Edward L. Cahn

  • It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, November 2021) Few films have been perceived so differently over the year as It! The Terror from Beyond Space. Upon release, it was a fairly ordinary Science Fiction film featuring astronauts battling a monster in a spacecraft — a hermetic, claustrophobic version of the typical 1950s monster movies, not executed with any kind of sophistication by director Edward L. Cahn, but good enough for drive-in thrills. By the early 1970s (if it was seen at all at an age prior to home video), it must have been a quaint relic at a time of New Hollywood, as movies became increasingly realistic and the rift between what audiences expected and the shoddy execution of the 1958 film became more apparent. But then something very strange happened: Alien, a film that pushed horror where it had never gone before by borrowing quite a lot from It! The Terror from Beyond Space. Consider the crew of a spaceship landing on a strange planet and carrying back a dangerous visitor within the confines of their ship. Attempts to kill it through conventional means fail, as it keeps killing crewmembers, forcing the survivors to flush it out of the airlock. Isn’t that Alien or what? After a few decades in which comparisons must not have been kind, watching It! The Terror from Beyond Space is surprisingly fun now because we’re probably approaching it from the other end: What if Alien had been made in the 1950s? Well, it’s not a thought experiment or a retro-pastiche: Here we have the real thing, an authentic vintage interpretation of one of the ur-stories of horror/SF cinema. It’s almost enough to make you want to send modern movies back in time to see what they would have done with the concept, the limited means and the self-censorship prevalent during the 1950s. Oh, I won’t qualify It! The Terror from Beyond Space as conventionally good: there’s a fair bit of ironic distancing going on while watching the film, and Alien really should be a prerequisite to watch. Our “blue collar” crew plays chess, really… But movie experiences are not always the ones intended by the filmmakers, and if a modern reading uses other sources to create enjoyment, well, that’s better than no enjoyment at all.

  • Destination Murder (1950)

    Destination Murder (1950)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, November 2020) Sometimes, you don’t need polish, coherence or high production values to have a good time: Destination Murder is, by most standards, a substandard film: it has dollar-store production values, a script that barely makes sense, quirks of dialogue that are more endearing than effective (“Armitage!”), and a density of plotting that makes its 72 minutes feel somewhat longer. But as a film noir… it holds its own. Cheaply made by B-movie specialist Edward L. Cahn, Destination Murder can rely on a fast-paced script and actors who do what they’re expected from beginning to end. The story, at it is, has to do with a young woman going undercover in a club in order to investigate her father’s murder. Who her father was and what he did to get killed should warrant some attention but doesn’t—we’re off to the investigation and as bits and pieces of another noir movie seem to intrude (including a blonde femme fatale who gets taken out of the plot far too soon), Destination Murder races to a conclusion without bothering to make sure that it didn’t take disqualifying shortcuts. It’s incoherent, bewildering and quite a bit wild… which, in some ways, reflects the down-and-dirty ethos of the film noir, interested in thrills and not really in explanations. Destination Murder is not the kind of polished experience but it has a certain charm of its own. Just make sure this is what you’re looking for.