UNDERGROUND MOVIES>>> •BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES (1970), •DUCK AND
COVER (1951), •THE TUNNEL OF TERROR (1936), ("Flash Gordon", Ch. 2)
•THE UNDERGROUND MOVIE (1972), •THE ICED HOPE OF DR. CALASTEIN (1981)
<<<LOVE THY BOMB

TONIGHT: STRICTLY MEMBERS-ONLY
* MEMBERSHIPS STILL AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR ON THE NIGHT, 'THO *
DETAILS BELOW

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SPLODGE! NOTES: 1st. Mon. AUGUST (04/08/03)
splodgeburger@...

ON THE FIRST MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH

"SPLODGE!"

a community FilmEdSoc project,
WE CONTROL THE CONTENT

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Unusual films of discernment, still presented in convivial
surroundings!

ALL PRESENTED ON GROOVY 16 MILLIMETRE FILM!

the back room
714 NICHOLSON (CNR. SCOTCHMER) STREET, NORTH FITZROY

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3rd. Quartile

AUGUST
AD 2003

Monday, 04th.

Registration: 7.30 - 8.00 pm
Screening: >>>>> 8.00 (*EIGHT*!!!!) pm <<<<<

TONIGHT: STRICTLY MEMBERS-ONLY
MEMBERSHIPS STILL AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR ON THE NIGHT
DETAILS BELOW

UNDERGROUND MOVIES
featuring:

•DUCK AND COVER (1951),
The most infamous of Civil Defence educational films, this is the
masterpiece that introduced the world to Bert the Turtle and his mantra
to terrified school children to "duck and cover."

D&C was released in 1951, one year after the USSR had exploded their
first atomic bomb. This was the most climactic part of the Cold War
until the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was also suprising to the Americans
that the Russians were intelligent enough to make a bomb ( - or at
least purport they had. - The thermonuclear bomb doesn't exist and is a
disinformation fable dreamt up by the United States to out-psych the
Axis, and later the Eastern Bloc). The popular, pre-conceived notion
was that the Commies weren't quite up to it.

This short also featured a boy jumping off his bike in mid-ride, upon
realizing an "A" bomb has gone off. Is there an equally silly Russian
film? To quote Oliver Stone, "Open the files!" Prod Co: Archer
Productions / Federal Civil Defence Administration. 10 mins. NFVLS.


•THE UNDERGROUND MOVIE (1972),
Everyone has wondered what it would be like to dig right through to the
other side of the Earth. This cartoon takes the wondering a step
further.

Here the probe is accomplished with a machine as ingenious as any that
have reached the moon. Dubbed "Old Chucknose", and equipped with
amazing gadgetry, it bores through every layer of the Earth's crust and
through to The Core.

Perhaps it's not a blueprint of things to come, but it's plausible
enough for a feature film. http://cmm.nfb.ca/images/poster/72/72052.jpg

http://www.adhoc.co.jp/nfb/online_shopping/sakuhin/image/u/undergro.jpg

Prod: National Film Board of Canada. Prod: Robert Verrall, Les Drew,
Joseph Koenig. Images: Cameron Gaul, Raymond Dumas. Anim: Les Drew.
Mus: Donald Douglas. Snd: Jean-Pierre Joutel, Peter Hearn. Voice /
Narr: John O'Leary, Jim Macaulay. Dir: Les Drew. 14 mins. ALC.


•THE ICED HOPES OF DR CALASTEIN (1981)
Mad Doctor Calastein returns to his UNDERGROUND laboratory to continue
work on his beloved virus. A day not unlike any other, and yet today is
different. Somehow things have gone too far, and those outside and
above think its time to have a few words with ol’ Calastein. Prod Co:
Sydney Filmmakers Co-op. Dir: John Evan Hughes, Bruce Currie. 4 mins.
AlC.

plus:

Quickie Theatre returns! – with...

•THE TUNNEL OF TERROR, [ CHAPTER 2 – FLASH GORDON (1936) ]
In the previous exciting episode, Flash - clean-cut All-American
athlete and nice-guy - had only just escaped certain doom at the paws
of a pit-full of menacing ape-men on the mysterious and Earth
fast-approaching planet of Mongo, ruled by the cruel tyrant, Ming ( -
the Merciless).

Next, as a troop of guards descended on the beleaguered Flash, Princess
Aura - beautiful gothic babe and lusty daughter of Ming
<http://flashgordon.ws/images/pa_mov.gif>, having taken a shine to the
newly-arrived slice of athletic beefcake - rushed into the arena to
protect him from her father's vengeful guards, but in shooting one of
the soldiers, only caused the dying man to fall against a switch that
opens a trapdoor beneath the two!

As we resume, Flash and Aura plummet down the shaft ( - This "Tunnel
of Terror" was filmed in Brush Quarry in Bronson Canyon, site of many
early Westerns - ), but are saved ( hooray! ) when Ming throws another
switch that opens a safety-net beneath them. Escaping from the shaft
thru a secret door, Aura leads Flash through a subterranean cave and
stashes him in one of Ming's rocketships at the cavern opening. But as
soon as he's out of earshot, she vows he will never see his
space-companions again.

Meanwhile, one of Flash's companions, the brilliant scientist
Dr.Zarkov, is being forced by Ming to work on various WMDs to aid the
tyrant in his planned conquest of the Universe. Further, Ming - ever
the romantic - and having become infatuated by Flash's other
fellow-traveller (and apple-pie love-interest), the beautiful, young
Dale Arden, has ordered his hand-maidens to prepare her for a Wedding
ceremony, dressing up like a harem girl.

When Dale refuses to marry Ming, or, indeed, even change her clothes to
the latest Mongo I-DREAM-OF-JEANNIE-inspired attire ( - tight fitting
bra and flowing skirt; midriff bare; hair, previously pinned up, now
loose and flowing - ), he orders his high-priest to subject her to a
flashing-light machine called the "dehumanizer", entrancing her, for as
long as it takes to perform the marriage ceremony.

By this stage, lion men, wouldyoubelieve, - a long-haired, bearded
race in rebellion against Ming's tyranny, led by Prince Thun - have
launched an attack on his palace from the air in whirling "gyro ships".
Nice–guy Flash, noticing that Ming's Palace is being attacked, and
concerned about his friends' safety, teaches himself how to fly Ming's
rocketship and blasts off to engage the gyros in an aerial dogfight.
The rocketship crashes into Thun's gyro as they manoeuvre across the
sky, and they both plunge into a barren valley below.

Emerging from the wreckage unharmed, the men begin fighting hand to
hand, but Flash obtains the upper one, yet spares Thun's life, and
forging an instant bond between the two. They quickly realize that they
are both allies against a common foe. Thun then shows Flash
a(nother)secret passage, stealthily providing access to the Palace,
where they overcome the single guard minding the entrance and force him
to take them to Zarkov in 'The Laboratory'. (This lab is the
planetarium-set from THE INVISIBLE RAY [1936]. The lab machinery was
created by Kenneth Strickfadden, who also created the lab equipment for
the Universal FRANKENSTEIN films.)

The high-priest consults the oracle to see if the god Tao approves of
the marriage [ - stock footage of dancing girls writhing before a large
idol from JUST IMAGINE (1930) ].

Zarkov tells Flash he has repositioned Mongo so that it no longer is on
a collision-course with the Earth ( - whew! ), and that the
still-hypnotized Dale is on the verge of a girl's worst evening. Flash
sees the various cultish goings-on on Zarkov's SPACEOGRAPH (sort of a
TV monitor-sized picture-phone). He forces the guard to take him to the
tunnel leading to the secret chamber where the marriage is taking
place. Zarkov butters up Ming and manages to be invited as well.
The marriage takes place before a completely different idol, also
referred to as Tao, which is more life-sized and Egyptian in
appearance, flanked by two small Sphinxes [ - the statue of Amon-Ra
from THE MUMMY (1932) ]. The ceremony seems to consist of nothing more
than a gong being sounded 13 times. On the 13th stroke, the ceremony
will be completed.

Hurrying to stop the ceremony and rescue Dale, Flash is impeded by a
contingent of Ming's guards, and then by a giant, lobster-clawed
reptillian creature (unnamed here, but which turns up in Chapter 9 as
the Fire Dragon, although it doesn't breathe fire during this
appearance) which walks upright and tries to crush him in its grasp.

Quoting from FILMFAX 79, Buster recalled: "There was a scene that
featured Flash in combat with a Gocko: a fire-breathing dragon, eleven
feet long, with a horse's head, the body of a dinosaur and the tail of
a dragon. Operating the bulky monster was a horrendous job, since we
were in an age without automation. One man did the whole job from
inside by pushing the wire-framed structure about the set, turning its
head and swishing its tail by hand cranks, and firing a flame-thrower
through an opening in its mouth. It didn't look even remotely real,
but it was the best thing we had at the time. Glenn Strange was the
actor who dragged the Gocko around."

This dragon provides the second ep. cliffhanger, as Flash is caught up
in its claw and loses consciousness. TO BE CONTINUED... Based on Alex
Raymond's cartoon strip. Prod Co: Universal Productions Inc. Prod:
Henry MacRae. Dir: Frederick Stephani. Wrs: Frederick Stephani, George
Plympton, Basil Dickey, Ella O'Neill. Phot: Jerry Ash, Richard Fryer.
Art Dir: Ralph Berger. Cast: Larry 'Buster' Crabbe (Flash Gordon), Jean
Rogers (Dale Arden), Priscilla Lawson (Princess Aura), Charles
Middleton (Emperor Ming [ - The Merciless] ). 20 mins. NFVLS.


and featuring:

•BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES (1970),
Superb sequel, and one of the finest fantasy films ever made. Following
the surprising success of the original PLANET OF THE APES (1968), it is
not surprising that 20th Century Fox wanted to produce a sequel to that
film.

The movie opens promisingly (and somewhat surrealistically, especially
if you hadn't seen the original) with Taylor (our hero from the first
film, played by CHARLTON HESTON) and Nova (Taylor's cavegirl companion)
wandering around the Forbidden Zone on a horse with no name, which is
pretty much where we left them at the end of Planet of the Apes. They
avoid animated lightning that comes out of nowhere, and then Taylor
disappears into thin-air after investigating the remains of a building.


Cut to a different part of the Forbidden Zone. Another spaceship has
crashed, and this time the only survivor is Brent, played by Heston
look-a-like JAMES FRANSISCUS. Brent's mission is to find out what
happened to Taylor's ship. Brent meets up with Nova, who takes him to
Ape City. There Brent realizes that he is a long way from Longstreet (
- FRANSISCUS' tv series), and on Nova's mute direction, he contacts
Zira (KIM HUNTER) and Cornelius (this time played by David Watson, not
RODDY McDOWELL) - Taylor's ape confidants during his first days on the
Planet of the Apes. Zira and Cornelius help Brent find his way back to
the Forbidden Zone where he will hopefully find Taylor.

Once the preliminaries are over, the movie finally hits high gear.
Brent finds Taylor, who was captured by mutants who live in the ruins
of New York City. These mutants are a very strange bunch indeed ( -
even more bizarre than today's inhabitants of the Big Apple). They all
have pale skin and rather extensive mental powers including mental
projection and mind control. The mutants also worship an atomic bomb.
Come to think of it, it may yet happen! They keep it in St. Patrick's
Cathedral, and sing hymns to it (of course). One of the most effective
scenes in the film involves a mass congregation of the mutants.

Apparently HESTON didn't want to star in the sequel, because he didn't
feel it would be a good idea to repeat himself. He agreed to appear as
a personal favor to Fox chief ZANUCK, on the understanding that he
would only appear at the beginning of the film. This seems to have
changed as they filmed the movie, because Heston appears quite
prominently at the end of the film. As a matter of fact, it is Taylor,
and not Brent, who does everything important after all-heck breaks
loose because the local ape army attacks the mutants. It is almost as
if the real hero of the movie takes an hour break, and JAMES FRANSISCUS
is standing in for him during the boring parts of the film.

In terms of cinematic storytelling, BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES is
more straightforward than the film that spawned it - with a literal
show-stopper of an ending. Director TED (MAGNUM FORCE, 1973) POST's
underrated direction keeps the very linear story moving full speed
ahead, and the viewer is caught up in the goings-on. We see it all
through the eyes of JAMES FRANCISCUS (who was himself an underrated
performer). Leonard Rosenman's spooky score only adds to our unease.
JAMES GREGORY's distinctive, growling voice lends the brutal gorilla
General Ursus an air of overpowering menace, though it would've been
interesting, indeed, had ORSON WELLES accepted the role ( - listen to
his voice in the Mercury Theatre radio production DRACULA). CHARLTON
HESTON's misanthropic character George Taylor reprises in cameo in what
is the final say in the ultimate movie ending. Maybe the best film in
the series.

Trailers: Windows Media Player:
Trailer #1 56k/28k
http://us.imdb.com/Trailers?0065462&screenplay&E14118&13&2
Trailer #2 56k/28k
http://us.imdb.com/Trailers?0065462&screenplay&E14122&13&2

Dir: TED POST. Wr: Paul Dehn, Mort Abrahams. Scr: Paul Dehn. Cast:
JAMES FRANSISCUS, KIM HUNTER, MAURICE EVANS, LINDA HARRISON, PAUL
RICHARDS, VICTOR BUONO, JAMES GREGORY, JEFF COREY, NATALIE TRUNDY,
THOMAS GOMEZ, CHARLTON HESTON, PAUL FREES (Ending voice-over:
uncredited), RODDY McDOWELL (archive footage, uncredited). Prod: Mort
Abrahams, Arthur P. Jacobs. Mus: Leonard Rosenman. Phot: Milton
Krasner. Makeup: John Chambers. Spfx: L.B. Abbott, Art Cruickshank. 94
mins. RM.


Note: If you'd like to join our "low-kilobyte", no-attachment
Splodge!-lite mailing-list, just give us a "'hoy" here at
splodgeburger!

...................... http://splodge.homestead.com/ .................

Minor programme changes may occur due to unforseen
circumstances.
Feature runs last; shorts order may vary from listing.

* Acknowledging ACMI Inc. ;) *

**********************************************************************

ADMISSION IS RESTRICTED TO MEMBERS FOR THIS PROGRAMME

THIS IS A FILM SOCIETY SCREENING OPEN TO MEMBERS

BUT IF YOU WISH TO BECOME A MEMBER, THE JOINING FEE IS SO LOW,
IT *MIGHT AS WELL BE FREE*!

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MEMBERSHIP RATES:
Quarterly*:
Generally Socially-Advantaged: $7.00

Generally Socially-Oppressed: $6.00

*annual and half-yearly memberships available on request

If you wish to join on the night, we strongly advise you to
arrive well-prior to the time listed for the screening to
commence!

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For e-mail notification, spam your Subscribe-Request to:
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or visit:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/splodgefilms/

or register* via snail-mail (address below).

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dispatch to:
splodgeburger@...

...................... http://splodge.homestead.com/ .................

714 NICHOLSON STREET (CNR. NICHOLSON & SCOTCHMER STREETS),
NORTH FITZROY. PHONE 04 25 74 28 01


LOCATION MAP:
- http://makeashorterlink.com/?P23D21A01


ACCESS BY #96 TRAM (TRAM-STOP #21, SECTION 7):

-To > Splodge! (ie., FROM city):
http://makeashorterlink.com/?X15B31403

-From < Splodge! (ie., TO city):
http://makeashorterlink.com/?S14B31403

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SPLODGE! GETS BOLSHY WHEN IT'S MATES ARE IN TROUBLE!

Our amiable hosts at The Empress Hotel, who supply us with a safe and
congenial space for our exclusive use and enjoyment ( - which we could
never otherwise afford - ) are under siege by nefarious anti-joy
forces, so we are rallying to their help!

If you support Splodge!, you can play YOUR part in helping fight the
sound restrictions unfairly placed on our beloved venue by signing THE
PETITION! And RETURNING IT! ( - You could send it back over to
Splodge!, or straight to the kindly folk at the Empress. If you're
coming to our future screenings, you'll find a hard copy of the
petition at our admin desk.)

http://www.theempresshotel.com.au/fair%20go.htm

- Splodge! says thanks for you consideration in this matter. You could
not begin to imagine how much our l'il film society owes these people!

"VicMusic supports it. Fair go 4 Live Music supports it.
100s, if not thousands, support it and enjoy it!

This call for help is wider, though, not only punters and musicians
need to respond to this call. Anyone who has taken advantage
of the colourful and diverse live music scene in Melbourne
will be affected by this. The Threat? One resident!

The Empress stands as a 16 year old supporter and promoter of live
music.

And her demise will undermine the value and joy of our inherent musical
talent, and jeopardise the future of local businesses and artists.
The solution? Well! Its starts with your support at the benefit gigs.

Highly regarded artists such as Vika and Linda, The Lucksmiths and
Machine Translations as well as locally celebrated artists such TZU,
Curse of Dialect, Music Vs Physics and The Dave Broadly Band, to name a
few have banded together, making a stand to save a stronghold of the
Melbourne Live music scene currently under fire.

The petition, already signed by so many across Melbourne, is available
at:

http://www.theempresshotel.com.au "


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Attachments:

Pics for: BeneathPlanetApes70one.jpg (183k)
BeneathPlanetApes70two.jpg (168k)
UndergroundMovie.jpg (22k)




























































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