WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers

Any fans of The Rocky Horror Show will know the song ‘Science Fiction – Double Feature’ but do any of us really know all the film references made? So let’s start at the very beginning (sorry that’s a lyric in ‘Do-Re-Mi’ from The Sound of Music but I’m sure it was used elsewhere first)

To start at the beginning we have to look at what a Double Feature is. According to the OED a Double Feature is a cinema programme with two full-length films. Started in the 1930s the cinema goer would buy their ticket, take their seat and settle back to watch trailers, a newsreel, maybe a short cartoon then the B-movie (a low budget commercial film) and then, after a short interval, the main feature a high budget film (the A-movie). The price we pay now to see one film seems a bit of a con in comparison! I have only actually seen one double feature, The Gummi Bears and Pinocchio (I have to admit I only wanted to see The Gummi Bears but if you paid for the ticket make the most of it!)

♬ Michael Rennie was ill, The Day the Earth Stood Still♬

Michael Rennie (Eric Alexander Rennie) – born: 25 August 1909; died 10 June 1971 (age 61) – a British film, television and stage actor.

Michael Rennie was not ill The Day the Earth Stood Still, he was injured which isn’t really ill but injured doesn’t exactly rhyme with still now does it? Based on the short story “Farewell to the Master” by Harry Bates this film is an allegorical one which still rings true for today’s society – not that any of the powers that be would see it and actually take note, this is fiction after all!  There are so many films that want us to believe in ‘little green men from Mars’ and that they are a danger to us but this one is probably more believable – Klaatu isn’t little (Rennie was 6ft 3), he’s not green and we don’t know where he comes from but he’s here to give, as the poster says, “a warning and ultimatum!”

♬ Flash Gordon was there, in silver underwear♬

Err no he wasn’t! He may have been there but ‘the silver underwear’? no idea where that comes from as this is black and white and there is no way those are silver! This is a proper double feature feature as the original Flash Gordon was based on Alex Raymond’s comic series and was shown on a weekly basis in cinemas (remember this was in 1936 so no TVs) so you’d go to watch the episode and then stay for the main picture. I was lucky to find the original series and got so involved that I was four episodes in before I realised – maybe because I love the 1980 film starring Sam J. Jones and Max Von Sydow and was interested in how much the film was like the serial and can I say I love the homage. Obviously there were a few changes made but overall I can see the original here – Flash and Dale meet Zarkov accidently, they fly out to Mongo and meet Ming, Aura falls for Flash, Ming marries Dale, they all escape and the rest well you’ll have to watch the series or the 1980 film (if you haven’t seen it already where have you been? – it’s even heavily referenced in the film Ted)

♬ Claude Rains was The Invisible Man♬

William Claude Rains – born: 10 November 1889; died 30 May 1967 (age 77) – was a British actor whose career spanned almost seven decades

Yes Claude Rains is indeed the Invisible Man, so invisible in fact that I don’t even know what Mr Rains looks like! Considering this film was made in 1933 it stands the test of time, I have seen films made in the past ten years that don’t have as good effects as this! Alright some of the acting is melodramatic, especially Jenny Hall the pub landlady, but it is a very good film. It takes a good actor to spend the majority of the film completely covered and still get over the underlying character traits; the madness and egotism is brilliant and personally I don’t think it would come across if you could see the face of the actor.

♬ Something went wrong, for Fay Wray and King Kong♬

Vina Fay Wray* – born: 15 September 1907; died: 8 August 2004 – a Canadian-American actress

You could say something went wrong for Fay Wray and King Kong but if it wasn’t for Fay nothing would have happened to Kong – then again if it wasn’t for Carl Denham nothing would have gone wrong from either of them! Denham finds Ann Darrow (Fay) ‘stealing’ an apple from a street vendor and asks her if she wants to join him on an adventure – that adventure being a human sacrifice to King Kong but no one knows that at the start! When Denholm smokes Kong and decides to take the unconscious ape back to New York is when it goes wrong for Kong he is put on display but breaks free when he is being photographed. This leads to the famous scene of him climbing the Empire State building with Ann in his hand.

Now I’m probably going to be saying this a lot but considering this film was made in 1933 the film quality is brilliant and the effects, well… I’ve seen better and I’ve seen a lot worse. The use of robotic puppets for Kong and the other creatures do look realistic; alright there is one scene where they shoot the dinosaur dead and you can tell it’s robotic as it’s leg moves like its rotating on a spindle but that’s all I can say negatively about it. The facial expressions of Kong are brilliant – if Ann could see the emotion he conveys I doubt she would have been so scared and maybe have felt sorry for him!

♬ Then at a deadly pace, It Came from Outer Space♬

A spaceship crashes on earth damaging their ship in the process. Amateur astronomer, John Putnam, is the only person to see the ship and realise that there are alien creatures roaming the earth. They’re like body snatchers but don’t take over the body just replicate it so that they can walk the streets to get parts to repair the ship. This is more like an extended episode of the Twilight Zone than a film but to be honest its more of an allegory for human behaviour – The aliens are a peaceful race, that were not meant to be on earth at all, and as they say “we are not ready to meet” (because of their appearance – large blobs with one eye) but as far as the sheriff is concerned they are a danger to the human race and need to be destroyed. Even though our protagonist is trying to keep the aliens safe from the sheriff he has gun in hand whenever he speaks to the aliens

♬ Doctor X (ooh ooh ooh) will build a creature♬

This is obviously a line used to get the film Doctor X in as there is no creature ‘built’ in this film. As the film builds there is a hint of a Frankenstein style story with several of the doctors’ works could lead us that way, but this is not the way the plot takes us – which is a blessing. Unfortunately I did work out who the ‘creature’ was before the final reveal but it didn’t put a dampener on the film. It has humour, tension and intrigue and alright the final fight is a little weak – more handbags than a brawl – but as the oldest film (by a year) in this song it withstands the test of time. My only problem was that Doctor Jerry Xavier, our Doctor X, is written as you would Professor X, of X-Men fame, they pronounce it with a Z – more Zarvier than Xavier. There are a few words that seem to be pronounced oddly maybe this was because Lionel Atwill, an English actor, was trying too hard to enunciate for an American audience but I have no idea just found the pronunciation weird

♬ Anne Francis stars in (ooh ooh ooh) Forbidden Planet♬

Anne Francis (also known as Anne Lloyd Francis) – born 16 September 1930; died: 2 January 2011 – was an American actress

Yes she does, in fact she is the only woman in Forbidden Planet! Set in the 23rd century the United Planets starship are sent to investigate a planet where, 20 years earlier, an expedition had landed.  Now some would say that this is a misogynistic film as there is only one female character but it just wouldn’t work with another woman in the mix as it is. Yes if it was remade today then either the captain would probably be a woman bringing in the lesbian angle or they would switch the whole cast so that Anne Francis’ Altaira Morbius would be the only male character which would then make the film misandristic. I did read an article that said this film should be remade, not because of the casting, but because the quality of CGI we have now would give the monster more justice – “F*%# OFF” is what I say! As I have said before (and will probably say again) for a film made in the 50s the effect of the monster is very effective, in fact it is the anonymity of the monster that makes it more terrifying – whatever people’s insistence on remakes is don’t mess with a classic!

♬ Leo G. Carroll, was over a barrel, when Tarantula took to the hills♬

Leo Gratten Carroll – born: 25 October 1886; died: 16 October 1972 – was an English actor whose career spanned more than forty years 

Leo G. Carroll wasn’t really over a barrel in fact, although he caused the problem, he knew nothing about it until it attacks him! Typical story of scientist creating something that could save the planet that gets out of hand and causes havoc on the local community! Visual effects are a little poor, the tarantula has no definition at all it looks like its filmed in shadow, but Leo G Carroll’s make up is very good

♬ I saw Janette Scott, fight a Triffid that spits poison and kills♬ (Day of the Triffids)

Janette Scott – born: 14 December 1938 – is a retired British actress. She is the daughter of actors Jimmy Scott and Thora Hird 

What do they mean “saw Janette Scott, fight a Triffid that spits poison and kills” she doesn’t fight anything she sees a Triffid and stands there screaming! I remember the 80s TV series of Day of the Triffids and I remember the sound of them creeped me out but not in this film – as they move they sound like someone shuffling across the floor in slippers! It’s a good film, typical B-movie territory, which tells the story just as I remember – these plants arrive on earth after a meteor storm which blinds everyone who watched it. The main characters can see, Howard Keel and Janette Scott among them. Howard Keel (Bill Masen) is in hospital after an eye operation and Janette Scott (Karen Goodwin) is working with her alcoholic, scientist husband in a lighthouse too busy to watch the meteor shower. The whole lighthouse section of the film seems a little disjointed from the main story – they never leave the lighthouse so never interact with those on the mainland but somehow Triffids just arrive on the rocks surrounding the lighthouse! Then I found out that this is not part of the book and only written to fill out the film which explains a few things. The film is not a true adaptation of the book; several parts were changed including the ending, the only part of the story that follows John Wyndham’s book is the story of Bill Masen, although in the book he is a scientist and not a Merchant Navy Officer as he is in the film.

♬Dana Andrews said prunes, and gave him the runes♬ (Curse of the Demon based on the book ‘Casting the Runes’ by M.R. James)

Carver Dana Andrews – born: 1 January 1909; died: 17 December 1992 – was an American film actor who became a major star in what is now known as film noir.

OK so Dana Andrews doesn’t say “prunes” but he does give him the runes in this adaptation of a M. R. James book. First of all, I have to say I like M. R. James’ work having watched the recent Christmas ghost stories adapted by Mark Gatiss, and I have to say this film did not let me down. Andrews plays an American psychologist who travels to London to investigate a Devil Cult. We see the ‘monster’ early in the film and although I’m not a keen fan of this (it’s the reason why I don’t like most of M. Night Shyamalan films) the effect is very good for a 1950s film. In fact considering the technical capabilities we have today I have seen worse in the cinemas now; I guess the simple ways are sometimes the best.

♬ But When Worlds Collide, said George Pal to his bride♬

George Pal (born György Pál Marczincsak) – born: 1 February 1908; died: 2 May 1980 – was a Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer, principally associated with the fantasy and science-fiction genres. He became an American citizen after emigrating from Europe.

Not sure why they use this as a line because George Pal, unlike all other people mentioned in the song, was not an actor. He produced When Worlds Collide and he was married 21 years prior to the film being released.

At first I wasn’t going to watch this film because … well as you see above but I found it and thought “why not? Let’s give it ago” and I can’t say I was disappointed. I like the story and the moralistic slant at the end and the effects are pretty good a bit dated but, and I think I’m repeating myself here, I’ve seen worse in more modern films. The one thing this film did make me think was that this was the main inspiration for the 80s film Flash Gordon (alright that’s not world’s colliding it’s another planet’s leader causing the catastrophe). The main character, David Randall, looks and acts a bit like Sam J. Jones’ Flash, the triangular love story and then the ship built to get off the planet (although not for exactly the same reasons) there is almost the same amount of connection with Flash Gordon here as there is with TV’s Flash Gordon.

 N.B. ♬ I wanna go, oh-oh-oh-oh, To the late night, double feature, picture show, By R.K.O….♬

This line is sung in the final stanza of the song and implies that double features were all produced by R.K.O but when you look at these films there is only one R.K.O production in the whole song – King Kong (The final scene of The Rocky Horror Picture Show pays homage to this with Rocky carrying a dead Frank-N-Furter up the R.K.O pylon)

*Fay Wray is the only person to appear in more than one film – King Kong and Doctor X, which she made before her deal with RKO Radio Pictures.