The Joy of B-Movies

---by Micheal

I've recently rediscovered the joy of watching old "B" movies from the 50s and early 60s. In our modern media age of hyper-slick everything, there's actually something refreshing about those old movies.

I tried to share this joy with my kids (both teenagers) but they turn their noses up at them. My daughter has a rule that she won't watch anything that isn't in color. For her, movies are a visual landscape in which she can immerse herself. Black and white movies are barren deserts to her.

My son lives for spectacular special effects. They absolutely must be convincingly realistic. For him, movies are supposed to be alternate worlds of wonder. Low budget B-movies, with cheap effects, are like getting socks for Christmas. Bor-ring. If a special effect doesn't look 100% realistic, it ruins the whole movie for him.

Perhaps it's just because I'm an old coot that I still appreciate B movies. When I was a kid, these old Bs weren't so far behind the curve. Sure, the acting was often poor. Yes, you could sometimes see the little wires holding up the rocket ships -- but that was somehow part of the fun. We knew they were models. That didn't detract at all. What mattered was the story.

As a kid, I would immerse myself into the story. The actors, skilled or otherwise, represented characters -- much as a stage actor would "play" Henry V, or MacBeth. No one thinks the man on stage really is MacBeth, but they let him represent MacBeth in order to tell the story. It was the story that mattered.

The same goes for B-film actors. The villain in a B western didn't have to be convincingly bad on screen. I knew he represented human badness -- greed and treachery. The hero, likewise, could be stiff and wooden. It didn't matter. I knew he represented strength and courage. The story, and the interplay between the characters, is what mattered.

Similarly, the sets could be laughably sparse. A few flat wooden store fronts and a hitching post represented a whole western town. I could see it all in my mind. I didn't need to see it all on the screen. My imagination would even fill in the colors -- a yellow painted general store, a light blue saloon, etc. A few metalic walls and blinking lights represented the inside of a space ship. It didn't matter that the radio was navy surplus, or that they controlled the ship with big steam valves. It was just a place for the story to unfold.

Ah, but I've digressed. As I was saying, I recently rediscovered old B movies. I have been watching them and really enjoying them. In subsequent entries, I'll share a bit of the joy I found in some of my growing old film collection.