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Time-Lost
Dr. Cyclops
Novelization of the 1940 film starring Albert Dekker as the ruthless and sadistic mad scientist in the Peruvian jungle who uses radioactivity to miniaturize living things, including a group of human beings who are reduced to one fifth of their natural size. "Not only is Dr. Cyclops a literate horror/sci-fi film with good animation and special effects; it is also filmed in Technicolor, something unheard of for such a low-budget film at that time." - Parish & Pitts, The Great Science Fiction Pictures,
255 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1940
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 11, 2022
If the image in your head is of some Bond villain, white cat in lap, with some grand nefarious plan and secret base in the jungle, then you will be disappointed. The cat is there, but it's more of a mangy feral fat thing.
Kuttner--I wasn't expecting that--clings tight to the limitations of the original screenplay. So not exactly expansive in scope and front-padded with all the preliminary business of travel and story-in-order and no reliance on the reader to work things out. All of which makes it a drag to read. And it doesn't help that the big reveal is spoiled by the cover art. The reader is marking time until the protagonists get little and the interesting stuff can happen.
Thorkel is unapologetically nuts without backstory or motive, an obsessed scientist with his discovery, and the credit that goes with it. The fact that this discovery appears absolutely useless and that he'd need peer-review in order to receive that credit is a secondary concern.
Kuttner--I wasn't expecting that--clings tight to the limitations of the original screenplay. So not exactly expansive in scope and front-padded with all the preliminary business of travel and story-in-order and no reliance on the reader to work things out. All of which makes it a drag to read. And it doesn't help that the big reveal is spoiled by the cover art. The reader is marking time until the protagonists get little and the interesting stuff can happen.
Thorkel is unapologetically nuts without backstory or motive, an obsessed scientist with his discovery, and the credit that goes with it. The fact that this discovery appears absolutely useless and that he'd need peer-review in order to receive that credit is a secondary concern.
December 30, 2009
Will Garth was a pseudonym of the famous and prolific Henry Kuttner. This pulp adventure was filmed by Ernest Schoedsack, who had directed the original KING KONG a few years before. The writing doesn't stand up to contemporary standards in the field, I suppose, but it was by far superior to most of the other work being produced in that era. I think that it's still a lot of fun.
July 3, 2016
A novelette based on this 1940s movie. A fun little story and a fun little movie. I recommend checking them both out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKuB-...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKuB-...
February 19, 2025
I'm reading a collection of sci fi short stories that became films from a collection called They Came From Outer Space. This first story has nothing to do with outer space or aliens.
It's a pretty flatly written pulpy mad scientist story about people that are shrunk down and have to escape the titular scientist's clutches. I imagine the movie is just as boring.
It's a pretty flatly written pulpy mad scientist story about people that are shrunk down and have to escape the titular scientist's clutches. I imagine the movie is just as boring.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews