SCI-FI
Contacts:Science
fiction from text to screen
The series features five films and
five episodes from two TV series, from the Fifties to Seventies. The title
refers to the contact between the two different media - literature and cinema,
between the self and others in each of the stories, humans and other forms
of life or intelligence - a classical science fiction theme, which is present
in many of the selected movies. The series intends to show how broad the range
of possibilities given by the science fiction thematic repertoire is: the genre
can be used as a vehicle of critical analysis, thrilling and fascinating. Giulia Iannuzzi, graduate student, will introduce us to each film and give us some literary background. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Projections in original version.
1) 24 September - Invasion of the Body Snatchers,
directed by Don Siegel, 1956, USA, 80 min.
Adaptation of Jack Finney's The
Body Snatchers (novel 1955). Starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter.
Screenplay by Daniel Mainwaring.
Alien invaders in a small town in
California replace human beings with duplicates that appear physically
identical but are devoid of any real emotion. A sci-fi classic, which is famous
also for the various critical interpretations which have been given, often with
a political allegory: the paranoid climate in the film has been lead back to
the McCarthyist fear of communism or to the fear of losing personal identity
connected to every over-controlling ideology or system.
2) 26 September - The Incredible Shrinking Man,
directed by Jack Arnold, 1957, USA, 81 min.
Adaptation of Richard Matheson's The
Shrinking Man (novel, 1956). Starring Grant Williams and Randy Stuart,
screenplay by Richard Matheson.
During a vacation on a boat, Scott
Carey gets in touch with a strange cloud and the next day he starts shrinking.
When he discovers the strange phenomenon a few weeks later, there's nothing
doctors are able to do. The process goes dramatically on, but the end reserves
surprises. A masterpiece by Jack Arnold, which was shot on a closed set, to
keep secret the special effects techniques employed.
3) 1 October - The Twilight Zone, TV
series (first series: 1959-1964), created by Rod Serling, USA.
Series 1, episode 8, Time Enough
at Last, adaptation of the short story by Lyn Venable (Marilyn Venable), (If:
Worlds of Science Fiction, January 1953), 25 min.
Henry Bemis is an avid bookworm, but
his work at a bank and his wife keep him from having the time he would like to
spend reading. When he survives a nuclear catastrophe and he is finally alone
and free to read as much as he likes, but...
Series 1, episode 25, People Are
Alike All Over, based on Paul W. Fairman's Brothers Beyond the Void
(Fantastic Adventures, March 1952), 25 min.
Two astronauts are headed to Mars.
One dies in the impact while landing. The other receives an enthusiastic
welcome by a civilization very similar to the human's. Soon he discovers than
the room the Martians gave him is not exactly a room... The first episode of Star
Trek original series (1965), has a similar plot.
Series 3, episode 8, It' a good
life, adaptation of Jerome Bixby's short story It's a good life (Star
Science Fiction Stories, 1953), 25 min.
In the small town of Peaksville,
Ohio, Anthony Fremont looks like any
other six year old boy, but he is a mutant with godlike mental powers.
4) 3 October - The Last Man on Earth,
directed by Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow, 1964, USA-Italia,
Adaptation of Richard Matheson I
Am Legend (novel, 1954). Starring Vincent Price, Franca Bettoia, Emma
Danieli, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart; screenplay by Furio M. Monetti, Ubaldo Ragona,
William Leicester, Richard Matheson (as Logan Swanson).
The first adaptation of Matheson's I
Am Legend is also a milestone for many contemporary fantastic sub-genres.
The post-apocalyptic setting in which the humans are infected by an unknown
virus, which transforms them into vampires, has has had great success also in
film remakes.. Filmed in a striking Rome, starring the great Vincent Price.
5) 8 October - Star Trek, TV series (first
series 1966–1969), created by Gene Roddenberry, USA.
- Series 1, episode 4, The Naked
Time (50 min.): the episode has been adapted in a short story by the writer
James Blish, in the first novelisation of the series, simply titled Star
Trek (1967).
While orbiting the planet Psi 2000,
a strange affliction infects the crew of the starship Enterprise, destroying
their inhibitions.
- Series 1, episode 18, Arena (50
min.): adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s short story Arena (1944) (teleplay
by Gene L. Coon).
Captain Kirk from the Federation
starship Enterprise battles an alien captain who destroyed a Federation
outpost.
6) 10 October - The Stepford Wives,
directed by Bryan Forbes, 1975, USA, 115 min.
Adaptation of Ira Levin's The
Stepford Wives (novel, 1972). Starring Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss,
Peter Masterson, Nanette Newman, Tina Louise; screenplay by William Goldman.
Joanna Eberhart moves with her
husband Walter and two children from New York City to the idyllic Connecticut
suburb of Stepford. Here she is struck by the fact that the women are all
good-looking and are obsessed with housework, but have few intellectual
interests, while the men all belong to a somehow mysterious Stepford Men's
Association. She starts to inquire with Bobbie Markowe, another newcomer. The
reality Joanna will find shows a nightmarish use of technology. The movie is a
great example of sci-fi engaged on gender and political themes.
7) 15 October - The Fury, directed by Brian
De Palma, 1978, USA, 118 min.
Adaptation of John Lee Farris' Fury
(novel, 1976). Starring Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, Carrie Snodgress, Amy Irving,
Charles Durning and Andrew Stevens; screenplay by John Lee Farris.
Both science fiction and thriller,
The Fury is a gripping example of the classical psychic powers theme. The
young protagonists are dragged into an obscure research project about the weapon
potential of supernatural powers.
