Popcorn Crunchers, Reel 188 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Russell Johnson

John Putnam and Ellen Fields are driving home in the desert when they come upon telephone linemen Frank and George. The linemen are abducted by the aliens and reappear later in the film in their own physical form but with aliens inside. George was played by Russell Johnson.

The director of "It Came from Outer Space", Jack Arnold, later directed Johnson in his role as Professor Roy Hinkley on "Gilligan's Island". Johnson's other roles in science-fiction motion pictures include "This Island Earth" (1955), "Attack of the Crab Monsters" (1957), and "The Space Children" (1958).

Answer: Night Without Mercy

The feature-length movies "Night of the Blood Beast" (1958), "Night of the Demon" (1957), and "The Night the World Exploded" (1957) are all actual, not-made-up, existent, and authentic motion pictures. In "Night of the Blood Beast", the beast came from outer space. In "The Night the World Exploded", the explosives were a new element which worked its way to the Earth's surface from deep within. In "Night of the Demon", the demon was summoned by a satanic cult.

Adolphe Menjou hosted the television anthology "Target" which broadcast an episode titled "Night Without Morning" on 14 August 1958. There has been a bookshelf of novels titled "Without Mercy": Jack Higgins in 2005, Jefferson Bass in 2016, David Hunt and R. J. Pineiro in 2017, Siobhan Dunmoore in 2018, and Lisa Jackson in 2019. There is no record of a feature-length 1950s motion picture titled "Night Without Mercy".

Answer: blown up by a jet-propelled atomic torpedo

The creature surfaces near the Market Street docks in San Francisco but is driven back into the water by soldiers armed with flamethrowers. This does not kill the octopus but leaves him very upset. The atomic submarine captained by Commander Pete Mathews fires the jet-propelled atomic torpedo into the beast.

This further upsets the cephalopod who grasps the submarine and pins it to the bottom such that the torpedo cannot be detonated without destroying the sub. Matthews dons SCUBA gear and places explosive charges on the monster's body.

These explode without killing the creature but the shock waves render the commander senseless. Civilian Dr. John Carter swims out and shoots the octopus in its giant eye which causes it to release the submarine and head out to the open sea. Carter finds Mathews and pulls him to safety.

The torpedo is detonated destroying the beast and the two men are rescued on the surface.

Answer: Tom Tryon

Tom Tryon already had a history of playing handsome men in military and Western films when he was cast as attractive actress Gloria Talbott's equally attractive husband in "I Married a Monster from Outer Space" (1958). The particular challenge to this role was that, whereas actors are constantly encouraged to emote, his character required him to be emotionless.

The alien who took over his body was unfamiliar with and incapable of human emotions. It was this cold distance that first alerted his bride to a radical change in her husband.

Answer: communism or McCarthyism

Both author Jack Finney and leading actor Kevin McCarthy denied any allegory of any sort in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Yet the website Rotten Tomatoes called it "one of the best political allegories of the 1950s". Some critics saw it as a statement against communism, which was seen as a creeping sort of infiltration of America.

Others saw it as a statement against McCarthyism, seen as a totalitarian movement to enforce conformity on Americans. Director Don Siegel admitted that the comparison to Sen. Joseph McCarthy was "inescapable". English actor, producer, author, and director David Wood told BBC, "The sense of postwar, anticommunist paranoia is acute, as is the temptation to view the film as a metaphor for the tyranny of the McCarthy era." Whatever the subtext, Director Don Siegel quipped that the pods represented movie industry executives.

Answer: an original screenplay by David Duncan

"The Thing That Couldn't Die" was one of a number of horror films involving surviving sentient severed heads. While most of these films describe a recently dead person whose head is kept alive by a solution administered by a mad scientist, this one differs.

The head in David Duncan's original screenplay belonged to a fellow convicted of conversing with the Devil 400 years before. His head was detached from his body and placed in a box, separate from the rest of his body. Exhuming both boxes proves to be a very bad move for the desecrators in this motion picture.

Answer: physiological abnormalities

Early on, after Kitty and Edith arrive at the castle, they see Gerald McTeam intensely reading a volume with the title "Teratology". Later Kitty picks up the book and turns a few pages. Gerald notices and takes the text out of her hands. The title page reads, "Teratology: The Study of Monstrosities, Serious Malformations or Deviations from the Normal Structure in Man." Teratology is a noun used in medicine and biology to describe the study of physiological abnormalities.

A related term is "dysmorphology". Dysmorphology studies teratology from a genetic perspective, to learn the origins and treatment of abnormalities.

In the 17th-19th centuries, the term was used in a different but related way to identify the study of mythical monsters, fantastic creatures in folklore, or fictional beasts.

Answer: acting

Steve Conte (1920-1997) was born in Italy but immigrated to the U.S. as a child. In his 37 years acting in television and motion pictures, he played mostly bad guys: hench persons, thugs, and criminals. Conte was a favourite of director Jerry Warren; he appeared in six of Warren's films.

His science fiction and horror movie roles include "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" (1957), "Teenage Zombies" (1960), "Terror of the Blood Hunters" (1962), "Face of the Screaming Werewolf" (1964), "Attack of the Mayan Mummy" (1964), "The Wild World of Batwoman" (1966), "The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler" (1971), and "The Kindred" (1987).

Answer: La Salle Detention Home for Girls

There is a real juvenile detention facility in LaSalle County, Illinois. There was a real former juvenile detention facility in LaSalle County, Louisiana. The LaSalle School is a real alternative detention centre in Albany, New York. "The Man Who Turned to Stone" takes place in the La Salle Detention Home for Girls, a fictional institution, the location of which is never disclosed in the film.

Answer: It is not; it is restored to normal.

Inspector Beecham finds and captures Phillipe alive in his chimerical form. He also captures the fly with Phillipe's head and keeps it in a jar. Both of these are placed in the chamber of the transportation device in hopes of unscrambling their atoms.

The machine disintegrates and then reintegrates the two creatures. Phillipe is restored to his original form. He steps out of the chamber and embraces Cecile.