Other than my own experiments with Super-8 animation, I had yet to actually get my first real job working on a film, but by this point in time, I wasn’t just a fan… I was truly addicted to films… the more far out, the better. 

 

At this particular moment in time, I was still getting over the bewildering potential and inspiration of seeing Chris Marker’s experimental masterpiece "La Jetee" (1962) at a recent screening of “The all-time Best Experimental Films” at FILMEX.

 

An extraordinary work, it consists of several hundred Black & White still photographs carefully manipulated under a home-made animation stand… to produce an incredible story of Time Travel, Fantasy, Romance & Nuclear Holocaust; all told by the subtle moves of his stills under the lens of a stationary camera shooting two frames at a time and with a "Voice Over" (and sub-titles).

 

In what has become a bit of a controversy but is in fact truth, if the “viewer” watches closely, it’s quite obvious that Marker includes one short scene in La Jetée that was shot with an actual movie camera to produce the film’s only moving image: the Woman as her eyes slowly open as she wakes up in bed. Marker has been quoted as saying that this was only possible because he was able to borrow a movie camera for one afternoon while working on the film.

 

Forgive me... I digress.  With these thoughts and inspiration boiling inside my head, I went to the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Blvd on the opening day of the newest Sci-Fi release from 20th Century Fox ~ Ridley Scott's "Alien."

 

To those unfamiliar with the Old Movie Palaces in LA, the Egyptian is just down the street from what was once Sid Grauman’s (but is now the Mann) Chinese Theatre; and the Egyptian was also built by Grauman.  Always the “showman” Grauman built the Egyptian so that the actual theater & lobby were built back further from the street and this allowed for a wide “red carpet runway” to be cordoned off for whenever a “premiere” was staged at his theater.

 

As I arrived for the first showing of Alien on the first day of its release, there was already a line going down the block and a lengthy line at the box office window at the sidewalk (similar to the layout at the Chinese). Undaunted, I got into line and bought a ticket for the next show as the first one had sold out.

 

Walking away from the Box Office I suddenly saw why this unusually rowdy crowd was making quite a “loud buzz” as they stood in line to enter the theater…

 

There it was… Running right down the center of the long “walk-way” to the front doors of the Lobby… a “movie set” (taken right off a Studio Lot) of one of the Interior Sets from the “Nostromo” space craft!! 

 

Not having seen the film yet, I had no idea that it was actually a real set from the film; or what the Nostromo was… but there it was, just exactly like it looks in the film when Parker (Yaphet Kotto) tells Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) “the reason no one comes down here to visit us, is because of your personality!”  “Right” says Brett.

 

After waiting what seemed like an eternity, the first group came out of the theater with the smug look of having just seen what was obviously going to be a thrill ride for all of the Sci-Fi & Horror film fans standing eagerly in line ahead of me and behind me.

 

But as the line surged forward and I walked along with hundreds of others down this lower level of the Interior of the Space Freighter “Nostromo” I was appalled and very disappointed. Having been thrilled with the incredible design and attention to detail (even though it was intentionally made to look very well-used & abused) in Star Wars… This set looked like Crap!

 

Walking down this multi-angled Cabinet of Dr. Caligari “tunnel” that was very obviously hastily-made of foam core; and covered with all sorts of odds-n-ends that had been “hot glued” and sprayed down with an Airless Sprayer and “detailed” with a couple of dozen cans of varying silver & gold spray paint… I was feeling very disappointed and fully expecting this film to be a piece of $#!t (if you know what I mean).

 

As I emerged from the tunnel and was about to enter the Lobby, on the left was a sight that had caused all the others ahead of me to stop & do the same thing I had done… stare in awe until the people behind said “Come on, let’s go! Keep moving!”

 

Just outside the Lobby doors was the “petrified Space Jockey”… the dead one from inside the crashed derelict spacecraft... all 30+ feet of Geiger’s fiberglass nightmare towering over all who entered the front door…  quietly knowing what I was (and all the others in line behind me were) about to find out…

 

I wanted to stop… but there was a human flash flood behind me pushing to go into the Lobby to buy their popcorn, get a seat and see this movie. Whoa… a crappy looking set? And then this huge, incredible & very bizarre-looking sculpture? What the hell is this film about anyway? 

 

As I finally pulled my gaze away from the cyclopean monstrosity just outside the snack bar, I noticed several “Large Props” & pieces of “Set Dressing” had been placed inside the Lobby… and again, I’m feeling a sense of dismay as everything looked so “hokey” & poorly constructed.   I was filled with prejudice that this film was only going to be slightly better than a Big Studio version of “Plan Nine from Outer Space.”

 

Heading into the luxurious comfort of my favorite Big Screen theater, I walked past a large “Set Piece” that looked like some ridiculous-looking machine that had actually been made of a couple of large plastic trash cans that were riveted together to make one long cylinder. 

 

It was covered with bottle caps & plastic “hair rollers" that had been glued onto it; and some various sizes of flexible ribbed hoses and Styrofoam packing shapes glued on the seams… and it was covered with silver paint with touches of shiny gold & flat black spray paint.  Basically… it looked like hell.

 

"Robot Monster" & "Attack of the Mole People" and other Class "Ick" Sci-Fi / Horror films were coming to mind as I entered the auditorium.

 

Well, needless to say, seeing a 70MM print of Alien on the big screen was an unforgettable experience… in fact, I was so blown away, when the film & credits were over, I went into the Men’s Room and hid inside a “toilet stall” until the theater was cleared out and snuck back in to see it again from the best seat in the house as the new audience came in.

 

Those “crappy-looking” sets that had been covered with shiny metallic paints to reflect the few, but strategically placed, lights while filming… looked so fantastic, giving them a realistic metallic look… and all the loud Noises and Sound Effects totally added to the over-all "realism" of the film. (NOTE the loud “Clanging Sounds” as Parker and Lambert (Veronica Cartwright) scramble to acquire oxygen tanks as they are about to abandon ship… That's where the two "riveted garbage cans" can be seen in the background).

 

You would never guess that they were moving about amidst foamcore “Props” the size of stoves that they could easily lift with one hand. The Sound Effects created by the Foley Artists gave that scene a sense of Reality that was just incredible!

 

After two viewings… and now back in the relative warmth and safety of walking along Hollywood Blvd (is that an Oxymoron?), I couldn’t get over what an incredible job the Art Department and Lighting Crew had done in making the (what at first looked like poorly-crafted) sets and set dressing look so real and functional.  And the Sound Effects... I've never "listened" to a film the same way since.

 

For me it was very much like seeing an excellent Magician on stage. I’d been completely taken in by the illusion… and now, more than ever, I fully realized that there is so much that what meets the eye (and ear) when making a film.