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William Hopper, the actor who played the stalwart private detective Paul Drake on the hit 1957 legal drama "Perry Mason," was a notoriously prolific smoker, often seen with a cigarette hanging from his lips on camera. In 1970, Hopper suffered a stroke and succumbed to smoking-related health issues a month later. He was 55 years old. 

As Paul Drake, Hopper was a cynic, a more grizzled presence built to balance Perry Mason's serious intellect. He was the Dr. McCoy to Perry Mason's Spock. For those unfamiliar with the series, "Perry Mason" was about a Los Angeles defense lawyer, played brilliantly by Raymond Burr, who was always careful to investigate the clients he was hired to defend. Typically, innocent people came to Mason, and he was always curious about the details of their case. Mason would always face off against the L.A. District Attorney Hamilton Burger (William Talman), who never won a case against him.

While many of us may still be feeling the icy chill of winter, Scream Factory already has their sights set on a scare-filled spring, as they've announced new 4K Uhd releases for Skyline, Brotherhood of the Wolf, and The Haunting (1999) this May, as well as a Blu-ray double feature for Conquest of Space and I Married a Monster from Outer Space:

From Scream Factory: When sunrise arrives two hours early in the form of a haunting light from an unknown source, a group of friends watch in terror as people across the city are drawn outside and swept into massive alien ships that have blotted out the L.A. skyline. Now, it will take every survival instinct the group has to elude capture in Skyline, starring Eric Balfour (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Donald Faison (Scrubs) and Scottie Thompson (Star Trek).

Pre-order: https://shoutfactory.com/products/skyline?utm_source=facebook...

George Pal’s ill-fated ‘future docu’ followup to Destination Moon still stirs the imagination, rendering in vivid Technicolor the visionary images that amazed us in Chesley Bonestell’s paintings about space travel. We still love the movie even if we want to shove the script and whoever approved it out an airlock without a space helmet. It’s fun to pick it apart, but when Van Cleave’s trilling ‘spacey’ music plays we know we’re back in 1950s Sci-fi Nirvana, anticipating a techno-future of space marvels. [Imprint] gives the movie a classy Blu-ray showcase.

Conquest of Space

All-Region Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] #112

1955 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 81 min. / Street Date April 6, 2022 / Available from /

Starring: Walter Brooke, Eric Fleming, Mickey Shaughnessy, Phil Foster, William Redfield, William Hopper, Benson Fong, Ross Martin, Vito Scotti, Joan Shawlee, Michael Fox, Rosemary Clooney.

Cinematography: Lionel Lindon

Art Directors: Hal Pereira, Joseph MacMillan Johnson

Film Editor: Everett Douglas

Original...

Out this week from the Criterion Collection comes the 1953 adaptation of the famous H.G. Wells tale, The War of the Worlds, directed by Byron Haskin and produced by George Pal, AP Frank Freeman, Jr., and the uncredited EP, Cecil B. DeMille. Haskin was primarily known as a cinematographer and for his special effects work before he became a full-fledged director, and Pal was an animator, director, and cinematographer. As you can guess, The War of the Worlds is a highly influential film on many filmmakers, notably...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, Sam Moffitt, and Tom Stockman

Special effects legend Ray Harryhausen, whose dazzling and innovative visual effects work on fantasy adventure films such as Jason And The Argonauts and The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad passed away in 2013 at age 92. In 1933, the then-13-year-old Ray Harryhausen saw King Kong at a Hollywood theater and was inspired – not only by Kong, who was clearly not just a man in a gorilla suit, but also by the dinosaurs. He came out of the theatre “stunned and haunted. They looked absolutely lifelike … I wanted to know how it was done.” It was done by using stop-motion animation: jointed models filmed one frame at a time to simulate movement. Harryhausen was to become the prime exponent of the technique and its combination with live action. The influence of Harryhausen on film luminaries like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Peter Jackson, and...

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, Sam Moffitt, and Tom Stockman

Special effects legend Ray Harryhausen, whose dazzling and innovative visual effects work on fantasy adventure films such as Jason And The Argonauts and The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad passed away last month at age 92. In 1933, the then-13-year-old Ray Harryhausen saw King Kong at a Hollywood theater and was inspired – not only by Kong, who was clearly not just a man in a gorilla suit, but also by the dinosaurs. He came out of the theatre “stunned and haunted. They looked absolutely lifelike … I wanted to know how it was done.” It was done by using stop-motion animation: jointed models filmed one frame at a time to simulate movement. Harryhausen was to become the prime exponent of the technique and its combination with live action. The influence of Harryhausen on film luminaries like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Peter Jackson,...

For the first filmed adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic, producer George Pal, amid a personal string of highly successful, special effects-laden science-fiction blockbusters that included “Destination Moon” (1950), “When Worlds Collide” (1951), “Conquest of Space” (1955) and “The Time Machine” (1960), decided on numerous changes from the source material. Contemporary Southern California replaced Victorian England. Rather then the iconic tripod appearance, designer Al Nozaki introduced a sleek, flying saucer-inspired Martian war machine with a flexible stalk to fire death rays. Director Byron Haskin and writer Barré Lyndon infused all these elements with the flavor of the original to create a fantastic and oft-copied science-fiction adventure.

Choice Quotation:

Radio reporter: [voiceover] In the First World War, and for the first time in the history of man, nations combined to fight against nations using the crude weapons of those days. The Second World War involved every continent on the globe, and men turned to science for new devices of warfare,...

For the first filmed adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic, producer George Pal, amid a personal string of highly successful, special effects-laden science-fiction blockbusters that included “Destination Moon” (1950), “When Worlds Collide” (1951), “Conquest of Space” (1955) and “The Time Machine” (1960), decided on numerous changes from the source material. Contemporary Southern California replaced Victorian England. Rather then the iconic tripod appearance, designer Al Nozaki introduced a sleek, flying saucer-inspired Martian war machine with a flexible stalk to fire death rays. Director Byron Haskin and writer Barré Lyndon infused all these elements with the flavor of the original to create a fantastic and oft-copied science-fiction adventure.

Choice Quotation:

Radio reporter: [voiceover] In the First World War, and for the first time in the history of man, nations combined to fight against nations using the crude weapons of those days. The Second World War involved every continent on the globe, and men turned to science for new devices of warfare,...

Here's an awesome collection sci-fi movie posters that recently sold for $2 million freakin' dollars! These went up for sale on ebay with the following description:

Up for sale are 7 posters that constitute arguably the greatest movie poster collection in the world. Certainly, one could not say that they have the greatest science fiction collection without them. Each poster is unique and the only copy known to exist. All 7 of these posters transcend the movie poster field.

The set that sold for $2 million included posters for The Day the Earth Stood Still, Howard Hawks' The Thing From Another World, When Worlds Collide, The Man From Planet X, The War of the Worlds, Forbidden Planet' and Conquest of Space.

Why are they so expensive? Because apparently they are the only remaining copies. According to Mrs. Miniver,

Each poster is unique and the only copy known to exist.

Check out the...

Filed under: Movie News, Cinematical

"Up for sale are 7 posters that constitute arguably the greatest movie poster collection in the world. Certainly, one could not say that they have the greatest science fiction collection without them. Each poster is unique and the only copy known to exist. All 7 of these posters transcend the movie poster field."

Big words for a humble eBay auction page, but the final sale price of $1,950,000 should pretty much erase all doubt: eBay user "mrs. miniver" really does seem to have the best frickin' movie poster collection of all time and she's selling it piece by piece to movie fans with deep wallets. The set that sold for $2 million included posters for 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', Howard Hawks' 'The Thing From Another World,' 'When Worlds Collide,' 'The Man From Planet X,' 'The War of the Worlds,...

Filed under: Movie News, Cinematical

"Up for sale are 7 posters that constitute arguably the greatest movie poster collection in the world. Certainly, one could not say that they have the greatest science fiction collection without them. Each poster is unique and the only copy known to exist. All 7 of these posters transcend the movie poster field."

Big words for a humble eBay auction page, but the final sale price of $1,950,000 should pretty much erase all doubt: eBay user "mrs. miniver" really does seem to have the best frickin' movie poster collection of all time and she's selling it piece by piece to movie fans with deep wallets. The set that sold for $2 million included posters for 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', Howard Hawks' 'The Thing From Another World,' 'When Worlds Collide,' 'The Man From Planet X,' 'The War of the Worlds,...

Last week, Art Gilmore, the voice of many of the movie trailers from the 1950's and 1960's died at age 98. His voice has been heard on more than 2,700 trailers. We have rounded up a compilation of 37 trailers featuring Gilmore's famous voice over, embedded after the jump. “Radar Men from the Moon” (1952) Republic serial trailer. “Invaders from Mars” (1953) D: Wm. Cameron Menzies. Paranoid. “Cinecolor”. “Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954) in “3-D”. “War of the Worlds” (1953) George Pal “The Conquest of Space” (1955) George Pal “The Blob” (1958) Steve McQueen. “I Married a Monster from Outer Space” (1958) “I Was a Teenage Frankenstein” (1957) Whit Bissel. “The Amazing Colossal Man” (1957) “Rodan” (1957) Japanese follow-up to “Godzilla”. “Werewolf in a Girl’s Dormitory” (1961) “Robinson Crusoe on Mars” (1964) “Dumbo” (1941) “Gilda” (1946) Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford “It’s A Wonderful Life” (1946) Jimmy Stewart D: Frank Capra “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” (1948) John Wayne D: John Ford “Mighty ...

H.G. Wells' 1898 classic alien invasion novel, The War of the Worlds, has been adapted several times for the big screen, most recently by Steven Spielberg five years ago (my first "Scenes We Love" entry for Cinematical), two low-budget entries, one set in Victorian times and the other in the present released to coincide with Spielberg's adaptation, and most memorably, fifty-seven years ago by producer George Pal (The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao, The Time Machine, Conquest of Space, When Worlds Collide, Destination Moon) for Paramount Pictures. Pal's adaptation, directed by Byron Haskin (The Power, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, From the Earth to the Moon, Conquest of Space) from a screenplay by Barré Lyndon, created the template for every alien invasion film that followed. The War of the Worlds won an Academy Award for its groundbreaking visual effects. It was nominated, but surprisingly didn't win, the Academy Award for the equally innovative sound design.