Blob [WS] [Criterion Collection]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

In his first starring role, Steve McQueen plays a typical oversexed, car-lovin' highschooler who can't get anyone to believe his story about a huge meteor, which crashes to earth and begins exuding a pink, gooey substance. Affixing itself to the body of an old man, the "blob" begins parasitically sucking the life out of several unfortunate humans, growing to an enormous size. Problem is, the disappearances of the victims can all be explained (one is supposed to be out of town, another is attending a convention), so the cops still won't believe McQueen or his girlfriend Aneta Corsaut (the future Helen Crump of The Andy Griffith Show). Rallying his teen pals, McQueen finally manages to get the adults' attention-but by now, the Blob is consuming entire city blocks. In 1972, the sequel Beware the Blob followed. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 (Vistavision)
• Audio: PCM Mono, 5.1
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Subtitle: English
• Features:
  • • New widescreen digital transfer, enhanced for 16x9 televisions with restored picture and sound
    • Two audio commentaries: one by producer Jack H. Harris and film historian Bruce Eder; the other by director Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr. and actor Robert [Tony] Fields
    • Theatrical trailer
    • BLOB-abilial: collector Wes Shank's rare trove of stills, posters, props [including the Blob intself], and other ephemera
    • Special collectible poster
    • English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  Irvin Shortess Yeaworth, Jr.

• Producer:

  Jack H. Harris

• Screenwriter:

  Kay Linaker, Theodore Simonson

• Cinematographer:

  Thomas E. Spalding

• Composer (Music Score):

  Burt Bacharach

• Songwriter:

  Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Mack David

• Composer (Music Score):

  Jean Yeaworth, Ralph Carmichael

• Editor:

  Alfred Hillman

• Art Director:

  Bill Jersey, Karl Karlson

• Associate Producer:

  Russell S. Doughten, Jr.

• Makeup:

  Vin Kehoe

• Special Effects:

  Barton Sloane

• First Assistant Director:

  Bert Smith

REVIEW:

• One of the more memorable low-budget 1950s monster movies, The Blob deals with a gelatinous alien mass which gobbles up a small town, growing bigger as it feeds on human beings. Steve McQueen is the good-hearted juvenile delinquent (okay, so he was 28) who tries to warn the adults, but they don't listen. This Pennsylvania-shot chiller has a number of well-done scenes, including an attack on a movie theater showing Daughter of Horror, as well as the standard drag-racing and other teenage hijinks. Aneta Corsaut plays McQueen's girlfriend, and Olin Howland is the old man with the stick in the film's creepy opening sequence. Kitschy, but fun, the film was followed by Son of Blob in 1972 and remade in 1988. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi