20's and 30's Sci Fi stories into Movies

unclepatrick

unclepatrick

I working on a Time Line were Howard Hughes purchases RKO in 1936 and Republic Pictures in 1938.
I planning for Hughes to produce several films that did not see production in the OTL.
Orson Wells' Heart of Darkness 1938
Willis O Brian's War Birds 1940
James Whale's Dunwich Horror with Ronald Colman 1939

I was thinking of having Hughes produce a Science Fiction film or or two.
The problem is that beside the Works of Jules Verne and H G Well. I can't think of any stories that would make good Movies. (I also rule out When Worlds Collide, Another Studio will attempt that with Fritz Lang directing)

One problem that I run into is that Special Effect work is limited. This rule out Space Opera like E E Doc Smith Skylark.

Can any one think of Science Fiction stories of the 1920's and 30's that would make a good movie?
Pre 1939?
1939-1950?

Thank You.
 

bobinleipsic

unclepatrick said:
I working on a Time Line were Howard Hughes purchases RKO in 1936 and Republic Pictures in 1938.
I planning for Hughes to produce several films that did not see production in the OTL.
Orson Wells' Heart of Darkness 1938
Willis O Brian's War Birds 1940
James Whale's Dunwich Horror with Ronald Colman 1939

I was thinking of having Hughes produce a Science Fiction film or or two.
The problem is that beside the Works of Jules Verne and H G Well. I can't think of any stories that would make good Movies. (I also rule out When Worlds Collide, Another Studio will attempt that with Fritz Lang directing)

One problem that I run into is that Special Effect work is limited. This rule out Space Opera like E E Doc Smith Skylark.

Can any one think of Science Fiction stories of the 1920's and 30's that would make a good movie?
Pre 1939?
1939-1950?

Thank You.
Click to expand...

"Buck Rogers?"

bobinleipsic
 
NCW8

NCW8

unclepatrick said:
I working on a Time Line were Howard Hughes purchases RKO in 1936 and Republic Pictures in 1938.
I planning for Hughes to produce several films that did not see production in the OTL.
Orson Wells' Heart of Darkness 1938
Willis O Brian's War Birds 1940
James Whale's Dunwich Horror with Ronald Colman 1939

I was thinking of having Hughes produce a Science Fiction film or or two.
The problem is that beside the Works of Jules Verne and H G Well. I can't think of any stories that would make good Movies. (I also rule out When Worlds Collide, Another Studio will attempt that with Fritz Lang directing)

One problem that I run into is that Special Effect work is limited. This rule out Space Opera like E E Doc Smith Skylark.

Can any one think of Science Fiction stories of the 1920's and 30's that would make a good movie?
Click to expand...

How about Sidewise in Time ? One advantage of it is that it shouldn't require to many special effects.

Cheers,
Nigel.
 

Kalvan

Issac Asimov's Foundation series.

A. E. van Vogt's Voyage of the Space Beagle.

E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series.

Any number of C. L. Moore short stories.
 

Ivir Baggins

How much of Lovecraft's work could be made into films, if we exclude the shorter ones? Admittedly, it would require him to allow it, but that should be possible.
 

David S Poepoe

Banned
I think that many of the works of A. Merritt could have been made into movies, since as 'The Ship of Ishtar' and 'The Moon Pool'. Undoubtedly, with some adaptations the John Carter novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs could be brought to the silver screen. Otis A. Kline, a contemporary of Burroughs, is another good choice.
 
unclepatrick

unclepatrick

Kalvan said:
Issac Asimov's Foundation series.

A. E. van Vogt's Voyage of the Space Beagle.

E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series.

Any number of C. L. Moore short stories.
Click to expand...

Foundation is series that started in the 1950's. Please read the rules at the beginning.

Any of of Vogt stuff is going to lose a lot in the translation to film. According to IMDB, It the Terror From Space, is based on Voyage of the Space Beagle.

Lenman series is the same problem as Skylark. !930's and 1940's Special effect are not up to doing Space Opera. Look at the Flash Gordon serials. space ship moving in circle with visible wires and sparkler coming out the rear of the ship is 30 state of art.

Looking for story titles. here. With C L Moore, what comes to mind is Northwest Smith story. Not sure makeup at the time period is up to doing the Aliens.
 
unclepatrick

unclepatrick

whitecrow said:
How about Alexander Belyayev 1925 work, Professor Dowell's Head (quick plot summery here)? Or how about Tolstoy's Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin? (Not sure if special effects are up to the task of making "hyperboloid" of the novel though)
Click to expand...

You pick two stories, I never heard of. They sound interesting, but there is the problem of my POD. I have Hughes interested in Science Fiction but not a big fan. And as an American, he would be unlikley to do any Soviet fiction. Remember the US in the 1920 and 30 had the Red Scare. Fear of Communism was very strong in some part of the Country. Hughes was not from the East Coast so he would not be friendly to anything from the Soviet Union.

Still Hollywood did have many immigrates and some came from the Soviet Union. So I could see a short film, around a Hour of Professor Dowell's Head. I will think about this.
Thank you for some intersting choices
 
unclepatrick

unclepatrick

Ivir Baggins said:
How much of Lovecraft's work could be made into films, if we exclude the shorter ones? Admittedly, it would require him to allow it, but that should be possible.
Click to expand...

Mountain of Maddness would be beyond the ability of the industry at the time,we are dealing with. According to what today studio told Guillermo del Toro, it would cost too much to do it today. (In the Timeline, He does do the movie of Mountain of Madness in 2010 and I thinking of a british film maker attempt in the 60's as a low budget black and white film in the 1960's)

I pick Dunwich Horror because it posible. I see Willis O Brian, (Creator of King Kong and in this timeline a few more films) as doing the Creature at the end.
The idea of James Whales directing came from a 1980's Comic Book called the Prowler, and I chose Ronald Colman as the Star because he did a radio broadcast of the story for the show Suspense in the 1940's.

Having see the recent Call of Cthulhu movie that does it as a Silent Picture from the 1920's , I say that you could do version of Call of Cthulhu.

I planning for some Lovecraft shorts to appear on the series Thriller in the 1960 and a few More on Night Gallery in the 1970's.
 
unclepatrick

unclepatrick

David S Poepoe said:
I think that many of the works of A. Merritt could have been made into movies, since as 'The Ship of Ishtar' and 'The Moon Pool'. Undoubtedly, with some adaptations the John Carter novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs could be brought to the silver screen. Otis A. Kline, a contemporary of Burroughs, is another good choice.
Click to expand...

I thought on Merritt. A couple of films were made base on his work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._Merritt

I think that Metal Monsters might be doable but only if the Robots are Stop Motion and I got Willis O Brian who was the only person doing Stop Motion at the Time, busy up to the 1960's. Slim possibility of doing it in the 1960. not by O Brian who dies in the early 1960, but one of the people he trains in Stop Motion.

I did not mention in the first post but RKO does a animated John Carter film in 1938. I would think that they are more likely to do another John Carter film then something by Kline which is similar. As my outline stand at this time, RKO/Republic is considering doing either a second animated John Carter film or a Live action Serial to compete with Universal Flash Gordon when World War Two come up. And put a lot on hold.

Columbia Picture might consider a serial from Klien, since in the Timeline I working on, they don't get the rights to the Shadow or Doc Savage. I have to think on that.
 
unclepatrick

unclepatrick

Lemon flavoured said:
If it's Hughes doing it there's a fair chance he'd give it a go anyway, he wasn't exactly known for sanity.
Click to expand...

It not just a issue of money. the technology is not there to do a Space Opera. Most special effect have to be shot in Camera. Get the Blue ray of Citizen Kane and watch the documentary on the making of the movie. That film is state of the art for 1941 and Dunn, was the man who created the Optical Printer. So Space Opera before 1941 is unlikely, the tech is not there.
After Dec 7 1941 World War Two , budget limits even for Hughes.

I planning for the First Space Opera in a Movie to RKO/Republic adaption of the novel "This Island Earth" in 1955. It will be closer to the Novel than the film in the OTL.
 

Richter10

I confess that I don't know many short stories from that period but...

What about Stanley Weinbaum's works (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Weinbaum), in special "A Martian Odyssey" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Martian_Odyssey) and "The Adaptive Ultimate" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adaptive_Ultimate)?

Other possible author is Edward Page Mitchell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Page_Mitchell). Maybe his work "The Ablest Man in the World"?

"Night" by Don A. Stuart (actually John W. Campbell) is another possibility...

From H.P. Lovecraft's both "Cool Air" and "Re-Animator" could be technically possible (I'm not sure if the latter would be censorship-like possible...)

I hope that this helps...
 

Mark-ITSOT

Richter10 said:
I confess that I don't know many short stories from that period but...

What about Stanley Weinbaum's works (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Weinbaum), in special "A Martian Odyssey" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Martian_Odyssey) and "The Adaptive Ultimate" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adaptive_Ultimate)?

Other possible author is Edward Page Mitchell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Page_Mitchell). Maybe his work "The Ablest Man in the World"?

"Night" by Don A. Stuart (actually John W. Campbell) is another possibility...

From H.P. Lovecraft's both "Cool Air" and "Re-Animator" could be technically possible (I'm not sure if the latter would be censorship-like possible...)

I hope that this helps...
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re-Animator
 

Dupplin Muir

Lest Darkness Fall? They could use some of the props created for the various biblical epics/Cleopatra (the Claudette Colbert one)/etc.
 
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