Popcorn Crunchers, Reel 180 Trivia Quiz

Answer: False

The idea of mashing-up science-fiction films with comedy (or horror films with comedy) was very popular in the 1950s. Examples include (in breathtaking alphabetical order) "The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock" (1959) with Lou Costello and Dorothy Provine, "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars" (1953), "The Atomic Kid" (1954) with Mickey Rooney, "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla" (1952), "Have Rocket, Will Travel" (1959) with the Three Stooges, "Invasion of the Saucer Men" (1957), "The Invisible Boy" (1957) with Robby the Robot, "The Man in the White Suit" (1951) with Alec Guinness, "The Rocket Man" (1954) with Charles Coburn, Spring Byington, Anne Francis, John Agar and George "Foghorn" Winslow, and "The Twonky" (1953) with Hans Conried.

Answer: Mr. Hyde vs. the Wolfman

The feature-length movies "Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1953), "Daughter of Dr. Jekyll" (1957), and "The Son of Dr. Jekyll" (1951) are all actual, not-made-up, existent, and authentic motion pictures. There is a role-playing game called "The Invisible Man vs. Mr. Hyde" but there is little evidence of it on-line.

There was a British horror movie produced by Hammer Films called "Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde" (1971). The Australian music group Men at Work recorded the silly song "Dr.

Heckyll & Mr. Jive" (1983). The Spanish horror film "Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo" (1971) was variously translated "Dr. Jekyll and the Wolfman" and "Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf". It does not appear that a feature length film titled "Mr. Hyde vs. the Wolfman" was made in the 1950s.

Answer: nothing at all

In the exciting conclusion of "Voodoo Island", the native chief allows Knight's party to leave the island upon their promise to keep the island's secrets and never to return. He orders several of his tribesmen to escort them to their boat, protecting them from the homicidal greenery along the way.

The chief bids them good luck on their return to home. The creophagous vegetation remains to protect the village from further intrusions by outsiders.

Answer: Frank de Kova

Frank de Kova (1910-1981) played character roles on stage, on television, and in motion pictures. He was born on Saint Patrick's Day. In addition to the "bad guy" role in "Teenage Cave Man", de Kova played Sonoy the Astrologer in "Atlantis, the Lost Continent" (1961).

He portrayed a variety of ethnicities; the best-remembered is probably Chief Wild Eagle on "F Troop", which today stings of racial stereotypicality.

Answer: Meba was a hand puppet.

Meba, the young voyageur from Venus, was a hand puppet (and not a very good one, at that). He wore an 18-inch yashmak to loosely fit his frame. His eyeballs were a bit bigger than ping-pong balls and of the same colour and shape. He had large curly false eyelashes glued on appropriately. Meba looked innocent and inoffensive.

The character was "operated" by a hand and forearm thrust up his garment. In many of the scenes with the schoolchildren, Meba is not animated at all but rather sits cradled like a stuffed animal in one of the youngster's arms.

Answer: a script by William Alland and Martin Berkeley

Nathan Juran directed "The Deadly Mantis" using screenwriter Martin Berkeley's script, which was based on a story by William Alland, the producer. According to Mark A. Vieira, "Move Over, Godzilla! Killer Bugs, Babes, and Beasts in 1950s Drive-in Cinema", Bright Lights Film Journal, May 12, 2014, Alland and Berkeley visited the Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry in 1956 to look for bugs that had not yet been exploited in a science-fiction motion picture. Coming upon a preserved praying mantis, they stopped their search and went back to Universal-International.

They wrote a "formula sheet" based on "Them!" (1954), substituting a giant praying mantis for giant ants. Many have noticed the remarkable similarity between the two films.

Answer: Dr Krupp

The insane scientist and master criminal Dr Krupp, energetically played by Luis Aceves Castaneda, adopted the sobriquet "El Murciélago". In Spanish, "Murciélago" means a male bat. Dr Eduardo Almada, played by Ramon Gay, is the hero of the piece. He is married to Flora Sepúlveda Almada, played by Rosa Arenas. (They were apparently wed between the second and third motion pictures.) Pinacate is the assistant to Dr Almada.

In the previous two films, his secret alter ego was a superhero named the Angel.

His role is that of a science nerd. Prince Fujiyata, played by Ramón Bugarini in "The Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy" (1964). He is a different villain tangling with a different mummy ("Tezomoc") in the originally titled "Las luchadoras contra la momia".

Answer: directing

Bernard Louis Kowalski (1929-2007) was a Polish-American director of motion pictures and television programmes. For this latter work, he was twice nominated for two Primetime Emmys. "Night of the Blood Beast" was his first science-fiction movie. He was then 28 years old. Kowalski and most of the crew on "Night of the Blood Beast" went thereafter straight to work on "Attack of the Giant Leeches". Beyond those two films, he also directed "Krakatoa, East of Java" (1969), "Black Noon" (1971), "Terror in the Sky" (1971), and "Sssssss" (1973).

Answer: Earth

The initial review in "Variety" said, "Despite its title, 'Red Planet Mars' takes place on terra firma, sans space ships, cosmic rays or space cadets." The reference to Mars in the title describes the supposed source of the radio transmissions received on Earth. The action takes place in Southern California, the (then) Soviet Union, Washington, D.C., and the Andes Mountains.

Answer: Gale Gordon

Gale Gordon (1906-1995) is often thought of in conjunction with Lucille Ball. They were personal as well as professional friends. He acted in all four of Ball's television comedy programmes. He was also well known as the high school principal Osgood Conklin on "Our Miss Brooks" (1948-1957 on radio and 1952-1956 on television). Gordon played almost exclusively comedic roles.

He was at his best in a role which was cantankerous, combustible, pompous, blustery, and tempestuous. He was superb at the "slow burn" -- a kind of anger which simmers and grows unhurriedly to eruption.

His two movie roles in horror or science fiction films were both comedic: "The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock" (1959) and "Visit to a Small Planet" (1960). A lovely biography is Jim Manago, "Gale Gordon: From Mayor of Wistful Vista to Borrego Springs" (BearManor Media, 2016).