Daily Archives: November 18, 2016

Invisible Invaders (1959)

Invisible Invaders
Directed by Edward L. Cahn
Written by Samuel Newman
1959/USA
Robert E. Kent Productions
First viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] Dr. Adam Penner: Dear Lord, I pray that I am insane, that all that happened is only in my mind. I pray that tomorrow the sun will shine again on living things, not on a world where only the dead walk the Earth.[/box]

Invisible aliens and living dead certainly do save on the old special effects budget …

As the film begins, an atomic lab explosion kills scientist Karol Noymann (John Carradine). Noymann’s friend, Dr. Adam Penner, is prompted to resign his position as head of a nuclear commission by the concurrent accidental release of radiation.  When Penner returns home to the desert he is contacted by an invisible alien occupying Noymann’s dead body.  The alien announces that the countries of the world have 24 hours to surrender.  Otherwise, aliens, all clothed in bodies of the dead, will inflict mass destruction and take over.

Penner, another scientist, a military man (John Agar), and Penner’s lovely daughter all retreat to an impregnable bunker where they race against the clock to find a way to materialize the aliens and destroy them.

This is OK for what it is.  I doubt that I will have a clue what it was about by next week.

Trailer

Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1959)

Jazz on a Summer’s Dayjazz-poster
Directed by Bert Stern and Aram Avakian
Written by Albert D’Annibale and Arnold Perl
1959/USA
Galaxy Productions/Raven Films
First viewing/Netflix rental

Never play anything the same way twice. — Louis Armstrong

I was in heaven during this, the granddaddy of all the great rock concert documentaries.

The film is set in Newport, Rhode Island on the weekend of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival and Americas Cup trials.  Performers are too numerous to mention but include Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, Anita O’Day, Gerry Mulligan, Dinah Washington, Chico Hamilton, George Shearing, Thelonious Monk and Chuck Berry.
jazzonasummersday

This is more than a straight-forward video of a concert.  We feel that we are really there on a sunny Saturday afternoon and evening.  While we listen, we see the rapt or distracted concert goers, the sea and the sailboats, and the parties on the margins.  The musicians are all in their prime and are photographed tellingly.  I’m a huge Dinah Washington fan and she was probably my favorite closely followed Mahalia Jackson.  Chuck Berry kind of sticks out like a sore thumb among the jazz performers but made me feel like dancing with his “Sweet Little Sixteen”.  Highly recommended to all music lovers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXMSSBlKhrg

Clip