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Eccentric scientist doctor Thorkel (Albert Dekker) invites two esteemed
colleagues, Dr Mary Robinson (Janice Logan) and Dr Bulfinch (Charles
Halton), up to his lab in some remote spot the Andes to help him with his
research - but then he treats them rudely and wants to send them off again
after they have only as much as looked through his microscope, claiming he
just needed them because of his failing eyesight. However, Mary and
Bulfinch, along with their companions Bill (Thomas Coley), a rich slacker
(who will turn into a regular hero before the film is over), and mule
driver Steve (Victor Kilian), refuse to be handled in such a way (and on
top of that they suspect Thorkel of mining Radium, too), so they stay. Bad
choice, because Thorkel has just experimented with shrinking things, so he
shrinks them to a mere few inches in height. Then instead of putting them
into a cage or something, he goes to sleep. Our miniature heroes first
have to come to terms with being really small, then they make up plans
what to do (certain things like running back to civilisation are out of
the question considering their size), and after a while they even go on
the offensive and try to shoot the professor - but all to no avail,
Thorkel even kills one of them, Bulfinch. However, the others don't give
up easily, so eventually they steal all of his glasses and break one glass
of his last pair - so now he is a cyclops, somehow -, then lure him
to his radium mineshaft (that's more of a bottomless pit, really), and of
course, he ultimately falls in. All fine and dandy, but our heroes are
still only a few inches tall, right? Wrong, the shrinking process had a
quick expiration date, so they grow back to normal size in a matter of
days. Oh yeah, and to nobody's real surprise, Bill gets Mary in the end
... In a way, this film is great: The special effects are
wonderful, and the scenes with people of different sizes sharing the same
screen come off as surprisingly convincing even by today's standards.
Also, the blown up props look really nice, as does the colour photography. In
another way though, the film is considerably less than perfect, and that
has to do with its screenplay - let's face it, this is a poorly written
movie: Everything here is unconvincing, and I don't so much mean the fact
that people are shrunken in size, I can live with that. But the premise -
a scientist invites other scientists to the Andes just to treat them
badly, and the scientists won't leave out of hurt pride - comes across as
very forced, then there's the fact that Thorkel gets tired and just has to
go to sleep every time the screenwriters need a plottwist, and the fact
that he in one scene fails to see a gun aimed to his head in plain sight,
and the fact that he conveniently has a bottomless pit in his backyard,
and the fact that the shrinking just wears off in a couple of days to
grant a happy ending, and ... well, I could go on and on, but suffice to
say, the excellent effects of this film would have deserved a decent
script, then it could have been a good movie. As it is, it's a nice
spectacle, but apart from brilliant effects it's instantly forgettable.
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