Post by RedKing on Jan 16, 2007 10:59:56 GMT -8
Ah, this is one of my favorite 50s monster flicks! Bob Clarke wrote, produced directed and starred in this great drive-in monster flick! Bob plays Dr Gil McKenna who, because off accidental exposure to a radioactive isotope, becomes a nasty reptile man in the sun's light! The Sun Demon design is fantastic and photos of it in Famous Monsters used to scare the hell out of me as a kid(I never got to see the actual film until i was in my 20s). He resembles a scaly werewolf, which is appropriate since he's something of a reverse lycanthrope. bob said he wanted to do a sci-fi variation on the Jekyll/Hyde theme and it works quite well. I noticed this time around that his character, Gil, is really not a very likable guy at all! He accidentally dropped the isotope in the first place because he had a hangover, and his boss comments about his drinking at the film's beginning, and indeed he drinks like a fish throughout the film. Instead of staying and trying to face his problem and get help, he runs away from the hospital and holes up at his home in the country, but goes out nightly to a seedy bar where he starts carrying on with trudy- a blonde beauty with huge..um, assets! Not that there's anything wrong with that mind you, but he already seems to have a girlfriend -his secretary at the lab! He also repeatedly gets himself into situations where he's caught out in the sun and then whines and carries on that it's no use, he's doomed afterwards!When the cops show up to question him in connection with the scaly murder of trudy's mobster boyfriend, he runs away and runs over one of the cops, killing him! Still, I guess if you turn into a scaly monster in the sun, you might crack a little! Regardless of what kind of man Gil is, he's sure a great monster! Bob.s Sun Demon mask and upper body suit(made from the top half of a scuba diving suit) is fantastic! Nan Peterson as trudy is one of the hottest babes in 50s sci-fi, and she and Bob have a moonlight romp on the beach that heavily suggests they slept toghethr! rather shocking for a 50s movie I must say!! The music score by John Seely is also excellent and was later re-used by George Romero in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. I thinka terrific sequel would have been The Sun Demon Meets the Alligator People-that would be a very cool brawl! Bob arranged for the world premiere of his movie at a Texas drive-in where his brother worked on radio. The co-feature was Roger Corman's ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS and he and Nan Peterson appeared in person, Bob even got ionto the Sun Demon mask and ran around the lot scaring the patrons in their cars! This was in late August and early September of 1958, but Bob wasn't able to secure a wide release until January 1959 with the small Miller Consolidated Pictures on the bottom of a double bill with that company's A DATE WITH DEATH. This nation-wide release premiered in, of all places, Roswell NM. I wonder if the UFOs had to pay double at the drive-in there? 
Unfortunately for Bob, this deal didn't net him much profit as Miller Consolidated promptly went bankrupt and never paid him!
Unfortunately for Bob, this deal didn't net him much profit as Miller Consolidated promptly went bankrupt and never paid him!
