Showing posts with label Barbara Rush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barbara Rush. Show all posts

Monday, April 1, 2024

FAREWELL, BARBARA RUSH

You possessed breathtaking looks, but also excellent, acting chops, delivering a multilayered deftness to your many parts.

Among them, one will find Moon of the Wolf; The Black Shield of Falworth; Prince of Pirates; Captain Lightfoot; Quebec; Flaming Feather; Taza, Son of Cochise; Hombre; The First Legion; The Goldbergs 1950; Robin and the 7 Hoods; Strategy of Terror; The Eyes of Charles Sands; Magnificent Obsession 1954; The Jet Set; The Man; Superdad; Can't Stop the Music; Death Car on the Freeway; The Night the Bridge Fell Down; Peege; The Unknown; Flight to Hong Kong; Summer Lovers; Oh Men! Oh Women!; The Young Lions; No Down Payment; Harry Black and the Tiger; The Bramble Bush; Strangers When We Meet; The Last Day; World in My Corner; The Young Philadelphians; Come Blow Your Horn; and least we forget, your appreciated appearance as the conniving Nora Clavicle in the sardonic, Batman episode, "...The Ladies' Crime Club," plus your portrayal of Jaime Sommers' mom on The Bionic Woman; your poignant performance on Night Gallery's Lovecraftian "Cold Air"; your entrance into the dreamy Outer Limits experiment, "The Form of Things Unknown" and on the revival series' "The Balance of Nature," as well your placements on Peyton Place, Flamingo RoadAll My Children and 7th Heaven?    

For science-fiction-feature fans, you shined the brightest in George Pal/Rudolph Mate's When Worlds Collide and Jack Arnold/Ray Bradbury's It Came From Outer Space. Your enactment of Joyce Hendron in the former and Ellen Fields in the latter made a huge impact on many starry-eyed fans, creating characters who managed to charm during times of great crisis. 

Beyond any doubt, you'll be missed and cherished in our memories, Ms. Rush, an enchanter whose admirable attributes will continue to invigorate the corridors of classic cinema. 

Monday, October 9, 2023

Collectible Time: It Came from Outer Space (Universal Essentials Collection)

Jack Arnold's It Came from Outer Space is an incontestable classic. Based on a premise by the great Ray Bradbury (and scripted by Harry [Creature from the Black Lagoon] Essex), the movie was a 3D extravaganza when it was released in 1953, but through "flat," televised showings over the decades, it solidified its spot as a character-driven, fear-of-the-unknown masterpiece. 

The Universal Essentials Collection has just launched a Blu-Ray/HD box set of the classic, which has aficionados ecstatic. 

The package includes  

1) Blu-ray & HD transfers of the movie

2) An alternate, 3D print on Blu-ray

3) The theatrical trailer

4) Commentary by film historian, Tom Weaver

5) "The Universe According to Universal" documentary

6) A 34-page booklet, highlighting on-set photos, promotional imagery and artwork

7) A reversible sleeve with original poster artwork

8) 4 promotional, art cards 

9) A film-cell replica

10) A numbered certificate of authenticity 

It Came from Outer Space is not only revered for Arnold's taut direction and Bradbury/Essex's reflective concept, but it holds an impressive cast, which includes Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, Russell Johnson, Kathleen Hughes, Charles Drake, Joe Sawyer, Edgar Dearing and George Eldredge. Each gives a nuanced performance, which drives the fable's uncanny, desert-alien draw. 

The cyclopean design for the desperate, crash-landed creatures (at least the one that manifests) is unforgettable and even more so when viewed in 3D. Actually, the movie's entire, 3D approach is exceptional and is considered one of the best examples of the audience-grabbing gimmick.

It Came from Outer Space: The Essential Collection should be part of every film buff's library and can be ordered at Amazon and other fine, film-based vendors. Buy It today!