Hostile Aliens, Hollywood and Today's News: 1950s Science Fiction Films and 9/11

178 Pages·2007·16.5 MB·English

by  Jr. Melvin E. Matthews

H A ,
ostile liens
H t ’ n
ollywood And odAy s ews

H A ,
ostile liens
H t ’ n
ollywood And odAy s ews
1950 s F F 9/11
s cience iction ilms And
Melvin E. Matthews, Jr.
Algora Publishing
New York
© 2007 by Algora Publishing.
All Rights Reserved
www.algora.com
No portion of this book (beyond what is permitted by
Sections 107 or 108 of the United States Copyright Act of 1976)
may be reproduced by any process, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the
express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-0-87586-497-6 (trade paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-87586-498-3 (hard cover)
ISBN-13: 978-0-87586-499-0 (ebook)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data —
Matthews, Melvin E., Jr.
1950s science fiction films and 9/11: hostile aliens, Hollywood, and today’s news /
Melvin E. Matthews, Jr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-87586-497-6 (trade paper: alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-87586-498-3 (hard
cover: alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-87586-499-0 (ebook: alk. paper) 1. Science fiction films—
United States—History and criticism. I. Title.
PN1995.9.S26M356 2007
791.43’6150973—dc22
2006102140
Front Cover: From the 1986 remake of “Invaders from Mars” (director: Tobe Hooper)
Copyright: MGM. Credit: MGM/Photofest
Printed in the United States
To all dreamers and freedom-seeking people everywhere.

Table of Contents
introduction 1
AutHor’s introduction 3
Prologue 5
cHAPter 1 9
Hostile Aliens: The Thing and The War of the Worlds 9
The War of the Worlds 23
cHAPter 2. Hostile Aliens: tHe mind controllers 33
Invasion of the Body Snatchers 37
It Conquered the World 44
cHAPter 3. Friendly Alien Visitors 49
It Came from Outer Space 56
This Island Earth 60
cHAPter 4. Visions oF tHe APocAlyPse: tHe end oF tHe world 69
When Worlds Collide 73
The Next Voice You Hear. . . 75
cHAPter 5. Atomic mutAnts: AnimAl And HumAn 79
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms 81
Them! 86
Godzilla 91
Incredible Shrinking and Colossal Men 101
cHAPter 6. tHe roAd to sePtember 11 107
Hostile Alien Invaders 108
The Mind Controllers 120
Friendly Alien Visitors: E.T. the Extraterrestrial 123
ix
Hostile Aliens, Hollywood and Today’s News
The End of the World 128
Mutants 132
The Culture War: Pleasantville 139
The September 11 Era: Return of the B-Movies 142
bibliogrAPHy 153
Films 153
Articles 154
Books 155
x