Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow!

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is truly a work of love and a product of unrealistic enthusiasm. That's what makes it such fun to watch. Despite big names like Jude Law, Angelina Jolie, and Gwynneth Paltrow in the flick, the real power behind this flicker is director Kerry Conran who put together a six-minute proof-of-concept movie that impressed all those who saw it. If you'd like to see it, check out this link. Built on the basis of that, producer Jon Avnet got involved and the film slowly but surely got bigger and bigger, though never monstrous like some of the digital films of the time. This is an underground movie that got above ground just a tiny bit. 

The movie was inspired by a lot of things, but most directly by the Superman cartoon "The Mechanical Monsters" from the Fleischer Studio in the 1940's. Those remarkable cartoons seem to leave a lasting impression on most everyone who sees them, and Conran was no different. The six-minute movie is in fact titled "Chapter 1 - Mechanical Monsters" and show how in an alternate 1939 the Hindenberg III docks at the Empire State Building delivering a scientist who immediately goes missing. This is cover by Polly Perkins, a reporter who finds out there is more to the scheme. Then giant robots invaded NYC and the call goes out to the mysterious airman named Sky Captain (real name Joe Sullivan). Those robots look a lot like the Superman robots. 

In the movie which sprang from this six-minute seed not only do we get giant robots, but we get other kinds as well, some like giant bats and others more or less humanoid in appearance. The Sky Captain and his Lost Legion occupy an island not dissimilar to the Blackhawk and his gang. When that base is attacked, the search begins properly to find the villain Totenkopf, a deadly menace who threatens to destroy the whole world. We then follow the intrepid duo of Sky Captain Joe and Polly as they seek to find the enemy and those kidnapped by his forces. Those forces turn out to be more strange and more tragic than we know. Before they find the enemy though there is a stop in Shangri La, a paradise which has been ruined by Totkenkopf's ambitions. To face the final enemy an old ally of Joe's is summoned, and we get a flying fortress and scuds of lovely flying machines before it's all over. 

This is a fun diversion, a wonderful homage to the old serials and cartoons of decades gone by. The movie is remarkable as it was among the earliest to make use of exclusively digital sets, a practice we are all too familiar with in this century. Being something of a relic now itself, the digital renderings must be forgiven for being of their time as we do with all films which make use of the best technology of their eras. 

But what does all this have to do with Norvell Page's The Spider? Return later today and find out. 

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