Phase IV by Barry N Malzberg (1973)

"ebay - delivering the past to the present since 1995"...  Or at least that's how I think of it!

 

As mentioned a few days ago, I decided to order Barry N Malzberg's tie-in of the film Phase IV after many years of just not getting round to it.  It only arrived today so I've not started into it yet but I understand there is a variation to the ending.  I will report back here with my thoughts and observations, once read.

Of course its worth remembering that back in 1973, the novelisation would have been the only way to relive the film, which was obviously also true for other movies and TV shows.  I bought and read a lot of tie-ins as a kid and really enjoyed them.  Sometimes it was even a way to "see" an 18 certificate film, when you were too young to sneak into the cinema - Such as Alien, to name the first one that comes to mind.

 

With the advent of Video, DVD,  Blu-ray and Digital Download we can now have those films on hand and on repeat almost any time.  As such this kind of fiction has all but gone which is a shame.  As a generalisation they are usually quite exciting and an easy read.  And that certainly helped me begin to enjoy reading when the school-selected titles were doing their very best to provoke the opposite.

 

 

Steve

Film Review Magazine - February (1973)

Talking of Phase IV and Lynne Frederick, as we were previously.  Here is a small feature called Shooting Now from the February 1973 edition of Film Review Magazine.

If you can squint your eyes enough to read the print (I may need glasses!) you'll find this article from the time of the film's production to be quite optimistic and positive - And contrary to how it was actually received upon its release the following year.

 

The images were copied from a rather wonderful tribute site to Lynne Frederick which can be found here http://lynne-frederick.com/february_73.html

Quite apart from an absolute wealth of images and material on the actress' acting career, it's lovely to find that someone else out there is doing their bit to represent a more balanced and honest account of the lady and her work than the perceived wisdom that she was simply a "gold digger" or a "professional wife"  Great work and a wonderful site.

Lynne Frederick - May she walk in Strange England forever


Steve

Phase IV - Lobby Cards (1974)

Phase IV is a film I saw numerous times in my youth but which then disappeared out of the public consciousness or at least the late night TV viewing schedules.  Its a  rather stunning piece of work that stayed with me and a generation of movie viewers that have now helped to label it a cult classic, rather than the box office failure of its 1974 cinematic release.

I'm not sure of the exact years that I watched it but it must have been post 1975 and I'm fairly certain I saw it two or three times before it left our screens for good.

By way of a few facts, its the one and only feature film directed by American graphic design and filmmaker Saul Bass and stars Nigel Davenport, Lynne Frederick and Michael Murphy.  Its an Anglo American venture with the interiors shot at Pinewood Studios in England and the exterior location filming taking place in Kenya,  Although in the film it self, the action is supposed to be taking place in the Arizona desert of the United States.

In content its a film about ants, very clever ants, and something I recently described to a friend as the; 2001 of eco-sci-fi thrillers, which is fairly accurate a description if your interpretation of the source of the ants' intelligence is the same as mine.  Its also that good a film in my opinion.

I say this not simply from nostalgia and childhood memory but from a recent viewing.  Having given up waiting for it to appear back on TV or the high street DVD suppliers, I recently tracked down a German copy which can be played without the sub titles and thus enjoyed in its original mother tongue.  In fact if I'm honest I think I enjoyed it even more as an adult.

What's left to say about Phase IV apart from the fact that I would really like a new cleaned up English release with the extended even more trippy original ending having been restored to the edit.

In between writing this, I've just gone off and ordered the old paperback tie-in of the movie because I've now reminded myself that its still on my wants list.

And finally, that the film stars, as you will have noticed in the names above, the rather lovely Lynne Frederick, who we have already featured in the coverage of The Amazing Mr Blunden and who we will be looking at again, as something of a reoccurring English Rose, that much like the films she features in, deserves far more praise and credit than they are currently afforded.


Steve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Pages 46, 61 & 62)