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A Savant Article

CineSavant shows off an arcane observation: in 1957, scenes from a glossy CinemaScope Fox production directed by Raoul Walsh, were almost immediately re-purposed, with grandiose special effects added, for a landmark science fiction fantasy. It’s an opportunity to admire the resourceful artistry of Jack Rabin, Louis DeWitt and Irving Block, special effects professionals that did fine work but were seldom if ever considered for industry awards.

Back in the 1970s I picked up from Larry Edmunds’ Bookstore a copy of a one-shot special effects fan magazine that I think had been put together by the effects master/researcher Robert Skotak. The photo magazine lauded the efforts of a Hollywood effects partnership consisting of Jack Rabin, Irving Block and Louis DeWitt. Their names appeared on dozens of 1950s films, for their creative optical work — whatever enhancements might be needed, from simple title sequences to matte shots and even stop-motion animation when required.

Some titles just grab your attention and these long-winded, verbose movie titles are certainly unique. Here are 9 movie titles that are hard to say in one breath.

Honorable Mention: “The Fable of the Kid Who Shifted His Ideals to Golf and Finally Became a Baseball Fan and Took the Only Known Cure” (1916)—23 words

This one actually has the longest movie title ever written, but since it’s just a short rather than a full-length film, it doesn’t count. I’m not clear on what the plot of this was but it’s a short silent comedy about baseball.

1.“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (2007)—10 Words

This title pretty much sums up the whole movie. If you watch this, you will not be surprised by what happens to Jesse and who kills him. Actually, it’s a pretty good movie and has the best performance that Casey Affleck ever did.

Exclusive: Roman Kopelevich’s La-based sales company has come on to handle international sales on a reboot slate of ten American International Pictures genre classics from the 1950s.

Cinedigm will distribute the films in the Us and producers Lou Arkoff and Hal Sadoff have lined up a September start on back-to-back shoots for the entire roster.

Cast and directors are expected to be announced shortly on the slate, which the producers aim to turn into an R-rated comic book-style cinematic universe with interconnecting characters.

The roster includes Girls In Prison, Viking Women & The Sea Serpent, The Brain Eaters (pictured); She-Creature and Teenage Caveman.

Rounding out the slate are Reform School Girl, The Undead, How To Make A Monster, The Cool & The Crazy and Day The World Ended.

Former New Line and Fox executive Jeff Katz wrote each script and the ten individual stories will feed into one overarching narrative. Sadoff is the former head of international and media...

History's "Vikings" returns on Thursday (February 19) night for the start of what looks to be its most ambitious season to date. When we left Travis Fimmel's Ragnar last season, he'd completed his ascension to king, but he still had lots of unfinished business, particularly Across the Pond with Linus Roache's King Ecbert. Season 3 finds Ragnar and friends holding things down at home, expanding their reach in England and, as series creator Michael Hirst has long teased, eying a raid on Paris. Hirst is always one of my favorite interview subjects, but I tend to only get through a third of my questions when I get 15 or 20 minutes on the phone with the erudite Englishman, so I made sure to get a solid half-hour-plus when we sat down last month during the Television Critics Association press tour. In the wide-ranging conversation, we discuss Ragnar's unease ruling position, the prophecy...

Roger Corman fans are familiar with at least a few of them, movie memorabilia collectors have hung posters of them on their walls for decades, and some first saw them at double bill matinees on Saturdays or summer nights at the drive-in. If you have fond memories of watching the pulpy onscreen offerings of American International Pictures from the bucket seat of a Buick or the comfortable cushions of your own couch, then you might be pleased to know that ten of the company’s titles have been acquired by Cinedigm and will be remade as individual films linked together by one massive story arc.

Girls in Prison, Viking Women and The Sea Serpent, The Brain Eaters, The She-Creature, Teenage Caveman, Reform School Girl, The Undead, War of the Colossal Beast, The Cool and The Crazy, and Day the World Ended will all be reimagined, with filming slated to start...

Cinedigm has signed a 10-film deal with Lou Arkoff, Jeff Katz and Hal Sadoff to reinvent a series of American International Pictures (Aip) classics from the 1950s including The Brain Eaters and Girls In Prison.

The trio first introduced the Aip remake slate in Cannes 2013 and have earmarked a September start, planning to shoot all ten titles back-to-back.

Katz has written every screenplay and the stories will feed into an over-arching arc. Cast and directors are expected to be announced shortly.

Cinedigm will release the films theatrically and via DVD, digital, TV and non-theatrical formats. The films will also featured on Cinedigm’s nascent digital network CONtv.

The ten titles are: Girls In Prison; Viking Women & The Sea Serpent; The Brain Eaters; She-Creature; Teenage Caveman; Reform School Girl; The Undead; War Of The Colossal Beast; The Cool & The Crazy; and Day The World Ended.

“In a unique twist on the current film-making model, all ten films...

During our recent webcam chat (watch below), Katheryn Winnick explained why women identify with Lagertha, her role on History Channel's hit epic "Vikings": “She’s the working woman in the dark ages. She does everything, not only a woman who fights in the shield wall, and pillages and brings back wealth, she’s also a mother and a wife, and a lot of women in this time period have to multitask to make those ends meet.” -Break- Despite her character being a Viking warrior woman in the eighth century, Winnick believes that, in essence, she’s playing a “modern woman” and that is why so many identify with Lagertha and have taken to her in droves. Follow Gold Derby on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, iTunes and YouTube During our candid conversation, she elaborated on what it is about the Viking legend that attracts so much interest. "Viking women w.

Today sees the release of Poseidon Rex on iTunes and select theaters, and we caught up with director Mark L. Lester for our latest Q&A feature. Best known for directing Commando and Firestarter, Mark tells us about his fascination with creature features, developing Poseidon Rex, and what he’s working on next:

Having been involved in creature features previously, what made you want to take on Poseidon Rex as your next film?

Mark L. Lester: I loved the idea of doing a sea creature movie and always wanted to make one, since I saw Beast of 20,000 Fathoms, as a little kid. That picture really haunted me.

Did you have any input in the story or was the script put together before you came on board?

Mark L. Lester: I developed the entire story from the beginning and had the script written by Rafael Jordan. I wanted to...

Vikings, Season 2, Episode 6, “Unforgiven”

Written by Michael Hirst

Directed by Jeff Woolnough

Airs Thursdays at 10pm Est on History

Vikings is one of the few shows, in my mind, that cleverly draws upon its oft-times anachronistic soundtrack and cinematic angles in order to construct a narrative that mimics the headspace of its primary cast; and in doing so, draws the viewer further into its milieu. All in it all, it intends — either consciously or subconsciously — to parcel up modern-day moralistic questions with uncommon antique stories, and make the pair more compelling in this juxtaposition.

In particular, Hirst pays his dues to the women — and his interest in discussing role of Viking women and what power they might possess has never been clearer than in tonight’s episode. For example: the episode opens with Siggy, who kneels before the Seer and begs him help restore her to her former position. For the most part,...

Back in the 1950s, the film industry went through some major changes. The studio system (in which the major studios had directors, actors, and writers under contract and matched them up for films) was dying, and the studios had lost ownership of most theater chains due to anti-trust laws, which meant theaters had more freedom in what they could screen. This gave rise to the independent studios, who would hire no-name directors and actors on a per-project basis, could churn out low-budget flicks with sensational topics that could turn a bigger profit.

American International Pictures (Aip) was one of the biggest independent studios of its time, with over 500 films produced and/or distributed by the company. Aip produced Roger Corman's earliest films. The company specialized in "teeny-bopper" films: juvenile crime, horror, and sci-fi tales. Throughout the years, Aip was bought and merged into a number of companies, with MGM...

Producers Jeff Katz, Lou Arkoff, and Hal Sadoff are planning to remake ten drive-in classic titles originally made at American International Pictures in the 1950s.

The list is said to include: "Girls In Prison," "Viking Women & The Sea Serpent," "The Brain Eaters," "She-Creature," "Teenage Caveman," "Runaway Daughters," "The Undead," "War of The Colossal Beast," "Cool & The Crazy" and "Day The World Ended".

All the projects will be shot back to back beginning this fall.

Source: Deadline...

Jeff Katz, Lou Arkoff, and Hal Sadoff are going to remake a bunch of American International Pictures’ (Aip) flicks from the 50s. The plan is to remake 10 movies, with the first group being Girls In Prison, Viking Women & The Sea Serpent, The Brain Eaters, She-Creature, Teenage Caveman, Runaway Daughters, The Undead, War of The Colossal Beast, Cool & The Crazy and Day The World Ended.

“The Aip spirit was all about innovation and giving new young talent a place to create,” said Arkoff. “We are now using that independent spirit and our library of classic titles to create something brand-new for the modern media model, with a coordinated social effort to accelerate interest in these properties. Our goal is to engage young audiences and drive the spirit of the times with the same excitement that fueled these titles decades ago”

Here’s Katz on why he wanted to embark on this...

They might not be quite as strong a part of cinematic tradition over here than in the car-happy Us, but drive-in movie chains and the B-movies they spawned are still a glorious sight to behold. Now a group of producers are planning to remake a batch of classic titles from the 1950s, raiding the library of American International Pictures to bring The Brain Eaters, Teenage Caveman, She-Creature and more back to the world.The team includes Lou Arkoff, son of Samuel Z. Arkoff, who founded Aip in 1954 with James H. Nicholson to churn out such low-budget efforts as The Undead and Viking Women And The Sea Serpent. They intend to remake 10 of the bigger Aip titles, building on their efforts to redo the movies for the Us cable network Showtime in the 1990s. This time, however, their aim is the big screen.“The Aip spirit was all about innovation and...

Viking Women & The Sea Serpent, The Brain Eaters, She-Creature, Teenage Caveman, The Undead, War of the Colossal Beast, and The Day the World Ended. These are a few of my favorite things, and they're now getting remade and more!

According to Deadline, Jeff Katz, Lou Arkoff, and Hal Sadoff plan to remake 10 titles in the Arkoff/Nicholson library of American International Pictures-produced 1950’s classics. Usually the mere idea of remakes sends shivers of woe down our spines, but given the talent involved and the love that I know they have for these projects, we couldn't be happier.

Getting the redux treatment are the following 1950's drive-in classics: Girls in Prison, Viking Women & The Sea Serpent, The Brain Eaters, She-Creature, Teenage Caveman, Runaway Daughters, The Undead, Cool & The Crazy, The Day the World Ended, and my personal favorite, The War of the Colossal Beast. Please.... please... Please... keep the same make-up design for that one!

Signifying our society’s maturing from the sarcastic negativity that defined the ’90s, into the cheerily positive attitude toward brand exploitation that is the more modern form of cynicism, remakes are now in the works for 10 titles from American International Pictures—the B-movie studio perhaps best known as one of the top suppliers of terrible films to Mystery Science Theater 3000. Among the first MST3K-mocked Aip movies being readied for updates are The She-Creature, Teenage Caveman, Viking Women And The Sea Serpent, The Undead, and War Of The Colossal Beast, all of which were churned out on the ...

It has been announced that Jeff Katz, Lou Arkoff, and Hal Sadoff plan to remake 10 Aip horror titles from the 1950′s. If you’re a fan of classic horror films from the 50′s – 70′s, American International Pictures needs no real introduction. They were responsible for dozens of horror cult classics, including Roger Corman’s popular Poe adaptations starring Vincent Price.

The titles being remade are said to include: Girls In Prison, Viking Women & The Sea Serpent, The Brain Eaters, She-Creature, Teenage Caveman, Runaway Daughters, The Undead, War of The Colossal Beast, Cool & The Crazy and Day The World Ended.

The announcement lacked details on the cast and crew involved on these projects, but it’s said that all of them will be filmed back-t0-back with the first movie filming this fall. Most likely, these movies will be similar in quality and scope to what Roger Corman has been doing...

Select titles from American International Pictures' library are being remade, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Those on the roster: Girls in Prison, Viking Women & The Sea Serpent, The Brain Eaters, She-Creature, Teenage Caveman, Runaway Daughters, The Undead, War of The Colossal Beast, Cool & The Crazy and Day The World Ended.

Some of those titles were already remade in the early-'00s.

Read more...

Jeff Katz, Lou Arkoff, and Hal Sadoff plan to remake 10 titles in the Arkoff/Nicholson library of American International Pictures-produced 1950’s classics. That means a steady diet of antiheroes, monsters and naughty girls is back on the menu. They will start with these 1950’s drive-in classics: Girls In Prison, Viking Women & The Sea Serpent, The Brain Eaters, She-Creature, Teenage Caveman, Runaway Daughters, The Undead, War of The Colossal Beast, Cool & The Crazy and Day The World Ended. The plan is to shoot them all back to back, beginning this fall. The question will be how these films, distinguished more than anything by their titles, will play in the modern age. Aip was founded in 1954 by Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson, and churned out 500 low-budget, indies for teens that included the Beach Party series with Frankie Avalon and the late Annette Funicello, as well as the early films of director Roger Corman.

We scour the interwebs for the coolest movie news and more so you don't have to ...

He makes 'em fast, cheap and cool -- Complex has the 25 craziest Roger Corman posters on display, from "She Gods of Shark Reef" to "Viking Women and the Sea Serpent."

Variety reports that Lisbeth Salander will hack her way into theaters a day early as "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" changes its release date to Dec. 20.

Want another Top 25 list? We think you'll like The Fab Life's 25 Sexiest Celebrity Santas, which includes Katy Perry and Scarlett Johansson decked out in red and white.

Got a million and a half bucks? Then you can buy Renee Zellweger's three-bedroom country home in Connecticut, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Top 25 lists can't be stopped! From bloody murders to bridesmaid speeches, IndieWire lists the 25 Best Movie Moments of 2011.

Recreating Heaven and Hell is apparently too...

Character actor Richard Devon was a familiar face in films and television from the early 1950s. He was often cast as desperados and gangsters in western and crime films. He was also noted for his roles in a handful of Roger Corman cult classics in the 1950s. Devon was featured as Satan in the supernatural tale of past lives, The Undead (1957), with Pamela Duncan and Allison Hayes. He was King Stark of the Grimolts in the campy The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1957), with Abby Dalton and Susan Cabot, and was the alien possessed Dr. Pol Van Ponder in the sci-fi feature War of the Satellites (1958) with Cabot and Dick Miller.

Devon worked his way through drama school in Los Angeles, performing chores in lieu of paying tuition. He also worked in early local television, and played a recurring...

Roger Corman's output through the years may not be immediately familiar, but he's been a wide conduit for emerging talent and raw creativity. That's why he's finally been given an Oscar

"Ok, so, November 14th 2009, Roger Corman receives an Oscar. People … what took you so long?" The words of Jonathan Demme in his speech before handing over the statuette to Corman on that fateful evening.

Don't worry, you've not missed the Oscar ceremony (something surprisingly easy to do since Sky swiped the TV rights). This was the inaugural Governors awards, part of the new-look Academy that will see the number of nominees greatly expanded come March, where the board issue honorary Oscars to deserving talents who they missed out or ignored over the years. It's a shame this was such a sidelined event as we were denied the opportunity to see Hollywood's brightest and best politely clapping at a...

When I read the news the other day that Roger Corman was selected to receive an Honorary Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, I was kind of surprised. Not because I couldn't believe Roger Corman would be given an Honorary Academy Award but because I'd have sworn they'd already done so years ago. Apparently not. Talk about an honor long overdue.

Roger Corman began his directing career with 1955's Swamp Women and last sat in the director's chair for 1990's Frankenstein Unbound, but he still remains active as a producer, such as his forthcoming Syfy production DinoShark. As one of his assistants once told me, "He'll be making movies until the day he dies."

If any of you are wondering why they would bestow an Oscar, Honorary or otherwise, upon a man whose cinematic canon includes the likes of It Conquered the World and The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent...

As the force behind nearly 400 films, 56 of which he served as director, including ‘Attack of the Crab Monsters,’ ‘The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent,’ and ‘Gas! -Or- It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It,’ it’s hard to imagine Roger Corman hasn’t been honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Well, thanks to those grand and glorious honorary awards they give out each year, 2009 will be the year Roger Corman goes home with Oscar.

Along with producer/executive John Calley, star Lauren Bacall, and cinematographer Gordon Willis, Corman will be receiving an honorary Academy Award at the Academy’s inaugural Governors Awards event on Saturday, November 14.

Academy President Tom Sherak had this to say about the recipients:

These four individuals have each, in their own unique way, made lasting impressions...

Many movies unavailable on DVD are difficult to find, but if you beat the bushes with hard work and patience (online traders, DVD-Rs at collectibles shows, long out-of-print VHS tapes), most “rare” movies can eventually be tracked down. Then there are movies like The Farmer. I saw the violent revenge thriller The Farmer at the I-44 Drive-In movie theatre in Valley Park, Missouri in 1977 on a double-bill with John Flynn’s The Outfit. It’s a vivid memory and I recall my friends and I loving it and talking about it for months after. I began collecting movies in the early 80’s and just assumed The Farmer would one day find it’s way into my collection. But I’ve searched far and wide and here it is 2009 and, after years of it topping my want list, a return visit to The Farmer has eluded me. When I mention the title to fellow movie collectors,...

B-movie fans rejoice. AMC, which some of you may remember at one time stood for "American Movie Classics" until the "classic" portions of the name became rather dubious, has just launched Bmc (B-Movie Classics), a subsidiary of AMC's website streaming classic and not-so-classic B-movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Mac McKean, Vice-President of Digital Media for AMC, tells TV Week: “B-movies may have been low-budget and less publicized motion pictures, but they had a huge fan base that transcended generations and still exists today. Bmc is a new platform that caters to an on-demand audience, giving film lovers direct access to B-movies from the 1950s and ’60s.”

The Bmc website greeting goes a little something like this:

"Bikinis! Monsters! Motorcycles! Welcome to Bmc, your new go-to site for B-movies by the likes of John Carpenter (Dark Star) and Roger Corman (Saga of the Viking Women). Now online and in full screen,...

The pairing of Roger Corman, the 20th century’s king of B-moviemeisters, and the Sci Fi Channel, which doles out cubes of processed cheese week after week, should occur far more often. Not necessarily because their collaborations are that noteworthy, but rather because it seems predestined that these two work together.

The man responsible for The Saga Of The Viking Women And Their Voyage To The Waters Of The Great Sea Serpent (credited here as producer alongside his wife Julie) and the network that churned out S.S. Doomtrooper? They were made for each other, regardless of the results.

And what of these results? The most recent, Cyclops, is about as mixed a bag as they come. With shockingly impressive sets (for this network) and a well-rounded cast, this ancient-Rome-set epic should have been far better than it is—but still earns points for being less mediocre than many of...