Dr. Cyclops
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Dr. Cyclops |
| Original title | Dr. Cyclops |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1940 |
| length | 78 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ernest B. Schoedsack |
| script | Tom Kilpatrick |
| production | Dale Van Every |
| music |
Gérard Carbonara , Albert Hay Malotte , Ernst Toch |
| camera | Henry Sharp |
| cut | Ellsworth Hoagland |
| occupation | |
| |
Dr. Cyclops (Original title: Dr. Cyclops ) is an American science fiction film by director Ernest B. Schoedsack from 1940, which was shot in Technicolor . The world premiere of the film was on April 10, 1940. In Germany, the film first appeared on February 25, 1978 as a television premiere on ARD .
action
The older, highly respected biologist Dr. Bullfinch and his young, confident colleague Dr. Mary Robinson are led to the remote laboratory of Dr. Thorkel sent to Peru, who carried out biological experiments there. They are joined by mining engineers Bill Stockton and Steve Baker. The group is accompanied on their journey into the Peruvian jungle by Thorkel's assistant Pedro. Dr. Thorkel, who set up his laboratory in old Inca walls, receives them and lets them set up their tents. Steve soon discovers that the minerals that Thorkel unearthed are pitchblende with a high content of radium . Thorkel asks the group to analyze some samples under the microscope because his eyesight is very poor. After Bill actually delivers an apparently important result for Thorkel, he advises them to leave as soon as possible.
The scientists, especially Dr. Bullfinch, feel offended and refuse to leave as the long journey was completely pointless for the biologists. In addition, her research interests were aroused by the discovery of the bones of an extremely small pig, possibly a new species. They want to know what Thorkel's experiments are about and sneak into the laboratory. Pedro discovers his missing horse, Pinto, who has shrunk to a fifth of his size. Thorkel catches the intruders and is very angry at first. However, he soon shows himself to be more sociable and lures the group and his assistant Pedro into the room with the radiation generator on the pretext of explaining his system. Thorkel locks them up and irradiates the prisoners. By the time they can leave the generator, they have all shrunk to about 30 cm. The successful sample analysis enabled Thorkel to avoid a mistake in his radiation experiments that had led to the early death of his scaled-down test animals. At first, Thorkel pretends to be a benevolent boss and, for example, protects the shrunken from being eaten by a cat. But the high levels of radiation in the laboratory damaged Thorkel's personality. He realizes that Bullfinch has started to grow and kills him in cold blood so that none of his actions can leak to the public. The other four try to escape through the jungle. They are confronted with the flora and fauna that appear to be huge. When they want to cross a river in a canoe, they are attacked by an alligator.
Thorkel finds the fugitives and kills Pedro with a rifle shot. He sets fire to kill the remaining three. Mary, Bill and Steve are able to hide in a pocket for crystal samples and Thorkel unknowingly brings them back to the laboratory. He is busy checking an apparatus when the three prepare to shoot him with a rifle when he goes to bed. But Thorkel falls asleep at his desk. Steve tries to steal the scientist's glasses, without which he is as good as blind. But Thorkel wakes up and wants to ship his shrunken opponents into his ore shaft. To do this, he climbs a rope over the shaft entrance. Bill manages to cut the rope - Thorkel falls into the pit. After a while, Mary, Bill and Steve regain their original size and can start their journey home. In the final scene it is implied that Mary and Bill have become a couple.
Reviews
"Science fiction of the lovable and eccentric kind: animation specialist Schoedsack the creator of" King Kong "stages the naive horror story with a lot of fantasy and a slight hint of self-irony."
"Dr. Cyclops is the best bad film of the year, an epic of silliness and, moreover, a triumph of moving images and the department for trick effects, all of which are very tastefully combined with Technicolor. "
"[...] the amusing and exciting forerunner of" Darling, I've shrunk the kids ". [...] Still worth seeing!"
Awards
- Nomination for Best Visual Effects - Farciot Edouart and Gordon Jennings
background
This Paramount Pictures production is one of 700 films made between 1929 and 1949, the television rights of which were sold to Universal Pictures in 1958 .
After this, director Ernest B. Schoedsack only made one more film after a nine-year hiatus. Schoedsack became famous as the creator of King Kong , whose stop-motion knitting technique made its breakthrough with the film King Kong and the White Woman (1933). Co-producer, although not listed in the credits, was Merian C. Cooper , who also worked with Schoedsack on King Kong and the white woman . Frank Reicher, who was born in Munich, can also be seen in this film as Captain Engelhorn. For Bill Stockton, Dr. Cyclops made the feature film debut.
For the equipment of the film was u. a. the later three-time Oscar winner Hans Dreier , born in Bremen , was responsible. The Oscar-nominated effects designers Gordon Jennings and Farciot Edouard also won an Oscar later in their careers. They were able to receive the Oscar together twice. Jennings was later honored with two, Edouard even with five special Oscars. The later three-time Oscar winner Winton C. Hoch was the department head for the camera technicians for this film.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dr. Cyclops. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 6, 2017 .
- ^ BR Crisler: THE SCREEN; 'Dr. Cyclops, 'a Fantasy in Pure Cinematic Science, Arrives at the Paramount - New Film at Criterion , nytimes.com , accessed April 21, 2020
- ↑ cinema.de