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History of Science Fiction Cinema:
From Mad Scientists to Modern Day Dinosaurs

With the birth of cinema, came also, the birth of Science Fiction movies.

As I discussed in the opening chapter of this series, Parisian magician-turned-filmmaker, Georges Méliès gave birth to the genre.  Unfortunately, as groundbreaking as his magical cinema was, he still had no true feeling for the camera and what it could do.

His films were shot from one angle, and his camera rarely ever moved.  His films were great – no doubt – and the tricks he used were then unto unseen, but his films also had the problem of seeming stage bound.

Meanwhile, in America, or more specifically, in New Jersey, the early epicenter of American filmmaking (studios would not head West until 1909-1910, and would not truly establish a small town called Hollywood, as the movie mecca until at least 1915 or 1916), a man by the name of Thomas Edison was helping to create a new medium himself.

In the late 1890’s and early 1900’s, in his “Black Maria” movie studio, Edison, along with his assistant – the true creative force behind the Wizard of Menlo Park – W.K.L. Dickson, were making the kind of movies that not only sold tickets at all the Nickelodeons (actual movie theaters were still a few years down the road) but also broke ground for the great cinematic boom that would come soon after.

One of these movies, was a sixteen minute film called Frankenstein – the first film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s iconic novel.  Thought traditionally as more horror than sci-fi, the story of a mad scientist who creates life from death, is surely a science fiction story if I ever hear one.  Granted, the film was cheap, and not really all that interesting – a far cry from what James Whale and Universal would do with it twenty-one years later – but it did help usher in a genre.

Meanwhile, the year before Edison released his mad scientist movie, early British filmmaker, Walter R. Booth, made a film called The Airship Destroyer, sometimes known as Battle in the Clouds.  The story was about a war that is won with the use of flying machines – early planes and even dirigibles.

In 1909, this premise seemed quite sci-fi, indeed.  Just five years later, with the onset of World War I, this unbelievable fantasy became reality – and even surpassed what was shown in the film.

And speaking of WWI, 1916, during the height of the supposed War to End All Wars, a most unique work of sci-fi cinema came into being.

The film was rather ominously called The End of the World, and it was about, well…the end of the world (duh!).

Most likely influenced by the terrible events that were going on in Europe at the time, this Danish film is, as far as I know, the world’s first disaster film.

Directed by August Blom, the biggest name in what has come to be known as “The Golden Age of Danish Cinema,” the film is about a wayward comet wreaking havoc on Earth.

It is kind of interesting that, ninety-five years later (ninety-five years, one month and seventeen days to be exact), in the very same country of Denmark, by probably the best known filmmaker of modern Danish cinema, Lars von Trier, came Melancholia – another film about the world being destroyed by an errant celestial body.  Well, it’s interesting to me at least.

1916 also brought us the first ever feature length adaptation of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Méliès had filmed a short nine years earlier).  Of course, the vibrant colours and silly Disney-ized antics and stellar performance of James Mason as the infamous Captain Nemo, of the much more famous 1954 version, are not to be seen here, but the use of actual underwater photography (never before done in cinema) is something any cinephile will want to see.



Then, in 1918, came probably the best of all the pre-1920’s sci-fi films – or at least my favourite of them all.

Made in Denmark (one of the biggest film producing countries of the silent era), A Trip to Mars, also known as Excelsior, is the story of the first space flight from Earth, headed to, yep, you guessed it, Mars. Recently it was restored and released by the Danish Film Institute.  It is a gorgeously shot film, full of vim and vigor and plenty of adventure.

The most notable thing about A Trip to Mars though, is the portrayal of the Martian peoples. Looking just like humans, the Martians are portrayed as an idyllic civilization that has done away with war and violence.  Perhaps in reaction to the war around them (the Danes were officially neutral during WWI, but surely saw the disaster sweeping across Europe at the time), the contrast between the white-robed Martians and the black leather-clad Human astronauts, one side peaceful, the other naturally aggressive, is the crux of the morality of the story.



The early 1920’s brought several more sci-fi films, from places as diverse as Russia, France and Italy.  First came a fun little film, called The Mechanical Man.  This Italian robot film was originally 80 minutes long, but only 26 minutes of footage remain.  Considering probably upwards of 75% of all silent cinema is lost and/or destroyed, we should be happy just to have these remnants of the film to watch today.   The film, available on DVD from low budget distributors, Alpha Video, is silly and quite ridiculous, but in the most fun way imaginable.

In 1924 came the Russian classic, Aelita: Queen of Mars.  This time the Martians, still human looking, looked as if their entire civilization was done in Art Deco, the most popular of styles in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Since I love Art Deco, I have no problems with this.  The film can drag a bit at times, but overall it is a solid work of cinema.  Less than a year later, in Paris, René Clair, one of the most intriguing directors working in Europe, and a filmmaker who would still be making his mark, both in France and in Hollywood, until the 1960’s, made his directorial debut.  The film was a comic/sci-fi short called Paris Qui Dort, released as The Crazy Ray in the US, and was easily one of the best films of era.



And then came the dinosaurs. 

In 1925, one of the most ambitious film productions since Griffith recreated ancient Babylon in the Hollywood Hills, was a an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Lost World.  A tale of still-living dinosaurs in the South American jungle, the film was the first feature length film ever to use stop motion animation.

A big influence on Merian C. Cooper, when he was making King Kong eight years later Willis O’Brien did effects for both films), and a big influence on cinephile-turned director Steven Spielberg, when he was making Jurassic Park, seventy-eight years later.

Though riddled with scientific mistakes (cavemen living with dinosaurs?  Is this The Flintstones?) the film is a blast to watch – especially if you are a fan of stop-motion.



Next time, we’ll take a look at the greatest of all silent science fiction films – Fritz Lang’s Metropolis – and how it helped to change the genre forever.

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