ATLAS

Ten random thoughts while watching Roger Corman's ATLAS (1961).

1. Vistascope? Are you kidding me? The print broadcast on TCM is horribly panned and scanned making every shot look incredibly cramped. In some scenes characters are either at the far side of the frame or left out completely, making people talk to people we can't see.

2. Is it just me or does Atlas (Michael Forest) look like CNN news anchor Chris Cuomo?

3. Hey, is that Roger Corman in a speaking role?

4. Is it just me or does Proximates (Frank Wolff), look like  Richard Dreyfuss?

5. Hey, is that Dick Miller in the big battle scene at the end?

6. Speaking of battle scenes, combat strategy in ancient Greece appeared to consist of a lot of pushing and shoving with flimsy shields, spears and swords.

7. Bows and arrows aren't really good weapons for close in fighting.

8. Is it my imagination or did those same soldiers just ride past those same trees in the last shot (and the one before that, and the one before that). Corman gets a lot of mileage out of limited Greek locations by using various camera angles to film the same action several times. Same way he cheated with the tunnels in Bronson Canyon to make it look like a vast cavern.

9. Candia (Barboura Morris) is attractive except for that unfortunate overbite. Also, her hair style seems remarkably contemporary as does all of the dialogue (written by Charles B. Griffith).

10. Even though ATLAS was a Corman quickie designed to cash in on the success of the Italian sword and sandal movies, it pales in comparison to the original HERCULES (1958) starring Steve Reeves.