More for my own satisfaction than anything else, is the second part of
this last division of my collection; "stills." These are scenes from a
score of fantasy pictures ranging in size from 5" × to 11" × 14", and
in subjects from prehistoric monsters of 10,000,000 years ago to
exploring interplanetary parties of the future. There are many scenes
from "Metropolis" of the vast, shining electricity, of the inside
furnishings of the buildings, of the costumes of the people of that
time; and there are pictures of the machinery to run the city, the
underground world, the robotrix, the televisors. From "King Kong" I
have 9 stills: a brontosaurus, an allosaur about to eat a man, Kong on
exhibition in New York, in the jungle with the girl, smashing in a
building, atop the Empire State, etc.
Secured from 'Frankenstein' are pictures of the monster, and his
making in the laboratory. "Just Imagine" offers scenes of
heaven-scraped New York in 1980, of the rocket for Mars, of the nifty
little earthplanes. I have seven interesting pictures from "The Most
Dangerous Game." Laboratories and the death ray of "The Mask of
Fu-Manchu" are included. From Wells' "Island of Lost Souls" there are
photos of the evoluted animals of a hundred thousand years hence;
ape-men, the panther-woman, wolf-creatures, etc. "High Treason" offers
numerous stills: television, the European city, war in 1940, a dance
hall of seven years ahead, the English Channel sub-sea express, a
broadcasted trial, and more. "The Mummy" is shown returning to life,
prehistoric monsters from "The Mystery of Life" are present.
Machinery, experiments, scientists--all from the stf-detective tale,
"Doctor X." I also have several stills from "By Rocket to the Moon,"
such as those showing the model rocket and its trip--also pictures of
Mars, Saturn, the end of the world, and an ethership from "Our
Heavenly Bodies" a scene from "The Lost World," "The Stellar Express,"
and many others.
[In part six, next month, Mr. Ackerman concludes his interesting
article.]