My editorial cartoon

I am afraid the World is heading this way...

Cover of my humour magazine

Cover of my humour magazine. Not published yet.

Solaris

The film based on the novel by Stanislaw Lem (1961) could have been great. However, the version by Andrei Tarkovsky (1972) had a painfully slow pace for my taste, while the last version from 2002 was a bit better.
My book cover illustration (below) was published in Sci-Fi Art Now (2010)

My interview

Alien inspiration

When I first saw the film "Alien" I was thrilled. It really blew me off. However, a couple of decades later, I have found a movie that had a strong (mildly said) influence on Ridley Scott and Giger:
"Planet of the vampires". Although the acting is rather poor, the film is filled with cool visual effects, design and sound.

Art deco in vintage sci fi films

Although, heavily influenced by the prevailing art style of the respectful decades of their production, these movies are still incredible, when measured by the imagination and craftsmanship of their creators: German "Meropolis"(1927), Russian "Aelita:Queen of Mars"(1927) and British "The shape of things to come"(1936).

Other old sci fi films

These vintage sci fi movies are not on my "A" list, but in general, they were produced rather good for their time. One is a Russian "Planeta burg" from 1965, with some nice footage, cool robot (influenced by Robby the robot from Forbidden planet) and hardware designed, but also with some poor dinosaurs (people in rubber suits).
The other is "The first men in the Moon" after the novel by H.G.Wells. Some nice scenes and design, but something was missing to make this a great movie.
At last, there's also one film after the Wells's novel: "War of the worlds". In order to update it to the present time, the movie makers eliminated the Victorian feeling and the atmosphere that the original novel had. Spielberg tried to fix that flaw it in his remake, but rather unsuccessfully.

 

In 1968 "Planeta Burg"was butchered, by the new editing, adding some illogical scenes of some hippy-looking women standing beside the sea of the Venus. Supposedly they were the inhabitants of the planet. The movie as such, was "prepared" for the American audience and renamed into Voyage to the "Planet of Prehistoric Women". If you are intrigued, you can see the rubbish here.

Sci Fi trash movies

After seeing Forbidden planet I was hungry for more good sci fi. But good sci fi films were scarce at the time. They were creeping into the theatres in Zagreb at a painfully slow pace for my taste. So, I went to see whatever was showing.
Among the trashy stuff a couple of films stood out because of design and the special effects, which were rather good:
"First Spaceship on Venus" (German: "Der schweigende Stern") was an East German/Polish science fiction film directed by Kurt Maetzig in 1960 and loosely based on the "The Astronauts" by Stanislaw Lem. Supposedly Stanislaw hated the movie.
Japanese "The Mysterians" from 1957 had an interesting giant destroyer robot and some space crafts designed after the rocket ships from Dan Dare comic.

Is it me or the famous R2D2 looks a bit like the robot from "First spaceship on Venus"?

"First Spaceship on Venus" (German: "Der schweigende Stern", Polish: "Milcząca Gwiazda") is a 1960 East German/Polish science fiction film directed by Kurt Maetzig and based on the "The Astronauts" by Stanisła
Read more at http://stuffpoint.com/science-fiction/image/421044/first-spaceship-on-venus-poster-wallpaper/#dm02g7gY0uT7SgyY.99

Time for a gag

Here is one of my gag cartoons:

Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper was most certainly one of the best cowboy - actors of his time (from 30's to late 50's). He was very good in Vera Cruz, but Burt Lancaster, who played a "lovable" villain, stole Gary's spot light. It happened so many times in quite a few good movies, that the villain gains the audience's sympaty.
Spanish actress Sara Montiel, in the promotional photograph on the left, was a great star in Europe and a marvellous singer. Her best-selling song was the main theme from the movie "La violetera". Both movie and the song were immensely popular in ex Yugoslavia, at the time. Especially among the female audience, of course. Sara passed away in 2013.

Good old war movies

Personally, I prefer the war movies with a strong antiwar message. Like All quiet on the western front (Im Westen nichts Neues (1930)), based on Erich Maria Remarque's novel, or Kubrick's Paths of glory, with excellent Kirk Douglas as Col. Dax.
On the other hand there's an old war movie that I like, promoting patriotism and heroism, but what was understandable, considering the times when it was produced. A charming role by Gary Cooper playing a real Great war hero.

Sci Fi milestones of the late 60's

The late 60's, to be precise the year 1968, gave us the two very important movies in the science fiction genre: The planet of apes and 2001: Space Odyssey.
I must admit I was a bit annoyed by the rather crude, inflexible ape masks in Planet of apes and an introductory part of 2001: Space Odyssey, playing with some highly dubious scientific premises (the pre-human hominids looking unconvincingly and living in the barren desert, hunting South American rain forest tapirs).
However, when I put aside these rather technical, minor flaws, the movies were spectacular and left a lasting impression on me.

 

My Superman panel cartoon

Super heroes were never my thing. Probably because I have gotten to reading them when I was too old for adopting the stuff. It was around 1965 or 66, when a friend from my class, Tihomir Varga (Tini) came back from Argentina, after living there for a couple of years, with a big stack of American comics. I couldn't understand everything, but the comics were spectacular. I loved Zorro, Mighty Samson and Turok son of stone.
Here is one of the covers for Turok, which was obviously inspired by Zdenek Burian's painting (below):