Well, it’s been a long, long time, but I’ve finally resurrected SCIENCE IN THE REEL WORLD, my look at science and related matters in a non-science fiction context. And to make up for the silence, here’s a triple update:
THE SILVER CORD (1933) – Science versus smother love.
DIVE BOMBER (1941) – Physiology meets misogyny.
NO HIGHWAY IN THE SKY (1951) – Scientists are NUTS!! Oh, sure, they save lives; but basically, they’re NUTS!!
And in house-keeping news, I’ve added some screenshots to my reviews of HALLOWEEN and HALLOWEEN II.
#1 by KeithA on April 22, 2009 - 10:39 am
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Allow me to simply say, “Hooray!” Science rants are among my very favorite parts of your site. Along with, you know, everything else.
#2 by DaveCausey on April 22, 2009 - 7:50 pm
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Hurrah for Science in the Reel World! 🙂 This section is a favorite of mine as well! I bought ‘The Dam Busters’ when it was re-released on DVD because of your review,and I love it. A very British war movie…..no rah-rah there.
Lyz,have you ever thought of reviewing Disney’s ‘The Black Hole’? I’d love to see your……discernment let loose on the science of that film,even though I love it for it’s design and fun. 🙂
#3 by supersonic on April 22, 2009 - 7:54 pm
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romantic smoking, heh…
I keep being startled at what detailed knowledge of United Statesian stuff you have from your antipodean perch… not just knowning that cacti aren’t native to Kansas (thought I bet they’re easy to cultivate there) but that the Del Coronado is an “iconic” San Diego hotel… something I had no knowledge of myself, even though I live on the same coast and, if it hadn’t been for an ill-timed cold, would actually have been in San Diego just last weekend. Is this a case of you just knowing lots of stuff because you’re a nerd, or is it another instance of regrettable U.S. cultural imperialism, causing people to be more familiar with American culture than with parts of their own?
#4 by DaveCausey on April 22, 2009 - 8:09 pm
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Great review on ‘Dive Bomber’. I’m one of those that really enjoyed the Technicolor airplanes and the USS Enterprise,but no-it isn’t a good film,and I’m not in any hurry to see it again.
The thing that gets me in this kind of movie is that they so often forget that military aviators are professionals. That’s something else that ‘The Dam Busters’ got right. Certainly aviators party on the ground…..but most if not all are very serious pros in the cockpit. But not so in most 30’s,40’s and 50’s movies……..heck,not even in ‘Top Gun’!
#5 by lyzard on April 23, 2009 - 1:18 am
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Thank you all! I’m never quite sure about these things, whether I’m just indulging myself, or whether there is an audience; or how much ‘hard science’ I should include, before it turns into a lecture.
Dave – yes, you’re right about the depiction of aviators; I nearly got into that, particularly the characters played by James Cagney (of whom Fred MacMurray’s character is a direct descendant, who were always SO obnoxious, and cocksure, and ill-disciplined – and always got someone else killed. I guess historically the point is that a lot of the early navy aviators came from a stunt flying/barmstorming background, so they didn’t have a military mentality; but that doesn’t make them any easier to take. That’s cool on The Dam Busters, thanks!
SS – a little from column A, a little from column B. Certainly we get swamped by US pop culture here, and certainly I grew up on US movies, but a shorter and probably truer answer is, I AM A NERD; and a nerd with a particularly retentive memory for odd factoids. If I’m dealing with a film set against events I’m not familiar with, I try to do some reading before I try to write anything. I think the classic example is when I was doing Cult Of The Cobra, and got completely distracted by what those guys were doing there in the first place, and ended up spending the better part of a day reading around “flying the Hump” and so forth…then finally realised that didn’t have all that much to do with snake goddesses… My brother is a history buff and my father served during WWII so we always looked at films of that era from the perspective of accuracy or otherwise. (Oh…and the Del Coronado is where Billy Wilder shot Some Like It Hot. Thus endeth today’s trivia lesson.)
#6 by MatthewF on April 23, 2009 - 5:40 am
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The thing that always bothered me about the portrayal of the aviators in those 30s and 40s movies (though this equally applies to soldiers) is that they’re all so old. While hollywood has gone too far the other way these days, where everyone is pratically pubsecent, in those days characters would refer to eachother as ‘young’ men well into their forties. So you got characters who should be 21, 22 years old played by 40 year olds, just something that always bugged me. Mind you I deeply suspect that if you did cast 21 year olds no-one would believe it.
#7 by The Rev. D.D. on April 23, 2009 - 7:41 am
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I’m looking forward to reading these later today, mostly for the reasons those quicker on the draw have stated. I love it when you start tearing into faulty science in these movies (although I’m not sure which I like better–when I can nod my head and think, “Yup, caught that too,” or when I shake my head and think, “I didn’t even notice that. Damn, this gal’s [i]good[/i]!!”), and also when you get excited and praise a film for actually getting it right.
I think it’s one of the big appeals of your reviewing style (along with the hilarity and quality, of course)–but I’m a massive science nerd so perhaps I’m just a tetch biased.
#8 by The Rev. D.D. on April 23, 2009 - 7:58 am
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Oh dammit all to hell I messed up the tag’s AGAIN.
Which especially sucks, because I ended up losing a joke there…around “Damn, this gal’s good!!” I had [Seagal opponent] [/Seagal opponent] and lost it because I used the instead of the brackets.
I swear, if I could just change the way my brain remembers things, and make it so I remember all the important, useful stuff instead of all the useless trivia and factoids, I could probably conquer the world. Not the way I am though…
Henchman: “Sir, the world powers have not met our demands. We’re ready to unleash your death ray on their largest cities at your command.”
Warlord D.D. (steepling his fingers): “EX-cellent.”
Henchman: “Sir, we just need you to enter the failsafe password so we can activate it.”
W.D.D.: “Yes………………..er…wait, hold on, I KNOW this…was it my birthday? No…”
Henchman: “….Sir?”
W.D.D.: “Don’t rush me!! Let’s see…ummm……DAMMIT!! I can remember what I had for lunch the day my sister was born, and I can rattle off every giant monster movie made in Japan along with their directors and years of release, but I can’t remember my f***ing death ray password!!”
Henchman: “Sir, it’s OK. It happens to all of us.” (under his breath) “I shoulda joined up with Kingsley’s organization…”
W.D.D.: “What was that!?”
Henchman: “Nothing sir! Come on, let’s get you a nice cup of tea…we can try to conquer the world again another day.”
W.D.D.: “Why did I even put a password on that thing in the first place? That was just BEGGING for trouble…”
Henchman: “I know, sir. I know.”