World Famous Comics: The Classic Sci-fi Ultimate Collection (Tarantula / The Mole People / The Incredible Shrinking Man / The Monolith Monsters / Monster on the Campus)
The Classic Sci-fi Ultimate Collection (Tarantula / The Mole People / The Incredible Shrinking Man / The Monolith Monsters / Monster on the Campus)
Starring: John Agar, Grant Williams, Joanna Moore Average Rating: Audience Rating: Unrated Binding: DVD Format: NTSC Label: Universal Number of Items: 3 Publication Date: 2006 Region Code: 1 Release Date: January 02, 2007 Theatrical Release Date: December 14, 1955
Description: There's nowhere to run and nowhere to hide as five incredible science fiction films crash down on DVD for the first time ever in The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection. This fascinating, collectible set will shock, terrify and captivate you with film favorites from the golden age of Hollywood including Tarantula, The Mole People, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Monolith Monsters and Monster on Campus. Featuring amazing, ground-breaking special effects, these classics set the standard for all sci-fi terror to come.
Amazon.com: A quintet of fun '50s science-fiction thrillers from the Universal vaults make their DVD debut in this three-disc set that's sure to please fans of vintage creature features. Arguably, the best of the lot is The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), with Grant Williams as a businessman whose exposure to a radioactive cloud causes him to decrease in size exponentially until he is literally microscopic. Based on a novel by legendary fantasy writer Richard Matheson, director Jack (Creature from the Black Lagoon) Arnold's balance of suspense (Williams' battles with a house cat and common spider) and pathos (the effect his condition has on his marriage) make it one of the most memorable science-fiction films of the decade, and a favorite even of those with only a passing interest in the genre. On the entirely other end of the spectrum is The Mole People (1956), a loopy pulp adventure with John Agar and Hugh (Leave It to Beaver) Beaumont as intrepid adventurers who discover a lost city and the title creatures at a top of a Middle Eastern mountain. Campy to a fault, with a logic-straining script and ridiculous monsters, The Mole People is also a goofy good time for B-movie mavens. Agar, whose faded star power forced him to seek work in low-budget films during the '50s and '60s, also turns up in the effective Tarantula (1955), a fast-paced "big bug" creepshow modeled after Them!. (1954), and featuring a cameo by Clint Eastwood as a jet pilot; the rest of the set is rounded out by the truly wacky Monster on the Campus (1958), with Arthur Franz as a college professor whose exposure to a prehistoric fish turns him into a rampaging Neanderthal, and The Monolith Monsters (1957), about fragments of a meteor that grow to colossal heights when exposed to water and threaten a small desert community. For TV babies that grew up on a steady diet of Saturday afternoon monster movies, The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection offers a nostalgic trip back to those cathode-soaked days, but without the barrage of commercials. The set offers trailers for each film by way of extras, as well as an anamorphic presentation of The Incredible Shrinking Man; the rest of the titles are presented in full screen. -- Paul Gaita
Boring............ I appreciate old sci-fi films,but these movies are so dated and stupid.I normally buy more rare and hard to find sci-fi from Image entertainment or from independent dvd companies.This collection was more mainstream Hollywood sci-fi of that error.Get The original Blob,The cosmic man, planet of the vampires instead,This is just my Opinion.This set otherwise is overpriced,and for people who like cheesy sci-fi from mainstream hollywood.Defintely not something that I need to rush and get,also buy the re-issued set with both if u are a collector u be paying the same price,Amazon should make new Rules when a dvd is re-ssued the originals dvd's should be knocked down to the list price of the re-issued dvd,just plain stupid 249.00 for this set....or even 50.00 otherwise u have been warned.
Incredible... Please excuse me for reviewing before viewing. The selection on this DVD box is uncanny. These are pretty much the most memorable B sci-fi's I saw during Saturday afternoon triple features as a kid. I will purchase the set... In the meantime I want to add my firm recommendation for The Incredible Shrinking Man. So glad it's out on DVD. A year or so ago I saw the film at a revival house. (Funny how they're timed just before a DVD release.) At first there were titters among the audience, who expected a camp movie. After a little while I noticed their eyes were glued to the screen, total silence and the ending was followed by applause. It's a small movie that makes a big statement, with surprisingly convincing special effects.
B-movie Bliss! Grab the popcorn and dim the lights for some classic scifi entertainment!
I immediately scooped this up at first sight after seeing the set contains Tarantula on DVD...finally! This was one of my favorite monster movies as a kid and had never been released before on DVD. For me, it still holds up being just as fun to watch now as I remember.
The Incredible Shrinking Man stands above (ironically!) the rest of the features. The performances in it really give it just a bit more than the standard B-movie. It's a very interesting character study watching him try to come to grips with his diminishing stature.
The Mole Men are one of the most recognizible Universal monsters even though they don't get the love that the big guys do. It's a fun lost civilization flick. I always get a kick out of the lost people in these type of movies. The moral of this story is slavery is bad!
Monolith Monsters...you've gotta love any movie where the "monsters" are rocks from outer space. They're not alive, they can't chase you but in a way it's a bit creepy.
Monster on the Campus, the 2nd to last of Universal's scifi monster flicks, is a perfect example of what you expect a teen monster drive-in movie to be.
The transfers are ok and the extras are limited to trailers for each film. The packaging graphics are perfect for the set. Hopefully this will not be the only release of some of these films as they need more bonus material, especially "Man".
Monolith Monsters Perhaps it is all because of Grant Williams. Williams was a B film actor who was best known for his starring and titular role in The Incredible Shrinking Man, generally acknowledged as one of the most literate and high quality B sci fi films from the 1950s. In watching the DVD of his next noted film, The Monolith Monsters, I was struck by how well written a film that film is also, even as it is another B sci fi film. No, Williams' role in the 77 minute black and white film, from 1957-as was The Incredible Shrinking Man, is not as important as his role in the prior film, but his mere presence, it seems, raises the bar for the other actors. In a sense, he was a B film version of Marlon Brando, who always seemed to elicit the best out of his A film co-stars. Another positive for the film is that, of all the 1950s horror/monsters from space films, The Monolith Monsters is likely among the most plausible scenarios to be explored- almost like an early version of The Andromeda Strain, save that the monsters are not microscopic and biological, but huge and chemically reacting black crystal columns that have no agenda. They are not aliens nor atomically irradiated mutants, just meteor debris that grows when it comes into contact with regular water, and is destroyed by salt water. The former property is shown early in the film when a rock gets some water accidentally poured on it when a car radiator overheats and its driver pours in water. Even worse is that the rocks can turn people to stone, once the water has activated their mysterious otherworldly properties. The credit for the bulk of this film's success, however, belongs less with its director, John Sherwood, who was directing only his third low budget film, and more with the film's co-writer- the science fiction writer and film director Jack Arnold, who also helmed two classics of 1950s sci fi and horror: The Creature From The Black Lagoon and This Island Earth. There are the standard sci fi inexplicabilities; such as all the right folk are right where they are needed at exactly the right time, no one calls the Feds, nor the National Guard, petrifying limbs would fall off with gangrene, etc., and other sorts of silly science, but the wit and dialogue (especially in a brief scene with veteran B film actor William Schallert as a discombobulated meteorologist trying to tell Dave Miller when the thunderstorm is expected to end) are first rate. Arnold's co-writers on this film were Robert Fresco and Norman Jolly, but the film has all the hallmarks of a classic Arnold film. Why he did not direct it is probably only because he was juggling many other film projects at the same time. The film also pulls off a rare feat- its ominous opening voiceover monologue by Paul Frees, who forebodingly intoned the opening of many sci fi films, marveling over the wonders of `Science!', and such, and was also a voice for The Rocky And Bullwinkle cartoon a few years later. His booming voice was ripe for parody, and that he undercuts some of his own pomp shows how good an orator he was, for he opens this film with a monologue that both satirizes and pays homage to even worse monologues from far worse films. It starts out, `From time immemorial, the Earth has been bombarded by objects from outer space; bits and pieces of the universe, piercing our atmosphere, in an invasion that never ends,' and gets even better, or worse, from there. Then we see the meteor crash, which is another version of the same scene from the earlier Arnold-directed Universal film, It Came From Outer Space. But, the film also succeeds with some fairly innovative low budget special effects, from cinematographer Ellis W. Carter. The effect of the growing monoliths, which grow in size and depth, was never revealed, but likely done by the optical illusion of forced perspective, by pushing the monoliths through the set, for the upward height, and moving the camera toward them as the camera zooms outward. A similar technique was used to great effect in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo. The DVD is part of a five film, three DVD package called The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection. Well, not really, but The Monolith Monsters shares its DVD with Grant Williams' other film of note, The Incredible Shrinking Man, directed by Arnold. The other three films in the set are Tarantula- another Arnold flick, The Mole People, and Monster On The Campus- which featured Troy Donahue. Despite the Ultimate in the pack's title, the only extra feature The Monolith Monsters comes with is its original theatrical trailer. As Arnold and Williams are key 1950s sci fi figures, an expert in that era's genre films would have made for a potentially great audio commentary. On the plus side, Universal did a superb job in restoring the film- the transfer is stunning and almost wholly blemish free, and in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Also, of note, is a quite effective film score by a young and uncredited Henry Mancini. The Monolith Monsters is not a great film, by any means, but it's a damned good B sci fi film, leagues above the usual crap from that era, or any era, and because of its hints of plausibility, and being played straight, it traverses that thin line between cheesiness and real drama, and tropes toward the better side. Let all things sway in such a way.
Don't Pay Too Much! Great set this - but the people selling this secondhand are just trying to rip you off! This set is being reissued in May (and it's packaged with all the films from Volume 2). So don't pay over a hundred dollars here - wait a couple months and buy BOTH sets for $30 or so.
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