or background. Just as I'm sure the director and cinematographer wanted. Just crop it and watch it in wide screen.
For A Saturday Afternoon Both of these films are "B" or "C" films.
Of course both stories have absurd plot points (e.g. It! -- To try and kill the monster they shoot pistols, and rifles, and rockets at it -- inside the space ship!), but the films are okay for a lazy Saturday afternoon.
brought back memories I remembered seeing "The monster that challeneged the world" at a drive-in as a kid. We use to go every so often with my mom and dad. The other movie "It! the terror from beyond space" I seen on creature feature back in the 70ies. These movies sure brought back memories when the world seemed in better shape. Im so glad they have them out now on d.v.d. I got to say it sure is a switch watching it at home. I remember the drive in movies were more exiting and fun. Anyway, The movies are still good all the same.
Two 50s Sci-Fi tidbits- "The Monsters" a crumb! This MGM "Midnite Movies" release(double sided disc) has two Sci-Fi films from the 50s on it,The Monster That Changed the World and It,the Terror from Beyond Space. "Monster" starts the DVD out and it concerns the story of a government research lab at the southern end of the Salton Sea,located inland in Southern California.It seems they do all sorts of Government type experiments there including,of course,radiation.But for some reason some of the research involves sky diving into the Salton Sea.They don't seem to have thought it would be less wet on the sky divers and less laborious to recover them on land,but I suppose we shouldn't ask that question.Anyhoos,a boat sent to pick up a recent skydiver doesn't find its' charge and loses one of its own recovery team to boot.Another boat is dispatched to find them and discovers a crewman in the original boat dead of a heart attack,a sticky substance aboard and the body of the sky diver is recovered and not in too good of shape either.Something is definitely wrong here as this just isn't your average skydiving routine.A navy "investigator" who just happens to be at the research station leads the hunt for the cause of all of this.The lead scientist there played with total seriousness and lack of emotion by well known actor let-me-out-of-this-stinker Hans Conried,is just as baffled until murders start occuring.It seems mollusk like creatures have grown to enormous size and are threatening to overrun the area,which could eventually affect the rest of the world if not checked.The creatures themselves resemble giant caterpillars with two bulbous eyes when on the attack,but when at rest resemble giant snail shells(escargot anyone?).Everyone finally gets down to brass tacks and defeats the radioactive induced menaces! This movie is just one in a slew of 50s Sci-Fi flicks that put the "bad" into B-movies.The action here is stop and go(mostly stop!),the acting is sub par and the special effects are cheesy at their very best.It's a one to one and a half star yawn fest. On the other hand we have the movie It,the Terror from Beyond Space."It",while not referring to Clara Bow,does refer to a creature which sneaks aboard a space craft leaving Mars.It is a recovery ship who came to pick up a lone survivor,a Col.Carruthers(Marshall Thompson,later of TVs Daktari show),from a previous expedition.His crew are all dead and he has stated he is innocent and that something killed them but not him.No matter,he is to be taken back and charged for the crews deaths in a court martial.Well on the return flight people start disappearing and dying as they come to learn "It" is also aboard and is bent on killing everything it can.At first this large reptillian-like creature with powerful claws is confined to a relatively small part of the ship.As the murders grow so does the space it inhabits,until the tide is reversed and it is the crew that find themselves confined to a small area of the ship.Everything is hurled at the creature until they decide in desperation to blow a hatch and manage to get it sucked out into the void. "It" is definitley the superior movie of the two.The acting is pretty good all around and it manages to generate a nice air of tension and claustrophobia throughout as the crew gets pushed farther and farther back up the ship.It is a kill or be killed scenario as "It" is hell bent on destroying them all,and it almost succeeds.I would give this flick about three to three and a half stars. Technically "It" is in the best shape out of the two.It is an excellent print,quite clear and crisp throughout."Monster" on the other hand while clear has many dirty areas throughout and around the 55 minute mark there starts to appear a vertical line(from top to bottom frame)about a quarter into the picture from the left side.This thing stays for a while then fades in and out until the picture ends.Quite a distraction.On top of all this both of these features are widescreen features and they are NOT in widescreen here.When are studios going to get it into their heads that when a movie is filmed in widescreen,THAT is exactly what should be released? A film's original aspect ratio should be honoured at ALL times! No excuses. In conclusion then It,the terror from Beyond Space wins the battle of the films,hands down here,no question.For a lower budget B-movie it certainly has its'moments and the acting is definitely a little above par.On the the other hand The Monster that Challenged the World.....lost in more ways than one.From its' stilted acting, to its'cheap and lame "monsters" and to its' bad directing ,it's a stinker through and through.A movie for Sci-Fi compleatists only. Along with this movies' bad rating,what brings this entire release package's rating down even farther is its' release of these movies NOT in their original aspect ratios. To buy or not to buy....that is the question!
Great double feature of B movie monsters The Monster that Challenged the World is some kind of giant mollusk creature , maybe a big caterpillar or something that kills people (some deaths are pretty shocking for its time) theres a little gore and radioactive goop that the characters keep seeing. The effects arent bad, it is a low budget but lots of fun to sit back and watch It the Terror from Beyond Space is an entertaining B movie about monster that is on a spaceship returning to Earth and kills people, some chilling scenes. This movie inspired Alien and the monster was played by Ray Corrigan. Really a lot of low budget entertainment in both films. They are short and just a good way to escape for a little while. I highly recommend this to anyone into 50s B movies - these are above average. MGM put out some very stunning transfers as well...
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