I've known about these 8mm films for many years from this ad that appeared in the first issue of Fantastic Monsters Of The Films.
You could only get them through the mail from the ad. Here's my scan of the ad...
(http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab97/monolith_06/Monster%20Stuff%202/FMOTF%201%201962%20ad_zps1buxmpqi.jpeg) (http://s853.photobucket.com/user/monolith_06/media/Monster%20Stuff%202/FMOTF%201%201962%20ad_zps1buxmpqi.jpeg.html)
The films were made by Bob Burns and Paul Blaisedell. Today they are very hard to find, but I recently acquired them. Here's a photo of The Cliff Monster film box. It may be the only pic of this on the whole internet. I searched for images of them and could not find any...
(http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab97/monolith_06/Monster%20Stuff%202/IMG_1081_zpsxill5l5s.jpg) (http://s853.photobucket.com/user/monolith_06/media/Monster%20Stuff%202/IMG_1081_zpsxill5l5s.jpg.html)
And here's my photo of the Filmland Monsters box art...
(http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab97/monolith_06/Monster%20Stuff%202/IMG_1084_zpsqmo8h3jt.jpg) (http://s853.photobucket.com/user/monolith_06/media/Monster%20Stuff%202/IMG_1084_zpsqmo8h3jt.jpg.html)
I watched the two movies and they're great! The Cliff Monster is an all original five minute black and white movie starring Bob Burns and Jackie Blaisdell. It was directed by Bob Burns, too, and it has a great monster in it. Filmland Monsters has great clips of the She-Creature, the mutant from The Day The World Ended, the aliens from Invasion Of The Saucermen, and the monster from It Conquered the World. I had them transferred to a digital format and was going to post them on youtube so everyone can see them. I'm just waiting to hear back from Bob Burns to see if that's okay with him, because I heard he had been planning on releasing them to DVD. Anyway, until then enjoy the box art.
If they go up on youtube, let us know. I wanna see them fer sure.
Wow! What a find! Super rare! I hope we get to see the films. Thanks for the pics of the boxes!
Quote from: Anton Phibes on September 21, 2017, 03:02:56 PM
If they go up on youtube, let us know. I wanna see them fer sure.
Absolutely. If I put them on youtube I will post a link here.
Quote from: Mike Scott on September 21, 2017, 04:13:23 PM
Wow! What a find! Super rare! I hope we get to see the films. Thanks for the pics of the boxes!
I had been keeping my eye out for them for many years and never saw them anywhere until recently. Just waiting to hear back from Bob Burns, when I do I'll let you know.
Good news- Bob Burns gave permission for me to put them on youtube, so, here for probably the first time on the internet, is The Cliff Monster, and Filmland Monsters...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K838MQem04 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K838MQem04)
These are great. Thank you.
Thanks for getting that done for us old Blaisdell, AIP, FanMo fans! Thanks to Bob Burns, as well!
It was great to see Paul and Bob's 5 min. minipiece! Nice to see a new (to me) Blaisdell monster after all these years!
Super cool.
And here, from the internet, is a great photo of the Cliff Monster...
(http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab97/monolith_06/Monster%20Stuff%202/fullsizeoutput_e7b_zpsdbcol7hm.jpeg) (http://s853.photobucket.com/user/monolith_06/media/Monster%20Stuff%202/fullsizeoutput_e7b_zpsdbcol7hm.jpeg.html)
Great still!
This is really cool!
Quote from: Mike Scott on September 30, 2017, 07:03:13 PM
Great still!
The model of the woman that the Cliff Monster is holding looks like the same model used in the ads on pages 46 and 47 of the first issue of Fantastic Monsters Of The Films.
Quote from: Monolith on October 02, 2017, 12:15:38 AM
The model of the woman that the Cliff Monster is holding looks like the same model used in the ads on pages 46 and 47 of the first issue of Fantastic Monsters Of The Films.
This woman?
(http://imageshack.com/a/img924/3159/rsdyjA.jpg)
Quote from: Mike Scott on October 02, 2017, 11:18:58 AM
This woman?
(http://imageshack.com/a/img924/3159/rsdyjA.jpg)
Yes- I think it might be the same model.
Monolith, thank you for so generously sharing all this good stuff -- I've wanted to have both films forever. Really hope it's true that Bob plans to put them out himself. A facsimile edition (hey Bob!) would be quite a keepsake.
No great insight to say that both films are (let's face it) overwhelmingly primitive by 2017 standards. But much more important is their status as relics of that early baby-boom monster era: Paul was doing something pretty unique then by straddling professional & fan worlds thru his work in the genre. It's become utterly commonplace by now -- Lucas & Spielberg sort of marked the late 70s borderline when fan ardor went pro & became accepted as a mainstay of the industry, & digital film making has since helped narrow the technical gap between fan & pro -- but that gap was still cavernous in 1962, & in that light we can see Paul's efforts as downright evolutionary.
Not least, it was also Paul's way of having fun, I'm sure!
P.S. The actors in that film sure aren't Paul & Jackie (or Bob & Kathy Burns, for that matter).
P.P.S. It looks like "Filmland Monsters" contains not just trailer materials but also either outtake shots or home movie footage Paul made to show off more details of his work that went unused or cut in the released films -- like the rotating eye on the saucer man paw.
Belated update: I just read in Randy Palmer's excellent bio of Paul B (highly recommended) that CLIFF's checkered leading man was, in fact, Bob Burns's old friend -- frequent make-up subject & general partner in crime -- Lionel Comport. Who the lady in distress was is anyone's guess, maybe Lionel's wife or girlfriend sharing in the weekend home-movie fun.
Speaking of Bob & Lionel's great adventures, there's a fun article from Bob & Paul's Fantastic Monsters #2, 1962, describing when Bob donned the SHE CREATURE costume for a local LA TV appearance plugging the film on its 1956 release. Sez that Bob wrote the piece, but the puckish sense of humor sounds a lot like Paul to me. You be the judge. (Article begins on pg 14.) https://archive.org/details/Fantastic_Monsters_of_the_Films_v01n02_1962/mode/2up