“That Spring, we were all watching the events in space, and wondering what the effect would be. Astronomers argued over theory, while engineers got pretty excited over variables and magnetic fields. Mystics predicted earthquakes and the end of life as we knew it. When the effect came, it was almost un-noticed, because it happened to such a small and insignificant form of life.”
Phase IV is out on DVD in a beautiful print. This is one of my personal Top 10 B Movies (But not a Bee movie amiright?)of all time. It was released in 1974, smack in the middle of a number of intellectual and cultural trends. Ecology, Man’s place on the planet, the nature of Science itself, are all examined in this neat (less than an hour and a half) film by Saul Bass.
Yes, the same Saul Bass who designed the opening to Hitchcock’s Pyscho. His touch is everywhere in this film, from the gorgeous photography to the music to the script. Clearly he was a big fan of Frank Herbert and Michael Crichton and no doubt had seen the documentary The Hellstrom Chronicles (which makes a good double feature with this film).
The “effect” in question happens to ordinary ants, several species of which begin acting in ways that ants don’t, with purpose and (perhaps) belligerence. A British scientist (Nigel Davenport) becomes concerned, and hires an expert in Number Theory (Michael Murphy) to help figure out if they are dealing with a new form of intelligence, or intelligence from elsewhere. Both actors are on top form here.
The two scientists find a Crop Circle created by the ants, as well as strange towers that appear in the middle of a deserted housing project (it’s implied that the former residents have been driven out, by both the ants and the never specified powers that fund the project). What follows is a combination of Siege movie, First Contact story and exploration of humanity and Science in a larger Universe.
I’d love to ramble on about this film for pages, but I’d like to start a discussion with other admirers of this film, and for those of you who haven’t seen it, put it in your Netflix queen right now (it is also on YouTube, but this is the kind of film you need to see in HD).
