Keep Watching the Skies-“Essentials of a SCI-FI fans library and for sure- anyone who is a film historian”
Above-popping art work for the cover-everyone of the images in this jaw dropping design are covered in depth within the pages of what I consider one of the :
“Essentials of a SCI-FI fans library and for sure anyone who is a film fan historian”
Weighing in at all most 7 lbs and 1040 pages…
The people- Roger Corman, George Pal and Robert Wise…
The creatures, aliens and things- giant leeches, tarantulas, ants, Godzilla, a colossal man-a shrinking one as well… plus Klaatu, a 50 ft woman and shrews…mutants and breaking the time barrier. Oh and saucer men!!!
The locations from the center of the earth to 20,000 leagues below the sea to the red planet Mars.
So beware this knowledge prior to opening this massive volume and turning a few 100 pages… if only you were on Altair 4…
Keep Watching the Skies-
written by Bill Warren Hard Copy and coming in at just shy of 1000 pages. This treasure trove of history and trivia should have come with a vault. I have the 21st Century Edition that has been updated and now covers every film released in the US from 1950 thru 1962.
This incredible wealth of knowledge that is stowed within these pages will not only keep you busy for days, but would make any College Prof do several cartwheels or put in for some unused well-deserved vacation time. It not only covers the films by alphabetical order along with plots and casts and crew. It houses a vast amount of behind the scenes pre and post-production right down to the amount of times the scripts were revised and by whom…also the why. If you want to know budgets, it’s here. Was it re-released? The directors and their careers. Backgrounds on actors. What was happening at the time. Example- an excellent take on Gordon Douglas (Dir- THEM!) and his strides and accomplishments per and post. Enough to want you to seek out his other features. I love this because it can paint a clear picture as to why in some cases for who may have been picked or handed a project. In Douglas’s case he was a man who could get it done. and all his films are very good with tight direction. He knew what he wanted once the script had been finalized and always got the performances he needed.
- ***Trivia break Keep Watching the Skies actually is a line from the end of The Thing From a Another World-1951 uttered by a journalist who was sent up north to cover life at a military outpost at the North Pole. That actor was Douglas Spencer.
Keep Watching covers the very start of the science fiction boom or boon at the bijou from The Thing and The Day the Earth Stood Still(also 1951) to Them(1954) to Forbidden Planet(Robby the Robot & Anne Francis) to the later years Robinson Crusoe on Mars(1964-Adam West & Paul Mantee) and Planet of the Vampires.
So, if you are a student of film you could not find a better reference to SCI-FI in the 50’s-mid ’60s. This my go to book for research. When I am stumped or looking for some inspiration …oh and Keep Watching the Skies (it’s the closing line from 1951’s The Thing From Another World) is loaded with lots of eye candy … the kind you drool over when you are trying decide what lobby card or poster you want on the back of your dorm room. So enjoy and like the title suggests keep alert … aliens or something could be dropping in at anytime…
This book was published by …
McFarland & Company-Publishing
