"Keep Watching The Skies!" : A Review

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Bill Warren's massive 1300+ page two volume set, "Keep Watching The
Skies!: American Science Fiction Films of the Fifties", is by far
the most comprehensive work of its kind, however it is not completely
exhaustive.
Incredibly detailed - where else could one find a lengthy discussion
of four different scripts by four different authors, each vying for
the honors in "Conquest Of Space"? - the volumes include penetrating
reviews of the "Big Five": "The Day The Earth Stood Still"; "The War of
the Worlds"; "The Thing From Another World"; "Forbidden Planet" and
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers", as well as a host of lesser heralded
lights.
Warren was a kid during this era and his (self-admitted) nostalgia
creeps in periodically in an entertaining way, but not to the point that it interferes
with his objectivity. In fact, it's nostalgic passion that provided
him the "rocket fuel" to tackle and complete such a formidable task.
As well as the "Big Five", I derived considerable pleasure from reading his favorable reviews of such spicy delectables as "The Man From
Planet X"; "Kronos"; "The Creeping Unknown" and "The Incredible Shrinking Man" - films that made lasting graphic impressions upon me
as a child growing up in the 1950s.
I have two quibbles - both relatively minor - with "Keep Watching The
Skies!"; the first being Warren's inclusion of a small number of films
as "The Bowery Boys" and "Jungle Jim", where the science fiction elements as so scant and peripheral as to hardly qualify them for
the genre. The second is with his choice of the subtitle, "American
Science Fiction Films of the Fifties", which I feel is potentially
confusing. Both volumes cover the period from 1950 to 1962 - Warren
says in the preface that "trends don't follow calendars", and while
I don't have a big problem with the inclusion of early 1960 films,
I think it would have been more appropriate and straightforward for
a subtitle like "The Golden Age of American Science Fiction Films -
1950-62".
Quibbles aside, "Keep Watching The Skies!" is THE DEFINITIVE
REFERENCE GUIDE for the 1950's sci-fi connoisseur/afficionado, and
will remain so for many years to come. (See www.amazon.com for
editorial and customer reviews).

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Kimber Kable

Topic - "Keep Watching The Skies!" : A Review - AudioHead 12:39:38 06/14/00 (2)

Re: Thanks, Audiohead - nice review! - Jeff (from Kora) 04:47:27 06/15/00 (1)

Glad You Enoyed It Jeff! More Comments.... - AudioHead 12:45:56 06/19/00 (0)

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