Wednesday 29 January 2014

The Bulldog Breed (1960)

The Bulldog Breed is a 1960 British comedy starring Norman Wisdom.  That's him below on the right standing next to the sublime John Le Mesurier.  Wisdom made quite a lot of similar films where he fumbles through a uniformed profession being clumsy but well meaning.  The milkman one is quite good, as is the ambulance driver and the policeman outings. In this particular version he joins the Royal Navy although some how winds up at the end of the picture in a rocket ship that's blasted into space!

The spaceman in these stills is the rockets actual pilot, who manages to lock himself in a cupboard prior to take off and thus allows Wisdom to unwittingly climb aboard unnoticed.  The ending seems a tad tacked on, given this is about being in the navy, but this may have everything to do with the availability of a very nice spacesuit and a quick way to end the picture.  If you compare this with our final image; from Network's DVD release of  Man in the Moon, also 1960, you'll see exactly where they had it from. 


 
 
Quite a nice bit of kit, I wonder where it wound up next.
 
 
Steve

Tuesday 21 January 2014

Notting Hill (1999)

Here's a rather lovely spacesuit from Notting Hill... yes, that Notting Hill, the British rom-com starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. 
Or rather from Helix, the film within the film.
Nice.
 
 
Steve

The Killings at Outpost Zeta (1980)

A team of men and women investigate the mysterious deaths of two previous expeditions to a strategically important but barren world.





Steve

Space Cowboys (2000)




 
 
Steve

Soldier (1998)


These suits went on to appear in Firefly, which is not half as interesting as the fact that the writer of Soldier considers it to be set in the same universe as Blade Runner.
 
 
Steve

Doomsday Machine (1972)

Production of Doomsday Machine began in 1967 but stopped before it could be completed.  The rights to the film were finally purchased and completed in 1972; without the original cast or sets.
Excessive use of stock footage includes real but badly degraded NASA rocket footage, special effects shots from The Wizard of Mars (1965), Gorath (1962) and other disparate sources.  All of  which leads to numerous continuity errors and help to make it a favourite with fans of bad cinema.



 
 
Steve

Deep Rescue (2005)

The crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery struggle to survive and escape to the surface after it ditches into the Atlantic Ocean.
 




 

Steve