Sorry to hear about the passing of Ricou Browning. He was the last living actor who played one of the original Universal Studios monsters. I met him several times and I usually chatted with him about dive watches, which we shared an interest. He directed most of the under-water sequences of the Bond flick Thunderball. He was old school and those hands-on stunt-actor-director-technician types are just about extinct. RIP.
While visiting the “King Kong at Ninety” exhibit at Eastern Michigan University’s art gallery I took some pictures of the “Las Vegas Monster” rendered by Willis O’Brien. There was a lot of reflection on the protective glass panes so I touched up a few of the images. Compare the O’B conceptual renders to Pete Peterson’s short test reel of the creature. The first thing I noticed was two barbels (tentacles?) on Pete’s version —probably as a cost saving much like Ray Harryhausen scaling back the cephalopod’s arms in “It Came from Beneath the Sea”.
Various prints of The Thing from Another World (1951) run at different lengths. The 1954 re-issue was allegedly trimmed and served as the basis of many early TV prints. I’m pretty certain the early VidAmerica Laserdisc, which runs at 86 minutes was taken from a 16mm print. It’s grainy, but is advertised as the original uncut version. However it’s still missing some minor footage including an abrupt splice of a sled-dog scene right before the saucer is found in the ice.
The Turner Collector’s Edition laserdisc runs 87 minutes as does the original DVD release. I can’t find my Blu-ray disc.
Some have claimed the original ‘51 release included scenes with scientists hanging upside down in the greenhouse, but at least one actor (Robert Cornthwaite) from the film claimed those shots we never filmed.
The killer has passed. RIP Jerry Lee Lewis.
monsterminions 